El Meson de Pepe - Key West, FL (June 2021)

photo by El Meson de Pepe

The Divas recently stayed at the beautiful Ocean Key Resort in Key West Florida for 7 days, 6 nights to celebrate my milestone birthday. On the trip with me were my daughter(26) and my best friend (age withheld to protect the not-so-innocent).  Our hotel in Key West was right on Mallory Square so for a late lunch one day, we cut across the square to check out El Meson de Pepe, a Cuban spot. Once again, it was just fine. That seemed to be the trend of this trip, most of the food was ok, did its job to nutrify our bodies and line our tummies against the alcohol but not a lot of yumminess and joy to be had. As a group of self-proclaimed foodies (even though I have a ton of allergies), this was just a blah foodie trip for us. Nothing was bad per se, but only a couple of things stood out, including one of the best meals of my life but more on that in another blog post. 

We got a round of caipirinhas (a Brazilian cocktail made with lime, simple syrup and Cachaca, which is a spirit distilled from sugar cane juice) that were really weak. Usually when I get a caipirinha, they are strong so this was a surprise. So then for the next round, mini-me and I ordered margaritas, since they were out of ingredients for our 1st choice Watermelon Margarita (made with Don Julio, melon liquer and melon juice) of course we somehow ended up with Meson Margaritas which are made with Jose Cuervo and OJ – I absolutely despise OJ in my margarita. Why is that even a thing? But they were blah anyways, so I guess it did not matter. But we meant to order the Grand Gold Margarita (which was made with Don Julio,  Cointreau, Grand Marnier and most importantly - no OJ). Insert long suffering sigh here. It was our own fault for not paying attention. 

Croquettes

For munchies we decided just to get several tapas to share. We settled on Croquette Sampler (ham, chicken and cheese), Tostones Rellenos (four stuffed green plantains each with a different filling – roast pork, ropa vieja, picadillo and then yellow rice with black beans) and finally Papas Rellenos (Picadillo & Pork stuffed fried potato balls).  Each of these came with a huge pile of plantain chips…like more plantain chips than anything else on the plate – times 3.

Papas Rellenos

They were all once again just ok. I have had some really good Cuban food, especially living in Tampa Bay, this all just tasted so bland. Of the three, the other girls felt the croquettes were probably the better bet, I am torn between those and the Papas. Now I absolutely love potatoes in all its forms from baked to fried to mashed to liquid(vodka), but those Papas Rellenos did NOT have enough filling. The potatoes were creamy though so I guess I can't complain too much, just needed a touch of seasoning. So to say I was torn is like a contest between round ice cubes and slightly less round ice cubes. They are very similar and neither is very exciting but they both do the basic job of chilling a drink, or in this case quenching hunger.

Tostones Rellenos

The tostones were awkward to eat as they were like little fried plantain cups with fillings. Speaking of fillings, there was nary a black bean in the yellow rice and black beans one. Seriously, we are still searching for even a solitary bean.

We were not ready to go yet and still snacky so we ordered another round of tapas – Alitas de Pollo (chicken wings in a garlic mojo sauce) and Antojitos (fried cheese and chorizo sauteed in garlic, red wine, bell peppers and mojo).

Alitas de Pollo

The wings were a bit dry and really needed the sauce, which was very good. We ended up eating a few and taking the rest to go. They wound up forgotten in our room frig. That's how big of an impression they made on us and we all love wings.

Antojitos

The Antojitos were pretty good but needed to up the meat to cheese ratio as we were hunting for the cheese after a couple of bites. It was probably the most successful of all the dishes we had.

Overall it was not the worst meal but nothing I must have again. I will say though that they must get a great deal on plantains as every plate had a huge heap of plantain chips. Far more than any of the food we received. We found ourselves eating them because they were there more so than because they were amazing. Now they were good and I like a good plantain chip like anyone else. But it was overkill. 

El Meson de Peppe has a good vibe and I love the decor and high ceilings, plus the cigars embedded in the tables. It is in a great location right on Mallory Square and has both indoor and outdoor seating.