Shanna Key Pub

1900 Flagler Avenue – 305-295-8880 – http://shannakey.info/

It’s not much from the outside..

.. but we’d been wanting to hit this place for a while, and because it’s on the other side of US1 in new town it required getting in the car and driving. Well, OK.. it didn’t require driving.. we could have ridden our bikes I suppose, it’s only like a mile and a half away.. but we were in the car anyways because we’d been to the East Martello Museum to visit Robert the Doll. It was just after lunchtime, and hey, it was time for a beer or two.

We wandered in, sat at the bar and ordered up a couple Smithwicks. The young lass behind the bar looked at me strange and asked if we knew each other. Oh oh.. think, think, think… my mind scrambled to recognize her… I got nothing. I told her I was pretty sure we didn’t. She didn’t look convinced. Neither did Christina.

“Where are you from?” she asked. I noticed her irish accent now. “Orlando” I blurted feeling guilty already for whatever it was my doppelganger may have done to her. “Well, we live here now, but originally from Orlando”. She looked at me a little cautiously to see if maybe I was trying to pull one over on her. “Hm, she said, you look just like someone I know. You guys hungry?” She handed us a couple menus and wandered off to take care of a group of folks a little bit down the bar. I have to say that I get this more often than I think I ought to.. Do I really look that much like other people? I certainly don’t think so.. but what do I know.

They have a pretty good menu at Shanna Key, and we’d heard from more than a few people that the food was good. Neither of us was terribly hungry, so we tried to order light. What we really wanted to get were some scotch eggs, but they didn’t offer them. Christina ordered the Smoked Fish Dip, and I ordered the Corned Beef and Swiss sandwich. I’d just made corned beef and cabbage for dinner a couple nights before, and just that morning had used the leftover corned beef and potatoes to make corned beef hash, so I don’t know what possessed me to order corned beef again, but the stomach wants what the stomach wants.

Atmosphere

While waiting for our food, we finished our first beers and ordered up a second round while I checked out the decor. Shanna Key will certainly win no competitions for traditional Irish Pub furnishings. No heavy wood beams on the ceiling, no intricate wood work on or behind the bar, the walls sported no fancy-framed beer mirrors, relying mostly on sports posters to fill the space. Shanna Key calls itself a sports bar, so I guess the posters are de rigueur. Maybe I’m just not familiar with Irish sports bars, are they typically less-decorated than Irish pubs?

In the bar area up front, there are a few large, round, wooden bar-height tables to sit around, Some televisions hanging on the walls, and a few stools and such. There’s a sit-down dining room near the back of the place, I didn’t see anyone in there, but being 2:00 in the afternoon I wouldn’t expect it.

All in all, it’s pretty boring inside as far as the decor goes, so if you’re looking for a traditional dark Irish pub, this isn’t the place for you. What it does have, (and this is based solely on our one visit) is a healthy dose of interesting regulars. One of my favorite haunts back in Orlando; Casey’s on Central was the same way. No gimmicks, no fancy decoration, just good food, cold beer, and interesting conversation. The gentleman sitting next to Christina had just made a batch of home made salsa, and he’d brought a tupperware bowl of it and a bag of tortilla chips in to share with the people at the bar.  Very cool.. and the salsa was good!

Shanna Key is definitely a locals neighborhood sports bar first and foremost. I like it. I can see myself going back often.

The Food

The food was very good. My sandwich was made with shredded corned beef (Not sliced deli processed crap, but real boiled corned beef brisket), melted swiss, and Guinness mustard piled onto a toasted soft hoagie roll. It came with a big pile of yummy french fries. It was very tasty… very.

Christina’s Smoked Fish Dip was superb, and I don’t even like fish. I’m going to have to go back and order up some more food when I’m hungrier to see if everything else stacks up to these initial delights.

I give this bar  3 out of 5 beers, only losing one beer point because it’s really not decorated like an irish pub ought to be, but in all honesty, who the hell cares! The food is great, the beer is cold, and the people are great.. you couldn’t ask for much more. Well except maybe some some strippers, but that’s a story for another time….

If you’ve been to Shanna Key, let s all know what you’re experience was like!