Key West Lobsterfest returned August 5 to 9, 2026, after getting cancelled the year before: five days of spiny lobster cooked every way this island can think of, and a street fair that shut down the lower blocks of Duval.
The 2027 dates are already out. The 29th annual Lobsterfest runs August 11 to 15, 2027, announced by the organizers in their post-event thank-you. What’s below is how 2026 ran, which is the best guide to what next year looks like until the schedule drops.
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Florida Lobster Is Not the Lobster You’re Picturing
If you’re imagining a Maine lobster with claws, adjust. Florida spiny lobster is a warm-water species with no claws at all. The tail is the entire point, which is why everything at the festival was tails, rolls, and tail meat; nobody was cracking claws on Duval.
The timing wasn’t random either. Regular spiny lobster season opened August 6 and runs through March 31, and the two-day sport season for recreational divers ran July 29 and 30. The festival sat on August 5 to 9 because that’s the week the fresh local catch starts coming in.
Key West Lobsterfest 2026 Schedule
| Day | What | Where / When |
|---|---|---|
| Wed Aug 5 | Kickoff party (lobster pizza, drink specials); Lobsterfest Trivia (ticketed, includes lobster roll and drink) | Rick’s & Durty Harry’s, 202 Duval, 7–9 PM, free; Southernmost Beach Resort, 1319 Duval, 7 PM, $50 |
| Thu Aug 6 | The Original Lobster Boil (ticketed, sells out); Flight of the Flamingos, the Richard Blais dinner (ticketed) | Fogarty’s courtyard, 227 Duval, 5–8 PM; Four Flamingos, 601 Front St, 5–9 PM |
| Fri Aug 7 | Free pool parties; Lobsterfest dinner at the Key West Cooking Show (ticketed); the Duval pub crawl with post-crawl party at Rick’s | Hyatt Centric 1–4 PM, Marker 3–6 PM; dinner seatings 5:30 & 7:30 PM; crawl 8 PM–midnight, $25 adv / $30 door |
| Sat Aug 8 | The Street Fair (the main event); Dante’s pool party | Duval, 100–500 blocks, noon–11 PM, free; Dante’s 1–4 PM |
| Sun Aug 9 | Beats and Brunch, closing pool party | First Flight (ticketed, two seatings); Southernmost Beach Resort 1–4 PM |
The Street Fair
Saturday was the day that mattered. Duval Street closed from the 100 to 500 blocks, noon to 11 PM, free admission. Local bars and restaurants set up booths serving Florida lobster, priced per item, alongside art and craft vendors and live music on the main stage.
The Events, Day by Day
Everything outside the street fair, in order. The free events needed no planning; the ticketed ones did, because the small ones had a very good chance of selling out.
Kickoff Party: Wednesday, August 5
The festival opened at Rick’s and Durty Harry’s Entertainment Complex, 202 Duval, from 7 to 9 PM. Live music, lobster pizza, and drink specials, free admission. Both that and the trivia night below started at 7, so it was one or the other. I’m not too much into trivia, so I’d have been at Rick’s.
Lobsterfest Trivia at Southernmost Beach Resort: Wednesday, August 5
Pub-style trivia with a lobster twist at the Southernmost Beach Resort, 1319 Duval Street, starting 7 PM sharp. It was $50 per person and came with a lobster roll and a drink. Reservations were required; tickets were at KeysTix.com.
Lobster Boil at Fogarty’s: Thursday, August 6
The official kickoff meal, held in the courtyard at Fogarty’s, 227 Duval Street, 5 to 8 PM. The menu was a traditional boil: fresh Florida spiny lobster, jumbo Key West shrimp, red skin potatoes, corn, and sweet cornbread, with live music and a full bar.
The Lobster Boil was $39.99. Tickets were meant to go on sale August 1 but weren’t actually available until the 4th.
The boil ran in the Porter Mansion courtyard in past years. In 2026 it moved kitty corner to Fogarty’s, in the 1875 Fogarty Mansion on the Caroline Street corner of Duval.
Flight of the Flamingos: The Richard Blais Dinner, Thursday, August 6
Four Flamingos at the Hyatt Centric (601 Front Street) hosted Flight of the Flamingos, a four-course dinner for the opening night of lobster season, starting at 5 PM, with the last reservation at 8:45.
The billing was “Three Chefs, Two Destinations, One Flock,” which translated to celebrity chef Richard Blais in the kitchen, in person, alongside executive chefs Leo Minelli and Josue Perez, with every course offering a dish from each Four Flamingos kitchen, Key West and Orlando.
You picked a part of the state at every course.
The amuse bouche was Key West’s short rib croqueta with Argentinian chimichurri or Orlando’s passion fruit tuna ceviche.
The appetizer was a yellowfin tuna tostada with mango yolk or crispy pork belly in a pineapple rum glaze.
Both entrees came with spiny lobster tail: Key West paired it with black grouper, garlic drawn butter, and coconut rice; Orlando paired it with a center-cut filet, Florida gouda mash, and sauce au poivre.
Dessert was the Key lime pie with flambeed meringue or a coconut panna cotta with mango tartare.
It was $110 per person plus tax and gratuity, and reservations were required.
I’d have leaned toward ceviche, pork belly, and lobster with grouper. Dessert would have been a last-second decision, though I am a meringue fan.
Lobsterfest Dinner at the Key West Cooking Show: Friday, August 7
The Key West Cooking Show (291 Front Street, upstairs) ran a special edition of its dinner show for Lobsterfest, with seatings at 5:30 and 7:30 PM and executive chef Keith St. Peter cooking alongside the house storyteller.
The format, if you haven’t been: dinner as demonstration, where the menu is cooked in front of you while you work on the house-made sangria, and then you eat what you watched.
Friday’s menu ran plantain chips, lobster bisque, lobster enchilados over white rice, and guava bread pudding, at $85 per person plus taxes and fees.
The enchilado was the most on-theme ticket of the entire week; the first Lobsterfest started as a cook-off between two friends over who made the best lobster chilau.
The Cooking Show runs year-round. Current dates and booking here or call (305) 294-2665.
Duval Pub Crawl: Friday, August 7
8 PM to midnight, $25 in advance or $30 at the door. The ticket included the official Lobsterfest T-shirt, a souvenir lanyard, and 2-for-1 drink specials at participating bars.
Check-in and shirt pickup ran 3 to 7:30 PM at the Marker pool bar (200 William Street); online sales ended at noon on crawl day, and nothing shipped, so pickup was in person.
The crawl ended where the festival began: a post-crawl party at Rick’s from midnight, with Sun Cruiser swag bags for the first 200 finishers.
Pool Parties: Friday Through Sunday
All free admission, all with lobster food and drink specials: the Hyatt Centric (601 Front Street) Friday 1 to 4 PM, The Marker (200 William Street) Friday 3 to 6 PM, Dante’s (955 Caroline Street) Saturday 1 to 4 PM, and the Southernmost Beach Resort (1319 Duval) Sunday 1 to 4 PM.
The Flamingos pool party at the Hyatt had a tropical lobster salad from the Key West restaurant and a lobster roll from the Orlando site, $15 each.
The Southernmost party added a lobster roll-eating contest at 2 PM, $30 to enter, with a lobster dinner for two at the cafe going to the winner.
Beats and Brunch at First Flight: Sunday, August 9
Two two-hour seatings, 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM, at $99 per person plus tax and gratuity: unlimited small plates and chef stations, bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys, and a live DJ.
Lobsterfest Menus Around Town
Beyond the ticketed events, a few restaurants ran lobster menus for the week itself.
Half Shell Raw Bar opened the season with a $17.99 broiled 5 to 6 oz lobster tail on August 6, the first day of regular season, served a la carte. From August 7 through 13, the daily specials were lobster thermidor, chilled lobster caprese salad, lobster cakes, lobster mac and cheese, lobster roll, and lobster bisque. Dine-in only, while supplies lasted.
Southernmost Beach Cafe ran a Lobsterfest menu through the festival: lobster bisque $8 cup or $16 bowl, a lobster roll $40, lobster mac and cheese $35, baked lobster $50, and a Reef & Beef burger at $45.
Rams Head Southernmost had a Local Lobster Week menu for a limited time. Starter options included a chef’s lobster mac ‘n cheese at $29, a lobster and sweet corn quesadilla at $21. Lunch was three lobster sliders at $22. Mains: lobster dinner at $46, two 7 oz Florida tails with a baked potato, asparagus and drawn butter; surf and turf at $51 with a 6 oz sirloin; and lobster carbonara at $38, lobster tail with smoked bacon and sweet peas over fettuccine.
La Pincha had lobster specials over the weekend: popcorn lobster with sweet chile key lime sauce $20, a half lobster tail pincho with key lime garlic butter $20, whole tail $40. There was also a surf and turf plate at $30 with the half tail, an espresso rub beef pincho and yuca fries.
A&B Lobster House marked the 2026 Florida lobster season opening with an 8 oz tail, butterflied and brushed with garlic-parsley butter, $35 a la carte. It ran through August 9.
Pickles Pub served a Lobster BLT as its Lobsterfest signature dish inside the bar: grilled twin 5 oz lobster tails with lettuce, tomato, crispy bacon and house lemon herb mayo on a brioche bun, with Old Bay chips, $26. Fries or onion rings swap for $2, tots for $3.
Where to Eat Lobster in Key West
The festival ran five days, but the lobster is year-round. These are the places I actually order it, festival or not.
The Lobster Shack: The Key West Lobster Roll. Need I say more? Lobster meat served hot with butter and a hint of fresh key lime juice.
DJ’s Clam Shack: They do it both ways: hot with butter, cold with mayo. I usually get the hot preparation, which is Connecticut style. I am not a big fan of mayo and believe as little as possible should be used.
Boat House: Lobster Tail Tempura. Food on a stick is always a good thing. $18.95 on the small plates menu, half off during happy hour, 4 to 6:30 daily. That’s a whole tempura lobster tail for under ten dollars at the Bubba winner for Best Happy Hour, five years running.
Seaside Cafe: One of the most famous pizzas in Key West. The Lobster Bianca. I love it.
Hogfish Bar & Grill: These lobster tacos come lightly fried, grilled, or blackened. I am always changing it up. Try to get the sauce on the side. Hogfish also won the Bubba Award for Best Lunch in 2026.
Bagatelle: Last year I went to First Flight to grab an advertised Honey Tempura Lobster Tail. To my dismay, they were sold out or not making it until later. They told me to go over to Bagatelle, who happened to have it on their beats & brunch menu. Crisis averted. Again, food on a stick, fried golden brown with a honey butter drizzle.
Duffy’s Steak & Lobster House: The Surf & Turf is my go-to. This night it was filet. I go here quite a bit so I get my fill during the year.
Mini Season, the Week Before
Sport season (mini season) runs the last Wednesday and Thursday of July, two days when recreational divers get at the lobster before the regular season opens. This year that was July 29 and 30.
The bag limit is 6 per person per day in Monroe County, and one rule most visitors don’t know: divers have to land their lobster whole, because separating the tail from the body in state waters is illegal.
Where to Stay for Lobsterfest
Key West Lobsterfest happens on and around lower Duval, so Old Town wins the weekend; anything else means a walk, bike ride, a cab or Uber, or hotel shuttle both ways. Check rates for Lobsterfest
Quick Answers
When was Key West Lobsterfest 2026?
August 5 to 9, 2026. The street fair on Duval Street was Saturday, August 8, noon to 11 PM, and it was free to attend.
When is Key West Lobsterfest 2027?
August 11 to 15, 2027, announced in the organizers’ post-event thank-you. It will be the 29th annual.
How much did Lobsterfest cost?
The street fair, kickoff party, and pool parties were free; at the fair, you paid per plate and drink.
The ticketed events: the pub crawl was $25 in advance or $30 at the door, trivia at the Southernmost Beach Resort was $50 per person including a lobster roll and a drink, the Richard Blais dinner at Four Flamingos was $110 per person plus tax and gratuity, the Cooking Show’s Lobsterfest dinner was $85 per person plus taxes and fees, and Beats and Brunch at First Flight was $99 per person plus tax and gratuity.
Lobster Boil tickets were meant to open August 1 and didn’t go live until the 4th. They have historically sold out.
The current deals are in Summer Dining Specials, the standing ones are in the Happy Hour Guide, and everything between meals is in Things to Do in Key West.