Formerly: Pepe's Cafe & Steakhouse
Key West, Florida · Founded 1909
Pepe’s, a Key West institution since 1909, remains a laid-back Caroline Street restaurant and bar near the historic waterfront.
Pepe’s Cafe began in Key West in 1909, originally in the 200 block of Duval Street. The restaurant later moved through more than one Old Town location before settling on Caroline Street, where it remains an active breakfast-through-dinner institution and is widely called the oldest restaurant in Key West and the Florida Keys.
Pepe's Cafe opens in the 200 block of Duval Street in Key West.
Source: Keys Weekly, “Legendary Pepe’s Cafe passes the torch to new Key West owners,” November 4, 2021; Pepe’s Cafe official website.
A secondary local-history account says founder Pepe Pelaez retired and sold the restaurant to Eduardo Garcia, known locally as Curie.
Source: Route 1 Views, “Pepe's Cafe Key West: The Florida Keys' Oldest Eatery,” 2025.
Keys Weekly reports that Pepe's had operated from its Caroline Street location since the 1950s, after time at the original Duval Street site and a two-year Catherine Street stop.
Source: Keys Weekly, “Legendary Pepe’s Cafe passes the torch to new Key West owners,” November 4, 2021.
Shelley McInnis sells Pepe's Cafe to Danny and Maura Hughes, Key West restaurant owners who said they intended to preserve its casual character.
Source: Keys Weekly, “Legendary Pepe’s Cafe passes the torch to new Key West owners,” November 4, 2021.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Pepe's, Keys Weekly, and local visitor sources consistently identify the restaurant as the oldest in Key West and the Florida Keys, tracing it to 1909. The reviewed material supports that longstanding identity, but it does not independently document continuous restaurant operation through every ownership transfer and relocation.
Pepe's dates its origin to 1909. Columbia Restaurant in Tampa has a claimed restaurant origin of 1905, so Pepe's cannot be the earliest claimant in a statewide oldest-continuously-operating-restaurant comparison. Columbia’s own statewide title remains unresolved pending continuity evidence and a fuller Florida rival review.
Pepe's and Keys Weekly repeat that Truman ate there, while the Truman Little White House confirms he made 12 presidential visits to Key West between 1946 and 1952. The sources reviewed do not include a Truman Library record, contemporary news account, or other documentary evidence showing that he was a regular Pepe’s patron.
Keys Weekly reported that Danny and Maura Hughes purchased Pepe's from Shelley McInnis on October 18, 2021. A current Florida corporate or licensing record would provide a useful additional check on the operating entity.
Pepe's moved directly from Duval Street to its Caroline Street location in 1937.
The exact relocation year was not verified. Keys Weekly reports that Pepe's began in the 200 block of Duval Street, spent two years on Catherine Street, and has been on Caroline Street since the 1950s.
Source: Keys Weekly, “Legendary Pepe’s Cafe passes the torch to new Key West owners,” November 4, 2021.
Pepe's Cafe is Florida's oldest continuously operating restaurant.
Pepe's has a claimed 1909 origin and is widely recognized as Key West and the Florida Keys’ oldest restaurant. Columbia Restaurant in Tampa claims a 1905 restaurant origin, so Pepe’s cannot be the earliest statewide claimant; Columbia’s own statewide continuity claim remains unresolved.
Source: Pepe’s Cafe official website; Business Observer, “Family legacy at Columbia Restaurant carries to next generation,” September 14, 2025; Tampa Bay History Center, “Columbia Cafe.”
Pepe’s has endured by keeping its identity deliberately simple: an all-day neighborhood restaurant with a compact historic setting, fresh food, and a long local following. Its survival also reflects repeated stewardship changes rather than a single uninterrupted family ownership story; Danny and Maura Hughes bought the restaurant in 2021 from longtime owner Shelley McInnis.
Pepe's Cafe opened in Key West in 1909 in the 200 block of Duval Street. Keys Weekly reports that the business later spent two years on Catherine Street and has occupied its Caroline Street location since the 1950s. It remains a working restaurant and bar at 806 Caroline St., with Danny and Maura Hughes reported as its owners after a 2021 sale.
Pepe's Cafe is widely described as the oldest restaurant in Key West and the Florida Keys, with an origin in 1909. It is not the earliest restaurant claimant in Florida: Columbia Restaurant in Tampa traces its restaurant history to 1905. Columbia’s statewide continuous-operation title is still unresolved because its own continuity and competitor record need additional archival review.
Keys Weekly reported that Danny and Maura Hughes purchased Pepe's Cafe from Shelley McInnis on October 18, 2021. The Hugheses were already Key West restaurant operators, having owned Two Friends Patio Restaurant since 2013 according to the same report.
Pepe's Cafe and a 2021 Keys Weekly article say that Harry S. Truman ate at the restaurant during his Key West stays. Truman’s 12 presidential visits to the Little White House between 1946 and 1952 are documented, but the available source set does not independently establish how often he visited Pepe's.
806 Caroline St, Key West, FL 33040
(305) 294-7192
Pepe’s official site lists breakfast, lunch, happy hour, and dinner daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; it also describes the patio as pet-friendly.