Restaurant Roundup

Perdido has a fine selection of more than a dozen restaurants. It’s nothing like the myriad choices in Orange Beach or Pensacola but for folks who live or vacation here, you’ll find excellent grub within a few minutes drive by land or by sea.

By Land...

Even if you can’t get there by boat, these restaurants are still worth checking out for excellent dining.

Brian’s Po Boys

You’ll find this hole-in-the-wall sandwich shack at Nix Brothers Seafood under the Theo Baars Bridge (the one that connects Perdido Key to the mainland), you can get a quick sandwich and other seafood goodies.

Burger King

Perdido’s only fast food restaurant located at the foot of the bridge at Perdido’s main intersection.

Crab Trap

Located near the Florida-Alabama line on the gulf side of the road, the Crab Trap is one of a chain of three or four Crab Traps from Destin and Ft. Walton. It’s kinda the Ruby Tuesday’s of the sea. The food is very good, they run a tight operation and the décor is abundant – lots of paddles, nets, buoys and that kind of thing. They have a full bar, great lunch specials and a nice seafood selection on the menu. You can dine outside to watch the waves and stroll right out to the beach while you wait for your food. There’s a playground for the kids and plenty of parking. Overall, the Crab Trap is a good experience for food and fun for the family.

Domino’s Pizza

Mostly take out like any of the hundreds of other Dominos around the world.

Lillian’s Pizza

This is a local pizza restaurant with the emphasis on restaurant. The place seats more than 100 and has a full selection of pizza and Italian food. The pizza is legendary to locals who remember the many years when Lillian’s was a cinderblock shack located right on the beach on Perdido Key. It always looked like it was about to cave in on the patrons. Now, of course, there’s a beachfront condo where Lillian’s once stood. The new Lillian’s is still on Perdido Key but across the street from the water. The facility is only a few years old and is very well laid out, clean and bordering on fancy. In addition to their hot foods, they also have an outstanding selection of salads and a full bar.

Lost Key – Lunch only

This is without a doubt the fanciest restaurant in Perdido, if that’s what you’re into. Located in the Lost Key Golf Resort, this place is NOT a biker hangout. You’ll find people actually wearing shoes and you might even see a coat and tie (God forbid!) in there. The food is outstanding and the bar serves cold beer and mixed drinks as you watch golfer hacking up the gorgeous turf. Obviously, it caters to golfer-types and is also popular for salespeople who have lunch meetings there to impress their clients. So, if you must have marble floors and want to talk about golf, real estate and the Dow Jones, this is the place. They have sushi every day but Tuesday is officially sushi day when the chef makes some special dishes.

Perdido Bay Golf Club

With the last couple of years the Perdido Bay Golf Course has been completely rebuilt along with the pro shop and the restaurant. With an expansive view of the course the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and supper and offers a variety of specials including a favorite – sushi night. The restaurant has a full bar, good food and a relaxing atmosphere.

Texaco

It’s not really a restaurant but it’s the only Chinese food Perdido has. I’ve only tried it a couple of times and it was pretty good. If you’re hankering for Chinese, go to the Texaco.

The Original Point Restaurant

I first ate here almost 40 years ago when you could get All-You-Can-Eat Mullet for two bucks and Schlitz beer on tap. That included all of the baked bean and cole slaw you could eat too. The beer was extra. Over the years, this place has gone through a few transitions but the food is very good and during the season (months with the letter “R” in them), they have excellent oysters. The mullet is still the best in town but any of the seafood is gonna be good. They offer a full line of adult beverages, not just Schlitz.

The Reef

In the old days, the Reef was a bar called the Cutty Shark. There’s still a bar downstairs with live music and lots of celebration. About 10 years ago, new owners converted the upstairs to a seafood restaurant with an ocean motif. The Reef has excellent fresh seafood at a moderate to upper price scale. It’s another favorite local hangout where good food and good music are the daily fare.

Triggers

This is another place that’s gone through some transitions. It used to be a little convenience store in the 1980s but now it’s one of Perdido’s most popular and consistently good places to eat. They specialize in, duh, triggerfish, which produces a hearty white piece of meat. Fishermen used to throw triggerfish away because they were considered trash fish. Then someone decided to clean one of the weird looking critters and found a beautiful triangular slab of meat. Now, it’s coveted for its delicious flavor and variety of ways it can be cooked. The trigger salad and trigger omelets are outstanding, as is the lemon pepper trigger. This is also a great place for steak and potatoes, and a good drink. Trigger’s has a beautiful mahogany bar where you’ll find locals (and the owners) trading lies about everything from fishing to politics.

Shrimp Basket

Locally owned, there are three Shrimp Baskets in the Perdido/Pensacola area. Their shrimp, fish and crab is excellent and mostly fried, although getting it grilled is standard on the menu. It’s quick, easy and the folks are friendly. Locals eat there although it’s not really a local “hangout”. They do a brisk business with tourists and locals alike. The SB has a full bar and dining inside or out.

Subway

It’s kind of hidden in the mostly vacated strip mall at the base of the bridge where our other grocery store used to be. Subway is next to a liquor store and across the parking lot from the Burger King. When you get out of your car, you’ll smell the French fries cooking at BK but your conscience will remind you that a freshly-made sandwich is better for your health.

Vallarta’s

This is Perdido’s best Mexican restaurant because it’s our only Mexican restaurant. Truth is, it’s a great place for inexpensive and very tasty Mex cuisine. It’s also a gathering spot for a lot of locals. You see more people at Vallarta’s than at the Winn Dixie. Thursday night is Margarita night (house Margs are $1) and the place is always packed. The restaurant is locally owned and the owners have three or four more scattered around town. Good eats and good folks abound here.

Voyagers – Dinner only

Even though Voyagers is not technically in Perdido and is really in Orange Beach, it’s close enough and so incredibly good that it needs to be mentioned. This is a shore ‘nuff fancy restaurant with table cloths, waiters in tuxedos and a wine menu that outshines anything around. For my money, this is the best fine dining from Pensacola to New Orleans. Even though the prices are more than a typical fry house, it’s not outrageously priced. For a special occasion – wife’s birthday, anniversary, new job, or you’re trying to make up with your significant other for doing something stupid – this is the place. With wine, salad, appetizer and entrée, a couple can have a fabulous dinner for around $100. Not only that, but the view is excellent looking out over the gulf. Try to get there before the sunset so you can enjoy the scenery along with the excellent service.

By Sea...

There’s something very special about finishing your dessert, climbing into your boat and motoring away into the sunset. Eating in itself is a great sport but combining that with boating just can’t be beat.

Bayside Grille

This is a longtime favorite, also in Orange Beach, that is accessible by water. The docking is sketchy because the marina is full of boats. There’s usually a place for a small boat to tie up but anything more than 24 feet better not go. The food is medium to upscale and excellent. In the summer the wait is forever so go early or during the off season.

Fisherman’s Wharf

You can get here by boat too but you have to tie up under the bridge somewhere. Located a block off the water, they don’t have a dock but the folks at Perdido Seafood don’t seem to mind if you tie up at their dock. The Wharf is another place that specializes in fried seafood and fries. It’s a definite local hangout with good, affordable food and excellent cold beer. The place is super laid back and the food is great.

Flora-Bama

When I was flying home from Amsterdam in 1983 and met two different people from around the world who had both heard of the Flora-Bama, I knew the place had achieved legendary status. Its image has only grown over the year but a lot of people still don’t realize they serve lots of food. Their royal red shrimp are so good a friend of mine from Maine stopped eating lobster. They have oysters during season and a variety of foods for anyone’s tastes. Best thing is you can claim you’re going there to eat when other things are really on your mind. But don’t blame me when you return home at 2 a.m. to an angry spouse. There’s a dock on Ole River where you can tie up the boat and walk or you can just beach it and toss the anchor on land. If you’re fishing or cruising in the gulf, you can technically get there by boat but don’t try to beach it, even on a day that seems calm. The only way to approach the Bama in the gulf is by anchoring and swimming in. If there’s no swell on the first sandbar, you can usually get within a few feet of the beach (depending on your boating skills).

Hub Stacey’s

This is a sister joint to the Hub’s in downtown P’cola. They serve pitas and sandwiches on plastic plates and have beer and bar drinks. It ain’t fancy but the food is good and the view of the Intracostal Waterway from under a canopy of live oaks is as peaceful as it gets. Hub’s is a favorite of locals and bikers so don’t expect anything fancy. Wear you flip flops, a smile and enjoy.

Pirates Cove

This is what the Flora-Bama used to be like before it got famous. Strictly a beach bar and restaurant, this is one of the few places where the majority of the people come by boat, run it up on the beach and get so laid back their attitude drags in the sand. Known for many year for their hamburgers with gin in the sauce, some have said this is the where Jimmy Buffet wrote Cheeseburger in Paradise. Even if he didn’t, he sure as hell could have. They also serve a mean pizza, chicken strips and stuff like that to keep you munching in between your drinking. The bushwhackers come standard with a 151 rum floater, the beer is cold and the view is awesome. Dogs stroll around inside, even though a sign says “No Dogs Inside” and most everyone is barefooted and shirtless, mocking the “no shoes, no shirts” sign of our times. Kids and adults swim and flop on the beach while music plays to the crowd. If you’re from out of town and want to see what a real live redneck looks like, this is the place to come. Of course, that redneck might be a sheet rock hanger or a painter or he might be the Chairman of Regions Bank on his million-dollar yacht. Rich or poor or in between, all of us rednecks love Pirate’s Cove. Get yourself a Pirate’s Cove Riff-Raff t-shirt, munch a burger and you might qualify to be called Bubba. Like the Bama, The Cove boasts some killer live music and the party always goes deep into the Alabama night.   

Sunset Grille

The view from the deck is stunning as you look west at Perdido Key, Ono Island, Ole River and the ICW. The food is good too. It’s your typical beach cuisine of fried fish, fries and cole slaw but they’ll also grill and blacken. You can’t beat the view, the music selection is always great and they welcome boaters who can tie up right at the dock at the restaurant.

Tacky Jacks

Another Orange Beach restaurant, this is on the list because you can get there by boat. The seafood is good, the view is excellent and the docking facilities are superb. There’s a full bar and a great Sunday breakfast with special Bloody Mary’s. The wait is always long so get a Bloody and settle in.

The Wharf

The antithesis of Pirate’s Cove, The Wharf is a multi-million dollar complex also in Orange Beach. It’s mentioned here, of course, because you can get there by boat. There are several excellent restaurants, a Rave movie theatre, a Ferris wheel and they even had an ice rink for a while in the early winter. There’s too much to list here but check out The Wharf online. It’s a fun place for the family.