The Best Places for Seafood Along Alabama's Gulf Coast
By Karen Reinsberg & Gavin Booth, Coupleinthekitchen.Com
We were compensated for our visit, but our opinions are completely our own.
By Karen Reinsberg & Gavin Booth, Coupleinthekitchen.Com
We were compensated for our visit, but our opinions are completely our own.
If you’re looking for the best places with the most delicious seafood in Gulf Shores, we have you covered. We spent weeks researching and five days eating nothing but seafood to determine the best places to get local seafood and fish. Join us on our getaway to the sun-soaked shores of the Gulf Coast of Alabama.
The sand is fine and powder white, the beaches are pristine, and the fresh seafood is plentiful. If you’re looking for the ultimate guide to tasty seafood on the Alabama Gulf Coast, visit these favorites of ours.
Voyagers
The best food we ate in the Gulf Shores region was at Voyagers Restaurant. Not only did this high-end restaurant mix up the best cocktails, but the food on the dinner menu was nothing short of mouthwatering. The dining room overlooks the shoreline, but it is a more formal dining scene than many of the restaurants on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Thus, it’s one of the best restaurants to celebrate a special occasion or a date night. We started our meal with some broiled oysters. There are four types to choose from, but we couldn’t resist the “Frenchie” version which are local oysters filled with foie gras and bone marrow butter. They were rich, tender, and had so much flavor. We were happy to learn that the chef is sometimes able to get lionfish in to add it to the special’s menu.
Lionfish is a colorful, but venomous fish that is overpopulating water in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is also our favorite fish and often difficult to find on most menus since the fish needs to be speared to be caught. The lionfish was served raw as a crudo with pea shoots and boiled peanuts. While it was a seemingly unlikely combination, we loved the soft-boiled peanuts with the delicate fish flavor. If lionfish isn’t on the menu, they almost always have a tiradito appetizer on the menu. We also tried the seasonal tuna tiradito.
It was perfectly balanced between sweet and heat with deep-fried jalapeno slices and juicy, compressed watermelon. Another highlight of the menu is the chicken fried lobster tails. It was one of the best things we ate on the trip, and it will be hard to ever go back to eating regular chicken-fried steak! Living in the South, we know our way around anything chicken-fried (we even figured out how to make homemade chicken-fried steak in the air fryer!) but we never have tasted chicken-fried lobster before. It is a game-changer! The salty batter works so well with the light, sweet lobster.It’s the best way to enjoy the chicken-fried batter without being too heavy. While we are focusing on seafood for this trip, if you’re looking for red meat, they have a number of premium steak options, some of which are from a local Alabama Wagyu farm. Finally, we ended a terrific meal with an even more tasty dessert. A Basque cheesecake made with pistachio and topped with caramel sauce and pistachio brittle. It is essentially the dessert of Karen’s dreams and it did NOT disappoint.
27200 Perdido Beach Blvd #3205, Orange Beach, AL 36561
Jesse’s Restaurant On The Bay
Just west of Gulf Shores is the town of Fort Morgan. That’s where you’ll find Jesse’s On The Bay. The building has been a part of the bay for 75 years, but when Jesse’s just west of Gulf Shores, opened in 1980 they updated the decor and turned the old store into a restaurant. Jesse’s is named after the shopkeeper of Moore’s Store who never missed a day of work in 60-year career. Today, the restaurant features a large wrap-around deck and a vast wall of gorgeous windows that display the pristine bay.
The Admiral oysters are super local, having been harvested just a few miles away, they are served with a flavorful mignonette loaded with Asian flavors. We also ordered the crab and Tasso gratin dip, which was a rich dip served with rolls and loaded with cheesy cream. Finally, we savored a big bowl of the local shrimp and cheese grits. This Southern staple was packed with flavor and lots of butter. This place, on the bay, is perfect for date night without being too expensive. If you are looking for top-tier beef, their steaks are dry aging right in the waiting area, which would be a delicious addition to all the seafood we savored.
1631 Crosswinds Ct, Gulf Shores, AL 36542
Fire Smoked Fish Company
The Fire Smoked Fish Company specialty market looks unsuspecting from the humble storefront, but some of the best food we ate in the gulf came from this local smokehouse. The smoked salmon dip would rival any fancy fish dip from a Michelin-starred eatery. The salmon is smoked and mixed with their tangy, homemade remoulade. The remoulade has a nice kick of mustard, and it is so good we were eating it by the spoonful. While we were there, the chef was pulling off some Cajun-seasoned Alabama redfish and local triggerfish from the smoker.
Redfish isn’t always our favorite filet of fish, but we were shocked by how delicious it was off the smoker. It was definitely our favorite of all the Cajun-style seafood dishes that we ate. The fish is definitely the star at Fire Smoked Fish Company, but they also offer smoked sausage and some massive pork chops. The sausage is juicy, slightly sweet, and with a kiss of smoke. This is not a dine-in establishment, so pick up some smoked fish, a tub of fish dip, and some side dishes at the counter and bring it home or head to a picnic table.
1544 Gulf Shores Pkwy, Gulf Shores, AL 36542
The Perch
The Perch is located at The Lodge at Gulf State Park in the heart of Gulf Shores. It’s one of the best places to enjoy a view of the ocean from a rooftop. Start by sipping on their coconut margarita while taking in the views of the coast. This cocktail was garnished with a coconut rim and was perfectly flavorful: not too sour, not too sweet. Next, we really enjoyed the champagne-poached shrimp cocktail where the shrimp were plump and sweet. For our main courses, we knew we had to order their specialty, the whole fried fish the catch of the day changes depending on what was caught that day. During our visit, they were offering a whole flounder, but more often than not you might find them serving up a fried snapper or redfish. We also savored the colossal Alabama gulf shrimp, which we imagined would be served on a skillet in garlic butter, but it actually came on a slice of sourdough topped with a tomato jam, like a tartine, which was surprisingly a favorite!
21196 E Beach Blvd, Gulf Shores, AL 36542
Zeke’s Restaurant
Zeke’s Restaurant is located overlooking a marina on the beach, but that doesn’t mean that the view is any less charming. We relaxed on the patio on the marina, watching boats come in and pelicans fly across the sunset, and Zeke’s served up really good food and it is a local favorite. Their seafood boil is a gigantic seafood platter complete with the freshest seafood and loaded with local Gulf-boiled shrimp, crab legs, PEI mussels, red potatoes, corn on the cob, and local Conecuh Alabama sausage. It’s a lovely way to enjoy a seafood feast! We also couldn’t resist the surf & turf burger. The high-quality burger featured Alabama Wagyu from a local farm, and it was topped with lobster and a creamy Gulf Coast aioli. While technically the lobster wasn’t local to the gulf, we think it still counts since the beef was hyperlocal.
26619 Perdido Beach Blvd, Orange Beach, AL 36561
Murder Point Oyster Company
Murder Point Oyster Company provides premium oysters coming from the Gulf. They are harvested in the bay, but you can get them shucked at the Murder Point Oyster Company location in The Wharf entertainment area. “Oysters Worth Killing For” is their slogan, and they are without question some of the best oysters you can get from the gulf. To be transparent, we typically prefer East Coast or West Coast oysters over Gulf oysters, but if we're going to savor Gulf oysters, we always look for Murder’s Point. You can find these oysters on many menus across the shore (and also all across the country), but head to their storefront for a quick snack while you’re wandering around The Wharf complex in Orange Beach, Alabama. Choose from raw oysters on the half-shell or oysters that have been grilled with cheese, bacon, and butter. We had both types, and each of the options was delicious.
23101 Canal Rd F-123, Orange Beach, AL 36561
Cobalt the Restaurant
Cobalt the Restaurant is located in the marina but still offers a lovely patio with views of boats and Bird Island. They offer a casual dining setting while still getting a great seafood meal. The fried crab claws are a seafood favorite in Gulf Shores, so, of course, we needed to start off our meal with those deep-fried crab morsels. Like most Gulf restaurants, there was no shortage of fresh or char-broiled oysters, including their Creole-broiled oysters casino. Those oysters are topped with Tasso, cream cheese, gouda cheese, red bell peppers and jalapenos. They were served with toast and tasted like a mix between pimento cheese, a jalapeno popper, and a broiled oyster. We also tried the scallop and crab cakes, a meatier version of a traditional crab cake served over slaw and a yummy green tomato sauce.
28099 Perdido Beach Blvd, Orange Beach, AL 36561
Flora-Bama
Flora-Bama is a total icon on the Gulf Coast. They serve up a variety of food offerings at the Oyster Bar; from raw options to those baked with butter and parmesan to Cajun style to Oysters McClellan, which is topped with butter, gruyere cheese, bacon and green onions. Enjoy their oysters alongside other pub-style food while you look out at the coast and cool off with their world-famous Bushwhacker. This specialty frozen drink is a milkshake-like blend of coffee liqueur, Irish cream, vodka, rum, amaretto, and coconut cream.
This iconic landmark offers live music every day across multiple stages and is always showing the guests a good time; it’s evident by the hundreds of bras strung up on lines across the main bar: as a donation from ladies who are enjoying the party! They do offer an easy-going atmosphere, fun for the whole family up until 9 pm, and then it converts to an adults-only establishment at nighttime. When we visited during the day, both kids and adults alike were being entertained by the free bingo games inside. Grab a plate of oysters and a beer and listen to live music while you straddle both Florida and Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
17401 Perdido Key Dr, Pensacola, FL 32507
CoastAL
If you love key lime pie, be sure to order CoastAL’s frozen key lime pie pina colada cocktail. Located in the city of Orange Beach and stretched across the shore, CoastAL has its main restaurant right next to its beach bar. A courtyard with tables and a live music stage connects the two. Both spots are waterfront restaurants, with the beach bar offering a slightly more easy-going environment and a casual menu While dining at the beach bar, we paired the key lime pina colada cocktail with a serving of their tuna poke nachos on wonton chips. These tuna “nachos” were so big, they could easily feed 3-4 people. It’s a great spot to hang out during the day for a seafood lunch.
25722 Perdido Beach Blvd, Orange Beach, AL 36561
We have spent a lot of time on the Texas Gulf shore, but we were floored by how incredible our visit to Alabama’s Gulf Coast was. The sand was whiter, the ocean was bluer, and the seafood tasted even sweeter and cleaner. You will not be disappointed in your trip to the Alabama Gulf Coast or in any of the seafood you devour while you’re there! Check out Sweet Home Alabama’s resources for even more information and tips when planning your trip.