Places to Eat
Our condo is located a very short walk from one of our favorite restaurants, The Back Porch.
The Back Porch has great food, a good gift shop, and beachfront seating with incredible views. You can check out their menu here.
It's an even shorter walk to our favorite dessert place, The Candy Maker. The Candy Maker has a huge assortment of freshly made candies, taffy, and desserts as well as ice cream and yogurt dispensers with a sundae bar. They also serve an assortment of hot and cold coffees, and they have a really good gift shop. It's a great place to stop by most any time of the day.
If you like fine dining there is a Ruth's Chris Steak House on site at Silver Shells Resort. It is very expensive but also absolutely delicious. You'll need reservations to eat there. Here's the menu.
Right across the street from our condo is The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. They have really good food and it is much cheaper than most of the other restaurants. It's a fun environment with Forrest Gump memorabilia everywhere and a good gift shop. You can take a picture out front on Forrest Gump's famous bench and visit their giftshop while you wait for your food.
Right next to Bubba Gump's, in the same parking lot, is Joe's Crab Shack. Joe's has great seafood although the crab is pretty expensive. It has a neat atmosphere and a giftshop.
Another really cool place to eat that is close to our condo is Fudpucker's Beachside Bar and Grill. Although the food is good, that's not why you go to Fudpucker's. They have a ton of things to do while you wait. There's an alligator pit with dozens of live alligators. You can buy bait and feed them with a cane pole. They have an alligator museum, alligator shows, lots of baby gators, and a big albino gator. There are lots of great photo opportunities and activities for kids. There's a huge arcade in the back and a huge gift shop in the front. You can write your names anywhere in the building with a sharpie and there are signatures everywhere. To top it all off they have guys going around and making balloon animals for the kids.
The six places listed above are all within a mile of our condo. We've actually walked to all of them besides Fudpucker's. But there are lots of other great places to eat that aren't very far away. I'll list a few of our favorites below.
When you cross the bridge to enter Destin you can't miss LuLu's. You'll often see a small green airplane buzzing around and landing on the water outback. Lulu's has great food and a really fun environment. There's a beach out back with lots of boats passing by. You can feed the fish and take some great pictures. Lulu's also has live music and a very good giftshop. Here's a link to their menu.
There are lots of great places to eat over by the Harbor Boardwalk. It's only a few miles from our condo to HarborWalk Village. Margaritaville and AJ's are within HarborWalk Village and Boshamps and McGuire's Bar and Grill are nearby.
The best bang for you buck is definitely McGuire's Irish Pub. It has a really cool environment with literally millions of dollars hanging from the ceiling and stapled to all the walls. It's heavy on Irishness and if you know any Notre Dame fans it is a must visit. The food is delicious and they are generous with their proportions. The most surprising thing about McGuire's is the price. It's about half what the other restaurants charge. There's also a mini mall to shop at while you wait. It's lit up at night and looks really cool. Here's a link to their menus.
If you're in the mood for delicious seafood Boshamps Seafood & Oyster House is an excellent choice. The "Snapper Destin" is one of the best things you'll ever eat. They have live music and fantastic views. Here's a link to their menu.
Margaritaville is at the HarborWalk Village. It has great views of all the boats in the harbor and live music. Here's a link to their menu.
If you don't want to leave Silver Shells Resort at all, and you just want a burger or some drinks, you can walk out back to the The Sand Bar on the beach. They'll even come around and take your order while you're lounging on the beach.
We have visited Destin a few more times since I made the list above. We have found a few new favorite spots in Destin and surrounding areas. We like Jackacuda's, Harbor Docks, Louis Louis, Harry T's Lighthouse, and we love Stinky's Fish Camp. We weren't crazy about Louisiana Lagniappe, Slick Lips, or The Crab Trap. We haven't gotten to try Dewey Destin's yet, but we've heard good things about it. As for breakfast restaurants, we tried The Donut Hole and it was ok. However, our best find on our last trip was Bistrology. They have great coffee, shakes, breakfast, and brunch. That's one place we will probably visit every time we go back.