Restaurants/Bars

Below are the List of local restaurants and bars that we have attended with our personal reviews of them. Please note that everyone’s opinion and what they consider as the perfect dining experience may differ. These reviews are based on our experiences. Based on my experience all All You Can Eats (AYCE) places have mediocre quality food at best. We don’t suggest any AYCE places.

Dining and Bar

  • Fast Eddies (11805 Coastal Hwy)
    • One of our go to places! Offers great food at a good price. They offer some type of live entertainment just about every day.
  • The Original Green Turtle (11601 Coastal Hwy)
    • The best sports bar to hang out and grab a beer! The do have NFL ticket! Staff is friendly. Food is ok bar food.
  • Harrison’s Harbor Watch (806 S Atlantic Ave BOARDWALK)
    • My favorite place to eat! The food is really good and have unlimited sides with entrees (red skin potato’s and green beans are my favs). Staff is very friendly! Bonus…since they overlook the inlet you can watch the dolphins as you eat!
  • Liquid Assets (9301 Coastal Hwy)
    • A little more upscale, a little more expensive, but well worth it! They have the best burger I have EVER had! Also they have a fully stocked wine/beer/and liquor store there for take out.
  • Whiskers Pub (11805 Coastal Hwy)
    • I would NOT recommend this place for non-locals. The female bartender that is usually there only caters to the locals. If you go you will probably wait a while before getting your beer or food at the bar. If you have a suggestion or a complaint, I would defiantly not tell her. You will not like the results.
  • Tailchasers (12203 Coastal Hwy)
    • Fun place and good food. They have a playground in the sand out back for the kids to play in.
  • Bourbon Street on the Beach (12601 Coastal Hwy)
    • Great place for live music! Food is good and service is friendly. Sometimes they do get a bit busy. I would recommended this place for adults only after 7 or 8 pm.
  • Duffy’s Tavern (12919 Coastal Hwy)
  • Tequila Mockingbird (12919 Coastal Hwy)
  • The Crab Bag (13005 Coastal Hwy)
    • If you are looking for the OC AYCE crab experience this is a good place to go. They also have many other things on the menu. Conch fritters! One of the few places I have been to that have them outside of Florida.
  • Albertino’s Brick Oven Eatery (13117 Coastal Hwy)
    • Great homemade Italian food
  • Higgins Crab House (13201 Coastal Hwy NORTH)
    • If you are looking for the OC AYCE crab experience this is a good place to go. They have 2 locations, 1 in the north and 1 in the south.
  • Higgins Crab House (3102 Philadelphia Ave SOUTH)
  • Taphouse Bar & Grill (13729 Coastal Hwy NORTH)
  • 45th St Taphouse (4507 Coastal Hwy)
  • Nick’s House of Ribs (14410 Coastal Hwy)
  • The Original Crabcake Factory (12000 Coastal Hwy &120th)
    • Although I don’t really agree with the owners views on life in general, I do believe this is the best crabcake in OC and do go there often to get my crabcake fix
  • The Carousel Patio Bar & Grill (behind Carousel Condos 11700 Coastal Hwy)
  • Ropewalk (8203 Coastal Hwy)
  • Hooked (8003 Coastal Hwy)
    • Food and service is amazing. It is a small place so you might want to get a reservation first. If you are there in the off-season, they have one of the best menus with 1/2 price entrees.
  • Longboard Cafe (6701 Coastal Hwy)
    • Good lunchtime spot
  • Annabell’s BBQ & Creamery (6401 Coastal Hwy)
    • Good BBQ. They do a great job with their sauces.
  • Dead Freddies Island Grill (105 64th St)
  • Macky’s Bar & Grill (5311 Coastal Hwy)
    • Closed for 2022 season
  • Seacrets (117 49th St)
    • Great place if you are between the ages of 21 and 25 and dont mind crowds. They have a really cool setup where you can go get a table IN the bay and have a few drinks. This is generally a younger crowd hangout, especially at night.
    • Seacrets does have an onsite distillery. I would highly recommend the tours of that. It was a lot of fun and you get to taste a large sample of what they offer. They do a good job distilling, the liquor is really good.
  • Dry 85 (12 48th St)
  • The Lookout Lounge at 38-75 (4507 Coastal Hwy)
  • Coconuts Beachfront Bar & Grill (3701 Atlantic Ave)
    • Probably the best alcohol happy hour, and it is only 1 hour, 2 for 1 drinks!
  • Shotti’s Point (3505 Coastal Hwy)
    • Try the garlic fries!
  • Dry Dock 28/Buxy’s Salty Dog Saloon (2709 Philadelphia Ave)
    • Fun place to hang out. This is a Pittsburgh Steelers bar. As a New England Patriots fan even I was accepted. Staff is very friendly. Food is great. they offer things most other places don’t like pierogies. They have one of my favorite “gourmet” pizzas in OC called the Ishmael. It is a crab pizza with honey drizzle.
  • 28th St Pit-n-Pub (2706 Philadelphia Ave)
    • Good BBQ. They just added a rooftop deck which was cool except dealing with all the noise from Coastal HWY. I guess its good people watching from there.
  • Coins Pub (2820 Philadelphia Ave)
    • Fun place to hang out at. Bartenders are friendly. I am told they have an incredible crabcake. I have not yet had the chance to try one there yet but it is on the list.
  • Mother’s Cantina (2810 Philadelphia Ave)
    • Good Mexican food
  • Blu Crabhouse (2305 Philadelphia Ave)
  • Fish Tales (2107 Herring Way)
  • De Lazy Lizard (305 N. 1st St)
    • Tourist trap. We went there once and were about to order the crab dip. The server was nice enough to warn us about the price of $34. We declined and walked down the street to Harbor Watch and got crab dip there for $12.
  • Spain Wine Bar (13 St. Louis Ave)
    • OK so I know I said we don’t do AYCEs in OC. This place is the exception for Saturday and Sunday brunch. Also it is not a buffet. You order small plates and the food is brought to your table from a server. The food is AMAZING! Could be considered a little pricy and upscale for OC standards. It is on top of the hotel
  • M.R. Ducks (311 Talbot St)
  • Shenanigan’s Irish Pub (309 Atlantic Ave BOARDWALK)
    • Fun place to drink. They usually have live music. From what I have seen usually Irish music.
  • Brass Balls Saloon (1105 Atlantic Ave BOARDWALK)
    • I have been told that this is one of the best breakfast spots in OC. I have not tried it yet for breakfast. It is a cool place to hang out at the bar and enjoy the sights of the ocean
  • Coastal Salt (1601 Atlantic Ave BOARDWALK)
    • There has been some controversy about one of the owners being involved in some criminal activity so we have not been in a while. Recently that owner was “fired” by the main owner. We are keeping our eye on the news before we go back there. Right now I just cant morally support that business.

Pizza

  • Pizza Tugos (11623 Coastal Hwy)
  • Grotto Pizza (12407 Coastal Hwy)
  • Lombardi’s (9203 Coastal Hwy)
  • Ripieno’s (3205 Philadelphia Ave)

Breakfast

Note We are not really breakfast people, we rely on the closest Dunks for our iced tea.

  • Dunkin’ (11901 Coastal Hwy North)
  • Starbucks (53001 123rd St North)
  • Bayside Skillet (7701 Coastal Hwy)
  • Barn 34 (3400 Coastal Hwy)
    • This place is AMAZING! BUT good luck getting in. Plan ahead and go when they first open, or even before they open. They have 5 parking spots so plan to find a parking somewhere else. After about 8am usually there is about 50 people or more hanging out in the parking lot waiting to get in.

Subs/Hoagies