Locals Guide to the Best PCB Restaurants

If trying top local eateries is one of the best parts of your vacation, then you’ve come to the right spot. Our curated list covers everything from early-morning essentials like coffee and brunch to casual lunch spots and elevated dinner options. So, no matter what you’re in the mood for, you can find it here in Panama City Beach.

As you begin to prep for your beach getaway, let our local’s guide to the best PCB restaurants be your trip-planning best friend. Check out our top recommendations below, and be sure to add some of these excellent spots to your itinerary!

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Coffee & Bakeries

We’ve been told since childhood, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. With that in mind, here are our top picks for your early morning pick-me-up!

Sunrise Café and Bakery

Sunrise Bakery is a family-owned and operated staple in Panama City Beach. With a focus on fresh-made goods and quality service, their breakfast, lunch, and coffee options do not disappoint.

The menu features classic items like biscuits, waffles, breakfast burritos, bagels, and English muffins. But it’s the exquisite homemade donuts and their signature fried and glazed croissants that really steal the show.

Their coffee options offer a variety of cappuccino and late flavors like the chocolaty caramel Milky Way, dirty chai, and nutty caramel, to name a few. Or you can keep it simple with a good old-fashioned drip from Amavida’s Organic Eclipse Blend.

Be sure to check out their European menu when you visit. These special menu items are available as ingredients allow, so they can change frequently. But you’ll find items that range from fluffy pierogies to wholesome borscht giving this spot a very unique twist to most Panama City Beach restaurants.

Panama City Coffee

With the goal of breathing life back into his beloved community in the wake of Hurricane Michael, Daniel Pratt dreamed up Panama City Coffee Co. This dream started as a cold brew bicycle cart, grew to a food truck, and now exists as a brick-and-mortar where you can try his hand-roasted specialties and fresh baked goods. 

Try their signature Chocolate lavender latte and a homemade pop tart, or beat the heat with a nitro cold brew and an acai bowl. You can even pick up a bag of brew-at-home beans to take back to your vacation rental.   

Brunch

When you need a bit more than coffee and a pastry, these brunch spots in PCB are a must. 

Lotus Café & Juice Bar at Zen Garden

While it’s known for its vegetarian and vegan options, the Lotus Café and Juice Bar still has items for the meat lovers out there. Embrace the fare that won them the honor of Best Vegetarian Restaurant in PCB when you order the Power Wrap or one of their other popular sandwiches. Or fuel up with their salmon plate, complete with rice, black beans, and their signature Zen Slaw.

Their robust menu offers an extensive list of breakfast and lunch items, as well as coffee drinks, smoothies, and fresh-pressed juice. They’re open daily, so you can check them out any time during your vacation.

First Watch

Another award-winning brunch spot in PCB is First Watch. Dig into seasonal specialties like their shishito brisket hash or the strawberry tres leches French toast, or go traditional with a classic eggs benedict. Whatever you do, make sure you order the million-dollar bacon. This salty-spicy candied bacon is what dreams are made of. And though you can certainly share it… you won’t want to. 

First Watch is open daily from 7 AM – 2:30 PM and is located on Panama City Beach Parkway.

Another Broken Egg Café

As a relatively larger chain, you may be familiar with Another Broken Egg. But if you’re not, it’s certainly worth a visit while you’re here. This casual restaurant serves up southern-inspired dishes as well as hand-crafted cocktails, delivering everything you could want in a brunch spot.

The menu ranges from lighter options like their veggie delight omelette, with goat cheese, spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms, to their rich, decadent shrimp and grits loaded with andouille sausage, peppers, onions, fresh shrimp, and creamy cheese grits. No matter what you’re craving, you can satisfy it here.

Our perfect order:

• Chicken and Waffles for that salty-sweet combo
• A beach-centric Abe Cyclone cocktail made with Captain Morgan and house-made punch

Lunch

After a few days of beachside turkey sandwiches, try these favored lunch spots.

Dat Cajun Place

Winner of the Best Oysters, Best Meal for Your Money, and Best New Restaurant in Bay County for 2022, Dat Cajun Place continues to impress visitors with its downhome charm and exceptional food. 

Each week, they offer daily specials which are available while supplies last. These special dishes include Wednesday’s Jambalaya, Monday’s Red Beans and Rice, and our favorite: Friday’s Tower of Crawfish Cakes and Fried Green Tomatoes. This mega-flavor powerhouse meal layers two of the most popular southern ingredients and covers them with a luscious cream sauce.

Beyond the specials, they offer a menu as long as a record-breaking gator. Whether you’re enjoying a po’boy or a seafood basket, you can’t go wrong. They even offer seafood boils starting at 5 PM. 

Open every day of the week until 10 PM; stop by and see why it’s “the place you go to feel at home.”

Wicked Wheel

At Wicked Wheel, you’ll experience “Revved up family dining” that highlights deep-rooted southern cooking and the best ingredients on the coast. This bar and grill combines family fun with great food and even better service, guaranteeing a wonderful experience for all.

The décor is equally as exciting as the food. Centered around hot rods, classic cars, and the occasional strategically placed skeleton, half the fun is just checking out everything around you.

Start with some pickle chips, followed by their award-winning fried chicken. And wash it down with a moonshine cocktail in a souvenir cup. 

Wicked Wheel is located on Hutchison Blvd in Panama City Beach and is open 7 days a week from 11 AM to 10 PM.

Dinner

Going out for dinner after a day of fun in the sun is a beach vacation rite of passage. While there aren’t any beachfront restaurants or fine dining options listed here in our top choices, you will find beautiful waterfront views and absolutely delicious entrees waiting for you. 

The Grand Marlin

First up for dinner is the Grand Marlin Restaurant and Oyster Bar. If you're after the absolute freshest fish in Panama City Beach, you can’t beat a place that prints its menus daily to accommodate the daily haul.

Not only does Grand Marlin offer beautiful sunset views over the water, but its casual elegance is what other beach restaurants dream of being. With an ever-changing menu, it’s hard to tell you what to try because we certainly advocate for whatever the chef has prepared that day. But some staples are fixed, like the prime rib served with whipped potatoes and a creamy horseradish sauce or the grouper piccata with sauteed spinach and a parmesan crust.

After your meal, or while you wait to be seated, stop by their gift shop and browse branded shirts, hats, and cooking supplies.

Dinner starts at 4 PM, and reservations are recommended.

Captain Anderson’s

Named by Southern Living Magazine as Florida’s #1 Most Legendary Restaurant, Captain Anderson’s has been a favorite for more than 50 years. Every 8-month season, they serve a quarter of a million guests, and families continue to come back year after year.

Don’t skimp here – you’ll want to try a lot of items. Their seared sea scallops and crab fingers will start any meal off right. Follow it up with the stuffed lobster or flounder, or go big with the seafood platter. Dubbed “World Famous,” the platter comes with a ½ stuffed and broiled Florida lobster, shrimp, scallops, fresh fish, and stuffed crabs for an all-encompassing experience. 

If there’s still room, their dessert menu is every sweet tooth’s dream. Choose from peanut butter pie, chocolate silk pie, cheesecakes, key lime pie, cakes, and more!

Someone may need to roll you home after this meal, but it’ll have been worth every bit, we promise.

The restaurant is open every day but Sunday, and dinner service begins at 4 PM.

Book Your Foodie Getaway to PCB Today!

There’s more to PCB restaurants than shrimp baskets and gimmicky chains. If you truly want to explore the food scene like a local, be sure to add a few of these top spots to your vacation.

Now that your stomach is growling and your appetite is sufficiently primed, the only thing standing between you and these tasty spots is booking your vacation rental. At Nautical Properties, we have everything from beach resort rentals to and our local team is available to help you find the perfect spot for you and your family or group.

We invite you to browse all our available vacation rentals and book your stay directly with Nautical Properties today!