Sadly, our summer vacation has come to an end and we’re back in the real world. A week on St. George Island just wasn’t enough. Not enough time to do all of the playing in the ocean, chillin’ on the beach, going fishing and visiting new restaurants that we all wanted to do. Two weeks would have been better. Maybe I should start a GoFundMe for that extra week next year.
I’m going to do something a little different with this entry. Rather than writing up a separate entry for each restaurant that we tried, I’m going to roll them all into one post…kinda like I did with our trip to Aruba a few years back. I’ll list out what we ordered at each restaurant but I’m not going into detail about who had what. Of course I’ll include the usual Thumbs rating and a few general comments about each restaurant.
Before I dig into the restaurant reviews, let me say a thing or two about St. George Island itself. It may have been the most relaxing vacation destination that I’ve ever been to. If you’re into big entertainment, think mini golf, go carts, slingshot rides, arcades and the like, you might want to stick with Panama City. If you like wall to wall multi-story condos, traffic and lots of people, stick with PC, Destin, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. If you like beach houses, small mom & pop motels, really fresh seafood and very little traffic…give St. George Island a look. This was our first trip to the Island, but it definitely won’t be our last.
Now, on to the restaurant reviews that you’ve been waiting for. We cooked in the beach house we had rented for the week to save some cash but we did manage to try a few of the restaurants on the island or in Eastpoint across the bay. Here’s the run-down…
The Beach Pit
The Beach Pit is the barbeque joint on the island. We didn’t go for barbeque but I did swing over and pick up some biscuits one morning for breakfast.
Our order included: an egg and cheese biscuit, bacon biscuits and a sausage bagel. While we gave The Beach Pit a healthy 8 thumbs up out of a possible 10, the score might be a bit generous. I was told that the biscuits were all very good but were mostly cold. Why? Because when I got back to the beach house I discovered that we were short a bacon biscuit and I ended up having to go back to pick up the missing biscuit. Now I’d read in a few reviews that the service at the Beach Pit could be a bit slow at times but I thought “how long could it possibly take to make up one bacon biscuit?” The answer to that question was about 15 minutes. And the sausage bagel…pretty sad. I’m not sure exactly how the sausage patties were cooked but it definitely wasn’t on a frying pan or a griddle.
Weber’s Little Donut Shop
Weber’s now has a second location! Some of you may have read my previous entry about their other location on Cape San Blas. We loved their donuts and glazed croissants so of course we had to give the new SGI location a try…and we had to go back a second time just to be sure.
Our selections incuded: glazed, nekkid (no glaze), strawberry, coconut and sprinkles. Thumbs score: easy, 10 out of a possible 10. Yeah, they were just as good as the CSB location.
The Blue Parrot, SGI
The Blue Parrot overlooks the beach just west of the St. George Lighthouse and reminded me of Pineapple Willy’s in PCB or Toucan’s in Mexico Beach…well, it was in Mexico Beach before hurricane Michael tore it apart last October. But, never fear, word is Toucan’s will be back and better than ever.
OK, back to the Blue Parrot…our orders included: fried grouper sandwich with fries, grilled yellowfin tuna steak with baked potato and salad, crab cakes and fries and a shrimp po-boy, fries and a cup of gumbo. We gave the Blue Parrot 7 thumbs up out of a possible 10. In general, I think everyone was fairly pleased with their meal though there were comments that the grouper sandwich, crab cakes and shrimp po-boy were nothing special and earned half-thumb deductions. The Blue Parrot also got a half-thumb deduction from me for utilizing frozen fries instead of cutting them fresh.
The Pesky Pelican, Eastpoint
We visited the Pesky Pelican on the recommendation of a friend who had eaten there last fall, just before the hurricane Michael. Like many other restaurants on the Gulf coast between Mexico Beach and Carabelle, the Pesky Pelican was heavily damaged by the storm. Fortunately they were able to relocate/rebuild within just a few months.
Our orders included: Pesky Shrimp (think fried shrimp coated in Yum Yum Sauce from your favorite hibachi restaurant…but with a little bit of a kick) with fries, hush puppies and baked beans, the flounder filet basket with fries, cole slaw and hush puppies and a Philly cheesesteak with fries. How many thumbs? How about an easy 10 out of a possible 10 and throw in some toes. BTW, if you haven’t already guessed, the fries were fresh cut and they were good!
BJ’s Pizza
One of two pizza joints on the island. ConnieLou called in our order and I went to pick it up and they had just come out of the oven when I got there.
Our order included: a buffalo chicken pizza, a ground beef and pepperoni pizza and one with spinach and artichokes. BJ’s earned a respectable 9.5 thumbs out of a possible 10. To me, the buffalo chicken pizza was the best of the bunch.
Aunt Ebby’s Ice Cream
What’s a beach vacation without going out for ice cream a time or two or three or… Aunt Ebby’s was within walking distance of our beach house…a potentially dangerous situation. We somehow managed to limit ourselves to just two trips.
With 16 flavors of ice cream available, our selections included: pecan pralines and cream, birthday cake, cookie dough, happy tracks, vanilla with caramel sauce, cookies and cream and butter pecan. Of course Aunt Ebby’s earned 10 thumbs out of a possible 10. Seriously, someone would have to screw their ice cream up pretty bad to get a deduct, right? BTW, it was really good.
Last but not least, Lucky Goat Coffee Company. A coffee shop in a 6×8 trailer in front of The Pig (the Piggly Wiggly Express). Coffee, espresso, macchiatos and lattes. Without a lot of detail, 10 thumbs up out of a possible 10 and sure beat the Folgers we were making.
