8 Great Restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama

Our McCool Travel guide to restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama includes suggestions for date night, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and Orange Beach restaurants on the water.

Recommended items to order at Orange Beach AL restaurants are impossibly fresh Gulf shrimp (especially Royal Reds) and Gulf seafood (snapper, redfish), accompanied by local produce and ingredients.

One of the Easy and Helpful Ways to LOVE the Gulf Coast is to support local restaurants!

The Gulf

The Gulf Alabama Orange Beach
The Gulf is one of our favorite restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama

Our favorite casual Orange Beach beachfront restaurant is The Gulf. The lobster and shrimp roll is astounding especially when accompanied by their incredible fries and a cold local craft beer. Other items we love include shrimp tacos, Jamaican snapper, grouper sandwich, blackened grouper added to a salad, shrimp po’ boy, and the peel and eat shrimp.

The Gulf orange Beach lobster and shrimp rolll
The Gulf Orange Beach lobster and shrimp roll

For menus, hours, and more information visit The Gulf’s website.

Fisher’s Upstairs at Orange Beach Marina

Our recommended romantic Orange Beach restaurant for date night is Fisher’s Upstairs at Orange Beach Marina. Chef Bill Briand has received James Beard semi-finalist recognition five consecutive years. That is an extraordinary achievement and the dining experience here reflects his expertise, passion, and local ingredient knowledge.

See also Best US Gulf Coast Restaurants

one of the best Restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama is Fisher's Upstairs
fresh oysters at Fisher’s Upstairs at Orange Beach Marina

If you forced us to choose, we would select Fisher’s Upstairs as the best restaurant in Orange Beach Alabama. But please do not tell the other Orange Beach restaurants. We love all of them!

OSO at Bear Point Harbor

One of the best waterfront restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama is OSO at Bear Point Harbor. OSO is almost as fun to get to as it is being there. Driving to the end of an island and down a small road with a JetSki mailbox is as fun as it gets.

Once you check in with the hostess at OSO at Bear Point Harbor, request an outside table on a pleasant sunny day for a memorable experience. Watch the boaters come and go and, especially in the peak season, the tourists awkwardly boarding and debarking. I have not seen any major incidents yet so it has been fun people watching so far.

But the food. I will simply say that the below piece of redfish was the absolute tastiest fish filet I have had on the Alabama coast. And it topped one of the best salads I have had on the US Gulf Coast.

redfish atop fresh salad at OSO Bear Point Harbor
redfish atop fresh salad at OSO Bear Point Harbor

McCool Travel note: OSO means Bear in Spanish and we love restaurants with clever names that also deliver amazing meals.

For menus, hours, and more information visit OSO at Bear Point Harbor website.

Pier House

Highlights at the Pier House Orange Beach are the phenomenal appetizers and a delectable double key lime cake dessert. Tuna poke, tuna spring rolls, jumbo lump crab ceviche, and Gulf oysters are recommended appetizers. Pier House also has excellent craft cocktails; I love customizing a spicy margarita with the bar staff (make it spicier!).

Pier House Orange Beach key lime pie
Pier House Orange Beach key lime pie stack

Chef John Chapman (call him Chappy) will work the room when he is at Pier House and provides suggestions and stories —if you let him, and you should. Check out the local art work in the extra room where you enter the restaurant. Pier House is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

McCool Travel note: Chappy’s wife runs a restaurant in Bay St Louis, one of our favorite Mississippi Gulf Coast towns.

For menus, hours, and more information visit the Pier House website.

Voyagers at Perdido Beach Resort

The Voyagers restaurant inside Perdido Beach Resort is another recommended date night restaurant in Orange Beach. It has great water views, an impressive wine selection, and the freshest and most sustainable Gulf seafood and local ingredients possible.

We attended a NUISANCE dinner at Voyagers a few years ago, under the direction of Chef Brody Olive. NUISANCE raises awareness of flora and fauna which are a nuisance, underutilized or invasive, but sustainable and available through noble, culinary endeavors.

In other words, our meal included ingredients that are not friendly to the local environment, like oyster drills and venison. That was a unique Alabama beaches dining experience.

But more traditionally, regular menu service is outstanding and includes whole Gulf fish (fresh catch), Gulf grouper, chicken fried shrimp (yep!), and fried green tomato stack with crab meat (mmm!).

seared Gulf blackfin tuna and quail egg at Voyagers in Orange Beach Alabama
seared Gulf blackfin tuna and quail egg at Voyagers in Orange Beach Alabama

For menus, hours, and more information visit the Voyagers website.

Ruby Slipper

Ruby Slipper is an amazing treat for breakfast or brunch. This is one of 11 locations of the popular New Orleans style restaurant chain featuring brunch all day. Their bennies, cocktails, and pancakes are highlights. I love their shrimp and grits.

Here is a photo of one of our Ruby Slipper breakfast items—their Bam Bam Biscuit with candied bacon.

For menus, hours, and more information visit the Ruby Slipper Orange Beach website.


Some strong recommendations for best restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama given to us were for Fin & Fork, Wolf Bay, OSO Early, and Cobalt. We will try them on future Orange Beach visits. Do you have other favorite restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama?

Nearby places to eat in Gulf Shores we want to try include Sassy Bass Cookout Tiki and Picnic Beach.

See our Things to Do in Gulf Shores and our favorite place to stay in Gulf Shores The Lodge at Gulf State Park.

Does this list contain your favorite restaurants in Orange Beach Alabama?

Sharing is caring!