Boatyard Restaurant

Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as we hoped. I had the grouper cheecks over smoked gouda grits. On of my dining partners had the Mahi Mahi. Both were fishy. Te view is great, but bring a sweater or a jacket. The wind blows across the outside patio and it can get cold in the evening. The Chimay I ordered was cold, but they didn’t offer a glass. Overall I was disappointed.

Of all the «waterfront» places we thought this might be OK and a bit better than all the others that we had looked at. It was. The outside bar was delightful and there and indoor/​outdoor tables overlooking the water. The service was as it should be. We just ordered appetizers and they were OK. Crab dip was a little too cheesy, gumbo was average not as hearty and complex as we like it. The gouda grits were awesome and the beans and rice went well with this. There is a reasonable wine list. I quite fancied a grouper sandwich but $ 15.95 felt too pricey. Would we go back, probably not as not our kind of place but A-​OK if you want to take a picture of a boat and a seagull on a lagoon and eat cheesy grits.

Took my mother here while on vacay since it was highly recommended. Our group had the fried shrimp, the seared tuna and the cilantro mahi mahi. I will say that the tuna was seared and rare and amazingly perfect. It was a huge piece of fish! Great for someone who doesn’t want a lot of carbs cause it comes with seafood salad on two wontons that were also yummy!
The mahi was great, get the sauce on the side since it was a bit overwhelming. The cumin rice and black beans were fresh and very tasty!
My mom said the fried shrimp was the best she’s had in a long time! And she knows! 12 huge shrimp! Well worth the money and huge portions!

Excellent choice!
Found this restaurant on Unilocal.Perfect choice. Nice ambiance. Neatly located on a marina w great view. Menu was extensive. Waitstaff was nice, polite and helpful. Food was delivered quickly and very, very delicious.
I highly recommend this as a choice for any meal.

The fish tacos were amazing!!! The fruit salad next to it was scrumptious! Also had the mahi mahi and mojo shrimp… Very unique Caribbean flavors! Best food so far in panama city beach! Highly recommend!
The view onto the marina in the open weather setting is nice and relaxing. We went for lunch in October. Hardly anyone here at noon. Perfect

one of my favs but also very pricey. My kids liked the boats and the way it was decorated but they were not fans of the food. They have a large sushi menu and the overall menu is good

Love, love, LOVE this place! It was delish! It couldn’t have hurt that the weather was beautiful and it wasn’t overcrowded (as I went in September).
My boyfriend and I started with the fish dip appetizer… I almost filled up on it, it was so good! The raspberry mojito is also must and my entrée was the seared tuna (yum!). Everything was great.
Don’t expect to go with your bathing suit and a T-​shirt over… It was a little more «upscale» for Panama City, but worth it.
I will definitely be heading back next time I’m in town!

While visiting PCB for vacation with friends, we stopped by this place based on a recommendation to check out the view and the seafood. We tried multiple appetizers that were OKAY, but not anything worth talking about. The table literally remained silent about the food because it was so lackluster. We were also starving. Oh and the bread that came with the table was white dinner rolls with butter packets. C’mon guys. I worked at a cheap spaghetti restaurant in high school, and they did better than that.
I ordered the mahi mahi and thought the sauce on top could have been left off. The rice and beans were bland. I’ve had many variations on rice and beans, and this one was probably the most bland one I’ve ever tasted. The fried plantains were the best part about the meal in my opinion (those are impossible to mess up).
The view? Meh. The atmosphere? Meh. There were a few boats docked and shark fishing ads. I would not come back for the view or the food. I would much rather pick up my own seafood and grill it by the pool or beach. On a more positive note, our server was very sweet and attentive. For her, I will give 2 stars. Otherwise, I would’ve only given 1. I’ve always thought Unilocal reviewers were pretty much on point, but I was very disappointed by this average seafood place, and its overpriced meals. Save yourself the money and go to Red Lobster (at least they have cheddar biscuits).

I don’t see why other reviewers seem to like this place much. My friends and I went there for dinner to cap a nice weekend in Panama City Beach. We ordered 3 appetizers to share — crab cakes (too salty), fish dip, and the shrimp fritters. For dinners we all shared the Cilantro Mango Mahi Mahi, Fried Seafood Platter, and the Seared Tuna plate. The Mahi Mahi was a little too sweet but otherwise nice, the fried seafood platter was exactly what a fried seafood platter should be (and with heaping portions), and the Seared Tuna was exactly what you’d expect though it was thicker but its’ volume remained the same. All dishes were seared correctly and came out well prepared. The service was pretty good also.
All of the options were decent meals, yet uninspired especially when considering the price. When I see meals in the 25+ range, I expect to see some risks taken, some unique combination of ingredients, some unusual pairings, not standard fare. I probably would give them ¾ stars if the prices were half of what they were.

Whether you are local or tourist, it doesn’t get better than this. We love this place. The thoughtfully prepared food coupled with the upscale beachy vibe and view of the lagoon is something you can’t get just anywhere. In particular, I like the fish tacos with a side of smoked gouda grits instead of fries.
You MUST also try their Sunday brunch. They have acoustic music on the patio and a very interesting selection of menu items from the Yuengling, crawfish biscuits and gravy to the duck burger eggs benedict. They also have their normal menu if nothing on the brunch menu suits you. It’s also $ 15 all you can drink bloody mary’s or $ 15 for a bottle of champagne and all of the mimosa (orange juice) or pointsetta (cranberry juice) you need.

My husband was craving some good, local seafood and based on the reviews we read on Unilocal,we thought this would be the perfect place. Our experience at the Boatyard left a lot to be desired. A lot! The atmosphere is nice and the bar area is cool, but if you’re looking for great seafood you may want to look elsewhere.
It was obvious when 2 fried seafood platters were served, every piece of fish on the platter was burnt. Still, we were really hungry after the long wait so we tried various bites of different fish and shrimp but it was totally inedible. Even the waiter noticed how burnt and hard the food was and promptly credited our bill after we decided not to wait another hour on another 2 platters. In addition, the fatty cut of steak tasted like it had not been seasoned at all, and the sushi was a let down as well. The grits, however, were amazing!
We left the Boatyard at 10pm, starving and disappointed. This restaurant is obviously for tourists because if they had to depend on repeat business from locals, the Boatyard would have closed down a long time ago.

FOOD — ⁹²⁄₁₀₀ pts
SERVICE — 90
AMBIANCE — 90
We had a very pleasant experience at the Boatyard while vacationing in PCB. There is both indoor and outdoor seating, but if you don’t specify you will probably end up outdoors. This could be an issue based on how hot or cold the weather is at any given time.
Our food overall was good. The Shrimp in the Shrimp-​n-​Grits was a bit over seasoned but the grits was very creamy and delicious. The Mahi fish (with black beans and plantains) was slightly too acidic but still tasted good. We all enjoyed the hot crab dip with cheese and highly recommend this dish as a starter.
Having sat outside I was hoping for a better view of the Marina but it just wasn’t in the cards. Perhaps upstairs???
I’d like to try this restaurant a few more times to get a more comprehensive tasting of all the dishes but probably won’t be back in PCB for a long time.

We had an excellent lunch here today, I tried the spinach salad with fruit and grilled prawns, my husband had the lobster bacon tomato sandwich. The food was excellent and very tasty.
The Boatyard is located at a marina, so boats are parked next to the restaurant. There was plenty of seating outside under a high-​ceiling patio cover. Fans and the breeze kept it airy and cool.
The chocolate dipped key lime pie on a stick was excellent, too.
We had good service – the waitresses working as a team. Our waitress got caught up with a table of twenty, so another waitress delivered our dessert, but our waitress got our bill rung up and then we were off.
Nice clean restrooms.

Tried the Boatyard after reading some great reviews on here and glad we did. It was REALLY good. I had the fried shrimp platter which was some of the best cooked and tasting shrimp I had in PCB. I also had the black beans with yellow rice. Great side. My partner had the BLT (bacon lobster and tomato) sandwich and he really enjoyed it. He tried the sweet potato fries but I think he wish he had gotten the regular fries. Our Friends had the seafood Platter (delish) and the Paradise Cheeseburger which was huge and a big hit with my finicky friends. We all talked about how good it was when we left. Definitely a must place to go on our next PCB vacation.

Great brunch, I love their bottomless bloody marys! I ordered the duck burger benedict, it is one of the best benedicts I have ever had. Dinners were ok, the suchi bar is kind of limited.

I ordered the Hearts of Palm Salad. I received the wrong salad which the waitress did not notice even though she told me Hearts of Palm Salad was her favorite. I did not care for the salad (I did not think it had much taste and was bland). We were also asked if we wanted bread which I would think would come with the meal. Bread came and it is actually flat rolls which were just okay — not a fresh loaf of bread and butter in packets were served with it — not any specially made butters. Their food is overpriced for what you get. I have had much better. I did receive an apology for getting the wrong salad but no discount on my bill and then to top it off, the waitress added a $ 12 service charge to our bill which I was not expecting. Not a happy customer!
PS I did like the house wine Pinot Grigio — that is it.

What?: A celebratory dinner for 5 at 6:30 pm
When?: Sunday evening, early November.
Why?: We were looking for a well reviewed restaurant in PCB to celebrate a recent engagement and the Boatyard had above average reviews and it was close to our condo. The idea of eating on the water at the marina sounded great too.
When we arrived we were seated immediately in an enclosed dining room to the left of the front door. Most of the diners were seated on the patio because it overlooks the water and marina, but we didn’t mind having a nice quiet dining room to ourselves. I must say that the Boatyard… as a facility… is pretty impressive. The attention to detail and ambience is exactly what you want for special occasions, family dining, or just going out for cocktails. The execution in the kitchen and the level of service in the dining room is where the you get a sense that this ship is definitely sinking.
Pricing on the menu is a joke. Regardless of its location on the water, everything on the menu, aside from the sushi menu, is frozen and is cooked and prepared in a way to try and mask how unfresh this food really is.
1) I dare you to order the Rangoon crab wantons and tell me that it’s real crab meat and the price is justified. What a joke. It looked and tasted like they came out of a Marie Calandar’s box. Get the baked Bree, it’s hard to screw that up. Stick to the sushi menu if your pallet enjoys raw fish. I had the Tranquility roll as an app and it was the highlight of my dinner.
2) I ordered the shrimp and grits and upon the recommendation of the server, I changed it to the «stew» entrée which is «really the same as the shrimp and grits, but with grouper and sausage added. Sounded good to me. It was decent, but it wasn’t blowing my skirt up. It tasted like a pile of instant potatoes covered in gravy with sausage and previously frozen seafood that was over cooked. For an entrée priced in the mid 20s, I felt like I was being robbed.
3) My fiancé and father both ordered the Mahi Mahi. It was obviously not fresh and the sauce was so tart she said it tasted like she was sucking on a rotten lemon drop. The entrée was accompanied by plantains, black beans and buttered rice. Again, nothing imaginative or fresh.
4) sister ordered the baked Mac n cheese. The presentation and quantity of this entrée was so impressive, we took pictures of it. It was so much food, it was still cold in the center. Even the lobster was cold! We sent it back and it was microwaved… and still cold in the center but extraordinarily hot on the outside. A total fail.
5) Mom ordered an angel hair pasta dish that was EASILY swimming in a cup of oil and butter.
The service was unpredictable. Twice we had to go find our server. Dinner salads came out before our apps. When we asked what was taking so long between our apps and entrees and our deserts, the manager was giving us some passive aggressive response about what time the ticket went into the kitchen but she’d do us a favor and comp the cold food and desert. It took us 3 hours to get out of there and the place was more than ½ empty on a Sunday evening in the off season.

Our favorite place in PCB! Great atmosphere. Food is always good. Have to get the grits as a side.

I love this place! We visit every year and are never disappointed. Big, loaded salads, and awesome fish taco! Best I’ve ever had. Go for lunch though (before 4) and save yourself a lot of money. Dinner is pricey, but also very good.
There’s also a great view of the boats entering and exiting the harbor. Great, nicer restaurant in pcb. Highly recommended.

Still my favorite place in PCB. I got lucky the grouper cheeks with gouda grits and mushroom gravy were on the specials menu again this time. If you see grouper cheeks it is the best part of the fish so make sure to try them. My wife the seared tuna with seaweed salad and it was also a winner. The service was ok, and I would have probably ordered another round of drinks, but we were given the check before I could. To me nothing says vacation like fresh seafood, setting on the water listening to music and having a cocktail. This is a staple of vacation for us.