Every time we go to Gulf Shores or Orange Beach for a vacation we stop at Lambert’s either on the way there or on the way home. For us it’s a favorite that’s great for the whole family. This last time we stopped by we were happy to see a huge wooden train and wooden truck for the kids to play on. Our daughter had a great time playing while we waited to be seated.

Lambert’s always seemed to be a completely packed house with a wait. However they’ve got the art of the waiting list and seating down to an art form because they set up a podeum up front and the staff announces numbers over an announcement system. So don’t be shy about going at peak time with the place being huge and the staff moving fast.

Once you get seated they’re really quick about taking your drink order. The best novelty about Lamberts for me is that the staff walks around passing out their side dishes to all tables in addition to your order. So really you have appetizers minutes after you sit down. Also they’re most famous for the throwed rolls. They have a guy walking around with a huge tray of hot rolls and he will literally throw them at you like a ball. Don’t catch it and it’ll hit you in the face!

The food is all home style cooking. We’re talking meatloaf, roast, hog jowls, chicken and dumplings, corn bread, fried chicken and more. The menu is huge so you’ll find something you like. My personal favorite is the chicken and dumplings but this last time I tried the hog jowls since I had no idea what they were. It’s a hogs cheek and it’s fried like bacon. It actually looks like fried bacon except about 5 times as thick and more chewy. Great stuff.

The kids love Lamberts. The staff walks around with these silly joke “tricks” they play, there’s a gift shop, lots of space. My daughter had a great time. I suggest it to anyone driving down 59 to the beach.

Lamberts Cafe III on Urbanspoon

Bahama Bob’s Beach Side Cafe in Gulf Shores Alabama came highly regarded by Baton Rouge locals. You have to take all the help you can get when going out of state because as we all know there’s nobody who does seafood like Louisiana. But when we walked in to Bahama Bob’s small yet friendly cafe we knew it was going to be a good time. Tables full of people having a good time and conversing over plates of shrimp, fish and huge crab legs. It was a little loud in the dining area but everyone was having a great time although it may have been loud due to the dining area only being big enough for 30 or so people.(maybe 40 if you count the bar seating)

I’d been told to order the Royal Reds which are large deep sea shrimp. Unfortunately they were out of the reds but offered to serve up some large gulf shrimp steamed. I was ready for shrimp so that’s what I went for. They were served with a side of green beans and perfectly steamed potatoes. It was an excellent take on steamed shrimp and some of the better streamed shrimp I’ve had out of Louisiana. However the BEST thing there by far was their grilled Mahi Mahi which another in our party orderd. It was fantastically grilled fish with a perfect black edge to it. Very tasty and full of flavor. I definitely recommend that over the shrimp. Additionally the table next to us had orderd the giant crab legs and they talked very much abuot how much they enjoyed it.

I’d read only people complaining about slow service and this simply isn’t true or they caught a new waitstaff member. Bahama Bob’s staff was rocking and rolling through that place slinging food and checking on tables. I paid careful attention to them after reading some reviews online. Bahama Bob’s gets a definite thumbs up and I’ll be going back next time I’m in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Bahama Bob's Beach Side Cafe on Urbanspoon

The Hangout is a huge restaurant, bar and all around tourist attraction at the end of highway 59 in Gulf Shores Alabama right on the beach. When we were checking in to our condo we saw an ad for their place and it looked like a great time. We decided to check them out for dinner.

The menu was a wide array of different types of food. Pobodys, wraps, salads, burgers, seafood, gumbo, hotdogs, quesidillas and generally anything you can think of. I had a Chicago style footlong hotdog which I thought was very tasty. It wasn’t in the same league as actual Chicago dogs but it was a good meal. My wife had a quesidilla and my in-laws shared a shrimp poboy. Did we enjoy our food? Yes it was good but man it was expensive and we had to pay to park on the public area. The price with drinks to eat here is more like $20+ per person for average food. However food aside there was a band, the waitresses put on a dance show on the tables and the place was huge. It’s a very good tourist attraction that I’d definitely take the kids back to.

The Hangout on Urbanspoon