Popular blog names top 15 seafood restaurants in Florida. This Panama City icon made the list

Nathan Cobb, The News Herald
·2 min read
15

PANAMA CITY — A local restaurant in the heart of historic St. Andrews has claimed a spot as being one of the best in Florida.

According to a blog posted by Trips to Discover, a travel discovery platform with more than 66,000 followers on Facebook, Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant in Panama City is among the top 15 best seafood restaurants in the state.

Trips to Discover recently named Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant in Panama City as being among the top 15 seafood restaurants in Florida. The fried flounder is a local favorite.
Trips to Discover recently named Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant in Panama City as being among the top 15 seafood restaurants in Florida. The fried flounder is a local favorite.

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Trips to Discover described Hunt's not only as a "laidback and family-run" business that "has been serving Apalachicola oysters to hungry locals for over 50 years," but "a legendary dive with a friendly atmosphere."

The honor came as no shock to Collins Abrams, co-owner of the establishment, who said he believes the rating is "right where (Hunt's) should be."

Trips to Discover recently named Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant in Panama City as being among the top 15 seafood restaurants in Florida.
Trips to Discover recently named Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant in Panama City as being among the top 15 seafood restaurants in Florida.

"We're highly focused on serving great, fresh (and) domestic product, so we feel our attention to detail has put us in that spot of a top seafood restaurant in the state of Florida," Abrams said.

Located on Beck Avenue near St. Andrew Bay, the restaurant opened in 1966.

Abrams noted it gets all of its seafood fresh every day from Tarpon Dock Seafood Market about 3 miles away.

He said some of the restaurant's most popular dishes include oysters, red snapper, yellowedge grouper, tuna dip and crab cakes.

For Abrams, co-owner of the business for about two years, it feels good to know his team's efforts are not going unnoticed.

Austin Abrams, left, and Collins Abrams bring fresh Gulf seafood favorites from their other local family business, Tarpon Dock Seafood Market, to the table at Hunt's Oyster Bar and Seafood restaurant.
Austin Abrams, left, and Collins Abrams bring fresh Gulf seafood favorites from their other local family business, Tarpon Dock Seafood Market, to the table at Hunt's Oyster Bar and Seafood restaurant.

"I think to be recognized so quickly (after) our takeover (since) we've focused and turned our attention to making sure we're serving the best quality, domestic product (shows) that our attention to that detail has paid off," Abrams said. "We're not cutting corners by serving frozen stuff for extra profit.

"We're focused on the customers eating a good, consumable product."

Other seafood restaurants highlighted  in the blog are:

  • Brotula's Seafood House & Steamer in Destin

  • Boshamps Seafood & Oyster House in Destin

  • Stewby's Seafood Shanty in Fort Walton Beach

  • Pensacola Fish House in Pensacola

  • Star Fish Company in Cortez

  • Dixie Crossroads in Titusville

  • Flagler Fish Company in Flagler Beach

  • DJ's Clam Shack in Key West

  • Walt's Fish Market in Sarasota

  • Owen's Fish Camp in Sarasota

  • O'Steen's Restaurant in St. Augustine

  • Up the Creek Raw Bar in Apalachicola

  • Safe Harbor Seafood Market & Restaurant in Atlantic Beach

  • Dry Dock Waterfront Grill in Longboat Key

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City's Hunt's Oyster Bar one of Florida's best seafood spots