Seafood and southern cooking is at its best along Alabama's Gulf Coast. The unfortunately reality is the really good places are just not big enough to handle the summer crush of vacationers and visitors looking for one of those tasty meals.
Gulf Shores and neighboring Orange Beach visitors and vacationers are finding long wait times for restaurant seating this summer. Be prepared. Either rearrange your dining schedule for an early or a later meal. If you show up during prime time you may end up having a later meal anyway.
Be ready to wait if eating at restaurants near the beach
(GULF SHORES, Ala.) -- Planning to eat out while on vacation? Be prepared to wait if you're eating near the Alabama Gulf Coast's beaches. Many restaurants, damaged during recent hurricanes are not up and running yet, leaving you waiting hours to get a meal in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
Ask folks what they like most about going on vacation and many will tell you it's the food. The Alabama Gulf Coast offers some of the best in this part of the country. But if you look at the numbers, there are not as many restaurants at the beach as there was before Hurricane Ivan.
Less restaurants means more business for the ones that have re-opened since the storm, but unfortunately some folks are having a tough time finding a good meal. Jimmy Martin works at the Gulf Island Grill in Gulf Shores: “We get a lot of over flow from the Oyster House and Hooters. They fill up. People come in and say it's like a 3 or 4 hour wait there. We're only a two and a half hour wait. There's not a lot, so everyone packs into the ones that are here.†Read more