Ahh vacation! So many amazing meals I couldn’t wait to tell you all about! We had a wonderful few days away and I’m honestly sad how quickly it came to a close. Overall, Destin seemed packed but there were a few places that didn’t seem as busy as you’d imagine. It was weird. Some places we had long waits to be seated and others we walked right in and had our pick of tables. But we ate tons of good food so let’s get right to it!

This recap is NOT endorsed or sponsored by any of the following restaurants - I am simply sharing my personal experiences!

Harbor Docks

Our First Night

We ended up at Harbor Docks for dinner the first night after wait times and allergy issues at other places and while it hadn’t been on our agenda, it was excellent! We enjoyed dinner and then a few fireworks from the dock behind the restaurant before heading back to the hotel. Wait time was said to be 45 minutes but I think we maybe waited just over 5 minutes before they found a spot for us downstairs. We didn’t mind because we were all SO hungry!!

I ordered the Grilled Catch of the Day which was snapper. This was my first time trying snapper and I loved it! It came with the vegetable of the day (green beans) and then I swapped out the rice for a loaded baked potato (because VACATION!!). It was great!! Our service was amazing, fast and friendly. I spilled something on my pants and our server immediately grabbed a cup of club soda and some napkins to hand to me! I thought that was really nice - I hadn’t even asked!

While I don’t have a photo of Darrell’s food from that evening, he ordered the Gulf Shrimp Fried Seafood Platter and they allowed him to swap out the hush puppies for grits, which he was ecstatic about! His remarks: “It was good, but not enough food.”

Learn more about Harbor Docks.

Asiago’s Skillet

Breakfast After Sunrise Photos

On the second day, Darrell and I woke up super early to see the sunrise with my sister. She is a photographer and wanted to get some shots of us in the early morning light. Welp, dust from the Sahara Desert interfered and it didn’t go exactly like she had hoped but we enjoyed the peaceful, undisturbed sand and splash of the waves on the shore. After the photos, we joined our friends and walked over to Asiago’s Skillet for breakfast!

I ordered the Seafood Skillet which included scrambled eggs, shrimp, crab meat, potatoes and asiago cheese. (It was also supposed to include onions and peppers but I asked them to leave them out because I just wasn’t feeling it that morning.) It was excellent and honestly, I feel like it would’ve fed two people. A tasty, “beachy” breakfast!

Darrell ordered the American Breakfast and added the biscuits and gravy. When asked what kind of review he’d give the meal, he says it was average breakfast food but good. So not as raving a review as my perception of the Seafood Skillet. We found a coupon through Yelp that got our friends a free coffee, so that was great!

Learn more about Asiago’s Skillet.

Boshamps

2.5 Hour Wait, But Worth It!

So the first night, we had planned to go to one restaurant but then after closer inspection, the menu had wayyy too much peanut related items for our comfort. Boshamps was recommended to us so we went to check it out and were told there’d be a 2-3 hour wait. Not interested in that long of a wait, we ended up at Harbor Docks (which was fabulous, so really a win all in all) but we had looked at the menu and everyone was just dying to eat at Boshamps so we decided the next night we’d just get ready earlier and show up ready wait however long it would take. Most people went into the evening planning to order the lobster mac and cheese and then other items caught their eye and I don’t think any of us ordered the lobster mac and cheese LOL! (Not that I could have anyway, it was full gluten haha.)

Since we had to wait so long, we were all starving by the time we sat down to eat. We ordered an appetizer to hold us over until our entrees. Rarely can I order spinach and artichoke dip at a restaurant because of gluten but this one was gluten free and we all LOVED IT! In fact, Courtney thought it was so good she finished it off with a spoon when we ran out of chips!! Highly recommend :)

I ordered the Boshamps Side Wedge (without tomatoes) and added the grilled catch of the day which was swordfish. This was my first time trying swordfish (I love most seafoods so it’s honestly kinda crazy to me that I tried two new-to-me fish on this trip!) and I absolutely want to try cooking it at home. Fresh seafood is phenomenal so I’m sure that had a lot to do with it but it was also just grilled soooo well. It was perfect with the wedge salad. Speaking of the salad, it had two options for cheese and dressing so I went with the blue cheese crumbles and bacon marmalade blue cheese dressing. Y’all. I cannot recommend this enough. SO INCREDIBLE!! I’m not typically a fan of iceberg lettuce but this was soooo fresh and the freshness really made a world of difference!

Darrell ordered Puttin’ on the Grits. This was his second favorite meal of the trip. He’s half asleep as I’m putting this post together so all I’ve for you as far as a review goes is, “GREAT!” LOL. So there you have it. But also please note in the photo the way the grits look on the plate. Very interesting presentation.

More photos from Boshamps below!

Learn more about Boshamps.

The Crab Trap

CRAB LEGS!!

Darrell’s favorite meal of the trip. And the meal my sister and I talked about for weeks leading up to the trip and then she didn’t even order them LOL! But seriously, is there anything better than crab legs at a beach restaurant? Such a great meal for our last night, too. We split the (expensive but honestly great value) Ultimate Triple Crab Combo for Two. It was SO DANG GOOD! It included three types of crab legs (or “lobster laws” and Darrell hilariously called them tonight on accident): dungeness crab, Alaska Bairdi crab and Alaska snow crab legs. The meal also included new potatoes and corn on the cob. Although the corn wasn’t the greatest but I think we just both prefer sweet corn.

This was located in a pretty tourist activity heavy area of Fort Walton Beach but we were surprised we could be seated immediately, even when requesting outdoor seating. It was a gorgeous evening and we enjoyed the classic seafood options before we hit the putt putt course!

Learn more about The Crab Trap.

So there you have it! So many delicious options! We didn’t go out for lunch since we mostly spent our days at the beach or pool which meant lots of snacks throughout the day time followed by a big dinner at night.

It was a perfect getaway and I could see us possibly going back to the Destin area for future beach trips since we saw even more options for things we wanted to try but couldn’t squeeze into a long weekend.

Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional and while I share what ingredients work for me or what I choose to eat (at my own risk) while dining out, I advise you do your homework when choosing ingredients and places to eat. I highly encourage everyone to do their own research when it comes to the products they cook with or restaurant’s procedures. I do not have celiac disease but rather a gluten-intolerance and I’m not an expert on gluten or other food intolerances, autoimmune diseases, or food allergies. I simply share the ingredients I have found work for me, the places where I’ve dined and my personal experiences.