The Beach House Kitchen and Cocktails — Restaurant in Gulf Shores

The Beach House was a hit-or-miss experience for us. Either what we got was really good, or really bad. Let's start with the cocktails:

The Painkiller was fantastic, not the Ultimate Painkiller which was a frozen slush type drink, but the Painkiller on the rocks. It was fresh, fruity, and delicious. The Ultimate Painkiller was really good as well, we just preferred the "on the rocks" version. All other cocktails from our group were really good except for the Margarita. It's a "skinny margarita" type and not good in our opinion. The group all had different drinks from the bar and other than the margarita, all were very good. The bartender did grab straws, garnishes and such with his bare hand which was a little shocking, but we got new straws and went on about our business.

The only appetizer we ordered was the cheese curds. These were hot and tasty! A great unexpected treat from up north.

The meal was really hit and miss. It took almost an hour to get the food even though they were not incredibly busy. My blackened Redfish was really dry, like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while. Same with another order of the same thing for the table. This was disappointing as the waitress indicated this was a popular dish. The fish tacos were really good, however. We had both the blackened fish, fried fish and shrimp tacos at the table. All were cooked well and had a good flavor. Our sides were hit and miss as well. The slaw is a vinegar type, it was okay. The beans were very good. Fries were string type and just okay. I got the mixed veggies which were cooked and seasoned well, but there was only a 1/2 of a small bowl, like three bites. For $1 extra, the bowl should be full. A friend got the Crawfish Mac-n-Cheese for $4 extra and it wasn't very good. Tasted like box mac-n-cheese with some crawfish tossed on top. If I ever came back here I'd stick with sandwiches and tacos and not pay any extra for the sides. It felt like a rip-off to pay extra to get so little in return.

Our server was excellent - very friendly, helpful, and responsive. She did an excellent job.

Just FYI we were told there would be and 1-1/2 hour wait, but it only took 45 minutes or so. The location is good and there is an ice cream shop right next door if...

APPALING SERVICE Here’s my m.o…. I have never ever written a review. I have neither the time nor patience for it. I travel the entire country. I know the struggle of business ownership, management, employees, Covid, and Life in general. I tip based on service (substantially to say the least). I travel the entire country (weekly). I should write reviews, and probably will start, but have never been this side swiped by an experience, especially where I own a home 2 miles from a business. Came in at appx 3:15 on a Monday 7/12/2021. Luckily, I have a home here, yet still get “to go” so I can continue working while enjoying the local fare (huh you know support local business?.?.?. and tip extra because they’re desperate). I order 2 cocktails and food to go. I have been to the Beach House several times. With friends and family. None of those times have had anywhere near “exceptional” service but, wrote it off due to the Covid. Food is ok in general, not really worth what they charge, but you are in a beach/vacation area, so it is what it is. The tables turned today. Again, I ordered 1 cocktail and asked to see a menu so I could order food to go. The as I shall now dub “blue hair” you know the typical dyed blue hair, the world revolves around me, cannot hold down a job unless my boyfriend worked here, because I don’t have the first clue as to what customer service means, type… pours a cocktail and serves it up. Appx 10 minutes go by (no biggie). I flag down blue hair and ask for a menu, kind of feisty but whatever, she does have blue hair, so to be expected these days. Peruse the fare (I knew what I was getting, been here done that, just in case something changed). And the wait begins… appx 10 min. (mind you there are 2, yes 2 other people sitting at the bar). Appx 15 min go by after the industry standard empty glass has been pushed to the bar rail signaling a refill. Blue hair arrives after staring at the glass along with a minimum of 9 other folks mostly focused on each other and their phones have been “hanging out at work” at the end of the bar. 2 pages more of this ridiculousness, but google capped the character # in the post. Happy to share the additional details! Go...

We wanted some fish tacos and according to some reviews this place had the best. We arrived and immediately were greeted, welcomed, and seated. A server came right over and asked for our drink orders and we ordered our drinks. A few minutes later a different server came and sat the water and my come and told my wife her adult beverage would be right out. She also explained that she is our server the first one was just helping her out because she had a big table. No worries! She promptly returned with my wife’s frozen drink and proceeded to take our order. We ordered some house made chips with their bacon jalapeño queso dip and then we both ordered the fried fish tacos with their fries and black beans. Almost 40 minutes later and many other tables arriving and getting their appetizers, our server came back and was like your food should be right out. So the chips and queso come out. It was good, nothing overly special. I do think they forgot to add any jalapeño to it. Then a runner came out with fish sandwiches and fries. We were like no sorry that’s not ours. She looked perplexed and walked away. A few minutes later our server returned to tell us she put in the wrong order for our table and they (kitchen) is making our food right now. Our correct food finally arrived. I will say the portion size is very big and the tacos were fine. However, they were kind of a let down to be honest. The pineapple salsa was good, the aioli sauce on top was good, but the fish didn’t have any flavor to it. It tasted like an unseasoned piece of fried fish. Not bad just not great. Maybe I needed to get them grilled or blackened, I don’t know. But what I do know is that the reviews for the “best fish tacos” were very overrated and underwhelming. Again, they weren’t bad by any means they just weren’t amazing. On top of the long wait for food, several errors, and average taste, I wouldn’t drive too far to eat here. (We drove from Fort Morgan just for the fish...