Pompano Joe's — Restaurant in Miramar Beach

Perfect! So great we ate here twice this trip. We used to grab some crab legs at the Crab Trap and it went completely downhill and foodie locals said Pampano Joes brings in their own fish daily and this is the local's pick for seafood. So we decided to try it.

We first came for lunch and it was incredible. My husband got gumbo and it was fresh and from scratch and came with 2 homemade seafood egg rolls which were incredible. Also came with coconut shrimp that were huge and rice for the gumbo. All perfect.

I got a fried fish and shrimp plate. Although the fries were not that hot, the rest of the meal made up for it by far, with extremely fresh and delicious seafood and scratch made.

The service was as great as the meal, best server of our trip was Kathryn and she checked on us several times and tended to any needs. Very friendly and conversational and, even though it was very busy, she provided exceptional service as though we were her only table...she shared with us their crab leg special when she heard us talking about where to grab crab later in the week. Because of that we did return a few nights later.

So we did return for the crab leg special as this is something my husband and I love, and try out in several cities. This is by far the best one we have had in years as far as options and flavor and oddly it was the cheapest too!

We started with a salad and to our shock, the blue cheese dressing was scratch made, with big thick chunks of blue cheese and everything in it was fresh and delicious and it was a big serving too. The crab legs were served with lots of veggies too that are all low carb in case someone is choosing the crab option for that reason (keto) but we were not so we paired it with two twice baked potatoes that were amazing. It came with hushpuppies and those are nearly impossible to find made from scratch, but sure enough, they were as well.

The crab legs were meaty and sweet and the butter was perfect. We had more than we could eat!

Roman was our server for dinner and he was friendly but seemed rush and some service lacked. For example, we needed another wipe packet but he ran by and just dropped the bill on the table without checking if we needed any other drinks or needs or were ready. But the dinner was great and he was friendly enough initially, just lacked the checking in on us that we had received earlier.

We will be back for sure. It will be one of our new Destin staples and we highly recommend it. Overlooks...

This was actually my first and last time ever going to this restaurant, which sucks. I left full from disappointment.

The food was good. Our server, David, was wonderful. He handled our party of 9, all of our questions, everything, flawlessly.

However, after everything was done and we left, my husband and I went to sit on the beach for a few minutes before heading home. I realized I left my Ray-ban sunglasses on the table. I went back, maybe ten minutes later, and the table we were at was already sat with another group of people, waiting on their drinks. So I went to the host stand after speaking with the bartender. The manager barely acknowledged me before pushing my issue off on another employee. Which I found odd, I understand they were busy, but you have a customer looking for their lost belongings, and you couldn't care less. The employee, I wish I had gotten her name, was working the booth across from the host stand, took down my name and number, told me she would call if anyone turned them in. When I informed her that these sunglasses were the last present I got from my mother before she died 2 months ago, finally put in some effort on trying to find them before sending me off. She told me she spoke with the 2 servers working the section we sat in as well as checking with the employee who cleaned the table off. She returned to inform me that all the employees she spoke with claimed they never saw any sunglasses.

I have always worked in restaurants, from serving, cooking to managing, and if customers left something behind, it was immediately taken to the manager, never stolen by an employee. I can say that with 100% confidence because my friend I was there eating with tried them on as we were leaving the restroom. My husband remembered seeing them at the end of the table, where I put them when I got to the table before moving seats to sit closer to my friend.

So, just a little advice for anyone wanting to visit this establishment, leave all belongings in your car because if you accidentally forget it and come back 5 to 10 minutes later believing you're going to retrieve your stuff it will have fallen into the same void as my sunglasses. Apparently, this is the only restaurant that doesn't have a lost and found policy, or if they do, they don't enforce it. What next, will customers start getting ...

We went on a less busy night. The server was really great, she was very nice and attentive. Her name was Lindsay.

We ordered the gumbo, reggae rolls, and two seafood plates worth $~38 a piece.

I'm not a gumbo expert but I thought it was really good! I don't like spicy food but I thought they did the gumbo properly and it was very flavorful. So +1 for the gumbo.

The reggae rolls are interesting. Neither my partner nor I thought they were exceptional, but we did think they served as an appropriate vehicle for the sauce they came with which I thought was really good. The rolls need some work though.

The meal came with a vegetable medley, I thought onions was a poor addition but the vegetables were all very good otherwise. The menu states the meal comes with hush puppies, I thought we'd get a few decent sized ones. I kid you not we got two per plate that were actually testicle sized, kind of sad and I found the menu misleading because of it. (Picture attached)

You get a choice of the third side which I chose a twice baked potato. I do think it's a twice baked and once microwaved potato, this was DEFINITELY not cooked within the same day, had a significant skin over the top of the potato, and came to the table completely gray. I can tell it wasn't cooked recently as the green onion was incredibly dull and soft, it no longer had any bite to it. Do not select this option. (Picture included)

I asked Lindsay to swap to French fries and she was more than kind and understanding, so another +1 for her great service.

As for the entrees themselves - bland as can be. Mine was carried a little bit by the garlic sauce but it tasted like nothing if I missed sauce on one of my bites. My girlfriends had sauce and until she went and added extra salt and pepper it just didn't taste like anything. For $36 and $40, that's appalling. The chefs doctor must have told him to cut salt out of their life but that shouldn't trickle down to the customers. There's no sense in cooking expensive seafood to make it bland and inedible.

I wouldn't order anything expensive from here in the future, but I would come back. That...