Dee's Hangout — Restaurant in Panama City Beach

I am writing this review to warn others that either the manager (Danielle) is a liar or the staff had previously lied to me about safely eating their food despite a serious and deadly allergy.

I first discovered this restaurant last July (2020). I have a severe shellfish allergy so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to eat there for this reason (especially specific foods like fried items). But after checking with the staff, they informed me that they use separate baskets to fry the shellfish and that I should not worry about ordering fried food because it would not be a problem with my allergy. I was blown away by the food, it was fresh and delicious so it became a great place to go where I could eat fried seafood without putting my safety at risk due to my allergy.

Since that time, I have been back MANY times, and on every occasion I inform the staff of my shellfish allergy when I order. Every single time they have assured me that it is not a problem because they fry things separately from the shellfish. Even more, on one occasion the manager (not Danielle) and another time the chef came out to check about the food while we were eating to make sure everything was alright. I have even ordered food online and on the phone for pickup on different occasions, and again have noted to the staff my allergy, which again, they always assure me is fine. I always order something off the menu that is fried (such as fried fish), so again, I always make sure to note my allergy when I order as I do in any restaurant that sells shellfish.

However, the last time I went there (3/19 in the afternoon), things went differently. When I was ordering, I informed the waitress of my allergy as I always do. She went to check with her manager and the manager, Danielle, came back to talk to us and told us that they DO NOT in fact fry things separately and as so I would not be safe ordering any fried item because of my allergy. She said they do not do ‘special accommodations for any dietary restriction’ and would not be ‘accommodating’ my shellfish allergy by frying things separately. I informed her that I had eaten at the restaurant on several occasions before and that every time I told the staff about my allergy and they assured me it was okay to order the fried items. I told her that I was not asking for special accommodations, but rather was confused because this had never been a problem before. She responded by saying that she has worked at the restaurant for many years and this has always been their policy, and finished with a quip about how I was lucky and blessed that nothing bad happened during my previous visits (I’m guessing meaning I was lucky to not have DIED when I previously ate their food).

This whole situation means that either 1) the staff continuously lied to me over the course of numerous visits about being able to safely eat there despite my shellfish allergy, or 2) Danielle lied to me at that moment. Or I’m not sure if she thought or was trying to imply that I was lying about having safely eaten there before - either way I am not the liar here, but it is clear someone (or possibly several people) in the staff are.

I am extremely disappointed, concerned and, to be truthful, hurt and a little distressed that this happened. This restaurant was my favorite place to go here in Panama City but how can I go back to a place where they do not take a DEADLY allergy seriously and there is a possibility of me dying because they do not have a clear policy or worse yet their staff are liars.

To be clear, I would not have minded as much if Danielle had just informed me that they had changed their policy about frying shellfish separately or that they were not doing so that day - but to say that I was just fortunate not to have died before because they have always fried everything together without any regards to known allergies of their customers is absolutely unacceptable...

This was our second time to eat at Dee's Hangout, but it had been about 10 years since our last visit. We really enjoyed the food and experience at Dee's . My wife really wanted some good shrimp after having some overcooked, hard to peel shrimp the previous night at another restaurant and she was very happy. We ordered a shrimp appetizer of boiled, chilled shrimp. Shrimp heaven! Perfect! For our entrees, I had the blackened Redfish and my wife had the low country boiled shrimp with sausage, corn, and new potatoes. My Redfish was cooked and seasoned perfectly and the remoulade sauce was terrific. My wife had asked for the mildest version of the boil. She thought it was still too spicy (I sampled it and thought it was great 😁). The server gave her a glass of water to dip the shrimp into to wash off some of the Cajun spices and she was happy again. She was so happy that she wanted another shrimp appetizer! The only bad part was that we were too full to enjoy a banana pudding for dessert (it was fantastic 10 years ago), but we plan on going back again for our anniversary dinner in a couple of days. Thanks to Dee's and our server (Jack) for a wonderful experience! EDIT: The food was so good went back two days later for our anniversary dinner. My wife had the same low country boil minus the Cajun seasoning and was very happy. I had the blackened Grouper with fried Cajun potatoes and it was terrific! And this time we save room for dessert--tasty banana pudding for me and key lime pie...

My wife and I decided to try some different restaurants on this trip to Panama City Beach. We wanted to find local favorites that we had not previously visited. I found Dee's Hangout on google and decided to give it a try. We got there and were greeted by the staff, and seated almost immediately. The waitress greeted us promptly and took our drink orders. Since neither of us drink alcohol, we began with a Coke and Water with Lemon. We ordered the Dee's Dip Sampler for our appetizer. This came with portions of Pimento Cheese Dip, Tuna Dip, and Jalapeno Tuna Dip. All three were delicious. The Jalapeno Tuna Dip was amazing, and my wife loved the Pimento Cheese Dip. We followed that up with our entrees. I got the Hangout Seafood Trio with fried catfish, oysters, and jumbo shrimp. The Trio was absolutely delicious. It could not have been prepared any better. The food was very flavorful and tasty, and the portions were more than expected. My wife got the popcorn shrimp meal, and she said that it was extremely good as well. Even though our waitress asked, we were too full for dessert, so maybe we get that next time. Overall, the food was amazing and the service was great as well. We could not have asked for a better experience. We have already been talking about returning on our next trip to Panama City Beach. I highly recommend a trip to Dee's if your are in the area. You will not be...