Pompano Joe's Seafood House — Restaurant in Panama City Beach

We decided to stop in for an early dinner on our way to the movies. The restaurant had plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. We were sat immediately and ordered drinks and apps. The staff was very kind, helpful, and attentive. They refilled our drinks without us having to ask. The menu had a good selection of dishes to choose from. I felt like the side dishes for the entrees was a little limited.

We decided on the following: Fish Gumbo: The gumbo was full of various fish and was very flavorful. It wasn't terribly spicy and had a nice depth of flavor. The only negative I can say about the dish is that the cup was one third to one half full of rice. There was no mention of rice in the description, so it was a bit of a let down. Calamari: The calamari was hand-breaded and cooked pretty well. The portion was pretty generous too. The marinara and other dipping sauce was nice. Crabcake Sandwich: Let me start off by saying…My family is from the Maryland area. We are used to crab cakes with very few fillers and jumbo lump blue crab meat. These crabcakes weren't that, so it was a bit of a let down. They also contained bits of chopped sweet peppers which made them taste a little odd. If you're used to Maryland crabcakes, I would avoid these altogether. Crabcake Dinner with Twice Baked Potato and Black Beans and Rice: Again, the crabcakes were a let down. The twice baked potato was very good. It was moist and cheesy. The rice and black beans were very flavorful as well. Sea Scallops Dinner with Twice Baked Potato and Black Beans and Rice: Let me start off by saying…OMG! My plate arrived with 12 huge scallops! They were cooked perfectly and were sweet and succulent. The only negative was that I didn't care for the seasoning they used when broiling the scallops. Next time, I will try them chargrilled with less seasoning.

Overall, we had a very enjoyable experience. We will definitely be putting this restaurant on our list of places to visit when we're back in the area. If you stop by and love scallops, I definitely...

Short summary: Save your mouth, stomach, and wallet for somewhere else. The food is not worth the price or the beautiful view it is disgracing.

Being from out of town, you'd expect a restaurant within direct view of such a breathtaking beach to be worth its salt. However, it feels like Pompano Joe's forgotten salt entirely in preparation of its very overpriced, tourist-trap food. My experience sadly mirrors that of many other patrons, consisting of food that is either bizarrely flavored or seemingly not flavored at all.

Nobody at our table of six enjoyed their meal. The crab cake sandwich was bland, with the sole exception being the tartar sauce. The only thing "jerk" about the jerk chicken is the feeling of being jerked around by a dish that would be more at home in a school cafeteria. Attempting to call it "jerk chicken" would get you chased off of any Carribean island. The fries were completely unseasoned, not a single grain of salt or flake of black pepper to be seen. The coleslaw and hush puppies were incredibly sweet, and while I've had and enjoyed sweeter versions of both, they were a bit unsettling, particularly the hush puppies, which were more like French toast or pancakes.

For dessert, we split the key lime pie and the blueberry white chocolate cheesecake, both of which were actually wonderful.

The service we got from Ken was perfectly good. He was very kind and prompt, and besides the dessert was the only other good aspect of the experience. He is the reason for the second star.

All in all, save your money and your time. Don't be like our group, who saw the closest seafood restaurant and assumed it...

My family and I went to the PCB location tonight, 8/27/22. When we arrived at 5 pm, there were maybe 5 other customers seated. With 6 adults and a 2.5 yr old, we were seated in a booth with elbows knocking, and no offer for a high chair. I asked to be moved to another table, and was told they would have to check if it was ok. After about 10 mins, waitress came back and moved us to a larger booth. We ordered our food and drinks( non alcoholic) at the same time. Drinks came with 2 sodas that the syrup had run out and a glass of tea that had just been made, still hot, with 2 pieces of ice. Surprisingly our food came out way quicker than we had expected, but found out soon why. A hamburger that was ordered, which are frozen patties no doubt, was raw on the inside. A plate of fettuccini, with no seasoning at all, a plate of fried shrimp that was ok, a plate of grilled shrimp that couldn't be eaten, and a plate of jerk chicken that was not seasoned, and1 vegetable was not even put on the plate. Asked for a burger that was done to be brought to replace raw one. It took long enough for the reordered burger that the rest of us had finished eating what was edible on our plates. We were there for an hour and not once did our waitress come back to ask if we needed refills on our drinks. I asked to speak to manager express our disappointment. She did apologize, and did not charge for the burger since we were ready to go when it was brought out. And gave about a 2% discount(which was never the intent with my complaint) on the rest. For the 6 of us...this was our first...