Sandbar Seafood & BBQ Joint — Restaurant in Panama City Beach

The table service and their fried food are probably the only good things they offer.

My fiance and I came for the shrimp and scallop entree and the filet mignon entree after looking at their website menu and 4/5 star reviews on Google.

When we got there we were seated right away and it didn't look too busy. After looking at the menu, we noticed they had the filet mignon crossed out so my fiance ordered the 1/2 pound burger instead. I ordered the shrimp and scallop entree and chose for them to be blackened. We also ordered fried cheese curds as an appetizer.

It took about 30 minutes for our appetizer to come out even though they were not busy. The cheese curds were very good and I'm assuming their other fried/bar food is just as good.

60 minutes later after ordering the appetizer and dinners, our food finally came. My fiance was glad she didn't get the option to order the $31 filet mignon because the half-pound burger was dry, overcooked, and flavorless. But she liked the fries. (Bar food) The 12ish small blackened shrimp was good and the two sides were also good. The 3 scallops tasted okay with the blackened seasoning but were a little overlooked and still had the rubbery ligament attached, but overall tasted okay.

After eating what felt like an overpriced meal and being underwhelmed after waiting so long for the food, we were not too happy when we noticed they charged an extra $4 for the shrimp and scallops entree on the bill.

The shrimp and scallop entree, as listed on the menu, is $21 and you can get it fried for $2 extra. When ordering they asked how I wanted it and they offer steamed, fried, or blackened. I ordered blackened but the bill had two "$2 fried" charges under the entree. I asked about it and the waitress said they charge extra for blackened the same way as charging for fried. So to sum it up, they charged $2 extra for blackened SEASONING for the shrimp, and $2 extra for blackened SEASONING for 3 scallops. I'm surprised they didn't charge extra for the hot sauce that was sitting at the table already since they charge $4 for adding a simple blackened seasoning.

Overall, not going back and not recommending unless you want fried food and...

From the moment we arrived at 6pm, service was terrible. Hostess was friendly enough (told 6 of us we would have a 20-30 min wait), but no instruction on where we should wait. So we went to the bar. Stood there for well over 5 min and the bartender never approached us. Only after I asked if we could order a drink while waiting for a table (when she picked up the plate of the person next to us) did we get attention. My margarita had a gnat in it (down inside an ice cube...if I'd known at that time how much downhill the evening would go I would have taken a picture of that!).

After 45 min we were finally sat down at a table. The frustrating part was, there were SEVERAL large tables of people who were done eating but not leaving their tables because they were watching a football game. Management had no regard for the people waiting, as the people who were done could have moved to a different location (like where we were... standing at the bar). The football watchers were also loud and obnoxious. The place was crowded, but not BUSY because these people weren't ordering anything.

Once seated the waitress came over and said she needed to deliver food to another table and would "be right back". 10 minutes later she returned. We immediately ordered and got our non-alcoholic beverages relatively quickly. Then the waiting began again. When the appetizers & salads finally arrived, the garlic bread was terrible - half a flattened, toasted sub roll with zero flavor, barely a smear of butter (see pic). The tuna was cooked properly but needed seasoning & a sauce (other than plain soy). The salads were delicious & fresh, but it's a $4 upcharge to have as one of your sides with dinner. Our entrees were all very tasty and nice sized portions. Our server only checked on us once and after bringing the bills (which were wrong), again we waited! We even tried to take the bills to the bar to pay but was told to go back to the table and wait for the server to cash us out. It was 8:20 when we finally left. This miserable experience lasted almost 2-1/2 hours!

Overall a disappointment. The food was overshadowed by the awful service &...

I visit PCB once or twice per year. Sandbar is across the street from my vacation home, which I visit when I’m in town after a long day in the beach. I look forward to an “easy meal” dining out to take the task of cooking for my family off a day or two on my trip. This, however, was a huge mistake tonight.

The server was busy but attentive and I give her no fault for any of the negative experience my group had. The issue lied in the sub-par food that was delivered after a long wait.

I ordered the spicy ribeye at a medium temperature (along with others in my group), receiving steaks that were not only considered well-done, but what I consider to “congratulations”. I didn’t think it was possible to make a marinated ribeye as dry as the piece of meat I was served, but I guess anything is possible.

Aside from the overcooked steaks my group received, the burger that was ordered was not only cold but pretty unflavorful.

I understand it’s a busy weekend with the holiday upcoming this week, but with the wait times and the cost this was simply unacceptable. I didn’t want to burden the server with this problem, as things were moving so slowly that I didn’t want to wait for it to be “made right” as our party had grown tired and simply wanted to leave.

End of the day, I generally enjoyed your establishment in the past and looked forward to a decent meal after a day in the beach. After tonight, I will never consider Sandbar as an option to dine out.

Please staff to accommodate your seating for your server’s sake and also train your kitchen staff how to properly get meals out, not only in a timely fashion, but also in an acceptable fashion for a diner.

I hope your establishment can learn from this and be better...