# Panama City Beach bar/restaurant suggestions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636 "2018-09-20T15:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/1 "2018-09-20T15:06:43Z")
My son is getting married this Saturday evening on the beach at Panama City Beach. I’m looking forward to meeting my first-ever daughter-in-law. I’m flying down tomorrow and will have some time to myself before the big event. Never been there. Are there any bars that I should visit? I’ll have a car (flying Pittsburgh-Atlanta-Gainesville then driving). ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/2 "2018-09-20T16:08:31Z")
That’s a hell of drive to get here vs flying into ECP or even Destin. I don’t go to the bar portion of these, but for restaurants of the 70 or 80 I’ve tried in the area I like Gulf Coast Burger company, Bubba’s Pizza, and The Craft Bar - A Florida Gastropub. A lot of the restaurants are very generic even if not a “chain” because they cater to tourists and in volume. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/3 "2018-09-20T16:24:25Z")
> [@jacobsta811](#): > > That’s a hell of drive to get here vs flying into ECP or even Destin. Pittsburgh **sucks** as a city to fly out of. I worked like a madman months ago trying to to work out my flight and that was the best I could do! The Craft Bar - A Florida Gastropub sounds good, thanks! I’ll enter it into my GPS now. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/4 "2018-09-20T16:53:24Z")
From my college spring break days, I seem to remember having a hell of a good time at Spinnakers and Club La Vela, but I don’t reckon those are what you’re looking for. I don’t even know if they’re still there. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/5 "2018-09-20T16:56:03Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > From my college spring break days, I seem to remember having a hell of a good time at Spinnakers and Club La Vela,\*\* but I don’t reckon those are what you’re looking for\*\*. I don’t even know if they’re still there. (bolding mine) 😕 I’m looking to have a hell of a good time. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/6 "2018-09-20T17:05:46Z")
I’d have some great suggestions if you were going to the _real_ Panama City, but not that other one (which always plays hob with Google searches when I’m trying to find a store or restaurant here). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/7 "2018-09-20T17:16:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’d have some great suggestions if you were going to the _real_ Panama City, but not that other one (which always plays hob with Google searches when I’m trying to find a store or restaurant here). 😉 Amen! My first efforts to buy airline tickets to Panama City were shocking.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/8 "2018-09-20T17:17:35Z")
We used to go every year as a kid in the 60s-70s - before spring break became a big thing. Much has changes, but Goofy Golf and Spyglass Hill golf course are still there. Back then, Captain Anderson’s restaurant right at the marina was a big night out for us. I see it is still in business. Enjoy yourself. I remember one year my dad filled the car trunk with that white powdery sand and put it in our sandbox up in Chicago. The neighborhood kids didn’t recognize it as sand! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/9 "2018-09-20T17:20:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > (bolding mine) > > 😕 I’m looking to have a hell of a good time. Then, hey, check out Spinnakers and Club La Vela! Although, considering it’s not spring break, I can’t vouch for the action on the dance floors. ETA: I just did the math, and realized that my last spring break there was 20 years ago. So I can’t really vouch for anything at these places anymore. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/10 "2018-09-22T02:00:20Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Then, hey, check out Spinnakers and Club La Vela! Although, considering it’s not spring break, I can’t vouch for the action on the dance floors. > > ETA: I just did the math, and realized that my last spring break there was 20 years ago. So I can’t really vouch for anything at these places anymore. ☹ Do kids even “spring break” anymore? But yeah…20 years ago Spinnakers and Club La Vela were the shit! ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/11 "2018-09-23T02:05:11Z")
Both of those clubs still exist, though I think club la vela is like 4 times the size it was 20 years ago or something. Never been to either though. Edit to add, size increase might be over more than 20 years, but it has apparently just kept adding rooms and pools and such. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/12 "2018-09-24T12:07:13Z")
> [@jacobsta811](#): > > The Craft Bar - A Florida Gastropub. Well, I’m back. The wedding was awesome, I met my daughter-in-law and they are a perfect couple. My son is completing the process of adopting her 4ish year old son, so by the end of the week I’ll be a fucking grandfather. I was introduced to the boy as his new grandpa and that’s what he called me.:eek: I took the wedding party out to **Dick’s Last Resort** for drunken revelry. What a fun place! They make hats for everyone to wear and write amazingly obscene things on them. The bride-to-be’s said, “I swallowed, he proposed”. The traveling was a nightmare, with tight connections going and returning, and the 4 1/2 hour drive from Gainsville was soul crushing. But it was all worth it. I spent Friday evening solo at The Craft Bar-A Florida Gastropub and had a great time. They actually had two Praire Artisan Ale beers on draft. Glad to be home, though. The southern drawl was starting to wear on me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2018, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/panama-city-beach-bar-restaurant-suggestions/821636/13 "2018-09-24T12:22:01Z")
Glad things worked out so well! 🙂