The Best Bites in Jacksonville Beach

Your go-to food guide for Jacksonville Beach!

Jacksonville Beach is about a 7 hour drive from Elon University. While not the typical Florida Spring Break destination, the town has a lot to offer in restaurants. We spent the week trying a little bit of everything to offer you a complete guide of eats!

Brunch+Coffee

Beach Hut Cafe

Located right down the road from the water front, Beach Hut Cafe is the perfect place for a classic breakfast. Get whatever your heart desires, but make sure to order a stack of pancakes. Buttery, thick, and soft the pancakes go perfectly with anything else on the menu. Other menu highlights include the breakfast potatoes, you have to order them extra crispy. Salty and warm, you can really taste the love.

Finally, a staple of an authentic diner breakfast is the coffee. Often diners serve a burnt bitter coffee you need to jam with cups of cream and packets of sugar. Beach Hut Cafe pours a smooth and sharp cup of coffee delicious enough to drink black.

This place is a must when in search of a classic American breakfast.

Original Photo: The “Complete Country Breakfast”

Southern Ground

Looking for a quick grab coffee and snack Southern Ground has got you! They have seasonal coffee flavors unlike any Starbucks or Dunkin around. Our favorites were the Honey Lavender iced latte and the burrata toast. Sweet but subtle coffee that isn't too strong or too weak, and the toast is light and airy with juicy tomatoes.

Tulua Bistro Jacksonville

The stand out of Tulua’s is the “make your own breakfast board”. You can get sweets, sides, meat and a speciality. It's a perfect way to try a little bit of everything without over ordering. The acai bowl wasn’t necessarily anything special, but the hashbrown is perfectly crispy and well seasoned. We also tried The Bacon Pancake Dippers, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was salty, sweet, and buttery. What more could you want for breakfast? Tulua’s is perfect for less of a classic brunch and more of an experience.

Original Photo: The Small Breakfast Board with an Acai Bowl, Pancakes, Fruit, Waffles, and Hashbrowns. The Bacon Pancake Dippers

Lunch or dinner

Grouper Shack

It isn’t a beach trip without a little seafood. Grouper Shack offers some of the best variation. The “Pick Two” basket allows you to get any combination of fish the Grouper Shack offers. You can get your fish fried or grilled. The options are endless and fully customizable. We tried several variations, the grilled shrimp are light and well seasoned. The crab cakes are soft while still having a golden brown crispy outside. The fried shrimp have the perfect amount of breading without overpowering the natural sweetness of the shrimp. We also got an order of oysters which were as fresh as can be. Grouper is the best bang for your buck, and way to sample some of the fresh fish options of Jacksonville. Make sure to get a picture with the fish outside!

Lynch’s Irish Pub

Lynch’s has a vide variety of famous pub foods. It's a casual dining option with inside and outside seating. We ordered loads of food to share. Our personal favorite was the fish and chips. An irish pub classic, Lynch’s delivered flawlessly. The fish had a crispy fried shell that didn’t just taste like oil. The fish itself was buttery and melted in your mouth. The chips, or frys, were well salted and went great with the housemade tartar sauce. Our second favorite was the spinach and artichoke dip. Served with just plain tortilla chips, the dip is smooth and covered in melty cheese. We also got the sausage rolls, while it was the least favorite, it in no way was a bad bite. The sausage was sweet and spicy, smothered in a tangy mustard and wrapped in flaky dough. When you need warm comfort food, Lynch knocks it out of the park.

Original Photo: From top to bottom: Spinach Artichoke Dip, Sausage Rolls, Fish and Chips

Casa Maria

There is nothing better after a long day in the warm sun, than tacos and margaritas. Casa Maria has an expansive menu. The Quesabirria tacos are smothered in the rich, salty consomme; and stuffed with onions and tender beef. The tacos are wrapped in a quesadilla so each bite is cheesy and warm. Casa Maria runs a lot of happy hour deals, such as two margaritas for twelve dollars from 5-7. With an expansive drink menu, our favorite margaritas were the frozen mango and the frozen strawberry. Sweety but not overpowering. Each drink is offered frozen or on the rocks.

Rainbow Sushi

All You Can Eat Sushi is one of the best inventions in the past century. It’s a way to splurge and try a varied amount of rolls and raw fish. Rainbow Sushi offered a fairly priced dinner with access to not just sushi, but hibachi plates and appetizers like crab rangoon. All the sushi was fresh and paired with warm, soft rice. Some of our favorites were the salmon nigiri, crab rangoon, and the shrimp tempura hand rolls.