Mom warned me that this was a "food Factory" and I sighed.... she promised that she liked it and it was where she wanted to go for their anniversary dinner. Â OK, Mom.
Well, Mother knew best that night. Â There was NO WAIT (granted it was a Monday night in early Feb) and the special was Scamp. Â We've never had that before but the server patiently explained that it is a mild white fish. Â It was great. Â In fact, I've been trying to find some here in Texas. Â They cooked it perfectly. Â My Dad and I shared one plate of Scamp, Mom got her own and Hubs scarfed down a plated of fried fishy stuff.
We all went home stuff to the gills (see what I did there??)
Party of 17 (5 kids) for dinner on a Monday night at 5pm.
---PROS: The crab stuffed mushrooms ($9) and grilled grouper ($18) were prepared perfectly and delicious, came with a bread basket, salad, and choice of side. The Spanish sparkling wine was a bargain ($21 bottle) but steer clear of the up charged Cabernet ($17 glass!) Â
---CONS: Crowded! I can't imagine Saturday night at 7pm. The service was fast if not overly friendly. Not so kid friendly - no crayons or such, they were not offered bread and there were no kid friendly appetizers. The kid meals were pretty standard (mac n cheese, hamburgers, popcorn shrimp, fries) but did not include a grilled fish option or green veggies.
Hands down..AS GOOD AS IT GETS
Restaurant is a staple in P.C. for many years and with one visit you'll see why.
Go early or be prepared to wait more than 45 minutes. They open at 4:30..
It's fine if you have to wait because they have a separate bar area you can order drinks. Also, a seafood market and gift shop that can occupy your time.
Try and sit near the large windows and you will have a lovely view of the Marnia.
Panama Beach is a really small town.. Captain Anderson's is pretty much the popular semi fancy spot in the city.
We were in Panama for a wedding, & the family love this place. It's a to go to spot for them. The usual visitors are from Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee... I guess living in the city & traveled to good eats, I've been spoiled. Honestly in my opinion, coming from Houston, this place is like a red lobster to me.
After eating my meal, all I can think about is Chef Ramsey or Robert Irvine from Restaurant Impossible opinion if they ate here.
My bf & I didn't try the fish...which is really fresh bc it's caught from sea & brought on the marina.
For starters:
Starters here are meant to be shared, but the guests all ordered their own. My bf ordered the boiled shrimp & I ordered the crab claws.
His shrimp was like drenched in butter, & a odd taste. I was thinking he get some nice steamed/boiled shrimp. For my crabbys I had the option for deep fried or sautéed in butter. I got butter since it sounded less fatty...blah! Wished I ordered it fried! I can see Robert Irvine complaining how the claws are soaked in a golden brownish butter. I couldn't even taste the sweet  natural flavors from the crab claws. I felt like my heart was going to clog each bite I took. The lady next to me ordered a crab cake. It was small..the size of a pepperoni. It looked ok..not sure it was tasty. Oh yea, the special 'rice' rolls..want good either.
For the main course:
I got a Greek salad..omg can my dressing be any oilier...my lettuce was soaked in oil bath dressing.
I ordered steamed butter green mussels. Ugh my stomach hurts just thinking about it. My opinion it should be listed as a appetizer instead of a entree. It was A LOT of mussels to eat. I think I only ate half out of 15-20 mussels. It was so not steamed or sim,we in the wine-butter sauce. When I got my mussels, it looked like it was soup. The broth was not rich in natural flavors. The mussels were chewy. I got a side of collard greens, bc my selective hearing thought it was 'cauliflower' Â my bf soar it was gross so I don't bother wasting Space in my stomach.
My bf ordered the stiffed shrimp. His thoughts: such a heavy plate. He said the shrimp stuffing was too heavy in his system. It was like eating grease he said.
Onto desserts:
Kudos to their in house fresh made dessert....not thumbs up on the dessert skill.
I had crime brûlée, @ it went wrong. It was a thick layer of sugar.to where it got stuck on my teeth. The custard was blan, & odd texture.
We were lucky, we arrived before the crowd, so we were seated immediately.  We had greats seats, until a large party of about 20 adults and two children were seated around us.  If the children were not loud enough, the adults were even louder.  You try to look over the menu while trying to filter out the screams of the infant at the table nest to you.  The pre-dinner rolls were excellent as was the seafood gumbo.  The seafood platter was rated excellent by my wife and her brother.  My sister-in-law raved about the snapper.  I should learn that the only place to eat Maryland Crab Cakes in in Maryland.  The menu listed them as "jumbo" and yet they were not  much bigger than the hush puppies.  While they were good, they were far from the "best I have ever tasted".  The noise and the size of the crab cakes is the reason for the four stars.  Service was excellent.
Review Source:Captain Anderson's holds a special place in my heart. My mother has been going to the restaurant since she was a young girl. It used to be called Seven Seas and was in a different location, but the family ownership remains the same. For me, Captain Anderson's has always been in its current location: right on the water so you can walk around and see the daily catch from chartered boats.
It has changed a little over the years. It now sports an electric sign asking you to follow them on Twitter and Facebook. The menu is glossy and sadly has pictures of the food. I'm not sure why they have felt the need to make these changes because the food really speaks for itself. I love the Greek salad, but I can't pass up their blue cheese salad dressing. It is easily the best that I have ever had. Same goes for the stuffed shrimp. They are just a tiny bit spicy, and are generously stuffed with crab. The service is generally very good, with many servers who have worked there for years.
It makes me sad that Captain Anderson's has lost its old school feel, and does bear passing resemblance to other busy restaurants in PC beach. But appearances aside, the food is still amazing and brings me back year after year.
I've eaten here before and it was delicious; however my last visit which was Friday night, Aug. 3rd was disappointing to say the least. The service was good but the food...I had a salad that looked like they opened a bag of salad, dumped it in a bowl and poured oil in a cup with black pepper for the dressing. I had crab cakes that tasted like a salmon croquette. Yuck!!! I hate those things. Â My husband had fried shrimp and he has had better at Capt D's. It may have been an off night for them, but for the price, I think I will go somewhere else next time.
Review Source:I heard this place was a notable restaurant so I went ahead and visited to see for myself what the all the buzz was about.
The building is located at a marina. I found it pretty neat how one could see fisherman bring in their catch right outside the windows. Overall the place was no hole-in-the-wall. It was very well set up and very clean.
As for the food, it was delicious. The flavor of everything was great, even including the bread they gave us. I had a bowl of the 'She Crab Soup' and it was outstanding.
Lastly, the service is why I gave it 3 instead of 4 or 5 stars. The waiters seemed apathetic about everything. My sister even found a piece of pasta blatantly floating in her water. To top it off, our appetizers were served AFTER we received our actual meals. I understand popular restaurants can get hectic but I really did feel like just a number at that restaurant.
Long story short: Food - Amazing, Service - Unsatisfactory, Location - Fun
Whoever mentioned that this joint was a feed lot hit the nail on the head.
There is a holding pen where they corral the people waiting to get in, and when you do make it inside, there are oceans of people and cacophony of the sounds of lound conversation and eating.
They have a fairly extensive number of menu items, most of which involve things getting fried and stuffed into other things, and perhaps baked into casserole and covered with thick sauces, but at the end of the day, it just feels like over-priced Captain D's. Â One nice perk is they let you keep the hurricane glasses the cocktails come in. Â They also have a big-ass dessert tray, if I had indulged in it by the end of the meal, I am pretty sure that my heart might have started squeaking. Â And bottom line, it ain't cheap.
I felt like there was a boat anchor in my stomach for most of the night after this meal and am surprised that I didn't sweat mayonnaise afterwards as we played minigolf.
A great place to watch fat tourists eat fish.
I've been to Capt. Anderson's 10 gazillion times for the past 25 years of my existence. My family has a beach condo in Florida, so we frequently come down to Panama CIty and let me tell you, my grandfather comes to this restaurant every single night that we are in town. And I mean Every. Single. Night. So yes, there have been times that I've literally eaten at Capt. Anderson's 7 nights in a row. A little excessive, ya think? Lol.
Personally, I don't really see what the big deal is about this place. It mean, it's pretty good, so I don't have too many negative things to say about it. But it's not in my top 10 best restaurants of all time, that's for sure. There is always a HUGE wait, so unless you have magic ties here (my family may or may not get this benefit... lol), then you are probably going to be waiting for a while. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. The plus here is that they do have an A) market with foods, beach gadgets and local flair, B) marina with all kinds of cool boats coming in and out and C) a pretty large bar, so there are a number of ways to keep your group entertained. On a side note: This restaurant is LARGE and LOUD, so I wouldn't recommend Capt. Anderson's for an intimate dinner experience.
My family has ordered a plethora of meals here, but I have to admit that I am NOT a big seafood person. Maybe their seafood is just completely out of this world, but I probably wouldn't be the best person to consult on that. Now, their hush puppies are FREAKING amazing and quite possibly the best ones that I have had in America. The crab cakes are plump, fresh and flavorful, and the fettuccini alfredo w/ chicken has always been a staple for me here. The steaks are okay, the french fries are average and the bread is average too. As for the fish, I've tried a few here and there, and all of the dishes were pretty good. The salads... Bleh. Nothing special at all. The service is usually good, because many of the waiters/waitresses have been at Capt. Anderson's for AGES. I recently had a very crappy waitress though, so maybe she was new or just hard of hearing.... One of the two. Overall, Capt. Anderson's is pretty good if I average out all of the bad, mediocre and great nights that I have experienced here. But unfortunately, I feel like this place is WAY over-hyped. Maybe it's because I tend to be a pretty tough restaurant critic and have experienced some excellent restaurants across the U.S., or maybe it's just because I always grow tired of the whole Capt. Anderson's adventure... Who knows. But my honest opinion tells me that there are plenty of other restaurants in Panama City that are JUST as good as Capt. Anderson's... if not better.
Unfortunately, Captain Anderson's is not what it use to be. Way over priced for over cooked tasteless fish and seafood in a very loud cafeteria style setting. Â As they hearded us down the many large holding areas to the dinningroom, many staff members said hello, but didn't even look at us. Â The dinning room was not very clean. Â Lots of food on the floor. Seemed like the waitress had too many tables because we didn't see her much. Â She was trying, but the service wasn't good. At these prices, I expect more. It was too loud and the dinning room wasn't even full. I have family in Panama City and we use to love coming here years ago, but we won't be going back.
Review Source:It's a sad story that's been played many times in the homes of Bay County. Â We get a phone call from friends and relatives coming to Panama City Beach, and they want to meet up for dinner. Â One of the first suggestions is usually Captain Andersons. Â As soon as I hear those words over the phone I get a little queasy. Â Don't get me wrong: I love going to dinner with friends and family, but eating at Capt. Andersons is not really dinner. Â You see, at dinner you need to be able to communicate with the members of your party. Â I'll give you a little preview of what's in store.
You walk into the cattle yard and, after a long wait, are directed to one of several hostess stations where they route you down to the feed lot. Â Then, you're seated in the middle of a huge room with a dull roar that's on par with a garbage truck. Â You try to look over the menu while trying to filter out the screams of the infant at the table behind you. Â As you look down you'll see the remains of the previous high-chair bomb that exploded on the carpet beneath you. Â The servers did try to clean it up, but unfortunately that sweeper just grinds the food into smaller particles so it will lodge more deeply in the carpet. Â After you place your order, you try to make conversation with your group, but eventually give up due to the noise. Â The food arrives, which is decent, and a feeling of relief comes over you since you no longer have to try so hard to communicate.
Bottom Line: The food is decent, but welcome, my friend, to the machine!
Tip: If you're visiting someone locally, you might, out of courtesy, want to invite them to go eat at a place that more conducive to conversation. Â Or better yet, let them suggest an appropriate eatery!
This was another place recommended by my local contacts, and it is another seafood specialty place. Â The first thing I noticed is the size of this place, and it was probably double the size of a chain type restaurant. Â There are window seats that could view the dock and ocean, and if you order a fresh catch, you can actually see them go down to boats and take it down to the kitchen from there. Â
Everyone in our party ordered fresh fish, and I went with the Grouper Imperial. Â The starter bread is in a neat looking ball shape, and it tasted all right. Â The dish came with a Greek salad, I am not usually a salad person, but I found the salad to be quite delightful. Â Then came the main dish, the fresh crab on top tasted quite decent, and the fish sat in the bottom with loads of butter enough of drowning it again in the afterlife. Â I have say, the fish was not super amazing, but it tasted well enough despite the excessive amount of butters. Â Other who got the tuna steak looked very good too.
After the meal, they used a somewhat terrible tactic of selling dessert by bring the selections right next to you, which I ended up getting a peanut butter cake, and tasted quite delicious.
If you are a seafood lover, then Captain Anderson definitely has what you need. Â Service was excellent for the entire meal. Â It is a place worth revisiting.
This was the grand finale of my trip to Panama City Beach, and what a finish it was.
Started with a shrimp appetizer that had a cajun (and heavy butter) kick to it, extremely tasty.
For the main entree, I had a Grouper imperial. Â A greek-style grilled filet of grouper, with lumps (or should I say chunks) of crab meat on top, glazed with olive oil and spices. Â Oh. My. Heavens.
Now, I'm only a seafood guy when I can see the water it came from. Â And this fish was absolutely one of the best I've ever had. Â If you have the cash to spare, make this a must stop.
Oh, and save room for dessert. Â The waitress will bring a tray of the evening's desserts, and each one looked amazing. Â Our chocolate silk pie was something like grandma would make (she agreed, she was there with us!).
Oh, Capt. Anderson's, what happened to you?? We have history, you and me, but it's just not working out. I'm afraid I'm not your #1 girl anymore.
It gives me great pain to have to write this review. I was born in Panama City and grew up about an hour north of there. As a kid, I spent many a night at Capt. Anderson's with my family for special occasion dinners. We'd always get there early and I used to love to watch the boats come in. My family' favorite: the fresh red snapper in season, char-grilled Greek style. I grew up comparing every other seafood dish to this excellence. This is how I learned what seafood should be like - the whole experience. On the water, watching boats come and go, fresh seafood, done simply, yet amazing. These are memories of days gone by at what used to be my favorite restaurant on Earth.
After many years away, we took a week-long vacation to Panama City and immediately, I told my hubby we'd have to hit Capt. Anderson's. I told him he couldn't let me leave PC Beach without it! Gotta have that red snapper! We chose Thursday night. We got there later, around 8pm, and the hostess was less than happy to deal with yet another patron. She tells us to "walk all the way back and veer right". So we do. Hostess #2 asks how many in our party, pulls menus and tells us to follow her. Yes, I know the restaurant is large, but she walks us all the way to no man's land and sits us at a dirty booth. Well, the table top was clean, but the floor had remnants of what I call "high chair debris" all over the floor, and some in the seats as well. Hubby and I look at each other as if to say "Really? This is the best Southern Living's Best Seafood Restaurant can do??". This would never do 20 years ago! We reluctantly sit. The tag on the table says Donna is our server. It takes Donna forever to come and get our drink order. I order a water and a bar drink; hubby and son order fountain drinks. We wait. Five minutes later, water and fountain drinks come, and she says she's getting my drink from the bar. Five more minutes go by, I get my drink and she leaves again. She's gone another extended length of time, then brings bread, and leaves again. So we close our menus to say "we're ready now". We wait. We realize there is no butter for the bread. Hubby gets up to go find some. Donna finally comes back to get our order about 15 minutes after we sit down. We have another awkward wait with no refills, no "can I get you anything", nothing. Entrees finally arrive and although I enjoy my red snapper, my hubby's fried shrimp and my son's mac and cheese were terrible. The shrimp were rubbery - either overcooked or under a heat lamp for too long. We should have sent them back, but our son had grown restless and we just wanted to finish up and go. Donna comes at the end of our meal and asked if we wanted to see the dessert tray. We said yes, and that we'd like to get it to go. Donna comes a few minutes later with the check. Ohhh-K. We'll just pay and go. Weird. Hands down the worst service our entire trip. So disappointing.
With all of the wonderful seafood places in PC Beach and the surrounding area, Capt. Anderson's is going to have to step it up. I'm sad to say that I don't plan on going back next time.
seafood doesnt get any fresher than this! they have their own fleet of boats that go out daily and actually CATCH the food! Service is hands down top notch! This staff knows what they are doing, they are well seasoned and it is refreshing to see the same friendly smiling faces, some we have seen for the past 30 years!! Try anything that is charbroiled here, the fish, the steaks, the shrimp....a true grecian treat!
Grilled scamp topped with fresh lump crabmeat is a real winner! the churrasco steak cant be beat, and the gumbo is as good as you can get. Everything is made here in house, they bake their own breads daily and make all of their own desserts. They do not cut corners here!!
Do yourself a favor and skip all those chain restaurants at least one night and try some real good fresh florida food here!
OK, OK, this place LOOKS like a tourist trap, but don't let the looks fool you.. Â If you don't want to wait in line, better get there by 5:30 PM. Â This is a casual restaurant and the wait staff (while very professional) are there to push product - appetizers and drinks. The appetizers (we ordered four different ones for 6 adults. Â Fried calamari - good, fried blue crab claws - mediocre, stuffed mushroom caps - great, and finally the onion rings were excellent.
OK why four stars? Â Because I asked for just a plain piece of fish; our waitress recommended the whole, charcoal grilled red snapper. Â Best whole fish I have ever had... just outstanding and cooked exactly right.. Â Everyone else's meals were very good but... if you don't mind fooling with a fish including playing with the bones my meal was great. Â The cost was reasonable for the quality and quantity of food. Â Next time we're in that area, we will go back.
What can I say? This place surpass all of my expectations. The food was delicious and the service was awesome. I went here on a date night with my lover and we both enjoy our evening here. Although I would say that this place attracts more of the older crowd, but hey, the frozen kahlua colada was delicious. I'll definitely will be back.
Review Source:Had dinner on Sunday Night. Â It has been 30 years since I last visited Captain Andersons. Â Not much atmoshphere and the food was okay. Â I had the stufffed grouper with baked potato. Â Also a greek salad. Â The food was good but not great. Â It was just okay. Â Of course they had no raw oysters due to the oil spill in the gulf. Â I would not rush back to eat here. Â
Waitress was somewhat rude and was ready to go home.
Avoid like the plague!
Bad service, slow, rude, wrong orders, no refills... that's just for starters.
The quality of the food falls way short of the high price tag. You can get much better tasting seafood elsewhere in town,for cheaper.
This place is definitely geared towards the tourists, and from what i know, locals wouldn't think twice about going there to pay the high prices for the bad food and even worse service.
Typically, if a restaurant was busy i might understand a drop in standards, but there was no excuse for the complete disaster when our group went.
We will not be returning.
Awesome! Why locals disparage this restaurant is beyond me. Voted one of the top 50 Seafood restaurants in the U.S. for years, I believe speaks for itself? I've been coming here for the past 10+ years, and have yet to have a bad meal, or less than stellar service. The Patronis family does it right- TOP NOTCH all the way!
Last night, I had the Scamp Imperial-excellent, white flaky fish with fresh crab meat on top. Wifey had the Grouper Imperial. Also, just as awesome. We paired this with a bottle of the A to Z Chardonnay.
Teresa, our server, was on top of it. Strong 5 STARS across the board! Decent pricing, above average wine list, excellent food & service. I plan on returning for years to come!
I had one of the best pieces of grilled fish I've ever had in my life here. Amberjack, simply done in lemon and herbs was outstanding, I've also had the steak here, which was equally as good. The only reason this place does not get five stars is because of the salads and sides. They could be a little more creative and tasty. Just the standard iceberg lettuce salad and a baked potato is not deserving of being plated with the heavenly main course...but still, Captain Anderson's is a must stop in PCB!
Review Source:I LOVE seafood so you can understand my excitement when someone suggested Captain Anderson's for dinner. They just reopened for the season so I assumed it's going to be great. Although my experience wasn't horrible it was somewhat off.
When we got there we were put on a waiting list so we wandered around for a bit. Then the mayhem began...4 separate parties were called at the same time. It was my bf, his dad, and I in a sea of old people barely moving. Still...they somehow managed to beat us to the punch so we were the last ones left waiting for a table. The whole process was disorganized and completely unnecessary.
I tried fried blue crab legs for the first time and we also ordered crab stuffed mushrooms. Both appetizers were pretty good. We all ended up getting the lobster stuff with crab meat...I though it was OK...I would not order it if I came back. A lobster bisque came with my meal and that was pretty bad...to much starch and not enough cream. I got grilled veggies as a side while everyone else got sweet potato casseroles...YUK. This thing was horrible..imagine potatoes that are covered in sugar and cinnamon and you can't taste anything but the sugar. Needless to say no one touched that.
The service is good here but again a bit confusing. Somehow we were ordering drinks, appetizers, and meals all at different times.
Side note - watch out for the babies! No baby needs to eat lobster.
The restaurant is quite large and it draws a lot of people that they make wait in their large gift shop. Â It's a bit of a tourist trap. Â The food is not bad at all, but it is incredibly overpriced for what it is. Â It is maybe slightly better quality/execution than you'd find at any beach seafood place at a much greater price.
3
You can't drive around Panama City without seeing various signs for seafood restaurants. Â I decided to try Capt Anderson's since it was near my hotel. Â First off the place is big. Â It holds a fair amount of people. Â I didn't have any waiting when I got there but I still had to sit in queue for about five minutes to get a table.
Once seated I got great service. Â From what I could tell, the wait staff there did a good job for everyone. Â They are very attentive. Â I had the shrimp and crab au gratin. Â It was very tasty but I didn't think it had enough shrimp/crab to equal the $20+ price tag. Â It was very tasty though. Â I had the steam veggies with it and let me first say I'm not normally one that loves veggies but they were very good.
Looked like they had a full bar. Â They have a few beers on tap and what looked like some decent wines. Â I didn't get dessert but the tray they had of them looked very inviting. Â They have a gift shop ala Cracker Barrel, which also sells fresh seafood.
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