The Surf Hut

I visited the Surf Hut today with 4 adults and 4 children. We received great service and enjoyed our visit. We tried the fried pickles — theirs are sweet which is a nice change. We also tried the crab and shrimp dip– the chips were pretty stale but the dip was good. We also tried the gumbo, taco trio, gulf fried shrimp, kids fish, and shrimp and grits. Everything was delicious. The taco trio is enough for 2 people. The kids fish (fried) is grouper and is served on a frisbee to take home.

The Surf Hut did a great job accommodating a very large party. We had 3 families with kids and they got us seated and our drinks quickly. The food came out fast and it was all correct. It was very good too. Especially for the price. Highly recommend.

Cool place. The atmosphere was casual and fun. My kids loved the sand play area to build sand castles and other games. It was nice while we enjoyed drinks and waited for dinner. Dinner was yummy and good portions. We will be back.

Best place I visited in Destin. Service, atmospheric, food and drinks. Very family oriented which is what we were hoping for and it was. Highly recommended.

Loved the Surf Hut for the great good, excellent service by our waiter Joe, the fun atmosphere, and the view of the beach from our table. I had the locally caught grouper (recommended by Joe) that melted in my mouth and all of our party of 9 loved their food. We all had a lot of fun enjoying the whole Surf Hut experience. And we took our very best family picture at one of their photo op locations to remember our trip to Destin forever!

I had a fantastic dinner here with my family. I ordered the seared grouper with crab meat on top of it and it was absolutely fantastic. My wife and I shared key lime pie for dessert and it was probably the best key lime pie have had. I highly recommend this place and thought the entire experience was outstanding.

This was our third visit to Surf Hut in two vacations, if that tells you how much we like it! This is the perfect place to go after outlet shopping. The place is popular so the wait time can be long, but you can get quick appetizers and full bar service, and/​or walk on the beach or play cornhole («bags» in some parts of the world) out back to pass the time. Surf Hut will text you when your table is ready so you don’t have to worry about wandering too far away.
In general, the atmosphere is a huge selling point for this place. We love going to restaurants that are right ON the beach, and this one is by far my favorite. It’s really feels line you’re just kind of hanging out in somebody’s cool beach shack.
Service has been above average all three times. The food is moderately priced (some seafood dishes go up to $ 25/​$ 35 but sandwiches, tacos, salads etc. range from $ 12-​$ 16.) The tacos are the bomb! Pork, shrimp — whatever! We also love the burgers and the deep fried crab claws. The menu isn’t huge but there’s still enough variety to keep most people happy.
I asked my group of anyone has anything to add. My cousin summed it up and said «I mean… it’s just GOOD!»

It’s ok, we had a shrimp and crab dip that tasted fine and then blackened shrimp tacos. Still just fine at best.
Had two mojitos each that needed more mo and less jito, pretty much mint and lime flavored soda water with a slight hint of rum.
I’m sure there’s worse places in Destin but I know there are better…

This place was OK. My wife ordered a salad and it was very bland. All iceberg lettuce and the chicken was not seasoned much. I had the grouper and it was fine but nothing impressive. The best part of this place is the fact that it is right on the water. The view was great becase we had a table by the window. My wife ordered one of the signature frozen drinks and said there was no alcohol in it. It was an OK experience.

This review is from June 8^th.
Upon arriving, greeted and sat quickly. They were training a new girl and she was great, friendly and happy to be there.
Kids ordered shrimp baskets, wife ordered pulled pork tacos and I went with the trio tacos (pulled pork, shrimp, fish). Also for appetizer we had them bring us some fried pickles, but we were not the biggest fan bc they were sweet and sour instead of traditional dill. Maybe it said that on the menu but we did not notice.
Everything else ordered was excellent and too much, so a doggy bag was needed. View was great, drinks were refilled with out asking. Bill a bit high IMO for tacos and shrimp, but that’s really my only negative. Glad we found this place and will be back next year on vacation.

This place blows the other beachside restaurants out of the water. Myself and four other adults dined together here last night at 6pm. The wait was approximately 30 minutes, however the large bar was easy to get to and the staff was very attentive (and generous with pours). It is MUCH larger on the inside than it looks from the parking lot. As you drive by, it looks like a small «hut» with limited seating. Once inside, it is very spacious. The food was excellent. The waitress recommended the stuffed bacon wrapped shrimp and I’ll admit it’s some of the best shrimp I’ve ever had, and hands down the best in Destin. We were seated beachside on the back deck area. The view was great. Overall, this is the exact vacation dining experience we were looking for. Highly recommended.

This place sucks. It’s terrible. I’m giving an extra star for atmosphere meaning the beach area but with a very limited beer list and some drinks that are the opposite of craft cocktails I can’t say that I recommend it for just drinks. Although, I will say it was great for our two year old to be able to run around and play during the wait for a table.
We ordered fried crab claws as an appetizer and the taco trio to share as it came with rice and a black bean salsa, we are light eaters. There is no kids menu whatsoever which blows my mind for such a kid friendly environment. Heck that’s how we ended up there, my wife searched family friendly options in Unilocal and this place also came recommended from a friend with kids.
Anyway, the crab claws weren’t terrible they were just a bit small and nothing to write home about. They just tasted like fried seafood which was to be expected I guess. I wouldn’t order them again.
I am a huge fan of taco’s and I can easily say that proper fish and pulled pork taco’s are probably my favorites. Unfortunately the taco trio was almost inedible. I gave the shrimp taco to my wife as it is usually one of her favorites and I decided to eat my fish taco first. One bite and I was like um no way, that’s disgusting. I tried to dive right into the pulled pork taco as I was starving but two bites into it I realized that there was no way I was eating any more no matter how hungry I was. Sadly the cilantro lime rice and black bean salsa was the highlight of the meal and the only thing I ate.
My wife had 2 bites of her shrimp taco and I noticed she wasn’t eating either. I offered her my fish taco which she tried and was like «wow that’s gross». She showed me her shrimp and it looked like little rubbery black squid or something.
When our check came we were surprised to see that the manager comped our taco’s. It must have been because when she came by and asked my wife how everything was she was pretty honest. We weren’t expecting anything but we were very grateful it definitely had us leaving with a little less regret than if we would have paid full price. With that being said I would have rather not spent our first night of vacation at this place and we will definitely not be back.

Loved the crab claws! This place is pretty cool, right on the beach, play area in the sand out back & beautiful views. Wait was 1−½, we got lucky there were 2 seats at the bar, watched the Cubs game, it was perfect. Good service.

Great food, great atmosphere, great service! We enjoyed it so much we went twice. Great place to take the kids.

Amazing food, great atmosphere — our kids loved it and the tacos were amazing. We will be back for sure! If you are in the area id recommend giving it a try

Beach sunset while eating superb moderately priced dinner of grouper, smoked snapper dip, shrimp. Salt living is nice !

Food was good, but the flies are terrible. Management didn’t acknowledge our concerns about the flies. Will I come again… probably not. On a good note, our waitress was very friendly and attentive. I ordered the taco trio. It was delicious but I lost my appetite for it because of the flies… what a waste of good food
**at the end of our meal, our waitress noticed I didn’t finish my food and notified management. He gave us a discount on our meal. My husband was still a little irritated, but the fact that he showed concern does help**

Excellent place to visit! I took my grandparents here and the staff was very accommodating. The waitor was extremely nice! The food tasted so good and fresh (I got to taste 6 different entrees.) It has a nice atmosphere too right on the beach. My alcoholic lemonade was good too but definitely not very strong & it was expensive. Definitely higher priced! Id say it is worth it though! :)

Hey I notice this place is averaging 4 stars, but should have more — then I’ll tell you why I’m not surprised it has 4.
We arrived at 6 on a Friday night with 5 people. We were actually in line for 5 minutes JUST to put our name in. The hostess was extremely pleasant and directed us where we could wait, play games, and get some pre-​dinner drinks. We waited about 45 minutes and was seated in first available on the back deck. My wife and daughter split a Captains Platter, I got my own CP, and our younger sons got popcorn kids dinner and a kids fish dinner. Since I didn’t want him eatingTilapia, I asked what the «fish» was. I agreed, and was surprised, when the server said Mahi-​Mahi.
The Captains Platters were generously portioned (seriously, I took half of it home) and even though they were fried, actually tasted fresh (I know — weird, right?). My one son that got the Kids fish dinner (grilled) said «this is the best fish I’ve ever tasted!!»
The server was attentive, polite, and food was great which is why I give this place a 5, but here’s my one complaint: The evening was a bit chilly outside with all of the deck fans running on high. We asked if they could be turned down. The server said he’d check on it because someone else had complained too. 20 minutes later — nothing was done and nothing was said to us. It wasn’t a shivering situation, but we could have been a bit more comfortable out there. Despite that, the restaurant seems like a five to me.

The view here is absolutely phenomenal. I think they could have put practically anything on my plate and I would have enjoyed it.
What I did end up with on my plate was the Shrimp Sandwich. I don’t really think there is a real way to eat this as a sandwich, since they provide so many shrimp that they are pretty much falling out everywhere.
As with everything else in Destin, you probably aren’t going to get out of here for more than 50 bucks, with two entrees and at least one alcoholic beverage. That makes it difficult to subtract anything from them for it.
Parking is great, they have a really good sized lot, so we had no problems there. It was the off season, but I can’t imagine that even during the summer there wouldn’t be a spot.
For me, the view more than anything is the reason to come.