9 Must-Try Restaurants In Atlantic Beach FL | Best Places To Eat In Atlantic Beach, Florida

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Foodie Flash Packer | December 17, 2021

https://www.foodieflashpacker.com/restaurants-in-atlantic-beach-fl/

Atlantic Beach, Florida, in Duval County, is part of the Jacksonville Beaches communities. And it’s a pretty awesome “suburb” for Jacksonville residents or visitors to enjoy. 

In town for a publisher’s conference and additional promotion, thanks to the original Shark from Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington, we weathered the combination of a King Tide and Nor’easter to get out and about, away from a lovely beach hotel, One Ocean Resort & Spa, to bring these great restaurant choices to you.

As you drive into town, you see Atlantic Beach to the north, and Neptune Beach to the south (check out my article on Neptune Beach restaurants next!). These two beach towns have wonderful restaurants close to the beach. And even more several blocks inland.

Best Places To Eat In Atlantic Beach, Florida

The 9 Must-Try Restaurants in Atlantic Beach FL

One Ocean Resort & Spa’s Restaurant Azurea

1 Ocean Blvd. // (904) 249-7402

One of the most beautiful spaces I’ve seen, walking into the entrance of this restaurant and bar is like walking into Neptune’s playground, or the most expensive fish tank you’ve ever seen.

A coral blue tube with specialty blue lighting and stones stacked on wires as you walk towards a sculpture floating thru the central space, floor to ceiling, planes of silver reflecting the light

The restaurant was available throughout the day, and the bar is considered one of the best in the area.
When we worked thru lunch, they catered a meal for us, chicken breast or beef sandwiches or curried hummus for the vegetarians.

Since I don’t eat sandwiches, I ordered the achiote marinated mahi-mahi tacos, served in a double soft tortilla, with mango pico de gallo, cabbage slaw, cilantro-lime cream, and a house-pickled jalapeno. It was a little messy but there was time to get to the restroom during the break and my hmmmms were quiet enough to not disturb the meeting.  

We spent a couple of hours after the second day of the conference in the bar relaxing. The service was intermittently slow, but everyone remained happy to have accomplished what we’d done.

And the storm raged on, so it was good for us to have an entertaining reason to stay inside and continue to network.

If you’re in the area, they do offer a Thanksgiving special. So check it during any holiday.

Joseph’s Pizza

30 Ocean Blvd. // (904) 270-1122

On a cold, breezy, rainy day, sometimes you just need to have a slice. The lady manning the counter for lunch the day I arrived told me the most common thing she sells is a slice … though, on days like today, the garlic knots are a big seller. Surprisingly, she hadn’t tried them yet. 

But she should. I ordered and received the garlic knots several minutes before my slice of cheese pizza was ready, and they were among the most delicious I’ve ever had.

Warm and yeasty with a tasty garlic butter concoction, you can eat them with your fingers, finger lickin’ good style, or with fork and knife.

The cheese pizza slice arrived and was very heavy on the mozzarella. As good as it was, and it was a fine slice of pizza, it didn’t compare to the garlic knots.

The lady did say that the lasagna is one of the best-selling items from their Italian dishes, and it is beef, not sausage. I’d like to try it some time when I return.

Other items available on this menu include sauteed mussels, stuffed mushrooms, an antipasto platter, fried mozzarella sticks, fried calamari, chicken or tuna salads, the classic Caesar or Greek salad, or Joseph’s Antipasto Salad.

Their sandwiches include homemade meatballs, steak in a sack, pastrami, homemade Italian sausage, or chicken salad.

The smell of the fresh-baked Italian bread blends with the pizza dough, so you can’t really tell the difference between the flat rolls and the braided sesame loaf, for example, but the garlic knots are the best I’ve had in a very long time.

Whit’s Frozen Custard

38 Ocean Blvd. // (904)853-5384

The thing to know in advance about Whit’s is that they have two flavors of custard, vanilla and chocolate, and then the flavor of the day. So go early in your visit so you can plan your day for how often you need to return. That leaves you the appropriate amount of time, calories, and money to budget.

For example, the day I arrived, they didn’t have a flavor I cared for. But the next day, they were serving “Buckeye” – as in The Ohio State University’s flavor with peanut butter and chocolate.

So, I returned the next day (after Ragtime Tavern, Seafood & Grille) and took a waffle cone back to the conference with me.

In the rain, the ice cream melted a little faster than expected, so it caused a tasty and delightful mess all over my hands … nothing a good wash couldn’t fix once the dessert was finished.

It was even creamier than I’d expected, this concoction of peanut butter and a bit of chocolate. I found most of the chocolate at the base of the waffle cone and it was even better than a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

There are a variety of ways you can have your frozen custard served in addition to the cup or cone. They offer dipped waffle cone, waffle bowl, the Whitser, where you choose any topping to create your own unique flavor, beach madness, cool coffee, grasshopper, Hawaiian luau, mud pie, river city delight, rocky road, sea turtle, shark bite, and s’mores. It’s a good thing I didn’t start matching and mixing their candies, nuts, real fruits, bites, and favorites. I could’ve been rolled out of town. 

My first day there, the special was mocha toffee. The other days were sea salt caramel, samoas, and mint chocolate chip. Good thing to get on the way out of town (after your car is packed).

Ragtime Tavern, Seafood & Grille

207 Atlantic Blvd. // (904) 241-7877

Walk into Ragtime and you’ll walk into a rustic western bar with lots of comfort food, with a seafood twist. Seven of us went to Ragtime so it was good to see how everyone else’s meal compared to mine.

The water in this area doesn’t agree with me, not uncommon in beach areas, I’ve learned. So, the choice becomes bottled water, lemonade, tea (unsweetened or sweet), or soda. Since I can’t mix the sweet tea with water easily, I learned on this trip to have the tea mixed half and a half (unsweetened better on the bottom of the glass, I learned), to make a palatable combination.

Others were quite satisfied with their sodas, iced tea, or lemonade.