Restaurants in Jacksonville, FL

The large African-American community in Florida’s biggest city means that Jacksonville will reward seekers of soul food. Jenkins Quality Barbecue (three locations) is a long-standing favorite BBQ parlor, known for beef, pork, and chicken cooked in a pit fired by oak logs and for sauce made from a recipe that is an old family secret. One of the city’s best-known eating destinations is Beach Road Fish House & Chicken Dinners, dating back to 1939. Here you find stuffed Gulf grouper, Lowcountry boil, shrimp & grits, fish tacos, and blue crab ravioli, plus a raw bar ready to serve oysters by the dozen. Crab leg lovers come on Tuesday, when they’re $12 per pound. Chicken dinners here are not an afterthought. They are served by the quarter, half, or whole bird, enveloped in a luxurious red-gold crust. On the subject of fried chicken a unique Jacksonville eating experience will be found at a bakery called Good Dough, where the specialty is a fried chicken doughwich: crisp fried chicken sandwiched along with pickles and hot sauce in a glazed donut. Yes, you read that right.

Jacksonville’s Most Famous Dishes

Crab legs top a Lowcountry boil of shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage

Crab

Cafeteria tray holds a square meal of BBQ chicken, mac & cheese, collards, cornbread, sweet tea, and banana pudding

Dinner Platters

A single fried shrimp with crisp crust so thin you can see through it.

Fried Shrimp

A bowl of thick, creamy chowder, loaded with clams and sprinkled with green onion

Clam Chowder

Jacksonville’s Best Restaurants

Jenkins Quality Barbecue

JACKSONVILLE, FL

Singleton’s Seafood Shack

JACKSONVILLE, FL

Beach Road Chicken Dinners

JACKSONVILLE, FL

Good Dough

JACKSONVILLE, FL

Safe Harbor Restaurant

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL

Gator’s BBQ

JACKSONVILLE, FL

Blue Crab Crabhouse

JACKSONVILLE, FL

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