Fall in love with Mobile through food—festivals, seafood + more

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Last month, we let you in on some of Mobile’s best views and mentioned the impeccable food scene. Now, we’re here to give you the best seafood, ice cream shops and food festivals to experience during your visit to the Port City. Get your pen and paper ready, you’ll want to write these recommendations down.

July is National Ice Cream month, but it’s celebrated every day at Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream. This charming ice cream parlor was established in 1969 by Mr. Edwin Widemire who used his father’s old-fashioned ice cream recipe. Old Dutch Ice Cream soon became a spot where families stopped in, children congregated after school and neighbors walked to for delicious treats.

Old Dutch churns 700 gallons a day and provides ice cream to 25 ice cream parlors across the southeast, including shops in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Prattville, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Serving 47 flavors of ice cream, this legendary local ice cream parlor is still serving the best quality ice cream in a shop whose décor has seen little change since opening their doors 54 years ago.

Chef Jim Smith, crowned “King of American Seafood” by winning the Great American Seafood Cookoff, opened Hummingbird Way Oyster Bar in the heart of Mobile’s Oakleigh Garden Historic District. This charming restaurant is known for serving fresh, innovative cuisine that elevates traditional southern dishes to a new level. For you oyster lovers out there—this is the place to put on your bucket list.

You will find Alabama’s Murder Point and Point Aux Pins oysters on the menu along with specialties from across the country. Order a flight of your favorites and match them with a specialty cocktail for the perfect pairing.

Fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp au gratin, shrimp scampi, Bubba Gump Shrimp. Sound familiar?

To truly immerse yourself in the Mobile culture means you need to experience the “old school” seafood restaurants. These classic spots use only the freshest ingredients, sourced from boats docked in Bayou la Batre or Bon Secur. Each restaurant has house specialties and dishes original to the Mobile area. From fried crab claws to gumbo, we encourage you to try everything on the menu—and don’t skip the hushpuppies!

Here are our top seafood restaurant suggestions:

In the heart of Downtown Mobile, Wintzell’s is known for good oysters served fried, nude or stewed. When you visit, belly up to the oyster bar and watch the shuckers work their magic. Wintzell’s has expanded over the past few decades, with additional locations reaching from the Gulf Coast to central and north Alabama. The original Wintzell’s, located in the heart of downtown Mobile, celebrates their “old school” seafood restaurant roots keeping their original décor, complete with hundreds of southern quips and signs hanging on the walls, delivering a lively, southern atmosphere.

Who doesn’t love a hometown seafood joint? The Lighthouse Restaurant in Irvington offers that mom and pop feel and some of the best seafood in the state. Their recipes have been handed down from generation-to-generation. Mobilians flock to the south part of the county to eat at the Lighthouse! We heard the crab claws are a hit.

For fresh-from-the-bayou seafood, this hole in the wall has it. From fried fantail shrimp to oyster cocktails, you’ll find a menu that hasn’t changed much in the 50 years they’ve been in operation. If you are headed down for lunch, look for the blue plate special, only $9.99. Our favorite night is fired mullet and grits night!

This family-fun restaurant began in 1982 and culminated into one of the most successful and longest-running seafood restaurants in South Alabama. With the success of the first establishment, a second was opened on the Mobile Bay Causeway in 1985. The Original Oyster House makes every effort to serve the best seafood with genuine Southern hospitality. We think they do a pretty good job, too.

Roshell’s serves seafood morning, noon and night. If you are looking for a hearty breakfast or just wake up with a seafood craving, you’ll want to head to Roshell’s. Shrimp and Grits and amazing shrimp omelets are served for breakfast. For lunch, sink your teeth into amazing fried shrimp, fish or oyster po-boys served on flaky French bread. For dinner try the Jubilee platter, a fried seafood feast.

With a passion for food, history and hospitality, Chris and Laney Andrews started Bienville Bites, offering a collection of food tours that connect people to the City of Mobile, one taste at a time. If you want to explore food traditions and hear stories from Mobile’s past, this is the way to do it.

Take a look at the tours offered:

Bienville Bites was recently named by USA Today’s Reader Choice Awards as a top 10 finalist for Best Food Tours in America. Get in on the action and book your Bienville Bites Food Tour today!

In a city that was born to celebrate, Mobile loves to celebrate food. During your visit, you’ll discover fundraisers, cultural celebrations and street parties featuring food year-round. Some of the many Mobile food festivals and competitions you might see include:

You can see more details on these events and find a list of upcoming food festivals on Visit Mobile’s calendar of events.

For a complete list of restaurants in the Mobile area, be sure to check out this Destination Guide. Stay up to date on all the festivities at Visit Mobile’s website.

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