Foodie Review: The Harbor Tavern

Get the inside scoop on the best dining in Destin from the locals themselves

BY SUTTON GODAR

▶ A stroll along the iconic Destin, Florida, HarborWalk, features a number of dining options. But situated on the edge of a series of popular bars and restaurants frequented by locals and tourists alike, you’ll find The Harbor Tavern. Sporting an ideal location, openair dining, couch-style seating in the back and a food truck to offer local flavor, The Harbor Tavern has a spot for everybody.

appetizers did their job — we couldn’t wait for the main course.

At the bottom right of the menu, you’ll find their Mediterranean bowls with a variety of protein options. We ended up going with the grilled chicken. The bowl is filled with a Mediterranean cucumber salad, light brown rice, grilled chicken and pickled onions, all covered by tahini sauce. This menu item provides a substantial amount of high-quality food, leaving you satisfied and feeling good about what you ordered.

Greetings! John and I are both locals, dog lovers and foodies at heart. While we’re not professional chefs we do love to eat! We like looking for the off-thebeaten-path type of places, and trying their unique and signature offerings. I’m a local photographer and John serves in the military. He often accompanies me on my photography shoots. This puts us all over the coast at any given time of day. And when we are out, we love to eat. We hope to share with you our experiences of these hidden-gem restaurants along the Emerald Coast. Come along for the ride, and enjoy some of the secret food stops in Destin!

The bar has a mixture of local beers on draft and classic brew favorites. Behind the bar there are more options to include seltzers and liquor. A friendly staff is always there to greet you.

To start our meal we had to order a couple appetizers. Friends of ours had highly recommended the cheese curds, so that was a must. A lightly breaded garlic fry surrounds warm, soft mozzarella cheese, with ranch on the side for dipping. And we ordered the smoked tuna dip, a classic Florida appetizer. It was served with housemade chips, flaky and light with a slight, but noticeable, seasoning. Overall, both

Also pictured is The Southern, a burger with a familiar formula for those who live in the South — Pimento cheese, bacon onion jam and a fried green tomato, all atop a quarter-pound beef patty. The pimento cheese and jam provided a heavy, bold flavor that made this burger one to remember, and my order of a medium rare patty came out perfectly.

Overall, The Harbor Tavern is an excellent location to settle in and watch the game or grab your first beers of the night and some food before venturing out on the HarborWalk bar crawl. To say with ease, we truly enjoyed all the food we tried here.

We give these dishes a thumbs up!