Sunset Bay Café Has Stellar Food and Views

SoWal residents and visitors are fortunate to have so many fine restaurants to choose from.

If you’re interested in a real breakfast or lunch treat served in casual surroundings, you can’t go wrong with the beautiful Sunset Bay Café. 

Opened in 2015 by owner Bryce Jarvis, the café is nestled within Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort overlooking the Choctawhatchee Bay. The view is easy on the eyes and the food will have you wanting to come back ... again and again.

“Our goal in opening our restaurant was to provide a nicer environment for breakfast and lunch than you typically run into, but not be outside people’s budgets,” explains Bryce. “We wanted to provide some really unique items that weren’t the normal ‘breakfast stuff’. We have bacon and eggs, waffles, and stuff like that, but our unique breakfast menu allows us to put our own spin on things. A good example of that is our Chicken and Waffles that have really become popular. We take a Belgian Waffle, cut it up, top it off with a homemade molasses bacon butter, top that with southern fried chicken, and then white country pepper gravy goes on top with bacon bits and chives. Lastly, we drizzle it with hot syrup. So, we have the savory chicken, the sweetness of the waffle and syrup combined with the bacon and gravy.”

Easy to see why folks have warmed up to this item!

Traditional breakfast items include Cinnamon Rolls, Breakfast Tacos, Pancakes, Omelets, Breakfast Bagels, Eggs, French Toast, Shrimp Grits, etc.

Although Sunset Bay Café was once open for dinner, Bryce decided to concentrate on their breakfast and lunch specialties. Open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, all menu items can be ordered during this time frame. Want a hamburger or grouper sandwich at 7 a.m.? No problem. Pancakes at 2 p.m.? You got it. Fresh, local ingredients are used in the process with fresh fish coming from the Gulf from local seafood vendors.

Asked what his favorite breakfast item is, Bryce was quick to highlight the Hillbilly Benedict…take a fried Gouda Grit Cake (instead of an English muffin), add fried chicken breast and poached eggs topped with Hollandaise Sauce.

Another Sunset Bay Café take on the traditional Eggs Benedict is their Southern Boy Benedict featuring biscuit, sausage, and poached eggs covered with white peppered gravy. A Soft Shell (crab) Benedict and Soft Shell (crab) Po Boy have just recently been added to the menu.

Lunch menu favorites include the Grouper Sandwich (fresh grouper served on a croissant with a tasty Jerk Remoulade), Grouper Artichoke (fresh, fried grouper with artichoke hearts, sautéed spinach and American cheese served on a bed of Gouda cheese grits and Meuniere sauce), and the Big Boys Club (traditional club sandwich with turkey, ham, bacon, avocado aioli, white American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and pickles, served with sidewinder fries). Additional lunch items include Crab Cakes, Shrimp Platter, Fish Platter, Sunset Bay Café Burger, Wedge or Caesar Salad, and Chicken Mack-N-Cheese.

Another feature of the Sunset Bay Café is the outdoor, pool- side, Tiki Bar open from Spring Break until October. Currently open only on Saturday and Sunday, the bar is basically open from 11 a.m. to sunset. Please call to check on this feature.

The entire restaurant (indoors and outdoors) can host events day and night for up to 200 people. Having a built-in indoor weather backup is a real plus for corporate events, wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, Christmas parties, etc.

Please call for further information at 850-267-7108. Location: 158 Sandestin Blvd. North (north of Hwy. 98 in the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, near the Linkside Conference Center. Web: www.sunsetbaycafesandestin.com or on Facebook. Open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. daily.