The Grand Marlin of Panama City Beach

The Grand Marlin has served Panama City Beach’s freshest seafood since 2016, with daily-changing menus built around the local catch. The Grand Lagoon-front restaurant includes the North Drop Bar and a dockside Ship Store, rounding out a waterfront property built for a full evening rather than just a meal.

The concept traces back to a group of friends whose shared love of boats, fishing, and island life led to the first Grand Marlin on Pensacola Beach, which opened in April 2010. Panama City Beach got its own location in 2016, brought to Grand Lagoon by President and Partner Bryan Housley, a Georgia native with more than 30 years in the restaurant business who previously managed Ray’s on the River in Atlanta, alongside Corporate Chef and Partner Gregg McCarthy. McCarthy is a Culinary Institute of America graduate who appeared on PBS’s “Great Chefs” series and has cooked at Washington D.C.’s Old Ebbitt Grill, Dallas’s Hotel Crescent Court, and New York’s James Beard House, and he built the Grand Marlin’s kitchen around fresh Gulf Coast seafood.

That philosophy shows up on the daily-changing menu, which is printed fresh to reflect whatever local catch came in that day. It is a locally owned operation, and the restaurant emphasizes fresh, quality seafood highlighted with local ingredients over a fixed, static lineup, so returning visitors rarely see the exact same menu twice. The dining room and outdoor seating both take in Grand Lagoon views, and reservations, available through OpenTable, are recommended for prime evening slots.

Upstairs, the North Drop Bar brings, in the restaurant’s words, “a touch of the Caribbean” to the second floor, with a full bar and a wine list running more than 80 bottles deep. It keeps its own extended schedule, including a 10 AM to 10 PM run on Sundays that lines up with the restaurant’s Sunday brunch service. Down at the water, the dockside Ship Store stocks fishing gear, apparel, accessories, and jewelry, along with gift cards, giving boaters and landlubbers alike a reason to browse before or after a meal.

The restaurant also sells gift cards online, a convenient option for visitors planning a return trip or looking to treat someone to a Grand Lagoon dinner. Between the chef pedigree, the daily-changing menu, and the working Ship Store on the dock, the property reads less like a single restaurant and more like a small waterfront destination built around Panama City Beach’s fishing culture.

The Grand Marlin keeps a layered schedule built around its Grand Lagoon setting: Monday through Thursday and Friday through Saturday dinner service both run 3 PM to 10 PM, Sunday brunch runs 10 AM to 2 PM, and Sunday dinner runs 3 PM to 10 PM. The restaurant also hosts private parties for groups wanting the waterfront view for a special occasion.

Find it at 5323 N. Lagoon Dr, Panama City Beach, FL 32408, call 850-249-1500, or visit pcb.thegrandmarlin.com to check the day’s menu and book a table. For Emerald Coast visitors staying near the Lower Grand Lagoon, it is a reliable anchor for a seafood dinner that changes with the season and the day’s haul, and the combination of a working ship store, a Caribbean-styled bar, and a chef-driven kitchen sets it apart from typical beachfront seafood houses.