8 Great Indian Rocks Beach Restaurants and More • McCool Travel

Looking for the best Indian Rocks Beach restaurants for seafood, pizza, or other cuisine?

In this article we cover our favorite restaurants in Indian Rocks Beach along with local bakeries and Indian Rocks Beach first craft brewery. We also suggest some great restaurants near Indian Rocks Beach.

Whether you eat at these restaurants, get carryout to take to your vacation home, or order to-go food and take to the beautiful beaches, you will be eating where the locals eat when you choose to visit these fantastic Indian Rocks Beach restaurants.

Where is Indian Rocks Beach?

Indian Rocks Beach is located on the Florida Gulf Coast, a few miles south of Clearwater Beach. The small town of Indian Rocks Beach is 45 minutes from Tampa airport and 30 minutes from St Pete-Clearwater airport.

Indian Rocks Beach is one of our recommended favorite family Spring Break Destinations and is a great day trip from Tampa.

For more Indian Rocks Beach info see Things to Do in Indian Rocks Beach

Below are our favorite Indian Rocks Beach restaurants and suggested menu items to order at them. When you visit, let them know you read about them on McCool Travel.

Beach Waves Grill

The grouper at Beach Waves Grill is phenomenal. In fact, Beach Waves Grill is one of our choices for Best Grouper Sandwiches in Florida.

Beach Waves Grill occupies the spot of the former Thai Pan Alley, on 23rd Avenue. We love sitting at an outside table in the mid afternoon sun and enjoying $2 draft beers and a bowl of their tasty corn and crab chowder while waiting for our blackened grouper sandwich or grouper platter.

McCool Travel note: The Beach Waves Grill key lime pie is really good also.

Guppy’s On the Beach

Florida lobster and grouper are the specialties at Guppy’s On the Beach in Indian Rocks Beach. Our favorite items at Guppy’s in IRB are the grouper piccata, grouper tacos, and everything grouper! But their shrimp and grits, oysters, and so many other dishes look so amazing. But we always choose grouper, so far. What is your favorite Guppy’s item?

Jake’s Coastal Cantina

We love the daily 2-for-1 specials at Jake’s Coastal Cantina. Our favorite daily Jake’s specials are $2 taco Tuesday, $5 quesadilla Monday, and 1/2 price burritos Wednesday. Jake’s is now across the street from its original longtime location. It is now in the building that formerly housed Lulu’s.

Everyone loves Jake’s but if you have not been to the new location, you gotta go. Jake’s Coast Cantina’s new location has a fun new vibe and offers much more selection. Jake’s now serves a lot of specialty cocktails and build your own margarita options. But the same classic salsas and chips accompany all food orders. We love Jake’s!

McCool Travel note: there is a nice small public park at the 5th Ave beach entrance, about a two minute walk from Jake’s. It is a nice spot to enjoy your carryout order.

The Original Crabby Bills

The outdoor dining/drinking area at Crabby Bills is livelier and the large indoor dining room circles the U-shaped bar in the middle. Oysters, fresh seafood (local catches but also catfish, salmon, and more), and much more attract families, groups, and couples alike. Order a salad topped with blackened grouper if you cannot decide on what to order.

Crabby Bills also has a location a few miles south in St Pete Beach. The Crabby Bill’s family manages many restaurants I the area, including Jake’s Coastal Cantina and Seabreeze Island Grill.

Keegan’s Seafood Grille

Try the fresh seafood (grouper as always is our choice) and homemade desserts at Keegan’s Seafood Grille. I love that they have serve items not found at other IRB restaurants, like conch fritters and she crab soup. Keegan’s is open every day except Wednesday.

Kooky Coconut

Savor an excellent Cuban sandwich at Kooky Coconut in a tiki hut themed building on 8th Avenue. While Kooky Coconut offers a half-dozen varieties of pressed Cuban sandwiches, we prefer the traditional (Tampa Cuban) version. Tacos, quesadillas, burritos, burgers, and dogs are other popular menu items. 30+ flavors of local homemade ice cream are a sweet follow up to any meal or a popular stand-alone order.

Groupers on the Gulf

Tucked into a strip mall, Groupers on the Gulf was a less than reliable place for basic seafood items but I think they have changed menus and maybe management/staff. We have had their peel and eat shrimp, grouper tacos, and more; those items that were OK but not front of the memory good. Last visit they gave me the skimpiest slice of key lime pie and that sticks in my mind. But I gotta go back and give Groupers on the Gulf in IRB another chance.

Sandy’s

Sandy’s is a great spot for classic and basic breakfast and lunch fare. We love the breakfast home fries (the addition of thyme makes them yummy) along with a hearty omelette. The servers are friendly and experienced, the tea and coffee are on point, and the decor is fun. Sandy’s is located in the small center with Beach Waves Grill and Cafe de Paris Bakery.

Slyce Pizza Bar

People visit Slyce for their artisan stone oven pizzas but they also serve salads, sandwiches, strombolis, calzones, and more. The Slyce brunch features Belgian waffles and breakfast pizzas—definitely worth a try. Individual slices, I mean slyces, are large enough to spill over a regular sized plate. Just the way we like it.

Salt Public House

McCool Travel note: Salt Public House is now closed and we are waiting to see what opens in this spot.

Our favorite food item at Salt Public House are the fiery diablo Devil Kiss fries. These are most definitely the spiciest fries we have had anywhere and we love spicy food! The Salt Public House menu is heavy with land meat options and we prefer seafood—if you do also, look for daily seafood specials. But their burgers are really popular!

On our last visit, Salt Public House had a cooler full of $1.50 cans of local craft beer. Love it. They were handy to have so close by because those Devil Kiss fries were spicier than normal. The daily specials are a great reason to visit Salt Public House—$5 specials for Monday (mojitos), Friday (mules), Thursday (rum runners), Tuesday (margaritas), and Saturday (sangria).

Cafe de Paris Bakery

At Cafe de Paris Bakery, next to Beach Waves Grille, enjoy authentic French artisan sweet treats like crepes, quiche, croissants, and other bakery items, along with salads and soups. The owners/chefs operated a bakery in France for 20 years and before moving to Indian Rocks Beach.

Pipo N Betty’s Bakery

Located in Jake’s Coastal Cantina former space, Pipo N Betty’s Bakery is a welcome addition in IRB. It is a perfect stop for morning tea or coffee and a pastry (the pistachio muffin is good) before driving over the bridge to the mainland. If you have a little more time, try a breakfast sandwich on a croissant or cloud bread.

Anecdote Brewing Company

It is so wonderful to have a local craft brewery in IRB so that we do not have to go all the way to Mad Beach when craving a fresh brewed pint. Anecdote Brewing Company has a rotating menu of eclectic brews—a taco themed lager was on tap on the date of publication.

US Gulf Coast Travel tip: buy an Anecdote Brewing gift card and save 10% (a wonderful gift for yourself!).

Also visit other Florida Gulf Coast Craft Breweries

Restaurants Near Indian Rocks Beach That We Like

• Seabreeze Island Grill in Redington Shores has amazing food specials until 6pm and drink specials all day. The $3 margaritas are now $5 but this waterfront restaurant is still a McCool Travel favorite on the US Gulf Coast. Seabreeze is also on our US Gulf Coast Seafood Trail.
• Indian Rocks Fresh Market in Largo is a superb produce market with prices lower than Publix (on many items) and much better quality and local freshness.
• Ward’s Seafood in Clearwater is our favorite seafood market near Indian Rocks Beach. We seem to pop over there every 7-10 days to satisfy our itch for steamed and spiced peel and eat shrimp. Along with the seafood market (with fresh grouper and other local and shipped fish), Ward’s has a galley kitchen to prepare scrumptious dishes. It is hard to order anything except blackened grouper but the specials (like fried oyster po’ boy) always entice and sometimes convince.
• The Pie Factory in Largo does indeed sell more than key lime pie but we have only had their amazing key lime pie! When driving to your Indian Rocks Beach vacation home (or otherwise heading back to IRB from the mainland), stop at The Pie Factory and buy a whole pie.
• St Pete Bagel Co in Largo is worth going to when you crave the real thing, NY style bagels.
• Mad Beach Brewing is in the Johns Pass area of Madeira Beach, about 8 miles south of Anecdote Brewing. It is much larger than Anecdote and operates as a full brewpub restaurant. They have a much larger variety, also, with porter and stout offerings in addition to IPA, lager, and such.
• Sculley’s Restaurant in Johns Pass is a reasonable dining option. Sit waterside and enjoy the views or grab a spot in the humongous waterfront bar. The fun factor is high here, if you like crowds.
• Frenchy’s in Clearwater Beach is a much more likely option for us (than Johns Pass) when we occasionally leave IRB. Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill is right the gulf front beach and it is totally worth waiting for a table as close to the sand as possible. As with all our favorite seafood places, order the grouper! Frenchy’s is on our Gulf Coast Seafood Trail and is one of the Best Tampa Restaurants.

Phew, anyone hungry? Please let us know which places to eat in Indian Rocks Beach are your favorites, especially if we did not list them.

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