Palm Pavilion Beachside Grill & Bar

10 Bay Esplanade
Clearwater Beach, FL 33767
727-446-2642

Web: www.palmpavilion.com

Palm Pavilion video

Located on the edge of the Gulf Coast shore in Clearwater Beach, the Palm Pavilion has been serving locals and visitors since 1926.  Howard Hamilton and his 4 sons bought the establishment in 1964 from the original owner and ran the local beachside snack bar for many years. Then in 1995 they renovated the snack bar and an adjacent retail beach store and converted the space to a full service restaurant.

Ken Hamilton, President and the oldest son, speaks proudly of how they have retained and restored the original building. The wood deck, entry archway lattice and roof columns are from the original structure. The footprint is the same, with a wrap around deck and bar stools surrounding the open restaurant. You can’t ask for a better setting to enjoy traditional burgers and sandwiches and great seafood, all served up with Palm hospitality, in this multi-million dollar restaurant. They added the next door art deco style hotel, the Palm Pavilion Inn to the operation in 1988, for casual family accommodations.

The restaurant opens for lunch at 10:30 and serves all day and once the sun sets there is live music for guests to enjoy. Families and their kids for 5 and 6 generations have been coming to the Palm. There is a feeling of a real hospitality. The restaurant has a saying, which sums up the feeling and is proudly painted in bright Caribbean colors wrapping the bar rafters, that reads . . . There’s no place like this place anywhere near this place, so this must be the place℠.

Once they expanded, they were the 161st restaurant to obtain its liquor license in the state of Florida. Ken’s son, now 3rd generation family serves up cool concoctions at the bar. The Palm offers a unique set of appetizers to go along with those refreshments. But three in particular are highly touted and provided our first taste of interesting combinations. The Oriental Tuna and Wasabi Scallops are both Harbor Banks™ seafood products from U.S. Foodservice. The tuna is a char-grilled filet with a tasty Asian sauce. The scallops are served on skewers with fresh mango salsa and topped with wasabi mustard. They also bring in the specialty Gator Nibbles, which are paired with refreshing key lime mustard. Coconut Shrimp, a fully prepared Presentations® product, helps round out the appetizer menu with another local favorite, flavor-combo.

Ken and his brothers grew up around the restaurant, and rely on its preferred distributor partner, U. S. Foodservice for new ideas and menu assistance. They attend food shows to find new items. The Palm takes the approach of putting items on the menu during the summer months to see what guests order and like, then based on sales results they make changes to the menu to keep it fresh and offer additional variety. Several of the new additions are the beer battered Shrimp Basket, Flatbreads and Sliders.

When you ask what the Palm is known for, Restaurant Manager, David Batten beams like the Florida sun and proudly tells you about their Grouper sandwich. The product is served up on a hoagie roll because it is a larger filet piece. “You can order it battered and fried or blackened”. And the grouper is also available on pasta and salads. David says, “the Harbor Banks® product is a consistent, quality frozen product. We also use frozen shrimp, scallops, salmon and tuna steaks.” He implies that some say “fresh local seafood” is really caught long line, and put on ice for more than a week before the boats come back to process the fish. “And then you don’t have the consistent portions and pricing that we get with our product. The frozen product is just better.”

But there is one more item that deserves its day in the sun. The Hurricane Shrimp tower is really mouthwatering with a hint of kick. There are three skewers of crunchy, spicy shrimp that are dredged in corn meal and hot sauce dressing before being deep fried. Then enjoy with black beans, pico de gallo, salsa and sour cream. As they say it is OMG good!

Before we close, we have to tell you about the restaurant’s slogan. The Palm asks that you take your time and enjoy the setting, but with a multi-million dollar restaurant, you might have to move on so the next guest can enjoy a meal as well. Ken makes sure to tell all guests . . . they offer a “Free sunset with dinner, but there is a limit of one per day.”