Restaurants in Moss Point

The Brick Pit’s owner, Bill Armbrecht, firmly believes that great barbecue can't be rushed. Open the red doors of his massive smoker—"Big Red"— and you’ll uncover juicy slabs of ribs, chicken, and pork that have been roasting anywhere from 6 to 30 hours. Bill coats each cut of meat in his legendary spicy barbecue sauce, which was lauded by reporters from Southern Living and relished by Adam Richman on Man v. Food. For a sweet finish, Bill and his chefs whip up housemade banana pudding each day from scratch.

After ordering barbecue platters from the back window, guests retreat into the lively dining room. The walls are decorated in the doodles, praise, and thesis papers of the hundreds of guests who've passed through the restaurant's doors along with framed awards and glowing news articles.

Nestled in the heart of historic midtown Mobile, Ashland Midtown Pub catches the eyes of passersby with its pleasant open-air patio before ensnaring them with the irresistible wafting aromas of cheesy breadsticks, roasted garlic, and freshly baked pizzas and calzones. Once inside, guests perch upon cushy barstools, surrounded by colorful canvases and plates of piping-hot lasagna or filets of ahi tuna and flaky blackened grouper. Diners polish off feasts of poboys or basil-and-bacon-crowned pizzas with frosty draft brews at the rustic, knotty-pine bartop. As they sup on meals of upscale pizzeria cuisine, patrons dance to the tunes of live musicians or enjoy the interior's fresh, clean air thanks to the pub's no-smoking and no-rudimentary-steam-engine policies.

In business for 13 years, O’Brien’s Bistro serves an upscale menu of seafood and grilled meats, all prepared to order by chef and owner Jim O’Brien. The chef endeavors to please all tastes with a variety of seafood dishes—including crowd favorites such as lobster-stuffed grouper and coconut fried shrimp—as well as grilled chicken, steaks and house-made soups. He’ll even modify any dish to accommodate customer requests, such as allergy restrictions or a preference for rhyming ingredients. Though the bistro is located in a strip mall, the interior offers an unexpected retreat with latticed dividers, cascading ivy, and a fluorescent fish tank.

The chefs at Zorba the Greek know the bursting point of a pita pocket, and bring their sandwiches to the brink by loading them with feta, falafel, and chicken shawarma. They also use fresh meats and produce to craft classic Greek entrees such as gyros platters and moussaka—a dish of layered eggplant and meat best consumed using tiny rock picks for a scrumptious excavation. A kids' menu offers simplified version of the adult food, including grilled cheese pitas and a mozzarella-topped greek pie. For dessert, diners can sink their teeth into flaky walnut-and-pistachio baklava so universally delicious it can be used as currency in most countries.

Mark Bucher still remembers from childhood the enticing aroma of burgers being grilled by Mr. Kaufman, his neighborhood butcher. For years, Bucher tried to find a burger that would match up to those memories, but never did—so he founded BGR The Burger Joint and started making his own.

BGR’s burgers start with high-quality ingredients—most importantly, all-natural beef from grain-fed cattle, free to run in the fields and given zero hormones, fillers, or antibiotics. The prime beef is dry-aged, blended, and ground fresh to form patties that are grilled over an open flame, and then placed atop buttery, locally made brioche buns delivered fresh each day. For nonbeef eaters, the menu's selection of burgers also includes turkey and veggie varieties, as well as The Greek, a seasoned lamb patty topped with tzatziki and feta, a combination that won out on the Food Network's Throwdown With Bobby Flay.

Diners can request all of BGR The Burger Joint's freshly made fries—from thick-cut yukon gold potatoes to asparagus fries—be topped with parmesan, rosemary, roasted garlic, or a tiny tiara. The staff hand-spins shakes with Gifford's or Breyers ice cream to create extra-thick treats for finishing off meals, and some shops curate their own selection of bottled vintage sodas.

Near the bustling intersection of North Davis Highway and Olive Road lies a tranquil temple. It's not an Egyptian ruin or a place of worship but a shrine to eastern Asian cookery. Inside, brothers Irwan and Christopher Wong whorl squid, smelt roe, and escolar into made-to-order sushi rolls and craft Chinese classics such as orange chicken and kung pao pork without MSG. Diners can gather at tables trimmed with fresh flowers or pull up to a plant-lined sushi bar, which doubles as a stage for sparring samurai and geisha dolls. Here, the Wongs embellish Amazon rolls with fresh avocadoes and dot grilled chicken rolls with eel sauce and sesame seeds. On-the-go diners can retrieve takeout at the handy drive-thru window rather than having servers shot-put it through the front door.