Restaurants in West Pensacola

Margaritas Mexican Restaurant sates its guests with classic Mexican dishes including burritos, enchiladas, and tacos. Inside the eatery, yellow and salmon brick walls meet at a large painting of a quaint village nestled under a mountain, which could very well be a metaphor for the coziness of the eatery and patrons’ proximity to mountains of tamales, chalupas, flautas, and quesadillas. The staff that serves these geological cuisines does so with a pervasively carefree disposition and always makes sprightliness a priority.

Tucked behind Leinkauf Elementary School, La Pizzeria has been lauded by Press-Register food editor David Holloway as "one of the best-kept secrets" in town. He praises owner Todd Henson's balance between Italian classics—pastas with housemade sauces and calzones among them—and creative menu contributions. A list of character-inspired gourmet pizzas includes the garlic-infused Bela Lugosi and the Sherlock Holmes, a mystery order whose toppings are chosen by the chef and cooked beneath a carefully aimed magnifying glass. Strewn with white tablecloths and still-life paintings, the low-lit interior features one private table, where Henson wagers "we've had a hundred proposals of marriage … over the years."

Sunlight glitters through Chappy's in Point Clear's wide-paned windows, illuminating chefs as they lightly fry trout fillets and drape shrimp hollandaise sauce over pork chops and tender milk-fed veal. From the kitchen, they'll hand over their gourmet surf 'n' turf entrees to a wait staff who then arranges them atop crisp white tablecloths where flower vases, napkins folded into fleur-de-lis, and life-size replicas of the Lusitania adorn place settings.

Up the steps of the1930s-era home, a wide, wraparound porch gives diners the impression they are entering a rural townhouse. And that’s the feeling Donna Rodriguez and executive chef Marc Walden want to evoke—that of a little house, which they can fill with startlingly large flavors. Chef Walden vows to use only fresh, locally sourced ingredients to craft the eatery’s southern-style dishes, which blossom beneath modern twists, including apricot compote and okra chips. As chefs introduce new york strip, filet mignon, and blackened delta catfish to flame, the contented crackle of the hot grill drifts from the kitchen. Patrons marinating to weekly live jazz music in the dining room request a savory bacon cheesecake to go, or search for Waldo in the pastel whorls of the bistro’s vibrant impressionist paintings.