Louis Louis

Arrived and was told 20 – 30 min wait for a party of 4. Numerous parties arrived after us including a party of 15 and was seated before us. Not sure of their system but food not worth this kind of treatment.

This place is so unusual and special. We had the pork tenderloin and it was so good! I highly recommend it. The bread pudding is a must. Thanks to my sister Lynne who let me in on that secret. Love this place!

Lovely charming place! I really enjoyed the crab cakes were super delicious and the staff very friendly. The service was great and the atmosphere was very nice. Definitely recommend this unique restaurant!

Hot hot hot food, that was a plus. it was pretty cold in there but then they turned off the fans.

Fun, funky atmosphere, absolutely delicious crab cakes and fresh gulf grouper make this one of our favorite places to visit in SRB. The accompanying sides are fabulous as well – garlic mashed potatoes, cheesy grits, salads. And an added bonus… great happy hour prices before 6:00 pm. We always try to get there by 5:30 or so to get a couple of glasses of $ 3 house wines to go with our dinner.

I can only speak for the Crab Cake dish but the cakes while not in the style of Maryland chunky crab cakes are definitely not overwhelmed with breading. They are smooth but virtually all well-​seasoned crab. The real sleeper is actually the potatoes. At first glance they look like nothing special but they are so smooth and creamy. I almost feel like they are the highlight of the meal. They pair perfectly with the crab and the side salad with a fruit dressing that just finished the touch.
I selected the Fleur-​D-​Rita as my drink. It’s not bad. I love sweet but it seemed like something was missing. Didn’t prevent me from emptying the glass though. :)
The décor hemorrhages unnecessary gratuitous opulence but it’s easy to see that’s what they are going for. In the absence of the food the restaurant might be overlooked but if the remaining dishes are a reflection of mine they are definitely here to stay.
The food was served so quickly that it arrived the same time my drink. And ohh how I hate to down my drink and need a second before the food has even arrived. The staff is friendly and attentive despite the hurried tempo their work demands.
Most of the reviews spoke reverently of the Grouper and side dishes. This was seconded at the bar by a couple regulars. I will have to reserve that for my next visit.
I would definitely recommend this to other foodies but would caution. If you are more than one person the popularity and peak times could leave you waiting on seating. Parking is also limited. Enjoy!!!
UPDATE: NEWS FLASH !!! They accept MasterCard and Visa now so no more walk of shame to the ATM. How cool is that?

great place with awesome servers… Like Red Bar, they don’t take credit cards but they do take cash or checks. the menu is limited but really delicious. the grouper is always super fresh and cooked to perfection… their grit cakes are Jesus Christ on a bike faneffingtastic. it’s a pricey place but the serving sizes are redonk and their house red is pretty good as well… plus, it’s SoWal, everything is expensive here. I’ve seriously never had a bad experience at Louis Louis and actually prefer it to its predecessor Red Bar. it’s always an exceedingly welcoming, casual, and cool place to grab a great meal. I highly recommend giving Louis a try if you haven’t already.

Arrived on a Saturday evening and were promptly seated. Very limited menu and only cash or check accepted. Friendly waitress took our orders. The ambience was poor. My wife had the shrimp and crawfish on noodles. It was very greasy. My blackened grouper was very good. All in all it was okay but nothing special for the price. Will not return.

Food and service were top notch. Excellent crab cake, salad, olive rolls and Key Lime Pie! Beautiful presentation and our server was fabulous. I will be back.

This should be your go to place when you are in Destin. Everything is delicious. Come very hungry and do not miss crème brûlée and key lime pie. You have not lived!

What a great experience! 9 of us had some great food well priced wine la crema $ 36 I had the blackened grouper my wife had panne chicken another person had the crab cakes and to top it Homemade Key Lime pie! Delicious! Our water Peter he made our dinner a great experience! 100% will recommend and we will come back when we at the area again! Thank you!

It was our last night in the Destin area, and we wanted a special meal. After a week of very good meals this one topped them all. We met «Big Louis» at the door, not knowing he was the owner at the time. A quaint, engaging older fellow, he promised us a special meal. This is a magical place. We were checked on several times. If you don’t eat here once, you are truly missing out on a special special experience. Our party of 6 sampled it all. Crab cakes, grouper several ways, pasta, shrimp, smoked tuna dip and the grouper cerviche. You need to experience this. Food is fairly priced while drinks are expensive. Hey you can’t have everything.

Great find!!! Simple menu which makes for great cooking! I had the crab cakes and they were fantastic! For dessert, I had the Key Lime Pie… huge pies that was VERY good. Keep in mind they only take cash or check but do have an ATM onsite. Meal was great… I highly recommend!

Hey you. Ya, you in line at Red Bar. Hop out of line, get in your car, and drive the 20 minutes to Louis Louis. Owned by the same owners as Red Bar they are serving up the exact same food with even better ambiance and service at a fraction of the wait time. On our recent visit we waited 20 minutes on a Sunday night at 7pm. We loved it so much that we decided to go back on Tuesday evening. We were in Seaside so decided to stop by Red Bar since it was closer and were quoted an hour wait for two! We made the short drive to Louis Louis and were immediately seated. We ordered, ate, and were back at our condo in the same amount of time it would have taken to wait on a table at Red Bar.
The food at Louis Louis is the best in the area. The menu has limited choices but that just means each dish is perfected. At the top of the list is their crab cakes. Full of crab meat with a pan-​fried crispy crust and topped with their lemony beurre blanc it gets praises from all who order it. The crab cakes are served with mashed potatoes and mixed greens; nothing special but tasty. My hands down favorite entrée is their blackened and grilled fresh grouper served on a bed of sautéed spinach atop a bacon grits cake. That’s right: Bacon. Grits. Cake. I can’t figure out how they make it so creamy, crispy, and bacony (that’s a word, right?). The fish is perfectly cook and seasoned as well. So good! Even their complimentary bread is delicious.
So seriously, go eat at Louis Louis. I can’t wait to go back the next time we are on the Emerald Coast.

Love that this is family owned. Already knew it was cash only. Glad they had an ATM for those not expecting. Knew they had a limited menu but 5 items and 2 were grouper… so really 3. 1 was ~27.00 crab cakes and then a pasta.
Felt it was too limited of a menu and prices were too high. If I’m paying 30+ for dinner I hope for a more luxurious surrounding element– this was a bit of a hole in the wall. Food was good. Just felt underwhelmed.

My wife and I found this spot on Unilocal based on reviews, and we were far from disappointed! Everything from the bread to the dessert was amazing. My wife had crab cakes that were unreal, and I had blackened grouper that was the best I had ever had. Also, the service was the best. Louie himeself came to our table to introduce himself. An amazing jem this place is.

The people here are very friendly.
Portions very large.
Value is better than average.
Food was pretty good. Wife had the grilled grouper. I had some appetizers as an entrée.
Service was a little on the slow side but not that big of a deal.
Cash/​check only.
I don’t believe that the entrees change that often as I read from Unilocalers the same items over time.
It’s a nice place but if I were here for a few days, I would probably only visit once.

Décor: eclectic
Service: energetic
Food presentation: appropriate
Portions: varies, but smaller than expected for price (depends on dish though)
Taste: umm. GOOD
Value: reason for 4 star and not 5
Overall:nice evening out

Recommended by a friend who lives in Memphis.
I looked at other Unilocal reviews & decided I wasn’t feeling up to getting too dressed up for dinner. So, I did the next best thing –take out! Boy, am I glad I did!
I didn’t read every single review, so I had no idea it was cash or check only. Since I usually never carry cash, I thought I was going to be in a pickle.
The sweet man who greeted me at the door – who I assume was an owner – said, «It’s ok. If you don’t have cash with you, you can take it & eat & come back & pay me later.»
Pause!
WHAT???
Did he just say you can pay me later? I thought I was hearing things, until he said it a second time!
I went out to the truck & luckily I had brought my checkbook on vacay – which is also rare. I happily wrote them a check, not really knowing what was in the bag of goodies.
I dove into it before reaching my destination for a proper sit-​down dinner. The fresh black olive rolls dipped in the crab cake sauce was a delicious first. The meaty crab cake was a delicious second. And, the succulent blackened grouper was a delicious third!
Hear me when I say, «Not a single morsel was left»!
The ambiance, professional take-​out service, and the incredible food at this restaurant is by far the BEST I’ve had in Walton County!
I will definitely return to dine in :)

We LOVED Red Bar and had to try Louis Louis since it is owned by the same people!
As soon as you walk in, you will notice all the eclectic one-​of-​a-​kind chandeliers and local flair all around Louis Louis. I love places that have this sort of unique feel!
We started out with their famously delicious crab cake as our appetizer. The blanc sauce in the crab cake is SOOOOO tasty! So don’t devour all of your bread before your crab cake comes! The plain roll and olive bread is so good as is, but even BETTER dipped in the crab cake sauce!
My boyfriend ordered the Blackened Grouper with spinach and grit cake. The sauce with his entrée was also very yummy! His fish came out perfectly and the grit cake was to die for!
I order the Panee Chicken with mashed potatoes and salad. Their homemade salad dressing is delicious!!!
We enjoyed our whole experience there. Great food. Great service. Great atmosphere!

Feb. 28, 2013
What a great experience it was to be serve by Cici tonight!
Food was excellent, tasty as needed.
Crab cakes with big chunks of crabs, miam,.miam.
Even the salad dressing was perfect!
My husband had shrimp & scallops with penne (they were cooked just right), huge shrimps and scallops cooked to perfection!
For desert: key lime pie and bread pudding with bourbon «sauce» (!)
I knew the chef was a very good one: I asked Cici if he was French?
He is from Belgium! THAT’S WHY IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!
We enjoyed our dinner tonight (and tomorrow night too with boxes!!) and would warmly recommend it to you!