AJ's Grayton Beach never disappoints! The food is consistently amazing, and the sushi is some of the best we've had. The live music creates such a fun, energetic atmosphere and makes the whole experience even more enjoyable. We visited with a party of 10, and they accommodated our large group without any issues. The service was phenomenal from start to finish--our server was attentive, friendly, and made sure everyone had everything they needed. If you're looking for great food, outstanding sushi, live entertainment, and excellent service, AJ's Grayton Beach is a must-visit. We always have a wonderful experience here and can't wait to come back! read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Bar area - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

Really enjoyed sitting outside. I don't recall when they started seating on the patio but it was a nice late lunch and we were able to take advantage of the happy hour special. read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Baked Oyster Platter + Happy Hour..only $15 - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

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We were a bit hesitant to eat here because of the reviews I see on Yelp, but we decided to give it a try as it was recommended by a friend. So glad we went! We went on a Monday and it was busy, but we were seated immediately away from the live music which was ok with us. Our party of four enjoyed our drinks and meals. I had the crab cakes and they were good. They were not the best crab cakes I've ever had and they were a bit small, but they were good. The wait to get our food was a bit long but we drank our drinks and looked in their little shop while we waited. I enjoyed my AJs Lava Flow which is pictured. We may be back a little later in the week. read more

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I'm sitting here now writing this review. I asked to sit outside they said yes give us one minute. Then sat us inside. I asked for outside and they said that wasn't possible. Server was extremely rude. Everyone here looks miserable. My cousin ordered a draft Michelob. Was NOT that. Haven't even tried the food. Should have checked the reviews before coming here. read more

Disappointed. service was slow. Seemed like no one wanted to even work there. Food was Mid and I don't recommend to anyone visiting for vacation. We came here because it was the close to where we were shopping. Will not be back. read more

Went there with a group of 10 people half of our group arrived and went inside at 8:35 PM, my half of the group arrived at 8:40 PM and as we were about to walk in, they decided they were gonna start charging cover. Had to pay ridiculous price of $20 for a man and $10 for women. We asked our waiter and he said cover was supposed to start at 9 and it was 8:45 when we were charged . They also claimed they stop selling food after 9 whereas the website says they stop selling food at 10 pm. Live Music was very loud and the singers were unimpressive. Food and drinks over priced which is nothing new in Florida. Staff was snobby and not helpful. Food was decent I enjoyed the fried fish basket. The fried shrimp was good as well. Drinks from the bar were good. read more

All of the soups tasted like they came from a can. I would say they were well below average. read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Gumbo soup - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

Sketchy place with cover! Arrived at 8:53 for dinner and was charged $10 to enter. When I asked about it they said cover starts when the door guy says so. Get inside and it's still a restaurant!! Tables and people eating everywhere, no band setup or playing and it's before closing time of 9pm. Why are you charging a cover?! read more

I don't even know where to start, this was hands down one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. The food came out practically raw, like it hadn't even seen a proper stove. Completely unacceptable. To make things worse, the service was beyond rude. When we asked for a table, the host literally said it was "unfortunate" that we wanted one. I've never felt so unwelcome at a restaurant in my life. Between the inedible food and the terrible attitude, this place is a hard pass. Save your time, money, and appetite. I would suggest to go anywhere else, should've went to McDonald's. read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Raw smashburger sliders - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

Didn't try the food but it was pretty busy. The three stars were bc I didn't experience enough to review. The drinks were delicious and fairly priced. The place is good for groups. Had a nice little jazz band. The waitress was excellent. read more

Party of 6- we were sat quickly and the service was friendly. However, I would skip next time. The atmosphere is fun, but the food just isn't that great considering the other options off 30A. It was just okay. The portion sides were large! That is a positive. read more

Service was terrible. We got sat right away at a table on a very dirty, empty patio. Left over food on the table & ground and bugs. Asked to be moved and couldn't be accommodated. Also, my adult children ordered drinks. Their IDs were taken to the bar. They were denied service and were told they were fake. We left. Don't waste your time. read more

AJs has been a great experience this year. The food has been outstanding. We particularly like the shrimp and grits and oysters. The house fish sandwich has a delicious sauce that provides a little kick. This sandwich is a great lunch treat. The service and atmosphere are both top notch as well. We had an awesome band playing to add to the experience. I originally gave them 3 Stars but I'm very happy to up that review to 4 stars easily. read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Shrimp and Grits - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

We have come every year, but this year the service was so bad. We won't be back. Our bar is low because of how busy the area is- but this was exceptionally bad. read more

My 17 yr old old daughter and I went to dinner last night at AJ's. Not busy at all. I'm sorry to say that was the worst food I have ever tasted. We had to leave as the food was so bad. We started out with the mozzarella. They tasted frozen, not warm and not fried enough. The breading was horrible. The marina sauce was warm and tasted better than the mozzarella. We sent the mozzarella back. I ordered a cup of gumbo and my daughter ordered smash burger sliders and fries. The gumbo tasted as if hot sauce had been poured in it. My first bite my eyes watered and I was began to cough.. I'm from Louisiana and I am used to spicy foods but all I could taste was what seemed to be hot sauce. My daughter said the cheese had ice crystals on it and the fries were burnt. Our waitress was great but HORRIBLE food. I have never left a restaurant without eating and have never sent a message like this. read more

Don't love going to a bar on a Thursday and having to pay a cover because we're tourists. I understand a surge during summer months to avoid being a tourist trap, but October? Come on. Factor in the unpleasant bouncer, door worker, and some drunk outside harassing a woman for "being too old for an ID"," and it was an overall unfriendly experience. We asked about the loser chirping at us and was blown off, told "we'll look at it" and "definitely wasn't a local" despite him sitting there chain smoking with the bouncer. Lame, loser behavior. Cool bar but it's not our fault we were here for a wedding. We came in under control, happy to keep drinking, and left kinda bummed. Don't do damning reviews often but felt compelled in this case to speak out. read more

Comparable to dive bar food and ambiance. Service was decent but nothing to write home about. Believe the reviews.

Service was nice and attentive- Jay at the bar. Fried calamari and fried onions were well done. (Hey listen it's bar food!) Ambience ab fab. So fun. Music fun. Must be crazy in high season. read more

Dined with friends at AJ Grayton Beach today and loved the restaurant atmosphere. Old signs hanging on the ceiling and a stage for live music. Service : 5 stars. Our waiter was very present and we never had our drinks go empty. He did a great job and the only thing I would complain about is not getting our social queues that we were trying to catch up with each other and kept asking if we want appetizers when we didn't even look at menu. Food: the food is like most beach restaurants that have the typical fried food shrimp and oysters. After eating fried food the last few days we ordered the special salad of the day. The steak was flavored nicely and cooked to medium I guess. Ooh before our lunch was brought out they brought us shrimp cocktail and hush puppies. We all looked at each other in confusion since no one ordered these. The server said all tables get this and I thought that was a great touch. When we dined here they had live music, so I when the singers were on stage their microphones were a little loud , so made it tough to talk each other. The singers were good though. Will be back for drinks and dinner text time. I can imagine this place being packed during spring break and summer vacation for sure. read more

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I will start by saying that the food here is pretty good. We got sushi and bowls that were delicious, but the prime rib special was nothing special. Our waitress was also very nice but overworked as she was running around so if you don't have plenty of time to chill and hang out, this may not be your place. I loved the overall feel of the restaurant but some things could be improved upon like the cleanliness of the bathroom and turning down the live music just a smidge. Overall it was an ok dinner. read more

Have your fresh catch? Take it to AJ's and take advantage of their cooking expertise. We dined on fried and grilled filets. The fries were crinkle-cut and tasty. The hushpuppies have some heat to them...and they are perfect. The cole slaw is fresh, and tartar sauce is the best I jave ever tasted. Don't let the rustic, dive bar ambience fool you....they know fish. Lunch is more family oriented, and I suspect locals visit often. We loved it! read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Bring your own fish in. So worth it! - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

I have never felt as disrespected as much I did at this place. One of the workers genuinely screamed at me and my friend for 10 minutes then kicked us out. Wouldn't recommend read more

We visited AJ's during a bachelorette weekend. We ordered a plethora of appetizers and entrees and unfortunately multiple members of our group were sick within 30+ minutes of finishing their food. We literally felt like we were a reenactment of the movie bridesmaids, with multiple women vomiting. It was a terrible way to end our trip. Vibes outside were odd, there was a group of people sitting around a campfire singing camp songs very loudly. It made our group very uncomfortable, but we know it's a public place, so live and let be ya know? read more

We prefer to go off season and we're not disappointed again. The vibe was laid back and the fish was cooked well, the pumpkin cheesecake was delicious and the drinks were strong. The service was great. read more

We stopped here on our way home from Grayton Beach. We saw a crowd of cars and thought it would be a good place to stop. We saw a local man performing live music and that was pretty good. We were a large party of 6 with one child and were seated right away which was nice. We ordered drinks , appetizer, and food. The drinks were great, appetizer was delicious. Had a small hiccup when the food was being brought they had forgotten one meal but it was quickly rectified. Our food was really good however we felt that it was really expensive for being more inland no gulf view etc. read more

AJs Grayton Beach - Live musical performance - Sushi Bars Near Me - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

We had a really disturbing experience here. A man in the bar was repeatedly grabbing women without consent. When one of us reported it to management, instead of addressing the issue, security forced everyone out. One of the bouncers then shoved my friend to the ground. We tried to calmly ask for a police badge number, and the staff started yelling and threatened to arrest us. We ended up calling 911, and the police are now investigating the incident. I would strongly recommend women avoid this place. the staff handled the situation completely wrong and made an already scary night even worse. read more

Bad service, unpleasant employees. Didn't allow any Togo orders & when I asked for a Togo box for a bunch of leftover food they gave us 1 mini box. They were rushing us out of there because they were planning on moving our table to make a dance floor that they didn't even use. read more

Drinks were strong but service was awful. Besides the bar, the only server we had was lazy and maybe interacted with us twice. Don't remember his name but white guy with a mean slouch and some tattoos. Most rude waiter I've ever encountered. Tried to order oysters at 7:45 but he insisted that the kitchen was closed... I asked around and it didn't close till 9:30. Don't eat here, maybe have a drink. Wish I knew the waiters name so I could direct this more at him but whatever. Choose better staff please... also awful sports choices on the tv... they chose to have karaoke instead of hogs vs Arizona bball. Ambiance was corny too. read more

When we entered the grayton beach area on Defuniak street, we saw AJ's with plenty of parking, but still passed it by in order to try to visit a restaurant closer to the beach. However there is very limited public parking. So, we stopped at AJ's and I am glad we did! The service by Andre was wonderful, the complimentary his puppies were divine! They were served warm with butter. We started with the crab cake balls. The cake balls surrounded a small salad with fresh greens and a corn pico. It was good, needed a little more lemon juice (which Andre happily brought me a bunch of lemon wedges). I had seen Sne Crab Soup on menus in the area and decided this was the place to try it. It was okay and glad I got to try it before leaving Florida to go home to Texas. The half fried shrimp poboy was really good! Slightly larger shrimp than popcorn shrimp. The bread was lightly toasted with fresh lettuce and tomato! Will orde that again! We listened to live music on the side stage for a little bit before leaving. Tim Nowell was on stage and had a great sound! Would follow him to an area stage to listen again! read more

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Came in to dine on a Tuesday evening in July. Was not crazy busy in any way. Quite a few open tables. Live music. Seemed cool. Hostess sat us immediately and that was the best accommodation we received. My party of 4 waited patiently for 12 minutes... I even motioned and signed to the hostess, "Does someone know we are here??" She acknowledged by whispering in her friend's ear, but sadly several more minutes passed and no one came to say even Hello. Ridiculous. Obviously we got up and left. I would never go back here. And now, after reading reviews, I'm SO GLAD I didn't spend my money here. Silver linings read more

We enjoyed listening to music at AJs. The hostess (Sierra) really made the experience great because she understood where we wanted to sit to view the entertainment. This young hostess was friendly and efficient. read more

I didn't try the food here, so I can't comment on that. The vibe was cool, and the band was pretty good. The place is setup where you can go to the bar and still have a conversation when there's live music, or you can sit closer to the stage for a better show. Service was okay - I had to go to the bar to order my drink. read more

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ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. A cockroach fell on two girls at our table. The staff did nothing about it. When we told them what happened, all they asked was if we wanted to move tables. We had to beg to get any sort of compensation because we could not finish our meal. It was absolutely disgusting and should be checked for a health code violation. I would not recommend this restaurant to literally anyone. The food was disgusting, too. read more

Almost stayed away because of the reviews, but AJs was recommended by our host while on vacation, so we decided to give it a try! We were seated immediately and the food was absolutely delicious! Only -1 star due to the wait to receive our food. read more

Shane was an awesome server and gave us great recommendations. Would definitely recommend this restaurant and shane :)

Ate there last night with a party of 9. As soon as the waitress greeted us she informed us they would only break our table into 3 tickets. We were 4 couples and a single. Very unprepared and annoyed by this. If we had seen this in the webpage we might have gone somewhere else. We were also not informed of the 20% gratuity attached to our bill. There was no transparency of their policies. The food was decent, as was the service, but the above referenced situations detracted from what would have been a higher review. read more

Ambiance was excellent! We sat outside in the sweet and shady oasis and listened to live music! Cory Hall was playing and he was fantastic (you can follow him on every social media platform). Service was fantastic . Attentive and not annoying. The beer was also very good. And IPA and a Red. Cold and abundant. What's there to complain about? We shared the fish and grits. It was served on a grits cake vs classic cheesy greats. Dry. Odd. The fish was placed on top of the grits cake and along with a large and VERY dry biscuit. Three pieces of very pithy asparagus on top. The sauce was tasty but we needed more. The dish presentation was nice but it was heavy and salty and, well, kind of weird. Fish was just ok. Key Like pie was meh. Not a lot of flavor. We saw lots loaded plates coming out for other tables with the hamburger sliders and such- go and just try something besides the fish and grits. The venu is great. read more

We had the tuna dip as an appetizer, it was better than average (3.5 out of 5). For the main course we had firecracker shrimp tacos which were pretty good ( 4.0 out of 5) and fish tacos (3.0 out of 5). The serving size was good ( we had already eaten some when I took the pictures). The service was good and promptly. The reviews for this restaurant are all over the place. We had a good experience and I'd recommend it based on our visit. I wish yelp had half stars as I would have given it 3.5. read more

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Solid place great food and service. I will be back again for prime rib night on Thursdays. Live music and good vibes. Open late

$10 cover for anyone with an out of state ID is a big ol' middle finger to visitors and tourists. I've been to AJs several times in the past but never again now that I know that they are gouging people - all for the privilege of listening to amateur karaoke while eating mediocre bar food. Bouncer had the personality of burnt toast. read more