We try to stop here at least once when we're visiting the area. Wonderful hidden spot on the water with semi-covered seating area. One of those places that lets you write your name on a railing or other exposed wooden area. Food is mostly fried or "hearty", not a place to count WW points. Love the bushwacker machine...keep 'em coming! If you've never been here, give it a try. Worth the drive. read more

Pirates Cove - New American Near Me - Elberta, Alabama

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Quick weekend trip to the beach. Last minute we rented a pontoon boat for something to do. We basically decided to do the loop from The flora-bama yacht club east to the inter coastal stopping at pirates cove for lunch. They serve a decent burger and a decent bushwhacker. This is a dog friendly spot and very busy. It's not gourmet but it will soak up the alcohol read more

Cheeseburgers, Pizza and delicious Bushwackers make this a great destination by land or by sea.

This is a cool dive restaurant and bar. There's some fun aesthetics and a great area for swimming and sand when playing with the kids that is protected by a pier. The restaurant is dog friendly as well. The menu has your usual pub grub during the week with some pizza on Friday-Saturday. The bar had a good selection with a signature bushwhacker. The location can be reached by both boat and car. There are also some great coozie and t-shirts available as souvenirs. The service was very friendly, but it is self serve with ordering at the bar and picking up your food. read more

By boat or by car if you are in the gulf shores area and looking for a good place to kick back, have a great bushwhacker some yummy food and just a good time! This is your place. read more

Entire place was filthy. Kitchen was dirty. Cooks & staff were dirty. Whole place including waterfront area was a nasty dump. Wanted to leave but were starving & there's nothing else nearby. You order at counter but there's no signage & no one told us so we seated ourselves right by the register counter. No one greeted or acknowledged us. Finally asked. Very limited menu of bar food. No seafood. All food is served like take out -in a bag or styrofoam. They don't allow any changes. For example, they wouldn't leave the tomato off the hamburger. Told me I could remove it myself! When food is ready, you have to go outside a door to a pick up window -even though the pick up window shelf is inside next to the counter. Guy could have just handed the bag to me but he refused & said I had to get it from outside. It was very weird. Food not good. Hamburger was overcooked, dry & greasy. Smoked sausage sandwich was inedible--like rubber. Fries were luke warm. Onion rings were ok. Needless to say we'll never return & are praying none of us end up sick. read more

Great hangout place in the summer!! Great food, and ambience. Your fur babies welcomed

Laid back quaint dive bar. THE BEST BURGERS ever, special sauce does wonders. The drive is long, boat ride easy but definitely worth the trip. Men check out the restrooms. Staff really friendly and fun. Onion rings and bushwackers awesome also. read more

Pirates Cove - Onion rings and burgers. - New American Near Me - Elberta, Alabama

The burgers are amazing! We had a few mix-ups with our burgers, but we did have a large order and they were busy. We came here last year and had no issues when we had smaller orders. But other than the mix-up with was fixed pretty quickly the food and drinks were great and the people at the counter are super nice. read more

Other than the occasional long wait you gotta love Pirate's Cove. This post Sally & Covid review is way ovedue and I am ashamed to say that I have overlooked the review that this special place deserves. I'll start by telling the story of how we discovered this place. It was 1993 and we had just moved to Memphis from Massachusetts. I asked someone where the nearest beach was and they recommended Gulf Shores. We headed here our first free weekend and my honey found a flyer for a sailboat sunset cruise and we booked it. The location was way off the beaten path at a salty dudes house in a narrow waterway where Robert's Bayou meets Arnica Bay. He took us out into the bay and we watched the sunset, picked up shells on a little island and headed back in. As we came to a narrow pass he asked us if we knew who Jimmy Buffett is. LOL Well we've been parotheads forever so we said sure. He pointed up on a small hill and said "see that light up there? That's his uncle's house where Jimmy spent his summers as a kid." Then he pointed to a funky shack on the opposite beach and said "That place is called Pirates Cove and they only make one thing, cheeseburgers". We're both thinking, wait, what? So once we'd disembarked we jumped in the car with the kids and headed to this place if possibilities :-) Let me set the stage, the Pirates Cove of today only vaguely resembles the one we find that night. It was a small funky shack in the beach with a screen door and dogs sleeping all around. I hurried in, full of anticipation, and was greeted by a guy behind the bar who could easily just stepped if an actual pirate ship. We ordered up some Red Stripes and cheeseburgers and waited. Soon they yelled out names and we got our paper bag of burgers and walked down onto the beach. We stuck our beers in the sand, opened up our burgers and just then a pair of dolphins breached right in front of us as we took our first bite. OMG the only thought in our minds was, we've found THE "cheeseburger in paradise"!! Indeed those delicious juicy burgers were flat out fantastic! So sitting there in that cool Gulf breeze, sipping our ice cold beers with our feet in the sand, the waves lapping and the dolphins playing there was just no doubt, EUREKA! Now there's a lot of conjecture as to the origins of that specific burger in the song, but for me this is the one. Needless to say we have made the pilgrimage here every time we visited the area and of course now that we are retired here it is one of our favorite hangouts. The history of this place goes back to when it was built somewhere around 1935 as part of the Intracoastal Waterway project. It was a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) work camp. But only a few of us loyal patrons know that the bar and restaurant wouldn't be what it is today without Civil War privateers, a high-end Chicago hotel and a German immigrant initiative in Baldwin County. I don't have enough space here for the whole history but this is a 3rd generation establishment operated by brothers Paul and Karl Mueller (although ownership remains in the hands of their mother Eileen), and is a colorful history of innumerable employees, regulars and all sorts of "riff raff." :-) Today it's grown exponentially with a gift shop, beach bars, music stage, picnic tables and a big boat dock. They text you when your food is ready and now there's more food choices, in addition to the crazy good cheeseburgers, there's Fried Chicken fingers, Grilled Chicken, Sausage & Kraut, Hot Wings and even Pizza's on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. I've tried all of it and it's all good but seriously I always come back to this cheeseburgers baby :-) But the dogs and the dolphins are still around as well as the beach, the sand and the cool folks so it will remain one if my chillax go-to spots. They have recovered from the disasters of 2020 and are back and better than ever. Their website is a mess http://piratescoveriffraff.com/ But the Facebook page is pretty good https://www.facebook.com/piratescove/ Bottom line: If you're ever anywhere in remotely close then I highly recommend a visit to this awesome little slice of paradise! read more

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If you are looking for a no frills bar/grill the Pirates Cove will not disappoint. The food is not exactly four stars but that is not why you come here, it's the incredible location. Sip a cold drink with your toes in the sand. Come by car or boat! read more

Perfect place to enjoy a cheeseburger in paradise! Good burgers, great fries! Great mixed drinks! Fries are big potato wedges, and so tasty. Great bushwackers. Everyone is so friendly including the wandering pups as it is dog friendly. Set right on the beach, boats pull right up to the restaurant. Wonderful views of the bay. Just an all around great place to hangout! read more

Nice quiet beach. Dogs allowed. No bully breeds. Burgers and fries available. Family atmosphere

Food and service were mid. This place was pretty filthy. The guy at the cash register scratched his head/hair and then scooped each of our water cups in the ice with the same hand. Also, he was eating while he served us and didn't wash his hands before grabbing a couple of limes he put in my water. The fries were good. The cheeseburger was okay. read more

Went for burgers and bushwackers on a sunny spring week day. Got a table on the porch overlooking beach and bay. Burgers were phenomenal as always. Get an order of O-rings too. French fries are delicious. Also make sure to get a topper on your Bushwacker. Must visit and experience Baldwin County's best waterside bar and grill. Can arrive by boat too!! read more

Nasty, overpriced, go for an over priced drink but eat somewhere else. No alcohol in the bushwhacker. Much better places to go read more

It's a destination, I get it. Food is basically ballpark (little league) quality at beach prices. Yes, it's good, but next next time it strictly drinks. read more

Pirates Cove is a must go to place when in the Orange Beach area (especially with a boat). One of the only places that allow dogs, and great food. read more

Pirates Cove is a great hidden gem in Elberta. I used to think that it was only accessible by water, but I found out that you can drive to it, as well. Very secluded little getaway. It is situated right in the back of Wolfe Bay and you can pull your boat right up and park. The place has an inside bar area where you can order your food and drinks. Out side, wrapping around the place is a porch offering plenty of picnic bench style seating. Dogs typically walk around the outside looking for a free meal and are really friendly to all. If you go to Pirates Coves, their Bushwackers are a must try. They are the best around....get a 151 topper if you really want to live. Their burgers are really tasty and they have good pizza, as well. Good food, good drinks, and a great atmosphere overlooking the water.....what more do you want? read more

Delicious drinks (buy a cup and take back with you on your next visit for a discounted refill). Friendly service. Great ambiance. Will definitely be back. read more

Great little private beach/boat area. This is not a free beach.. so you can't bring your own alcohol. There is a restaurant and bar on site to purchase food and drink.there is also an outdoor hand washing station and hose to wash sand off feet. They have restrooms available as well. The water is very shallow. We live this because we have two young boys. They can enjoy the water without worry of waves or undertow or being too deep. The swimming area is next to the boat docking area which is separated by posts in the water. There are some picnic tables available. read more

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I like this place and have been a few times both by land and water. It's definitely a go-to spot for local boaters! There is a long pier, a beach boats can anchor-up on and a beach with no boats allowed for swimmers, though plenty of folks swim off of their boats! Pirates offers food and drink. They have a basic bar with beer, cocktails & frozen bushwhackers. The menu is small offering burgers, hot dogs, fries, chicken fingers, onion rings, and such. On weekends, pizza is offered. Pizza is definitely the best thing on the menu. There is covered bench seating and there are a few picnic tables on the beach. The place feels like a little soap would go a long way and a day of sprucing up would be a worthwhile effort. The food will do in a pinch. It is a fun location on the water. I will return. read more

Way too many dogs. I can't imagine this being a sanitary place with the amount of pets allowed near the kitchen.

Rent a boat, wave runner in Wolf Bay and make the trip. Decent burgers and bar food, but the Bushwhackers and family(and dog) friendly atmosphere alone are well worth the trip. Best Bushwhackers anywhere...I challenge you! We go every year during family vacay. read more

Awesome, laid back place to go! It's my new favorite. Dog friendly! Burgers, pizza with a beautiful view.

This spot is a gem! Rough around the edges in all the right ways. The menu is super short, do yourself a favor and order the burger and fries. Looking forward to catching pizza night on Friday Saturday and Sunday. Great bushwhackers, ice cold canned beer, toes in the sand and picnic tables under shade trees with a great view of the bay. I will come back here again and again every year when I'm down. read more

Shack with expensive hamburgers. Very limited menu. Good view. This is a joint. Nothing special about it other than is is waterside

Heard and read great feedback and needed to check it out for ourselves! What a sweet little gem of a place. The Bushwackers were spot on- stronger and more tasteful than other establishments, our pup had a blast playing in the water and chasing his orange ball, service was super friendly!! We will be back A+++ **I was craving pizza for some strange reason, saw it on their menu, tried to order it but only served Friday, Saturday and Sunday- another small reason to come back. read more

Laid back and low key! Great cheeseburger. Onion rings and fries were perfect. Fast and efficient service.

Best Cheeseburger ever ! Is it a outside eating place with no air conditioning. It is on the water. It has boat docks if you come from the water and parking if you drive in. The fries are also delish! read more

Pirates Cove - New American Near Me - Elberta, Alabama

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All those lists that name the top beach bars in America have totally missed the mark if they leave this place out. The epitome of coastal dive bars, Pirates Cove just raised the bar for all other beach bars. There's a little boat dock area, but folks seem to prefer just beaching their boats and walking on in. You can also go by automobile. The whole place is practically open air, some with a roof over it and some without, some tables on the deck, and some picnic tables out in the sand. You go "inside" to order at the bar. I'd suggest checking in before you order because there was a 10% off check-in offer when we were there. Note, those aren't guaranteed as they are set up by the business and can be removed at any time. We had cheeseburgers and fries and onion rings. The burgers are fantastic and came topped with cheddar and the usual fixins. The onion rings are beer battered and delish. The fries are more like potato wedges than traditional fries, and also better than average fries. I just had tea as I was driving. My hubs had two bushwackers and I tried a sip. I would totally order one, and I don't typically drink bushwackers because I don't like coffee. These definitely had more Kahlua than coffee. The went down easy. The total tab wasn't bad at all. I think it was around $30, before tip and before the second bushwacker. Did I mention this place is pet friendly? There were several well behaved dogs that weren't even on leashes. Our girls got lots of attention too. They seemed very comfortable there, for obvious reasons. Heck, several folks were barefoot and in bathing suits. This isn't the place for uptight people, this is the place you go to get away from them. Everyone there from the staff to other patrons were super friendly. We'll definitely make our way back, and we'll do so often. read more

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My parents use to keep our 38ft Pearson Sailboat there for many years. My parents Alex & Jeepy and myself felt like it was always our second home. Well, even though my daddy passed away April 7th of 2022., it is still our second home. The staff are all amazing people. Food is super!!! Love y'all Pirates Cove!!! read more

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Great cheeseburgers. Fun setting, several dogs running around having as much fun as the humans. Nice little beach. I thought the Bushwacker was a little too strong for me but may be just right for you. For the two of us, lunch ran about forty bucks including tip. Dogs are welcome and most of them are off-leash. They all seemed to get along well whether big dog or small. Our little shih tzu had a good time. As you are coming down from 98, you will pass the road over to Barbers Marina. If you have time for a little detour, you should check out Bama-henge and the dinosaurs. You can look those up on Roadside America. This was our first time at Pirates Cove today and we're already thinking about going back. read more

Best bushwackers on the Gulf Coast and damn good burger too. The cheese curds were amazing as well. We went on a Monday night and it was low key and perfect. It's sort of a drive if you aren't in a boat but so worth it. Great food. Great views. I can't wait to go back! read more

We have been here several times but this year we noticed a change to the menu and didn't like the outcome. I do love the dog beach and view is to die for. But the food is lacking. They need to bring back the onion rings. read more

Was told by a fellow passenger on my flight out that this was a must visit local place off the beaten path. I could see the Marina being a good go to place for boaters, however the food is crap and found better places all up and down the beautiful gulf coast. It's one of those places with a long family history and the view is wonderful. And, there is live music which draws thousands during tourist season. No thanks. Also, the bartender hates the locals and basically painted them as a bunch of backwards red necks. read more

I can't give a food rating because we didn't get to eat. we were told to go here because the place is pet friendly and the food was good. we arrived and took our poodle up the walk on her leash. the entrance is open air. there was a lab laying inside unleashed. we didn't even enter the place and our dog was attacked. luckily our dog was not hurt. I inquired whose dog it was. they said it was the owners dog and they weren't on site. I was not offered any apology or anything other than a menu and asked if I wanted food. no one seemed to care other than a local that said the dog was jeckyl and Hyde and offered to put the dog in a closet. we left... read more

This is the the true version of that Jimmy Buffet bar that we all dream about. Loved it. Unless you have a boat, it's a bit of a drive to get there, but well worth it. The burger and onion rings are second to none, and don't forget the Bushwhacker. read more

Food took 45 minutes on a slow Sunday evening. Finally got cold cheeseburger and soggy onion rings in a small paper sack. It had definitely been sitting for a while. $16 and not even good. Bushwhacker was $10 in a small paper cup but it was good. read more

We looked forward to visiting since Hurricane Sally recovery. Was VERY disappointed that we had to wait one hour for our food. This was mid-week and not very busy.... Everyone had a great time and we enjoyed our visit. The adult beverages were good and the atmosphere was excellent. Don't come hungry, and you will love it. read more