Pandora’s Steak House

I visited Pandora’s two nights in a row while in Panama City Beach for bike week. I found this gem of a restaurant quite by chance. I was headed to another steakhouse and got lost. I then searched for a restaurant nearby and Pandora popped up. I saw 3 stars and was hesitant, but as I was hungry and Pandora’s was close the decision was made. This is no 3 star restaurant! We were a party of three hungry bikers and we all ordered the Ribeye steak and they were cooked perfectly over an oak wood open grill. The food was good value and Brittney provided us with outstanding service.
There were two of us for dinner the following evening and once again we had excellent service from Brittney. I ordered the ribeye and once again it was prepared to perfection. My girlfriend ordered the grouper dish and she raved about the taste and how well prepared the dish was.
Pandora’s is a winner!

Love this place. We could ride our bikes here. As we did to every place we went that week. Love the 30A area. Food here was excellent. We had 11 in our party. They seated us quickly and all 11 of us were happy with our food and service. And the mushroom appetizer was something I can’t wait to have again.

The experience left us feeling demeaned and disturbed. We have been going there for over 20 years. From the beginning, when I asked the server the difference between two wines his response was «cant tell ya dont drink the stuff» vs. let me get someone who knows (obvious lack of training a management problem) then when I ordered the lamb chops he snapped «we dont have that! «Yes on the specials menu tonight, again «no its not» so we all open our menus and show him, «it’s right here» another snap «well it doesnt come with any sides» it says it comes with sweet potato mash. well you cant have anything else with it (again a training issue) my son orders asparagus, (its on the specials menu as a side) another snap «asparagus is just too expensive to be serving as a side we cant serve that» OK. But the topper was when my husbands tuna was ordered rare to med rare and came med well, he took two bites and asked to send it back, When they brought his tuna it was a half piece and he was told well you ate some of it. This has to be the lowest class form of retaliation I have ever seen. This went from one of our favorite places, to going down in the history books as the worst dining experience ever. There were 6 of us at the table, the bill for the two of us was $ 118 obviously he wasnt trying to cheat them out of a $ 10 piece of tuna. But what I think was even worse was the action of no apologies like it was our fault the tuna wasnt right. Train your staff, they represent you, make or break you if you need a break from the tourist take it dont punish the customer.

We went on a Sunday and were so excited about the prime rib special. The house salad was mediocre at best. An upgrade to Caesar salad is $ 3. Bread was good. French onion soup was good. Baked potato was cold. Prime rib was over cooked, chewy, and had to be sawed with a steak knife to cut. The service was sparse. We had to ask for water refills more than once. Never were we offered another round of wine/​beer. Don’t waste your time and money, find another place for dinner

It took us literally 45 minutes to get our first round of drinks. When we said something to the hostess, she didn’t even address the issue or apologize but just screamed at the server (right in front of us).
My dirty martini tasted like it had sprite in it it. When I told the server, he just looked at me and walked away. He didn’t take it from me or offer a new one. I had to walk outside to another bar to have someone make me another one.
Service was a joke and food wasn’t good enough to make up for it. Curious how the place stays in business.

Absolute disgrace. Terrible serious, terrible food. Save your money and go elsewhere.

I had the worst dining experience ever tonight. The evening was saved only because I was with people I care about and we kept a good sense of humor. Truly inadequate service, slow and incompetent. The food was not good –everyone that had beef disliked it. Not a good place to spend money on food. Unbelievably bad experience. They also added 20% tip due to size of our party and that was very unfortunate it was not warranted. Talk about rubbing salt in a wound.

Disorganized staff. I strongly lean toward attributing this to management though I never laid eyes on anyone who was manning the ship. The food is bland, the drinks were alright. We had the seafood creole which was touted to be all local seafood. I find this very hard to believe, at best it was not fresh. The atmosphere was that of a late 80’s establishment. I’m sure if there were live music the night we decided to eat at Pandora’s however, the ambiance would have been much better. The third time eating there in three years time will be our last.

This place has rude servers and poor service. We pre-​booked a semi large table for a group gathering. We were placed in a location among others which made conversation difficult and made our attempt at conversation across the table for 15 plus difficult. The service was beyond slow taking more than 15 or 20 minutes for a drink to get to the table when the restaurant was not very busy (4 or 5) regular tables at the max. Drinks were made incorrectly and often very weak as well. The waitress was very rude and at times ignored order specifics. The food was ok thus the only reason for 1 star at all. Once the bill arrived there was an automatic 20% percent tip added to the bill for each person, upon asking about this tip the waitress became very rude. She explained that it didn’t matter what the card was ran for or what we wrote for tips in the spot provided that the automatic tip total was what we would be billed for. This was not the case as some at he table were billed pre tip and some were billed after tip totals. Unless this restaurant is claiming all mandatory tips as income they are not meeting the current IRS regulation and law. A dinner for two totaled more than $ 180.00 which would have been ok if the service was decent and the food was not so bland. My suggestion to the restaurant would be to hire better servers and be aware when a party is booked to place them in a more private environment. Additionally a server speaking to a customer and replying «maybe your not understanding correctly» would be helpful.

Ordered rack of ribs that came out looking and tasting like charcoal. Burnt to a crisp and completely inedible.

We were looking for some other place & saw the live music sign so we decided to go there. My friend then saw the $ 16.95 prime rib sign so that made it even more enticing although I was more interested in sea food. So we went in & were seated. The waitress told us the prime rib was not a Saturday night special but we stayed anyway. Nancy ordered the prime rib which was a bit pricey at $ 26 & I ordered the locally caught grouper for about the same price. We ordered the Pinot which was tasty & a generous pour. She also brought out a loaf of fresh made warm bread that was soft & sweet. Nancy said her steak was a but chewy but juicy & tasty. My grouper was excellent, a nice large piece on top of Parmesan grits with asparagus & some savory sauce. Yum. There was definitely enough food for us both to take a doggy bag. We never did hear the live music. It seemed like the band was going through sound check & then never started to play. Service was okay. It took a fairly long time to get the check processed

Great value for the area. Great staff. Awesome bread, steak and desserts. Drinks are also very good.

Yum. We made a last-​minute reservation and were wary when we arrived to a nearly empty restaurant. The delicious smells coming from the kitchen enticed us to stay and we’re happy we did. My petit filet was one of the best I’ve ever had. Service was fast and friendly. Definitely recommend you go!

Very expensive but I have to admit the food was great! Service was food as well. Next we go I want to sit outside at the Tiki bar.

DELICIOUS meal! Pan seared snapper was excellent, as was the oak grilled grouper with crawfish, although it had a bit of a bite, which we loved! We started with tuna tower and it too was amazing.
We thoroughly enjoyed our entire meal and our waitress Heather was nice as can be! Definitely going back.

I would give it a 2.5 if possible. The atmosphere is quant, although it has an Italian look about it. We were extremely disappointed in the crab legs. They were small, and many legs were empty. I ordered the steak & crab leg combo, and asked for my steak cooked medium/​well. It was very dry and charred. They only offer A1 Sauce and Lea & Perrins too. :(My husband had the prime rib and said it was really good though. We felt that everything was overpriced also. Service was slow. Bring your own napkins! No paper napkins available! The salt scrub in the bathroom is cool though.

I rate Pandora’s a 2.5. the food was not horrible, but all of the meats are blackened because they have no control over their firewood flame. My husbands tuna and my petite filet mignon were the same flavor because of the grilling methods. The pricing doesn’t make sense for some of the items either. Our server didn’t know how to open our bottle of wine. She was very nice though. When we asked to see a manager to give some feedback about the meat, she said Oh we actually don’t have a manager he’s right over there dining. Pandora’s does not have a waiting area for guest waiting to be seated either. This could be a great restaurant if they had management or some sort of leadership there at all times.

Service is so.slow. The food is really good but the tortoise speed service takes away from the food. We had a party of 9 and were there for 2 hours… granted big parties take longer but 2 hours is too long.
Everyone had steaks… very tasty and tender. Sides were good. The salads were cursory but the bread was fab. More than likely I wouldn’t come back here the next time I’m here on vacation.

Our party of ten went to Pandora’s for the Wednesday night $ 15 Prime Rib special. The prime rib was honestly perfect. Everyone in our party of ten ordered some variation of it and everyone left very full and very happy. Excellent service from our waiter Shaun as well. You will not find a better meal for $ 15 anywhere. I wish they would figure out their theme though, very «eclectic» would be a nice way of putting it.
On a slightly unrelated note, the outdoor bar scene is great as well. Bands seem to be hit or miss but the atmosphere is always laid back and fun. Drink prices are very reasonable for the area. $ 3.50 for a Corona.

I can’t really say much for the restaurant itself at this time; it’s been years since I’ve eaten there since it’s relatively far away from my home.
As a nighttime hot spot, though, Pandora’s is one of the only options in the Santa Rosa Beach area, and they do a good job. Live music, background music, an outdoor (and covered) bar that’s open late and a good crew make this just about the only place to hang out after 10 PM in the area. They also have a great night bar menu for grub. Prices are very fair and the bartenders are good at what they do. Enjoy!