You can have lunch or dinner directly on Main Beach at Sandbar Amelia Island, 2910 Atlantic Avenue, where the restaurant promises unobstructed views of the Atlantic. It's been serving there since 2017, and the house line is that it throws a beach party every day, with coastal food, cocktails and live music on a weekly lineup.
The bar is the other draw. Sandbar's Whiskey Library holds more than 1,200 whiskey and bourbon selections, which the restaurant bills as the largest whiskey collection in Florida, from everyday labels to hard-to-find bottles and its own Sandbar Barrel Picks. If you don't know where to start, the staff has put together five whiskey flights.
The lunch and dinner menu runs from 14-inch pizzas made to order (shrimp scampi and the sausage-and-pepperoni Rustica among them) to the smash-style Main Beach Burger, a grouper sandwich, blackened redfish over cheese grits, she-crab soup and a poke bowl. Kids 10 and under get their own menu. Weekend brunch adds Beaches & Cream French toast, Millionaire's bacon tacos, a fried chicken biscuit and bottomless mimosas.
Hours and details from the restaurant:
- Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Brunch is Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Locals' Hour runs weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m.
- Reservations are by phone at (904) 310-3648.
Sandbar is a short walk from Main Beach Park, and it shows up in the Insider's roundup of family-friendly restaurants. Salt Life Food Shack is the other sit-down option at Main Beach. Sandbar also caters, on site or delivered, so if you're hosting a crowd at a house near the beach, concierge service can place that order along with the rest of the week's plans.