Best Seafood in Jacksonville: Mayport Shrimp and Fish Camps

The best seafood in Jacksonville is eaten close to the water, at the fish camps and docks of Mayport Village, where shrimp boats still unload and the menu leans on what came in that week. Jacksonville is large and spread out on the St. Johns River, so the seafood is easy to miss from downtown.

Ask where your shrimp came from. Wild shrimp is landed at Mayport, and some restaurants also serve shrimp from other waters.

What is Mayport shrimp?

Mayport shrimp is wild-caught shrimp landed at the docks of Mayport, a fishing village near the mouth of the St. Johns River on the northeast edge of the city. The local fleet catches brown, white and pink shrimp in the Atlantic, and restaurants advertise it as a regional specialty.

The label matters, because not every dish with that name uses local shrimp. A News4JAX report on a study found that most dishes sold under that name in the Jacksonville area were actually made with imported shrimp. That is a good reason to ask the server where the shrimp came from. A place that is proud of local shrimp will say so.

Where is the best seafood in Jacksonville for shrimp?

Mayport Village is the place for local shrimp: seafood markets and restaurants sit beside the docks, and you can watch the shrimp boats unload their catch. Check hours before you go, and ask what came off the boat that day.

A rustic fish camp on A1A is known for fried gator tail, blackened sheepshead, shrimp burgers and a local chowder. You can order the shrimp fried, steamed, blackened or grilled.

What is a Jacksonville fish camp?

A fish camp is a casual waterfront restaurant, originally built to serve fishermen and families who came to the river for a weekend. Today the term covers a range of places with picnic tables or screened porches, a menu of fried and steamed seafood and a view of a dock.

A more polished fish camp adds dockside seating and shrimp and grits to the menu. Expect the setting to matter as much as the food, so pick a table by the water if you can.

What is Minorcan chowder?

Minorcan chowder is a tomato-based seafood soup from St. Augustine and the northeast Florida coast, named for the Minorcan settlers who came to the area in the 1700s. It is spiced with datil pepper, a small, hot pepper grown locally, and contains fish, shrimp and sometimes clams.

The flavor is warm and peppery rather than creamy, so it surprises people who expect New England chowder. If a restaurant offers a cup, order one. It is a good way to taste local ingredients.

What should you order at a Jacksonville seafood restaurant?

Start with a shrimp basket or a shrimp burger, then add a local fish, such as sheepshead or grouper, if the kitchen has it. Fried plates are the norm, but steamed shrimp with butter is a better way to taste the sweetness of the shrimp itself. Hush puppies and slaw come on the side.

If you are curious, ask what the kitchen is most proud of today. It might be a catch that came in that morning, and it might not be on the printed menu.

What about Jacksonville beaches food?

The beach towns, such as Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach, are the other side of the city's seafood scene. The beaches offer a mix of oyster bars, casual fish shacks and sit-down restaurants. The pace is relaxed, and many places take walk-ins.

Combine a beach day with a Mayport stop and you will eat well. The drive between the two is short, but traffic on summer weekends can be slow. If you want to take shrimp home, bring a cooler and ask the counter how fresh it is.

How to ask where the shrimp is from

It is fair to ask whether the shrimp is wild-caught, local, domestic or imported. A good server will answer. Some restaurants print the source on the menu or a board. If the answer is vague, order something else, such as local fish.

Seasons matter, too. Wild shrimp is not available in every month, so a menu that has the same shrimp dish all year may not use only local catch. That is not a problem if the restaurant is honest.

What to read next

For the rest of the state, read Florida food worth a drive. The Gulf Coast seafood guide covers the other coast, and the Key West key lime pie guide is a sweeter stop. The US guides page has more.

Seafood is easier to judge when you have notes. Download the Mosey app, rate each dish as you eat it, write down where the shrimp came from and keep a Jacksonville list that you can hand to a friend. Rate a Mayport dock lunch, a fish camp dinner and a beach oyster bar as separate dishes, and tag the ones with a water view Outdoor seating. Invite a friend to the list with a link, follow people whose taste you trust, and answer the Best in town question for the shrimp you ate so the next visitor has something to go on.