The Beach Bar Challenge Blog: Bars 142 to 149 Jacksonville, Northeast Area

Bars 142 to 149 Jacksonville, Northeast Area

My friends say I'm crazy, and I agree. But that's OK, that's the way I like to be.
-O.A. R. "Hey Girl"

Happy 2015! Both of us had a long week at work so we decided a day trip to some beach bars was in order. Despite the cooler Florida temps (45!) we made it to a couple bars in and around Jacksonville.

Bar 142: Sandy Bottoms

This was a great little bar and restaurant right on the beach. In the summer, We are sure this place is packed! In the winter they have a heated patio, which gets fairly warm.

Ryan ordered the Key Breeze. Key lime rum, pineapple and cranberry juice. It was a delicious take on a typical Bay Breeze!

Overall a fun stop and we would be happy to come back with a bit warmer weather!

Bar 143: Sliders Seaside
This is another one that we are sure is absolutely amazing when the weather is nicer. The back tiki bar was perfect and we would be happy to spend a lot more time there.

We loved the inside bar! We ordered our drinks here and then went to the outside bar. The bartender was extremely friendly and willing to suggest several drinks.

Sarah had a raspberry lemon-drop martini, which was really tasty but a poor (strong) choice for our feat of accomplishing the remaining bars on our list!

Bar 144: Surf Restaurant and Bar
Just down the road from Sliders, this bar is across the street from the beach. However, when sitting at the bar we still had a good view of the water. One disappointment was that when we walked in, there was a sign that said Happy Hour from 2-6 so we inquired about specials and were told that there wasn't happy hour on Saturdays. They did honor it in the long-run, but the sign was a bit misleading. When we were leaving, we did notice that the sign was replaced with a heated deck sign.
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The atmosphere of this place was great. We loved the inside bar and there were lots of outside tables and an outside bar for when things get warmer.

Ryan ordered the Arnold Palmer with Sweet Tea Vodka and lemonade. He says it is the best he has ever had! Really enjoyable and the plastic glass that looked like real glass was a hit too!

Bar 145: Sandollar Restaurant and Marina

The outside patio and bar were closed but we were seated at the windows so we were able to still see that and the water. In the Summer this place would be amazing. The food was excellent!

Sarah had an Intuition Pale Ale to complement our lunch meal. A really nice place to visit if you are in the area!

We had heard good things about Lemon Bar in Neptune Beach and we were excited to check it out. Unfortunately, they were closed for the season. We bought a postcard and we will be back!

Bar 146: Billy's Boathouse Bar & Grill
One of our favorites this trip and the majority reason was the live music outside. A great view of the boats coming in and out. They had heaters set up outside and a guy playing guitar. We were able to take a few moments to take in the sights and sounds before heading to our next stop. The drink selections are limited but we are glad we went!

Sarah enjoyed a Corona while we listened to the live music.

Ryan took this time to read up on our next stop in the official Florida Beach Bar book. This has been a great resource for us to get information on each of our beach bar regions!

Bar 147: Nippers Beach Grille

This is right next to Billy's so the view is very similar. We sat at the inside bar and upon looking at the drink menu were interested in trying a couple different drinks. The bartender told us that they were in the process of implementing a new drink menu so these were all new drinks.

Ryan settled on a Bad Habit, a frozen drink with rum and mixed juices. We can usually find something nice to say about any drinks but this was the worst drink we have had at any of our bars.

It was too frozen, even after 15 minutes you had to fight to sip it with a straw. It varied from being so strong that you could only taste alcohol to not tasting anything but the juice. This may be the ratio of their blended drinks and we would give one of their mixed drinks a chance but this was really disappointing.

There was a random Merry-Go-Round at a park on our route from Nippers to Hurricane Patty's. We decided it was worth a spin and enjoyed ourselves and our detour.

Bar 148: Hurricane Patty's

Before our stop at Hurricane Patty's we attempted to go to Beaches in Vilano. They were closed for the season, but we will be back!

We sat at the bar here and had a great view of the live guitarist. She really added to the environment and made the experience for us.

Sarah ordered a Bold City Brewery Killer Whale draft. It was enjoyable but much less hoppy than she was expecting.

Bar 149: Conch House

We were in this area over a year ago and did a couple bars. This one wasn't on the list at that point and we weren't sure we wanted to go back to the same area. We are so glad we did! The Conch House has individual tiki huts that overlook the water. Due to the colder temps they were closed the night we went but it would be a lot of fun to go back.