16 Old-School Fort Lauderdale Restaurants Serving Classic Florida Flavor
Fort Lauderdale has changed a lot over the decades.
Shiny high-rises replaced old motels, and trendy brunch spots pop up faster than you can say avocado toast.
But scattered across the city and its nearby neighborhoods, you’ll find restaurants that refuse to change with the times, and honestly, that’s the best part.
These places still serve the same fried shrimp, thick steaks, and towering sundaes they did when your grandparents were dating.
Walking through their doors feels like flipping through an old photo album, complete with neon signs, vinyl booths, and servers who remember your name.
I’ve spent years hunting down these spots, and each visit reminds me why Fort Lauderdale’s food story is worth telling.
So grab your appetite and maybe a napkin or two, because we’re about to tour the restaurants that built this city’s flavor, one plate at a time.
1. Tropical Acres Steakhouse
Walk into Tropical Acres and it feels like somebody hit pause on 1955.
This family-run steakhouse has been grilling cuts since 1949, and you can tell the moment the smell of sizzling sirloin hits you.
The dining room is all dark wood, warm lighting, and servers who treat regulars like extended family.
Old-school touches like the salad bar and early bird specials, live happily beside platters of prime rib, lobster tails, and broiled shrimp.
Locals come to celebrate everything here: graduations, anniversaries, and the kind of Tuesdays that just need a good steak.
Set just west of the airport on Griffin Road at 2500 Griffin Rd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312, Tropical Acres is the kind of place where the parking lot fills early, conversations linger late, and the dessert tray still magically appears at the end of the night.
2. Rustic Inn Crabhouse
If you measure restaurants by how many wooden mallets you hear at once, Rustic Inn Crabhouse might be the loudest place in town.
This former roadhouse saloon turned seafood landmark has been drawing crowds for decades with its famous garlic crabs and no-nonsense, paper-covered tables.
You’ll crack claws shoulder-to-shoulder with airline crews, locals who’ve been coming since childhood, and travelers who heard you have to go.
Steamed blue crabs, Florida stone crab in season, and shrimp scampi arrive in big metal pans, glistening with butter and garlic.
Located at 4331 Anglers Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312, it sits along a canal near I-95, so boats and cars arrive in equal numbers.
It’s messy, loud, and gloriously old Florida, the kind of place where you leave smelling like garlic and sea breeze, and consider that a souvenir.
3. Jack’s Old Fashion Hamburger House
Jack’s Old Fashion Hamburger House looks like the kind of spot you’d pull into on a road trip in 1972, and that’s exactly the point.
Burgers here are ground fresh in-house, weighed, and pressed into thick patties that arrive wrapped in paper, dripping down your wrists in the best possible way.
The menu is simple: burgers, fries, chili, shakes, maybe a slice of pie if you’re lucky. Locals swear nothing tastes quite like a Jack’s burger, and many grew up watching the meat grinder in the window as kids.
The dining room along North Federal Highway at 4201 N Federal Hwy, Oakland Park, FL 33308 is bright, basic, and blissfully unchanged, with Formica tables and no trendy distractions.
In a world of build-your-own gourmet burgers, Jack’s proves there’s still magic in a perfectly seasoned patty, American cheese, and a toasted bun.
4. Catfish Dewey’s
If your idea of classic Florida flavor involves fried seafood and all-you-can-eat deals, Catfish Dewey’s is your kind of place.
Tucked along North Andrews Avenue at 4003 N Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309, this family spot has been serving heaping platters since the late 1980s, and the parking lot fills with locals who know exactly what night features all-you-can-eat catfish or snow crab.
Inside, it’s all wood booths, neon signs, and servers who can describe the specials without looking at a menu.
Fried catfish fillets, gator bites, hushpuppies, and coleslaw land on the table hot and fast, the kind of food that makes you forget about your phone.
There’s usually a low hum of country music or chatter from regulars catching up. It’s not fancy, but that’s the charm.
You come here hungry and leave plotting your next visit.
5. Georgia Pig BBQ & Restaurant
Just southwest of Fort Lauderdale, Georgia Pig feels like it teleported straight out of a two-lane highway in 1953, which happens to be when it opened.
This low-slung barbecue joint on State Road 7 at 1285 S State Road 7, Davie, FL 33317, is all knotty pine, counter stools, and the sweet smoke of hickory.
Locals slide into booths for chopped pork sandwiches piled high, plates of ribs with simple white bread, and bowls of Brunswick stew that taste like somebody’s grandmother is in the kitchen.
The tea is sweet, the portions are generous, and the staff moves with the easy rhythm of a place that’s been doing things the same way for generations.
It’s technically in Davie, but ask any longtime local and they’ll tell you: Georgia Pig is part of Fort Lauderdale’s barbecue story, no question.
6. Cap’s Place Island Restaurant
Cap’s Place doesn’t just serve classic Florida flavor, it is classic Florida.
Opened in 1928 as a speakeasy and gambling den, this ramshackle wooden restaurant now sits on its own little island off Lighthouse Point.
You park at the dock at 2765 NE 28th Ct, Lighthouse Point, FL 33064, climb aboard a small boat, and chug across the Intracoastal the way diners have for decades.
Inside, the floors creak, the walls lean, and the photos show everyone from mobsters to presidents who’ve eaten here.
The menu leans old-school: broiled fish, chowder, hearts of palm salad sourced from longtime Seminole partners, and simple, perfectly cooked seafood.
It’s not about fancy plating, it’s about the sense that South Florida somehow stood still for an evening while you’re eating snapper and watching the water glow outside the windows.
7. Tarks Of Dania Beach
Tarks of Dania Beach is the kind of tiny seafood shack that proves size has nothing to do with reputation.
Since the 1960s, this narrow counter on South Federal Highway at 1317 S Federal Hwy, Dania Beach, FL 33004 has been cranking out raw oysters, clams, conch chowder, and some of the best wings in Broward County.
There’s no view, no white tablecloths, just barstools, laminated menus, and plates arriving faster than you can decide between fried shrimp or a clam basket.
Regulars sit elbow-to-elbow, swapping fishing stories and sauce recommendations.
The staff calls people by name, and newcomers are usually hon by the second refill of soda.
It’s pure old Florida: a little gritty, a lot friendly, and entirely centered on fresh seafood and cold drinks after a day on the water or the highway.
8. Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant
Step through Jaxson’s doors and you’re suddenly in 1956 again, staring up at license plates, antique toys, and more neon than a carnival.
This Dania Beach institution at 128 S Federal Hwy, Dania Beach, FL 33004, just south of Fort Lauderdale, is famous for over-the-top sundaes served in stainless-steel bowls that require two hands.
Kids’ eyes go wide at the Kitchen Sink sundae, while adults sneak forkfuls of burgers, hot dogs, and fried seafood from the savory side of the menu.
The smell of fresh waffle cones floats through the air as servers weave between tightly packed booths with trays of banana splits and towering milkshakes.
It’s loud, chaotic, and impossibly charming.
For many South Floridians, no childhood or beach day is complete without sticky fingers and a melted scoop on the sidewalk outside Jaxson’s.
9. Mai-Kai Restaurant & Polynesian Show
Mai-Kai is less a restaurant and more a time capsule wrapped in tiki torches.
Since the 1950s, this Polynesian palace on North Federal Highway at 3599 N Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308 has transported guests to a world of thatched roofs, koi ponds, and tropical drinks strong enough to make you forget you’re in suburban Fort Lauderdale.
After a major renovation, the legendary supper club is back to pouring barrel-aged drinks in carved tiki mugs and serving platters of beef, seafood, and stir-fried vegetables inspired by mid-century Polynesian fantasy.
The real spectacle happens on stage, where dancers spin fire knives and sway through traditional routines as diners dig into Pu-Pu platters.
Out back, tropical gardens glow under colored lights.
It’s escapism, pure and simple, and a reminder of when going out to dinner meant a whole evening’s worth of show.
10. Café Martorano
Café Martorano might look slick compared to some of the old dives on this list, but it’s been shaping Fort Lauderdale’s Italian-American cravings for decades.
Inside, it feels like stepping into someone’s over-the-top living room, movie scenes projected on the walls, music turned up just enough, and plates of red-sauce classics arriving like a family feast.
Owner Steve Martorano built his reputation on meatballs the size of baseballs, chicken cutlets fried perfectly crisp, and pasta dishes that taste like South Philly met South Florida.
The room gets louder as the night goes on, with locals celebrating birthdays, date nights, and just because dinners.
Located just off Oakland Park Boulevard near the Intracoastal at 3343 E Oakland Park Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308, it’s the spot where you come dressed casually, leave very full, and somehow still talk about the Sunday gravy days later.
11. The Ambry
Hidden behind a castle-like exterior on Commercial Boulevard at 3016 E Commercial Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308, The Ambry feels like a Bavarian pub dropped into coastal Florida.
Since 1981, this family-run German-American steakhouse has been pouring cold draft into hefty steins and serving schnitzel, sausages, and prime rib to generations of locals.
Inside, dark wood paneling, stained glass, and European knickknacks give every corner a cozy, old-world feel.
Regulars know to come early for the prime rib or to claim a corner table for date night over jaeger schnitzel and spaetzle.
While the menu leans German, there’s still plenty of steak and seafood for picky eaters.
It’s the kind of place where the staff remembers your order, you linger over one last drink, and walking back into the Florida night feels a little too bright.
12. Peter Pan Diner
Peter Pan Diner is where Fort Lauderdale goes when it can’t decide between pancakes at midnight or meatloaf at noon.
Family-owned since 1979, this classic roadside diner along Oakland Park Boulevard at 1216 E Oakland Park Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334 glows with retro signage and the steady flicker of dessert case lights.
Inside, vinyl booths, swivel stools, and a long counter frame a menu that does a little bit of everything: huge breakfasts, blue-plate specials, Greek-style dishes, and fresh-baked pies from the in-house bakery.
Nightshift workers sip coffee next to families finishing off sundaes; retirees linger over bottomless cups while the jukebox hums softly in the background.
It’s the kind of place where the servers top off your mug before you can ask and call you sweetheart like you’ve been coming in for years, even if this is your first visit.
13. Flanigan’s Seafood Bar & Grill
Flanigan’s might be a South Florida mini-chain, but the Oakland Park location at 1479 E Commercial Blvd, Oakland Park, FL 33334 feels like the neighborhood’s living room.
This laid-back sports-bar-meets-family-restaurant is packed on game days, rainy afternoons, and pretty much every Friday night.
Wood-paneled walls, mounted fish, and flat-screen TVs set the scene for baskets of dolphin fingers, loaded nachos, and those famous baby back ribs the chain sells by the ton each year.
Fresh fish specials, like blackened tuna or dolphin francaise, keep things coastal, while burgers and wings satisfy the less adventurous.
The bar pours cold drinks late into the night, but kids’ menus and friendly servers keep it family-friendly.
If you want a snapshot of everyday Broward life, locals in flip-flops, waitstaff hustling, and laughter bouncing off the walls, this is it.
14. Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine
At Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine on East Oakland Park Boulevard at 2807 E Oakland Park Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306, you can smell the garlic, onions, and simmering sofrito before you reach the door.
This family-run Cuban spot brings a bit of Miami’s Little Havana energy north to Fort Lauderdale, with heaping plates of ropa vieja, lechón asado, and arroz con pollo landing on tables faster than you can order another café con leche.
The dining room feels like a comfortable neighborhood restaurant, bright, busy, and loud in the best way.
Crisp tostones, croquetas, and yucca fries make it easy to turn dinner into a full-on feast.
Regulars have their go-to order; newcomers usually walk out wondering how they’re already craving a return visit.
It’s classic South Florida in one meal: Latin flavors, big portions, and plenty of family at every table.
15. Kelly’s Landing New England Seafood
Just off the 17th Street Causeway at 1305 SE 17th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316, Kelly’s Landing feels like someone plucked a neighborhood seafood shack out of Massachusetts and parked it in Fort Lauderdale.
New England transplants pile in for lobster rolls, fried whole belly clams, clam chowder, and daily fish specials written on boards that always seem a little crowded.
The interior is tight and unpretentious, wood booths, nautical knick-knacks, and maybe a Red Sox game on in the background.
Boaters from nearby marinas slide in for a quick platter; snowbirds treat it like a taste of home; locals just appreciate fresh seafood cooked simply and well.
It’s technically more Old Boston than Old Florida, but in a city built on snowbirds and sea stories, a place like Kelly’s fits the Fort Lauderdale flavor perfectly.
16. Lester’s Diner
Right off I-95, under the glow of a giant coffee cup sign at 250 W State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315, Lester’s Diner has been a Fort Lauderdale landmark since the late 1960s.
Truckers, airport workers, and families all wind up here sooner or later, sliding into red-vinyl booths for plates that cover the entire oval platter.
The menu reads like a love letter to classic diner food: open-faced turkey sandwiches, patty melts, liver and onions, and towering cakes displayed behind glass.
Night owls know Lester’s as the place you go after a concert or a late flight, when nothing but a big breakfast at midnight will do.
The hum of conversation, hiss of the griddle, and clatter of plates feel comfortingly constant, like the city itself might change, but Lester’s coffee will always be hot.