The Ultimate Bahamas Food Guide, Nassau, Freeport, Paradise Island

Our little family loves to learn about the food in the countries we visit. We try to eat as much of the local food we can so that we can make highly educated recommendations to you about the places and things to eat. We want our readers to know all of the best thing to do and eat when you are in the Bahamas, that is why we have writtent the ultimate Bahamas food guide! This trip we spent 2 full weeks in Nassau and in New Providence Bahamas, it was epic and we share the good and bad with you including the 17 best places to eat in Nassau and New Providence Bahamas.

Now as a group we have a very diverse palate of eaters, 2 kids and 2 adults. Some like spicy and some like it bland, you will definitely not find bland when you are in the Bahamas. The food here is very full flavoured and some of it can be very spicy. So if you are not used to hot, make sure you tell the waiter before you order.

The Ultimate Bahamas Food Guide. Bahamas Food Travel Blog

17 Best Places to Eat in Nassau Bahamas

1.The Green Parrot

We spent an evening out at the Green Parrot right in Nassau. There are actually 2 locations for this restaurant, one in Nassau and the other on Paradise island. They are both great, however you will find more local people at the Nassau location. We really liked this location the best because a big part about why we travel is to learn about other cultures.

The food here was great, we ate mostly local foods including curry conch soup and Grilled shrimp with peas and rice. Our kids of course had a simpler dish a classic grilled cheese sandwich with fries. It was all excellent and priced pretty well. $24 for the shrimp dish and the soup was $12 bucks. Really not bad, but still a little pricier than what you will see in town. Most items on the menu were between $20 and $35 dollars USD. Our total bill was $100 USD and that included mojito’s beer and our food.

There was a live band that played for us Caribbean beats and the place turned into a chilled out island dance party. The kids loved it and it was a very safe environment for them to hang out in. I needed up drinking a few Kalik beers and hit the dance floor with the family. It made for one of our most magical nights in the Bahamas and was what I was really looking for, a genuine Bahamian entertainment night.

There is a conch salad bar set up and you can watch them remove the conch from the shell. It is really need and the kids got a kick out of this.

The Green Parrot is Nassau, Bahamas. The Ultimate Bahamas food Guide. Man I look greasy here lol

2. Tikis on Junkanoo Beach

Tikis had a fun Vibe and is one of the longest standing restaurants on Junkanoo beach. Located a 10 minute walk from the cruise port it is really convenient. I have been to this restaurant a few times over the years and I find that it just gets more expensive every year, this time to the point I walked out because of the prices. We were going to order Jerk chicken here and 1 Kalik beer and the Jerk Chicken dish was $25USD the beers were $7 USD. I walked out at this point and walked down to the BBQ place 20 steps away. They had the same dish for $8 and cheaper drinks as well. Save yourself the money and bypass this place if you are on a budget. The one thing I did like about it is the fun atmosphere and the seating is also better than anywhere else on the beach.

Tikis Nassau. Best places to eat in Nassau, Bahamas

3. The Swimming Pig at Baha Mar

I walked around everywhere in the Baha Mar in the evening to try to find a restaurant that the kids would like and we would also like. The swimming pig had music playing and a louder atmosphere, I would not recommend it for a date. But for a family, this place is great. The food was so good that we ended up going here twice. I had the Battered fish dish and the kids ate off my plate. We always try to save a buck by doing this, as the portions in the Bahamas are really American (big). The second time I went I had the beef dip, it was not great and I don’t recommend it if you are a beef dip fan the eau Jus was bland and I had to add salt. They also over mayo’d it.

The best Jerk chicken place at Junkanoo beach, Nassau Bahamas

4. Sharkeez Ocean front

We loved Sharkeez by the cruise port, they were super hospitable. We were lucky enough to walk in during happy hour so the food was really cheap. After looking at the menu, the regular prices are also very fair, I would imagine the reason for this is because there is so much competition in front of the cruise port. We had conch fritters, pizza and nachos here off the happy hour menu. It was all great and only $5 bucks an item. I decided I wanted something healthier, so I chose to go with a conch salad, the salad was $11 USD and it was great.

The atmosphere at Sharkeez is fun and upbeat, they have 2 pool tables and the place is full of colour and lights. We watched 4 cruise ships leave port from the patio at Sharkeez with was neat. They had a DJ playing and he played anything we wanted, even a Frozen song for my daughter! So of course we had a family dance party here, the kids went nuts dancing to their favourite tunes.

Bahamian Food at the Arawak fish fry in Nassau

5. The Poop Deck in New Providence

An ocean front restaurant in new providence with kick ass seafood. It is a little pricey but not bad for oceanfront.

Best things to eat in the Bahamas

6. Goldies at Arawak Cay (fish fry area directions below)

We had a chilling night at Goldies Conch house one night. They claim this to be the best place to eat conch in Nassau. It was a relaxed atmosphere with music and drinks. Out back there is a lounge area you can sit in, but it really stinks there because of the giant pile of conchs in the water

Best places to eat in Nassau, Bahamas. Food blog

7. Main Street Ice Cream Parlour

The main street ice cream parlour is in a huge building on the corner of the street in downtown Nassau. This is the best place on the island to go for ice cream, with a massive selection and good prices. You cant miss it, the building is decorated in red and white like an old school ice cream parlour.

Main Street Ice Cream Parlour Nassau Bahamas Ice cream

8. The Bearded Clam Sports Bar

A popular sport bar downtown Nassau across from the cruise port. This place is located in a really neat artsy area and has amazing vybz and a cheap after hour.

Hooters Nassau across from the cruise port

9. Senior Frogs Nassau

This is a popular restaurant for tourists, I have been to this place several times in many different countries. It is not local food and drink, however it does have a fun atmosphere close to the cruise port.

The love shack on Junkanoo beach. Nassau Bahamas food blog

10. Margarita Ville

Margarita ville is huge in the Nassau area as well as the Paradise island area. Both of these locations can be accessed easily from the cruise port. In Nassau they are building a huge Maragaritta ville hotel right beside Junkanoo beach and restaurant. On Paradise island the Margaritav ille is located across from Atlantis. Margaritaville is a huge restaurant with a variety of well priced food. There is live entertainment, games for kids and a swimming pool for kids to play in here! If you want to pend a relaxed day or a few chill hours where kids can be entertained this is the place!

Margaritaville on Paradise island, Nassau Bahamas top restaurants

11. Double Dragon Chinese food downtown Nassau

Double dragon chinese is a small restaurant pretty close to the cruise port. It is well priced and very clean. One night we wanted a change to our regular Bahamian foods and we decided to seek out a good chinese place to eat at, this one is rated as on of the best chinese restaurants in Nassau, so we tried it out. The food was great and cheap, the ambiance however lacked big time. I felt like we were in a cafeteria. It is not a good place to take a date, better for a quick satisfying fix of chinese food. The dining room is upstairs and there is no elevator, so if you have a stroller it may be a bit annoying.

Bahamas Guides. What to do in Nassau, Bahamas

17 Bahamian Foods you have to try, Top Bahamas Foods

These are all of the foods in the Bahamas that you must eat.

1. Curry Conch Soup

Curry conch soup is amazing, they make the soup Caribbean curry style with vegetables and conch in the soup. The taste is unreal and they can make it spicy or mild for you. The conch is a bit chewy, they cut it up really small so it goes down easier for you.

Versailles Garden Paradise Island, Nassau Bahamas. Beautiful photography

2. Conch Fritters

These are round breaded fritters with tiny pieces of conch inside. It tastes like a salty treat, kind of like a Caribbean chicken mcnugget. This is one of the things you have to try when you are in the Bahamas. I would recommend this even for the average person as the flavour is not as strong as some of the other Bahamian foods.

I was happy as heck to see that our kids even liked these. They sell them at almost every restaurant, and they are great for breakfast! And best of all, they are one of the cheapest things you can buy to eat in the Bahama’s

3. Conch Salad

Oh my gosh, conch salad is my all time favourite food in the Bahamas. It is the freshest tasting thing you can eat in the Bahamas. You could compare this to ceviche with conch instead of fish. I had this at multiple places and found that it was fairly priced usually around $12 bucks a plate. You get a fair amount of food enough usually for 2 people.

I find sometimes that when you are travelling you don’t eat as much fruits and vegetables as you normally do. This is a great healthy meal for you while you are away as it is full of fruit, vegetables and conch! So you really get a good mixture of healthy things in this dish.

Just be careful with this as the locals eat very spicy food and this can be made really hot. Let them know if you do not want any hot pepper in it, your stomach will than you later.

My absolute favourite way they prepare this is when they add mango to it and squeeze fresh orange juice all over it with limes. The taste is out of this world! I did try feeding it to my kids, but they had no interest lol. All of the adults I travelled with loved it.

Conch salad is really easy to find in Nassau especially, almost every restaurant will have it as it is a local favourite and tourist favourite. If you are going to Junkanoo beach there is a place across the street from the beach entrance that makes a really good conch salad. Sharkeez beachfront also makes it really well. My preference is spicy, to me it just tastes better this way.

4. Coconut Shrimp

The coconut shrimp in the Bahamas are made very much like the coconut shrimp you will get in restaurants in north America, but it is juicier and tastes more authentic.

Bahamian Grilled shrimp. Top things to eat in the Bahamas

5. Jerk Chicken

The jerk chicken in the Bahamas is one of the best I have ever tried, it actually rivals that I have had in Jamaica. Our favourite place to get jerk chicken in Nassau was right at Junkanoo beach, the closest beach to the cruise port.On this beach there are 2 places you can find jerk chicken Tikis bikini bar and a small shack a little further down the beach blasting loud music.

Our preference was always the small bbq shack on the beach, the jerk chicken not only tastes better here it is also half the price! You can request for the jerk chicken to be mild or spicy, either way it tastes amazing. You can also get sides for it like coleslaw, mac and cheese, plantain and or peas and rice. I always get it with the peas and rice with cold slaw as this is the most traditional way to eat jerk chicken. Have a bite of chicken mixed with the peas and rice.

We are not huge eaters and one of these dishes are good for 2 adults to share. The price at Tikis is $24 USD and at the smaller shack it is only $10 bucks with 2 sides. Both places have great ambiance with loud Caribbean music playing in the background. And the coolest part is that you can eat at a table right in the sand. Our kids played here while we chilled out and had some cold beers and listened to music.

The restaurant at blue lagoon island Bahamas

6. Deep Fried Snapper

The best place to eat fried snapper in Nassau is at the arawak cay fish fry. It is really tasty and is served with a couple of sides. This is a traditional Bahamian dish and is large enough for 2 people to share. We had this a few times at the fish fry area and took a real liking to it. The kids were not into it so much as it is not fillet, it is presented as a full fish. I grossed the kids out by taking a bite of the eye ball of the fish, they were not impressed.

Kalik beer in the Bahamas. Best beers. Bahamas food guide

7. Peas and Rice

Peas and rice is a carb staple in the Bahamas and is served with most dishes here. It is a flavourful rice blend that goes well with most dishes.

8. Macaroni and Cheese Bahamian Style

The mac and cheese in the Bahamas is not what you are picturing when you think of mac and cheese. They make it almost like a lasagna or cake and it is not broken into small pieces. Our kids loved the cheesy taste of the mac and cheese here and so did we. It is a staple food in the Bahamas and will come as a side option with most local dishes.

Bahamas beaches and hotels

9. Souse

Souse is a pickled meat in a soup broth. It is usually made in the Caribbean with pigs feet, chicken feet or hog heads. Souse is prepared in a  soupy broth made from the meat with lots of lemon or lime, cucumber and hot pepper. You can also make souse with chicken, but it is not as authentic this way. Now that I am writing this, it sounds gross. But it is delicious, try it before you judge!

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10. Rum Cake

Rum Cake is an extremely sweet soft cake that is really popular on the Caribbean islands. It is the dessert of the Bahamas. A reddish coloured cake that is made with local sweet rum. It is delicious!

11. Ox Tail

Ox tail is one of my absolute favourite dishes. It sounds disgusting, but it is soooo tasty. During slavery the garbage meet was given to the slaves, ox tail was one of them. They learned how to slow cook the hard meat tail so that the meat is fall off the bone soft. They cook this in a stew with carrots, potatoes and onion. It is served usually with rice and peas as well as a cold slaw salad.

12. Bahamian Patty

Bahamian Patties are very close to Jamaican patties, but a bit thicker. A small breaded snack item with ground meat inside. The meat is prepared in a tasty caribbean stew sauce and the bread around it is flakey and tasty. These are usually very inexpensive around $2-$3 each.

13. Fried Snapper

The Bahamian fried snapper is awesome. They cut small cuts in the skin or the fish and fill them with seasoning, and lemon. You will be getting a whole fish, head and all when you order this dish. The fried snapper is a local favourite and they have perfected cooking this meal. The meat itself is white, medium hardness and extremely tasty.

14. Fried Grouper

The fried grouper is presented the same as the snapper, but the grouper is a tougher meat and is a larger fish. So it is usually good for 2 people. Sometimes then you open up the grouper you will find other fish that the grouper has ingested.

Best beach in the Bahamas. Cable beach

15. Bahamian Lobster BBQ Combo

The Bahamian lobster is usually prepared bbq style. It is tough and a good chunk of meat. Although the lobster is more expensive than most dishes you can have it in a mixed bbq combo relatively inexpensively. This will let you try it along with many other Bahamian bbq meats like the fish or the conch.

16. Crab at the beach

At Junkanoo beach there is a shack that prepares local crab. It is delicious and is served buttery and lemon flavoured.

17. Cracked Conch or Cracked Fish

You can’t go to the Bahamas and not try conch. It is their most popular local dish. The easiest way to eat the conch or the fish for that matter is to order it cracked. That way you don’t have to look at the fishes body and imagine it swimming around. And you won’t get the full taste of the rubbery conch. When it is cracked it is deep fried and breaded. Although I love conch by itself, when you get it cracked it will taste like calamari.

The fish fry in Nassau Bahamas

Common Questions About Food in the Bahamas

1. Is there a Caribbean Curry Restaurant in Nassau?

Yes, this restaurant is call Pepper Pot and it is owned and operated by Guyanese and Trinidadian people that specialize in this type of curry

2. Is the Food Spicy in the Bahamas?

Yes the food can be spicey in the Bahamas, you should always specify if you want it to be mild.

Food for kids in the Bahamas, Classic burger and fries

3. Where are the Best Local Foods in Nassau, Bahamas?

The best local food is located in the fish fry area, it is located close to Junkanoo beach in walking distance from the cruise port.

4. How do you get to the fish fry from the cruise port or downtown Nassau?

If you get off the cruise port and walk towards Junkanoo beach, you will pass the beach and walk straight for 5 minutes. You will see loads of colourful restaurants on the right side, you are there.

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5. Do they serve Bahamian food in Atlantis?

That is a big no, we walked all over the area and it is very limited in the Bahamian foods Caribbean foods you can get. Plus all of the food is very expensive here. If you want local foods close by, try going downtown Nassau, it is only a 10 minute cab ride away.

6. Is there Bahamian food in Baha Mar?

No there is no Bahamian food in Baha Mar. They are also catering to American, Asian and European guests. I walked the entire Hotel, inside and outside and did not see one place selling Bahamian foods.

Chandelier at the Baha Mar in the Bahamas. Best Bahamian foods to eat.

7. What is the most popular food in the Bahamas?

The most popular food in the Bahamas is easily conch. They make conch in a lot of different ways from deep fried to baked and grilled. It can also be curried, in salad and cracked!

8. What is the Bahamas National food?

The national food in the Bahamas is Conch. It is a mollusk in a large shell that tastes amazing. The Bahamians have learned to prepare this dish several ways from fresh to deep fried, breaded or grilled. They serve it in fritters or cakes and many other ways.

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If you have any more insight or questions about Nassau or the Bahamas, please shoot us an email or comment. We want our Bahama Travel blogs to be the most comprehensive source of information about the Bahamas on the internet.

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