Where locals eat breakfast in Panama City

Big Mama's on the Bayou at 620 W Beach Dr, Panama City, opens at 6:30 on weekdays and serves breakfast until 10:30, then weekend brunch from 9. Biscuits are made by hand and the sausage gravy from scratch. The other places on this list are real neighbors we send people to. Hours change, so call (850) 784-6009 to confirm ours before a long drive.

Why a restaurant is writing this

We have cooked breakfast downtown for over 20 years, and people ask the counter where else they should eat. This is the honest answer. Every place below gets one reason to go. Ratings and review counts are from public Google listings as of October 2026, and we are on the list once, same as everybody else.

The list

1. Big Mama's on the Bayou. 620 W Beach Dr, on the water downtown. Doors open at 6:30 on weekdays, which is why the room fills with people on their way to work. Hand-made biscuits, scratch sausage gravy, country ham cooked crisp on the flat top, cheese grits, one big pancake, French toast. Most tickets are out in about ten minutes even with a line. Weekend brunch from 9 on a deck over St. Andrews Bay, and dogs are welcome on the patio. 4.6 stars from more than 1,800 Google reviews. Breakfast menu.
2. Granny Cantrell's. The earliest door in the set, 6 in the morning Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday. A Southern restaurant that also carries the Breakfast, Diner and Pancake categories on Google. 4.4 stars from about 2,900 reviews. Go when you need to eat before 6:30.
3. Tudor's Biscuit World. 2621 W 23rd St. A country food restaurant built around biscuits, with Breakfast and Brunch listed on Google. 4.7 stars from about 2,500 reviews. Go for a biscuit sandwich on the 23rd Street side of town.
4. Waffle Shoppe. 533 E 6th St, on the east side of downtown. Breakfast restaurant that also caters. 4.8 stars from close to 800 reviews. Go for waffles, obviously.
5. Sunrise Cafe Downtown. A downtown breakfast restaurant with 4.8 stars on Google from a smaller review count. Go when you want to stay downtown and we are full.
6. Alice's on Bayview. In St Andrews, with weekend brunch from 10 to 2. Go on a Saturday when you want brunch near the marina instead of a weekday plate.

How to pick

Before 6:30, Granny Cantrell's. From 6:30 on a weekday, us. Biscuits as the whole point, us or Tudor's. Waffles, the Waffle Shoppe. Another downtown option, Sunrise Cafe Downtown. Weekend brunch on the water, us from 9, or Alice's in St Andrews from 10.

What to order at Big Mama's

Biscuits and gravy is the dish reviewers write about most, with the biscuit and the gravy both made in house that morning. Country fried steak and gravy shows up on the breakfast menu too, and it is the dish Google has tagged on our listing more than any other. The country ham is sliced thin and cooked crisp. If you want something lighter, two eggs with grits and a biscuit does the job. Order ahead on Toast if you want to walk in and walk out.

Hours on this list

Opening times above come from each place's Google listing in October 2026. Restaurants change hours with the season and nobody updates Google the same day. Call before you drive, including us. Our breakfast ends at 10:30 on weekdays, and the kitchen switches to lunch at 11, so if biscuits and gravy is the plan, come early.