Where to Eat in Downtown Ocean Springs
Downtown Ocean Springs is the rarest thing on the Mississippi Gulf Coast: a walkable district. Park once on Government Street or Washington Avenue and you can reach nearly every restaurant here on foot, which is not true of Biloxi, Gulfport, or anywhere else along this stretch of highway.
We are one of the restaurants here. This guide includes our neighbors honestly, because a guide that only recommends its author is not a guide.
The layout
Two streets do most of the work. Washington Avenue runs north to south and is the main commercial spine, lined with galleries, shops, and restaurants. Government Street crosses it and carries a second cluster. Between them is Cash Alley, a covered passage with a rainbow umbrella installation overhead that has become the most photographed spot in town.
The whole district is roughly six blocks. Everything below is within a ten-minute walk of everything else.
Where to eat
The Garage at Cash Alley — 1025 Government Street
Ours, so weigh it accordingly. A 1970s-themed garage and diner in the old Kwitzky's building, with roll-up doors that open onto the street, Golden Tee in the corner, and a Smokey and the Bandit mural.
Retro comfort food: fried bologna sandwiches, smash burgers, hand-cut fries, house-cut rosemary salt chips, jumbo wings, fried Spam sticks, catfish, totchos. Everything fried comes out of beef tallow — no seed oils anywhere in the kitchen, which as far as we know makes us the only restaurant on this coast doing it. That is covered in more detail in our seed oil free guide.
Blue Plate Monday through Friday, 11am to 3pm, $13 with a soda. Kitchen until 9pm daily, bar later Friday and Saturday. Sports on, always. Hours and directions.
Glory Bound Gyro Co — 1107 Government Street
One block up from us. Greek and Mediterranean — gyros, scratch hummus in eight flavors, tzatziki made in house daily, baklava. They have been on the Gulf Coast for seventeen years across three locations and they fry in beef tallow too, which makes them the other place downtown you can eat if you avoid seed oils.
Genuinely good, genuinely different from us, and one block away. If you want Greek instead of a burger, go there.
The rest of downtown
Washington Avenue and the surrounding blocks carry a strong mix — Gulf seafood, coffee shops, a couple of bars with kitchens, and several places that rotate menus seasonally. The district turns over enough that any specific list goes stale within a year, so rather than publish something that will be wrong by spring, walk it. Six blocks, and you will see everything.
What is worth knowing: the Gulf seafood here is the real thing, not a tourist approximation. This is a working coast and the fish comes off boats nearby.
When to come
Weekday lunch is the locals' hour and the easiest time to get a table anywhere. Blue plate specials are common across the district.
Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest, particularly when there is a game on. Downtown gets genuinely crowded in a good way.
Sunday is slower and several places close earlier than you would expect. Check before you drive over.
The Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival in early November brings enormous crowds — it is one of the largest fine arts festivals on the Gulf Coast and downtown becomes impassable by car. Come, but walk, and expect waits everywhere.
Getting here
Ocean Springs sits directly across Biloxi Bay from Biloxi. From the Biloxi casinos it is about fifteen minutes over the bridge. From Gulfport, roughly forty. From Mobile, about an hour east on I-10. From New Orleans, about an hour and forty west.
Street parking downtown is free and generally available except during festivals. Park once and walk — that is the entire advantage of this town over the rest of the coast.
What else is here
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art is downtown and worth an hour even if you have no particular interest in art. Anderson was a genuinely strange and brilliant local painter, and the museum is small enough to see properly.
The galleries along Washington are real galleries, not tourist shops. The Front Beach is a short drive and is calmer water than the open Gulf beaches.
Come see us
We are at 1025 Government Street, at the edge of Cash Alley under the umbrellas. Order pickup through Toast or delivery through DoorDash from the visit page, or just walk in — the garage doors are usually open.
If you want to take something home, we sell the beef tallow we fry in, the Tall Boy seasonings we mix in our kitchen, and vintage-style merch.
Two things to order if it is your first visit: the fried bologna sandwich and the loaded totchos, both fried in beef tallow.
Common questions
What are the best restaurants in Ocean Springs?
Downtown Ocean Springs has a dense, walkable restaurant district centered on Washington Avenue and Government Street, covering Gulf seafood, Greek and Mediterranean, retro American comfort food, and coffee. The Garage at Cash Alley on Government Street serves retro comfort food with everything fried in beef tallow, and Glory Bound Gyro Co one block up serves Greek.
Is downtown Ocean Springs walkable?
Yes, unusually so for the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The core district is about six blocks, street parking is free, and nearly every restaurant, gallery and shop is within a ten-minute walk.
How far is Ocean Springs from Biloxi?
About fifteen minutes across the Biloxi Bay bridge, roughly forty minutes from Gulfport, an hour from Mobile and about an hour and forty minutes from New Orleans.
What is Cash Alley?
A covered passage in downtown Ocean Springs with a rainbow umbrella installation overhead, one of the most photographed spots in town. The Garage at Cash Alley sits at its edge on Government Street.