On the waterfront in downtown Pensacola, two of the city’s most popular dining destinations sit side by side on Pensacola Bay: The Fish House Restaurant and Atlas Oyster House. Both are the brainchildren of the Merrill brothers — Collier, Burney and Will — who formed Great Southern Restaurants on the belief that new, exciting restaurants could help revitalize the downtown waterfront.
Three decades on, the bet has paid off many times over. And after a punishing stretch that included a pandemic and a hurricane, Atlas Oyster House has reopened completely reconfigured — everything new, fashionably polished, with a dedicated kitchen, its own staff and outstanding fare.
How Atlas Was Born
In 1998, the Merrills purchased property on Pensacola Bay that included a former restaurant, intending to create a gathering place with an upscale dining experience, beautiful views and a welcoming ambiance. The Fish House grew into a Pensacola institution known for fine dining, crafted cocktails and a good time. As tenants’ leases expired in the spaces next door, the brothers expanded and opened sister restaurant Atlas Oyster House in 2002.
Great Southern Restaurants went on to own and operate some of Pensacola’s best-known tables: Angelena’s Ristorante Italiano, Jackson’s Steakhouse, Five Sisters Blues Cafe and the Palafox House event space. The company’s portfolio made it one of the anchors of downtown Pensacola’s dining scene, with a reputation for longevity that few local restaurant groups can match.
Storm, Pause, Rebuild
Both waterfront restaurants thrived until 2020, when Covid and Hurricane Sally wreaked havoc in quick succession, leaving considerable damage in their wake. Great Southern focused its immediate attention on getting The Fish House up and running again, which was done in short order.
The damage to Atlas and The Deck created something rare in the restaurant business: a forced pause with time to think. Led by Collier Merrill, corporate engineer William Merrill and public relations director Maria Goldberg, the team planned extensive renovations for both The Deck and Atlas Oyster House rather than simply repairing what had been lost.
It took time, and a lot of anticipation, but Atlas opened its doors to great fanfare in early July. The new space has its own kitchen and staff, a dedicated oyster bar, tasteful hand-painted oyster shell wallpaper in the restrooms, a private dining area for small gatherings, and a large outdoor deck cooled by big oscillating fans — pleasant even on a hot July evening.
Seven Oysters, One Bar
The oyster bar is in the very capable hands of Ezekiel Mason, a six-year oyster veteran who arrived from an unlikely previous stop: he was a dietary cook at Mobile Infirmary in Mobile, his hometown. On any given day, the bar may feature oysters from seven different locations — three wild caught and four from Gulf Coast oyster farms — spanning Alabama, Florida, Apalachicola, the East Coast, the West Coast and Pensacola Bay, which Mason counts as his favorite.
Options run from chilled to baked, and a dozen-oyster sampler lets newcomers try two of the baked varieties alongside the raw selections. The kitchen’s small plates reward exploration too: The Stack layers three lightly panko-crusted fried green tomatoes with local crabmeat salad, fresh mozzarella, five-pepper jelly and balsamic greens. The gumbo holds its own in a town that takes gumbo seriously, and the S’mores Pot De Creme dessert has earned its word-of-mouth following.
The People Behind the Bar
General manager Ian Jacobs runs both Atlas Oyster House and The Fish House, and his story fits the waterfront setting. His family moved to Pensacola in 1989 when his father was assigned to the Information Warfare Training Command Corry Station near the Naval Air Station, and Jacobs himself served as a submariner in the Navy. He has been with Great Southern Restaurants for ten years, lives in Perdido with his wife and three children, and radiates the kind of passion for the work that guests notice. A manager who comes by on his day off to pick up a to-go order tells you something about the culture.
So does the story of Thang, a special needs adult who has worked at Great Southern Restaurants for years rolling silverware, peeling shrimp and handling whatever is needed — and who remains part of the team to this day. Family businesses mean different things in different restaurants. Here, the staff seems to mean it literally.
A Gulf Coast Tradition Continues
The reopening matters beyond one dining room. Pensacola’s downtown waterfront has become one of the region’s great success stories, and the Fish House/Atlas complex at 600 South Barracks Street has been part of that story since before the revitalization was cool. Locals pack the bar, tables and booths; the deck fills on summer evenings; and tourists arriving by boat or on foot find the same welcoming scene.
For Gulf Coast oyster lovers, the seven-farm lineup makes Atlas a rare stop: few bars on the northern Gulf pour that much variety in one flight, and the weekly tradition of raw oysters at a friendly price keeps the regulars coming. For everyone else, the draw is the combination that made the original Atlas beloved — a cold beer in a frosty glass, the bay glittering outside, and a kitchen that treats fried green tomatoes with the seriousness other places reserve for entrees.
The wait for the reopened Atlas was long. It was worth the wait, and for a Gulf Coast dining scene still rebuilding from storm after storm, it stands as proof that the waterfront’s best days are not behind it — they are being rebuilt, one oyster at a time.