Beloved Mississippi Coast restaurant closes after 33 years of food, music, fun

Mary Perez, Jackson Ranger (The Sun Herald)

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(OCEAN SPRINGS) Sunday, April 26, was the last day to get one of the tasty burgers and authentic fish and chips with a cold drink at Castaways Bar and Grill.

After 33 “incredible years” on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, owner Jenny Salter is retiring.

On Monday, as restaurant equipment and memorabilia were being sold to those who want a keepsake of Castaways, Salter said the closing is a little heartbreaking and bittersweet.

“A lot of people are very sad, you know. They’ve had their first dates here,” she said.

It was a place people would come to meet their friends and family, she said, and the employees were like family.

Salter said she missed special events and holidays over the past 33 years she’s operated the Breakroom and Castaways. Sixteen of those years have been at the current location in a beachy blue building at 2114 Bienville Blvd.

The building is scheduled to be sold to an unnamed buyer later this week.

“Castaways reminds me of the TV sitcom ‘Cheers’ and I suspect that after only a few visits everyone will know your name,” food critic Julian Brunt wrote in the Sun Herald in 2022.

It was part bar, part restaurant, with pool tables, with music on weekends and a dining deck under the trees. Dogs had their own menu and groups would stop by a table to say they hoped they weren’t disturbing others while they were having such a good time singing along.

The menu offered nibbles like fried jalapenos, mushrooms, pickles and wings, along with po-boys, sandwiches, baskets and their famous burgers.

A taste from across the pond brought people in for fish and chips or their English shepherd’s pie. Seafood bread was a South Mississippi specialty.

Salter has people to thank before she goes off to relax and spend time in her garden and with her pets.

Her employees were everything, she said.

“They helped me get through all the situations and difficult times, and we’ve all stuck together over all these years,” she said. “Unlike most businesses, most of my employees have been with me for, you know, 15 to 20 years, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

She also thanks everyone on the Gulf Coast and the tourists who found their way to Castaways.