Alabama’s Lighthouse Restaurant a beacon for superior seafood

The family-owned Lighthouse Restaurant in unincorporated Irvington, Alabama, has been serving some of the area’s best seafood since 1983. (Emmett Burnett / Alabama Living)
You may not know about Irvington, Alabama, but you should.
In this unincorporated community, about 24 miles from Dauphin Island, stands a beacon of seafood, the Lighthouse Restaurant. Many claim it is the best in Alabama.
That’s quite a claim, considering the multitude of great eateries in coastal Alabama. But to the folks who dine here, seafood superiority is not bragging.
Two of the Lighthouse Restaurant’s popular items are flounder and crab claws. Lighthouse accolades are many, including a Bayou La Batre Area Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of the Bayou’s “Judge’s Choice Winner” for best gumbo. A “Best Seafood” title was bestowed upon the Lighthouse in Mobile’s Lagniappe newspaper’s Nappie Awards.
“That is a big deal to us,” says Randall “Randy” Stork, who co-owns the restaurant with his sister, Lucretia Stork. Pointing at various award banners, plaques and signs displayed in the lobby, he says, “Seeing all of the other great seafood places in our area, and yet we win, means a lot to me.”

Lighthouse co-owner Lucretia Stork serves a table with shrimp and crab claws. (Emmett Burnett / Alabama Living)
Sharron Upton and Shirley Presnall are frequent visitors from Satsuma, a 60-mile round trip. “I mean, look at this,” Upton says, referencing a fork-impaled golden fried shrimp with a rich aroma surpassed only by its taste. “The food is just great.”
The restaurant’s address is 12495 Padgett Switch Road. Stork concedes, “We are not an easy place to come to. It is off the beaten path. When seeing our dining room packed, knowing people drove past a lot of good restaurants to be here, tells me we are doing something right.”
The “something right” includes combo platters of fish, oysters, shrimp, crab claws, stuffed crab or crawfish tails. Other favorites are fish dinners of mullet, catfish, grouper and flounder.
For the saltwater impaired, the Lighthouse’s 12-ounce ribeye, homemade 8-ounce or 10-ounce hamburger steaks, Philly cheesesteaks, chicken, pork chops, hot roast beef and numerous others are excellent choices.
Daily specials are handwritten on an erasable ink board. On today’s visit, the Wednesday special is corned beef hash or fried pork chops, each with two sides, selected from scalloped potatoes, turnip greens, pickled beets and onions, big white lima beans or fried okra.

Two of the Lighthouse Restaurant’s popular items – flounder and crab claws. (Emmett Burnett / Alabama Living)
“Try this. It’s a customer favorite,” says Randy’s wife, Kisha Stork, as she sets the table with a whole flounder. It’s called “whole” because it almost covers the whole plate. A bottom feeder no more, the flounder rises to the occasion.
“Everything here is good, but the signature dish is our crab claws,” she says, while serving a platter piled high with fried-just-right crustacean appendages.
One would be hard-pressed to find someone in the Irvington/Bayou La Batre area who has not enjoyed fresh Gulf crabs from the Lighthouse. Crab claws are popular for take-out or dining in. On today’s visit, virtually every table includes crab claws, as a side, main course or both.
The gift of shellfish is from local waters. Actually, most fish items served are local, from “up the road.”
“Up the road” means Bayou La Batre, the seafood capital of Alabama, a few miles away. The seafood journeys from Bayou La Batre’s fishing boats to the restaurant, where it’s served fried, blackened, grilled and more.
“Our catfish is from Mississippi and our banana pudding is from my grandmother,” Stork says. Her recipe has not changed since 1984.
The other recipes and the restaurant have been in the Storks’ family since its 1983 startup.

Randall Stork, co-owner of the Lighthouse Restaurant, greets customers in the lobby. (Emmett Burnett / Alabama Living)
The Lighthouse legacy originates with the siblings’ grandfather, Earl Stork, who in the early days of operation insisted the restaurant close on Sundays. Randy Stork recalls, “My grandfather told me, ‘Son, if you can’t make it Monday through Saturday, Sunday isn’t going to help you.’” The Lighthouse still operates by that creed.
Continuing the family-run restaurant through the years, uncles, aunts, parents and other relatives made the Lighthouse shine. Family members worked in every aspect of the business, from operations to stirring gumbo.
The Storks’ culinary techniques were handed down through family generations. Randy and Lucretia obtained the family business around 2020.
But the restaurant of renown originated much smaller, basically in what is now the foyer. The business and the building grew over the years. Today it seats about 150.

The lunch crowd at the Lighthouse Restaurant. (Emmett Burnett / Alabama Living)
At 11 a.m. customers literally file in as the doors open. On busy days, by noon patrons wait for a table.
The customer base is diverse, ranging from tourists (Bellingrath Gardens is 13 miles away) to area workers, businesspeople and devoted fans. “We have people from all over,” Randy says. “Last week a couple from Thomasville visited, a 240-mile round trip.”
Regardless of miles traveled, seafood lovers seek the best and, for many, the beacon draws them to Irvington, Alabama.
This story originally appeared in Alabama Living magazine.
The Lighthouse Restaurant
12495 Padgett Switch Road, Irvington, Alabama
251-824-2500
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; closed Sunday.