South Padre Island Restaurants

Our first clue that the service was not going to be good was when the maitre d' seated us and said that he would bring us menus but didn't. Our waiter brought us water and asked us if we wanted to see the wine list. We said no, so he asked us if we were ready to order. It was then that he noticed we had no menus. After he brought us the menus and we ordered Steak and Shrimp for my wife and Fried Shrimp for myself, he asked what we wanted to drink and my wife said the water was fine and I ordered iced tea. After eating our salads, which were very good, I again asked for Iced tea, which was eventually brought. My wife's steak was cooked correctly, medium well, and her shrimp were excellent, but the veggies were cooked al dente. That's French for raw but warm. My fried shrimp were a little tough, but tasted great. My spaghetti with marinara sauce was very good and the bread was very good, also. My wife never got a refill on her water, so she had to drink mine. The total for the meal was $30.20.

My wife and I went to Brownsville, TX to do some sightseeing. We looked for a place to eat that was pretty crowded because we find if a lot of people eat there it must be good. Bad Mistake this time. This place had the worst food we ate on our trip. It is buffet style dining. My wife had diarrhea soon after leaving the restaurant. I had only one plate, and tried to pick only hot food, so I had no ill effects. Two buffets $14.05. without drinks

This restaurant was always busy when we drove by it. We ate there Monday night. Everyone sits or stands outside while waiting for a table inside. We had to wait about 20 to 30 minutes during the off season, but you will probably wait considerably longer during the weekends or during the high season. My wife and I ordered Onion Rings for an appetizer, and both of us thought they were very good. We both ordered the Monday special, which was Fried Shrimp. Our shrimp, salads and baked potato were very good, and the service was OK. Two iced teas, an appetizer, and two Specials cost $28.31.

This restaurant was the most expensive place that we ate at in 4 days. It was 5 to 10 dollars, per person, more expensive than other restaurants we ate at. We thought that it was over priced for the quality of the food and service that we got. I ordered the Seafood Mix and Match. I ordered broiled fish and fried shrimp. The fish was good and the shrimp was very good. The baked potato was overcooked. My wife had the Shrimp Sampler, - 4 kinds of shrimp. If you do not like spicy food, do not get the jalapeno shrimp. It is spicy. Our salads and coleslaw were very good. My wife's shrimp were very good. The Mix and Match Shrimp and the Shrimp Sampler with one iced tea was $39.98.

My wife and I went here for lunch one day. When we walked in the restaurant, it seemed too warm for us, so we decided to eat at one of the tables outside. The weather was great, and we enjoyed it. She ordered the grilled shrimp salad. She said it was good, but the lettuce was a little bit bitter. I ordered the one-half pound hamburger. It had mustard and mayo, pickles, onion, lettuce on the side. It was very good. The french fries were very lightly battered and very good, and I generally don't eat fries. The salad and burger and two drinks cost $18.00.

The Sea Ranch and Pirates Landing are two seafood houses on either side of the Causeway that are apparently owned by the same people. We were pretty disappointed in both. Prices are high, as expected in a resort area, and the food was mediocre -- bland, breaded seafood and iceberg lettuce salads. To be honest, Red Lobster is far, far higher on the culinary scale than either of these establishments. They seem to cater to older folks who prefer a bland, 1970s style seafood menu. We much prefer to shop at HEB in Port Isabel and cook on our own in the condo, saving our money to eat at better restaurants when we return home after vacation or to add to our shopping fund for a trip over the bridge to Matamoros.

While the pirate ambiance of Pirate's Landing was very appealling to our two sons, ages four and seven, the food is greasy and bland.

Service at both establishments was fine.

Favorite Dish: The Kids Meal paper boat serving dishes at the Pirates Landing are adorable. I can't say that anything we ate at either the Sea Ranch or Pirate's Landing would be considered a "favorite."

Apparently this dump is a tourist favorite. We went early and were seated right away. The tables are intensely closely spaced to make room for as many customers as possible, so we felt crowded. We ordered beers, each of which was about the price of a six-pack at home in Austin. The cold peel-and-eat shrimp we got for an appetizer were fine, but it's hard to swallow paying that kind of price for something that looks like it was just taken out of the fridge premade and covered in plastic wrap. I mean, is it really appropriate to serve cocktail sauce in a disposable plastic cup at a sit-down restaurant?

Hubby's burger was fine, well-cooked, but the fries were completely tasteless. I got the fried shrimp and scallop plate with mashed potatoes - shrimp were adequate, but the scallops had some sort of weird liquid coming out of them. The mashed potatoes definitely were just-add-water. And again with the plastic cup of cocktail sauce. Which all would have been just fine if we'd gotten it at a discount family buffet for 20 bucks, but pretty unforgivable at the jaw-dropping price we saw on our bill.

On our way out, a crowd had gathered waiting to be seated, and we realized that the best part of our meal was that we hadn't waited in line for it.

We read the (mostly) glowing reviews on this site about Rovan's and were convinced that in order to make our trip complete, we needed to try the breakfast here. And, well, it was certainly right in line with our S. Padre experience so far - just okay, and a big disappointment compared with the build-up it had been given.

When we walked in, the restaurant looked closed - there were no other patrons, the bakery case lights were off, the tables weren't set, and there was one employee walking toward us - we couldn't tell if she was coming to seat us or to tell us to buzz off. They were open, and we sat down and began to take in the cheap, dated atmosphere - framed prints of farm equipment, photos of Miss USA pageants from the 90's, a tricycle-sized covered wagon, and the non-operational model train looped around the room.

The food was marginal at best. Hubby got the "Country Breakfast," consisting of 2 eggs (he got scrambled, which were overcooked), cold toasted Wonder Bread, hash browns (clearly frozen from a bag, and cooked to dessication), and bacon. I got a waffle - nicely crisp on the outside but chewy batter on the inside. And once we were done, we waited for an agonizing 20 minutes listening to our server talking full voice in the back about Wrestlemania, until finally my husband got up and walked back there to hand her our credit card.

So while we didn't find a live cockroach in our silverware like one of the reviewers did, we still don't exactly recommend it.