ClendonRoss
07-19-2010, 02:51 PM
I know we have quite a few folks on this board that travel to South Padre rather frequently. There are a few places we go every time we are on the island but would love to hear recommendations from others of you that go. I've probably gone at least once a year since I was in high school, but I'm always surprised by the number of places I've never been to all the times I've been there, so I'm sure there are some great places we're missing.
When we were down last week, clendonswife and I ate at both Gabriella's and Uchi twice. Gabriella's had a new mussels appetizer that we ordered both times, we always love the pizza and, most importantly for me, they have the best beer selection (that I've seen) on the island. Uchi is surprisingly good sushi. Not as good as Tomo, our favorite Austin sushi restaurant, but better than Sushi Zushi in Austin where we ate a couple of weeks ago.
We also ate at Padre Island Brewing (better than the last time we ate there, but still just OK). For Mexican food, we tried Jesse's Cantina for the first time in a long time, and it was better than we remembered it (and better than the Big Donkey, as we remembered it from a couple of times ago). We saw an ad for $9.99 prime rib at Pelican Station in Port Isabel and it was about what you would expect from $9.99 prime rib (outside of Vegas): just OK. The $1.50 Red Stripe helped wash it down, though.
We also did the Friday night seafood buffet at the Sheraton. They've apparently starting doing the buffet on both Friday and Saturday night, so not sure if that's affected the quality, but it was not as good as last year.
Usually do Sea Ranch but didn't this time. Stopped doing Blackbeards a long time ago.
For breakfast, we love Manuel's in Port Isabel. I think we went three of the eight days we were there. Probably could have gone more but it's a bit time consuming and really heavy food. If you've never tried it before, though, you need to do the Con Todo with Picadillo taco with the enchilada wrap at least once in your life. I could eat that just about every day (of course, I'd double my weight in a couple of months doing so...). It should be a Man vs. Food episode.
We also tried Yummies for the first time for breakfast. Apparently, some new folks own it because the menu is much better than it ever was before and the food was really good. Next time we go, we'll definitely eat breakfast there more than once. The Denny's at Miramar is gone (I don't recall ever eating there before) so we tried the new place, Calico Jack's (I think that's the name), and, well, it was like eating at Denny's. Probably won't go back.
clendonswife and I were both really excited to see the return of Kelly's Irish Pub up on the north end of the island. It reopened recently after being closed I believe for over a year following Dolly. (We also miss the oyster bar up in Isla Blanca that hasn't reopened since Dolly.) Went to Jake's a couple of nights. We went to both places on weeknights, so it wasn't crowded and we ended up talking to locals, which is always interesting.
Didn't do any of the bayside stuff this time (Louie's, Wahoo's, etc.) largely because the mesquitos were terrible this time and we didn't want to do anything outside close to standing water.
Anyway, had a great time and enjoyed most of what we did. Hopefully our experience is helpful for those of you going in the future and would love to hear from our resident South Padre experts on your favorites. Couple of things I'd like to know is, how is Marcelos over in Port Isabel? Also, there's a new what looks to be upscale restaurant about half way up the island on Padre Blvd. but can't remember its name. Wondering if anyone knows anything about it. We're still looking for something to replace Lantern Grill on the dinner circuit down there.
When we were down last week, clendonswife and I ate at both Gabriella's and Uchi twice. Gabriella's had a new mussels appetizer that we ordered both times, we always love the pizza and, most importantly for me, they have the best beer selection (that I've seen) on the island. Uchi is surprisingly good sushi. Not as good as Tomo, our favorite Austin sushi restaurant, but better than Sushi Zushi in Austin where we ate a couple of weeks ago.
We also ate at Padre Island Brewing (better than the last time we ate there, but still just OK). For Mexican food, we tried Jesse's Cantina for the first time in a long time, and it was better than we remembered it (and better than the Big Donkey, as we remembered it from a couple of times ago). We saw an ad for $9.99 prime rib at Pelican Station in Port Isabel and it was about what you would expect from $9.99 prime rib (outside of Vegas): just OK. The $1.50 Red Stripe helped wash it down, though.
We also did the Friday night seafood buffet at the Sheraton. They've apparently starting doing the buffet on both Friday and Saturday night, so not sure if that's affected the quality, but it was not as good as last year.
Usually do Sea Ranch but didn't this time. Stopped doing Blackbeards a long time ago.
For breakfast, we love Manuel's in Port Isabel. I think we went three of the eight days we were there. Probably could have gone more but it's a bit time consuming and really heavy food. If you've never tried it before, though, you need to do the Con Todo with Picadillo taco with the enchilada wrap at least once in your life. I could eat that just about every day (of course, I'd double my weight in a couple of months doing so...). It should be a Man vs. Food episode.
We also tried Yummies for the first time for breakfast. Apparently, some new folks own it because the menu is much better than it ever was before and the food was really good. Next time we go, we'll definitely eat breakfast there more than once. The Denny's at Miramar is gone (I don't recall ever eating there before) so we tried the new place, Calico Jack's (I think that's the name), and, well, it was like eating at Denny's. Probably won't go back.
clendonswife and I were both really excited to see the return of Kelly's Irish Pub up on the north end of the island. It reopened recently after being closed I believe for over a year following Dolly. (We also miss the oyster bar up in Isla Blanca that hasn't reopened since Dolly.) Went to Jake's a couple of nights. We went to both places on weeknights, so it wasn't crowded and we ended up talking to locals, which is always interesting.
Didn't do any of the bayside stuff this time (Louie's, Wahoo's, etc.) largely because the mesquitos were terrible this time and we didn't want to do anything outside close to standing water.
Anyway, had a great time and enjoyed most of what we did. Hopefully our experience is helpful for those of you going in the future and would love to hear from our resident South Padre experts on your favorites. Couple of things I'd like to know is, how is Marcelos over in Port Isabel? Also, there's a new what looks to be upscale restaurant about half way up the island on Padre Blvd. but can't remember its name. Wondering if anyone knows anything about it. We're still looking for something to replace Lantern Grill on the dinner circuit down there.