GuadalaHARRY's Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Conroe

I finally got around to trying GuadalaHARRYS.

7/10 ⭐

Located on 1097 W & Lake Conroe Hills Dr.

Formerly Pelicans Cove, formerly Sports Harbor, formerly Grampa Larry's.

Without getting into old history the past decade of attempts here have been less than stellar.

The 2nd story balcony bar n grill is has been revamped once again. This time though, there seems to be someone competent running the operation.

On to the review!

Appetizer:

Nachos Grande: $14

An app to share or order as a meal. Very large portion of stacked nachos. Generous chunks chicken, beef or mixed fajita meat, sour cream and guacamole. A better queso (cheese sauce) would be nice at this price point as this one has the generic flavor to it. But a large filling app with quality toppings and meat.

Entrees:

Harry's Burger: $12-14

A very large patty stacked on a jalapeno sweet bun. This is a value item as far portion size goes and has real potential however the bbq style sauce overpowered the flavor of the meat and overshadowed the rest of the burger. The onions ring were very good, HUGE wedges in a flaky beer batter style fry.

Guadalaharrys Chicken: $12-14

A simple marinated grilled chicken breast with grilled toppings. Moist and flavorful, great for those on a keto or similar diet. The side fries are a fine mildly seasoned fry.

Drinks:

Frozen margarita: $6

Small size, served in a white wine glass.

I was disappointed in this margarita, with as many Mexican restaurants serving pretty good margaritas for $6 and this being advertised as the all day special I was expecting more than budget margarita. This is a $4 drink anywhere else in Texas.

Draft Dos Xx: As it should be, cold and fresh.

Overall:

I like what Harry is doing here, he's easy to spot roaming around in his bright neon golf clothes. Management in on a Tuesday means he's vested in his business.

It's a live music balcony so come early if that's not your flavor, if you want patio seating in prime weather months come earlier or reserve a table.

Notes to the Owner:

The spacing inside is cramped with servers almost always bustling between tables to serve tables on the balcony without a clear double walkway between the kitchen and the bar and the balcony.

A cardinal sin in Texas is a mediocre margarita as a special menu item. You can still serve this as a house margarita but there's need to be a top shelf option next to it.

I'll be back and will update this review, I look forward to trying the seafood options as that seems to be the prime...

3 stars, why?

I've been in Conroe for a few years and have always wanted to try Guadalaharry's. Today I had time to check it out and here's my review.

Pros:

View: The lake view this restaurant has is amazing!! Me and my wife enjoyed the boats/jet skis shredding the water as we ate our lunch. I was not expecting this type of view.

Location: it's not too far off the beaten path from I-45 and it's conveniently located on 1097 to make it easy access to grab a bite and get out.

Uniqueness: This is a second story restaurant. The first floor is occupied by a Shell gas station. You don't see that too often around this area. Also there is an elevator for handicap access on the first floor.

Service: Everyone was extremely friendly and served with a smile. The service wasn't amazing by any means but the whole staff was constantly flowing around the restaurant so if you needed anything you could easily stop any waiter or waitress.

Cons:

Price: For me and my wife to eat lunch cost us 34.00 even (before tip). I was a little shell shocked considering the food was mediocre. Nothing about our dishes justified that price. Obviously I knew the price before purchasing our meals but after experiencing the meals, it just didn't fit the bill (in my opinion).

Parking: Although there was plenty of parking when we came at lunch time, I could foresee parking being a big issue at peak hours in the evening. The parking lot was smaller than expected and it is shared by the Shell gas station.

Quality: My wife enjoyed her plate (Chicken sandwich) and I thought it was great too. The only comment I had is the onion rings are anti-climatic. They were HUGE but the taste was just not there. I ordered the buffalo chicken tacos. The buffalo sauce tasted like a Kroger brand wing sauce and the chicken was not seasoned. It tasted like frozen chicken!!! The queso that comes with this dish was thick and had a "fresh out of a can" vibe. If I had to guess, tasted like a cheap version of Nico's cheese sauce from Sam's Club. If we ever came back, we would definitely the chicken sandwich again but try the fries instead of onion rings.

Overall it was pretty average at best! It appears this place is big on the drinks and had two full bars (one inside and one dedicated for the patio guests). I'm not sure if we will ever be back but I do think it's worth trying out once. If you are in the area stop by Guadalaharry's for a...

We’ve been here several times for lunch and have always had a really good experience. Last night was our first time going for dinner and for ordering the more expensive entrees. Unfortunately it was not a good visit this time. We got the blackened alligator as a starter and that tasted really good. I ordered the shrimp brochette with jalapeño Mac n cheese. It was terrible and very overpriced for the quality. There was literally a sliver of jalapeño hidden in the shrimp providing no taste, zero cheese in the shrimp and the bacon wrapped around it was half raw. Only two sides of the bacon were cooked on every shrimp as if they didn’t get turned on the grill. The rice pilaf they were served on was over cooked, mushy and tasteless. The jalapeño Mac n cheese was dry, barely had any cheese on it, bland and the jalapeños were just cold chopped pickled jalapeños scattered on top. They weren’t cooked into it and added zero flavor. This meal (including salad) was $35, it’s quality was completely not worth that price, especially considering places like Pappasitos serve similar items that pack much more flavor, are cooked to perfection and run around the same price. Not only was it bad when served, when we took it home with the hopes to properly cook the raw brochettes and doctor up the Mac n cheese the horrible fish smell it left in our vehicle on the ride home and then filled our fridge with in just an hour was terrible! Properly cooked and fresh shrimp should never smell this bad. Not wanting to risk food poisoning, we had to trash the entire meal. So $35 in the trash which doesn’t set well with me. My husband ordered the filet with jalapeño Mac n cheese and had the same problem with the Mac n cheese as I did. The filet was fine though. We’ll go back but we will never order any of the entree items again, the quality does not match the price and we like our food fully cooked. If you go here, stick to the Harry’s burger, it’s probably the best meal on the menu. The reason this got more than one star is that our server was great and the drinks...