Joe's Seafood — Restaurant in Galveston

Mixed review: decided to drive from Houston to Galveston for a day trip of good cigars, fine cheap liqour & cheap but good seafood. Well, I got them all except the "cheap" seafood part. I did a Google search for good cheap seafood and Joe's came up with decent review and nice food pics. So upon finally finding it, I entered to find a huge menu of seafood dishes, but they weren't cheap, the lowest priced menu item was between $11.99 & $13.99-no bueno! I finally settled on a 4-piece order of stuffed shrimp. The food wasn't great, but ok, hence my rating. I wished the fries weren't the cheap crinkled kind & that the shrimp batter was a lot crispier (the shrimp stuffing was mostly gooey cheap seafood and breading-decent. I wonder if I had bought a $15 to $20 meal the quality would have went up, probably not. So would I go back, not now, I'd rather try a few other spots google suggested on the island before coming back (Shrimp N Stuff: chk my review). Please know you'll spend on average $13.99 for any single seafood order, the nonseafood menu appeared to be quite less (but know the meals included a very small salad & a mountain of fries).

BTW, most locals got their food to go, the restaurant was a ghost town when I arrived. Full disclosure, it's a dreary old rundown bldg with no character. I thought if I could get the same food at a prison cafeteria, I'd be in my orange jumpsuit in a flash. So, throwouts your expectations when you go and focus on the food you definitely should...

First off, the place does NOT smell like a fish restaurant, which is a GOOD thing because my hubs doesn't enjoy that smell. However, we were the only ones there. Secondly, it's a good thing they serve Chinese food because we all ordered from that menu!

Portions are HUGE! I should have shared an entree. The hungry young people in my group were satisfied with the large portions. I had pepper steak - yum! It was savory & a little sweet. One of the teens had crawfish lo mein and LOVED it - ate every bit! One of the picky eaters had broccoli chicken and also loved it. Hubs had sweet & sour chicken. The tempura breading on the chicken looked delicious. I wasn't super impressed with the fried rice, it was marginal, not worth the $2.99 upcharge. I should have stuck with white rice.

The Asian man who took our order was very friendly, helpful, & polite. Same for the black man who was there taking orders. I saw him help out a customer with a special request. I'm sorry I didn't get their names but I'm happy to report that interactions with employees were very pleasant.

The building looks like it was once a gas station and it almost caused my hubs to turn around. However, I'm glad we didn't because overall we had a great meal at a friendly establishment. ...

I didn’t appreciate spending $20 for combo fried rice (which was extra charge btw) that was reused and plated for me. The meat was old and tough and the shrimp were just thrown in and reheated with the refried clumpy rice. The chicken was mid and flavorless. Not my usual experience at this eatery. I do a lot of food content, I can cook and I do it well so I know when I’m having a lack luster experience eating out and this was one for the books. Being a native BOI and very familiar with this establishment, I am very disappointed in what I purchased and what was given to me as if I wouldn’t notice. I stay very close so don’t try to say I took too long for my pick up order. Everything was still hot when I got home to eat it. The problem is….. I didn’t enjoy it and had I not been busy I would have taken it back with the above mentioned feedback. Nevertheless, I will chunk this one up as a loss and decline on dining here anymore. I’m sure it doesn’t matter much to the owners but you definitely lost this...