Mosquito Cafe Ltd — Restaurant in Galveston

Giving three stars because have had previous good experience but either caught them on a bad day or things have change.

We were excited to go for the first time since the pandemic.

Mother-in-law, 2 y.r. old and I went for lunch on 8/16.

Mother-in-law looked at the menu and commented "OMG, this place is really expensive." Yes, very expensive. You would be hard pressed to get out of there w/o spending $12-$15 and that's only if you are being really frugal. Even the kids meals are about $8 + and do not come w/ a drink.

I thought - that's fine, because the food is really good - but

I ordered the Kahuna Tuna (they offered to cook it to my liking, I said medium). I was excited to eat this sandwich because last time it melted in my mouth - cooked perfect and great flavor. This time the fish was way overcooked. I could have mistaken the tuna for an overcooked chicken thigh. The flavor was still good but for $20 before tax and tip, I was expecting so much more.

I got my daughter the kids grilled chicken and I should have sent it back. It was badly overcooked - like it was a few steps away from being chicken jerky. It came with a huge pile of bagged Kettle chips (way more chips than chicken). For $8.09 before tax and tip, I was expecting so much more. I did not send it back because 2 yr old was very hungry and was not going to wait without causing a scene.

Mother-in-law got the shrimp tacos. They looked beautiful but she did not comment on them at all which means after $17 before tax and tip, they were not good enough to make her say "wow, these are really good!"

Tip: This is counter/self service. Yet when you check out, you are prompted to leave a tip with the suggestions being between 18% to 25%. With a high priced establishment, that is a super generous tip for counter/self service. Yes you can decline. Yes there is an option to leave less (but its way down on the screen in small print). I did leave a 20% tip but was only handed 2 waters over the counter and our food was delivered to the table. No one ever came over to ask how we were doing or if we needed a refill or anything else. I got up to find my own to go box (brought some of the kettle chips for the car ride back to Houston).

To me - this can only mean that Mosquito Cafe does not pay their employees and they leave that job up to their customer base. That ticks me off and because of that, I cannot support a business who does not pay their workers.

There are better places to eat...

Let me start off with normally, anything mosquito, is my enemy. But we will get to that later. I had just finished my last stop for the day and was starving. The nearest place to me with burgers happen to be Mosquito Cafe. So, I work for MosquitoNix Houston and just couldn't pass that oppertunity up. (See images) Let me say, it did not disappoint. The food was "affordable", downright amazing and the place was clean. I ordered a basic bacon cheese burger plain with chips and a drink. When the food arrived, i was skeptical due to the lack of presentation. But i kept my hopes high and chowed down. Yes, never judge a book by its cover. That burger was fantastic. Juicy, standard med/well, seasoned properly and the bacon was black pepper thick cut and amazing.. The chips were chips (Like ruffles). I noticed when i ordered they had an array of desserts as well. Upon leaving i ordered 2 lemon bars and 2 brownies. They seemed faily over priced at ~$22 for the 4. But I soon determined that was a very fair price to pay. (Having been in the pastry industry) The brownie is like none other i have ever had. I would describe it like a lava cake, disguised as a brownie. Melts instantly with little chips. The lemons bars are great! Not to sweet not to tart. Tho could use a tad more lemon in my opinion, but thats just my taste. Service is slow, hosts are not super attentive. But thats not the focus for my review.

All in all this was a fantastic lunch/dinner stop and I would not hesitate to return or recommend someone else stopping...

The overall setup of service for this place is very illogical. Servers can’t find the numbers on table since the place is overcrowded and walk around with your food for 5 minutes, resulting in cold-can’t-even-melt-butter pancakes/french toast. Somehow a toasted bagel with cream cheese took nearly 15 minutes to come out, after pancakes, french toast, and scrambled eggs.

Almost all food came out cold, except the bagel, and in an effort to make up for the exceptionally long wait by giving me a dessert (fudge brownie from Patty Cakes— across the street), that was heavily floured to the point you could taste it.

They were out of champagne for mimosas and after telling me to wait 10 minutes to order one , meaning I’d have to stand in an ever growing line— at least 20 minutes— or to give a server my card so they can buy it for me. I decided it wasn’t worth my time or the potential of losing my card since the servers were struggling to deliver food to the correct tables.

We were made to sit in the back corner of the restaurant after initially sitting up front, it’s worth stating that we are minority patrons and not too long after we arrived, another small family was sat right near us at a 4-top.

Needless to say, as a Native Texan, Dallasite, and Galveston visitor, my family and I will NOT be returning. Between the severely overpriced food, the service that is subpar at best, the servers that are perpetually lost, and the negative overall experience, I’d say “if I could give this...