MacDaddy's Family Kitchen — Restaurant in Port Aransas

We showed up at about 7 pm tonight. The young lady at the front counter wasn’t welcoming. No smile at introduction or at thank you & goodbye. We chose to sit inside. She sat us literally right next to the only other couple in the place.

The other couple was nice and tried to get into Virginias across the way, but that restaurant closed early tonight for some reason, so they came to MacDaddy’s for the first time like us. I found out that they were from Taylor, TX North of Austin. I told them that we too were from outside of Austin, TX. We drove in from Lago Vista, TX. Our 1st time to this spot as well.

MacDaddy’s was so slow that there was 1 other table plus 2 men at the bar stools. I wanted to go to an Italian place down the road, but my husband wanted to try MacDaddy’s.

We came to town to relax, show our respects at our family cemetery Seaside Memorial & find some Seashells.

Our server was Montell and he was welcoming & kind. We ordered 1 bbq nachos, 1 Turkey plate, & 2 teas. Food was delicious!!! The Turkey plate was with Brussel sprouts & broccoli. We shared both plates & enjoyed it very much. Montell came by several times with a smile to see if we were okay. Then he brought the check.

The receipt said that if we used a credit card there would be a 3% non cash charge added. So I used to be a server years ago and told my husband to pay cash. When I was a server, I loved the patrons who paid cash.

Our total was $42.22. I paid with a $100.00 bill. Montell went to cash me out. I saw him getting help from 2 other ladies at the register. He came back and let me know it was taking a while because they didn’t have enough cash due to it being a slow night. I waited & watched my husband go to the exit counter to buy a MacDaddy T-Shirt. I heard the young lady say, “I’m sorry but we have been slow tonight. I have to go get change.” So, I was waiting at the table for my change & my husband was waiting at the T-Shirt counter for his change. It was okay with us except for how it seemed we inconvenienced the lady at T-shirt counter. Her tone was…. Thumbs down.

So after waiting, the T-shirt lady brought my husband his change with the same tone.

Then after waiting at the table, Montell brought what I thought was my change for my $100.00. I would have preferred he count my change back to me since it was $57 & some change. He just places his server book on the table closed. I opened it & there were no coins at all. I counted it twice to $50.00. I said out loud nicely, “they don’t know what they are doing!” I gave them $100.00 and the receipt said I gave them $50.00 and the change was $7.78 when change should be $57.78.

Montell gave me $50.00 cash back on my $100.00, so someone absorbed the $7.78 from the first $50 of the $100 and only gave me back $50. The receipt says I gave them $50 on the $42.22 total due when I gave them $100. Really? I threw a $20.00 on the table & walked out.

So because they charge 3% if you use credit card, I paid cash. 3% would have been $1.27. My total would have been $43.49.

Instead, we paid $42.22 plus $20.00 tip plus $7.78 just disappeared somewhere in the paying out with cash process.

We spent about $70.00 on an appetizer, a Turkey plate, & 2 teas. We always tip better than the appropriate, but every dime owed a patron should be brought back with the change for the patron to leave for tip before exiting. That’s the correct server etiquette.

Our server brought back what one of the ladies helping him gave him. I just want to bring this to the attention of the owner. The establishment serves really great tasting food. The employees just need better customer service training and to know basic math skills when giving back change to patrons.

Tonight it was as though this business really didn’t want business. It was a weird feeling for us to be treated awkwardly because we weren’t using credit. When we walked outside, we looked at each other & agreed that Montell was nice. The paying out was odd at T-Shirt counter and the...

Upon arrival, I noticed most tables full, but we'll into their meals, including the very large group on deck.

While I still had a long drive back to western countryside of San Antonio, my family (spending the night), begged me to stay for dinner. It's why I made note of the atmosphere and tables thinking "great! It's going to be a faster service".

After being seated on the deck due to our large group, it was a confusing wait as our waitresses decided who was going to take our drink order evidently? I have no idea, but some 15 minutes later and having clear view of group of waitstaff keeping an eye on their respective tables inside, one came out and took our drinks order. I attempted to order my meal, as pretty much all but one member had already made their meal choice.

It appears, that no orders can be taken unless everyone is ready to order? When I explained wanting to get back on road as quickly as possible I was informed to "let me get these drinks in and I'll be right back to take your order!" I was satisfied with that, until it was another 15 minutes for our drinks to arrive (not complicated, just 1 lemonade, 6 waters and 5 sweet teas). Immediately after, our orders were taken and by then I had resigned myself to getting home very late and just enjoyed my time with family.

I had a burger and it was absolutely delicious! I did not expect it to be so tasty and quite filling, so much so, that I only ate 3/4 of my fries.

I did get up to use the restroom before our meal arrived, noticing only about 6 tables actually occupied with people just talking or finishing eating.

Yet, I still had to stop someone to ask for refills of our drinks. This was a common aspect throughout our meal, unfortunately.

The waitress wasn't at all neglectful, just appeared extremely busy, yet I kept notice the other waitstaff not just automatically jumping in to help, rather than standing around talking.

Just after our order, another large group came in and were seated on the deck as well and I noticed they (while their drinks were more alcoholic related) also kept asking for refills.

The food was delicious, the atmosphere charming and comfortable, yet, maybe the majority of the staff were new or newer? I don't know. What I do know, is my tip or not, I would just jump in and check-in with all patrons, not sit there chit chatting and watching our waitress struggle and leaving customers wanting refills repeatedly. 3 minutes of less chitchatting, and grab a pitcher of water and one of sweet tea, and all is well.

There didn't appear to be a team environment is what I state.....then again, maybe that's not a tool management emphasizes? IDK.

Great meal, great atmosphere, great company, just left leaving thirsty after being on...

This was our first trip to Port Aransas so I did a little research on places to eat/visit before we arrived. This was one of the places I had decided we needed to try, mainly for the drink flights I had seen other people talk about.

My husband LOVES barbeque so it seemed like a good fit for both of us.

They have both indoor and outdoor seating as well as a full bar with seating. Inside they also have a decent selection of souvenirs by the host stand AND in the back corner of the store.

Once seated, we started things off with a flight of cocktails. They offer a frozen flight of cocktails or beer. I'm absolutely not a beer girl so that was an easy decision. You first need to choose between 12 or 18 ounce. Then you choose four of their five different frozen cocktails: margarita, sangria, sangrita, pina colada, hard strawberry lemonade. We got a mango margarita with muddled jalapenos, sangria, pina colada and hard strawberry lemonade. They were all really good, but my favorite was the mango w/muddled jalapenos margarita and my husbands was the pina colada.

I ordered the BBQ NACHOS: House fried potato chips topped with queso, your choice of meat: Brisket, Pulled Pork, Sausage and BBQ sauce for $15. I chose pulled pork for the meat and made them supreme. I don't remember exactly what made it supreme other than cheese and jalapenos. They were pretty good, other than the jalapenos were obviously refrigerated and added directly on top of the other warm toppings.

My husband ordered the MACDADDY PLATTER: Pick three: brisket, pulled pork, turkey, sausage, pork ribs, or chicken leg quarter and two sides for $25. He chose moist brisket, pork ribs and jalapeno/cheddar sausage with cole slaw and jalapeno corn. He was sorely disappointed all around. The corn was canned corn 'dressed' up and the cole slaw had little flavor. The meat was even more disappointing. Although he requested a moist cut of brisket, the portion he got was fairly dry. The sausage was ok, but also dry. The ribs were the most disappointing. They were over cooked and the ends were hard.

The drinks we had were pretty tasty and their extended drink menu looked pretty good so I would consider returning to sample more drinks, but pass...