Moby Dick's Souvenir Shop — Restaurant in Port Aransas

Was busy when we got there, no issue. The hostess was helpful and got us on the list with a two hour wait, we were able to go back to our house while we waited which was nice. Even got the text alerting us to our table half an hour earlier than expected.

When we were seated we were gotten drinks, a few alcoholic beverages and two appetizers in a quick and orderly fashion. Apps were hot and tasted good, so we were expecting the night to go well... It only got worse.

We waited half an hour to order, which we were still okay with as we knew it was busy. But the food never came, our server kept walking by and looking and just kept moving by. Never got any refills to our water or tea cups, our kids drink was empty and never got touched for over an hour!

After waiting over an hour the server finally approached and asked if we had gotten our food yet, well of course not! She passed our table every few minutes and kept peeking over at us the whole time we waited, its not like she was serving us in a back corner that was hidden and dark. We were seated by the door and bar and had to be walked past each time she went to any other table she was server.

Finally the food arrived, cold and bland. The complete opposite of the apps. Not a hint of flavor or seasoning in the fish or shrimp. The kids grilled cheese and fries was also cold and fries now soggy. Only the wife's food was hot, she got one of the boils. Even though it was hot, the mud mugs were chewy.

We arrived at 6PM, got a table at 7:30PM, got food around 9PM and finally got the check and paid around almost 10 PM. By the time we got our food half the restaurant was empty and when we left only the bar and a few tables were still active.

Might go back in the future, we are still hoping to get what we expected out of the food since the apps were so good. Still tipped 25% of our bill even though we felt we were put on the back burner.

Just beware this...

This place has great curbside appeal! We were visiting by way of Austin, Texas for a 4 day fishing trip me and my immediate family do yearly. My father and I being the brutes we are wanted meat so this place just called to us. I made way through my plate of seasoned Mahi Mahi and grilled shrimp, my mother enjoying a similar plate of what I presume to be their cod rendition and my father a sampler of crab, sausage, shrimp, crawfish, corn and potatoes. I thoroughly enjoyed my dish, the steamed veggies consisting of zucchini and yellow squash with red onions with a 2nd helping of veggies, the steamed green beans with white onion. I loved the Mahi Mahi which had an excellent char and the shrimp was so 0lump and fresh. We shared a few bites of each other's plate and the "cod" was so meaty and wholesome! My father was hell bent on sating his hankering for crab but he may have been better off just purchasing it by the pound. Not that he had anything negative to say about the shrimp and crawfish but I found them being dropped on my plate one by one. Their sweet tea was delicious just as ourwaitress claimed it would be, claiming credit for having made it herself. The shrimp was a perfect steam and though the crawfish was out of season, they still tasted great. I attempted to get my father's opinion on the crab but was only acknowledged with a serious of grunts between breathes and bites. It's safe to say he enjoyed it. We will definitely be visiting this place again in the future. The only negatives I have is that the place is incredibly overpriced given it's proximity to the sea. Whether that has anything to do with the struggling economy is beyond me. Secondly, the staff seemed a bit inexperienced and/or stretched too...

Cons: -large group, so we made a reservation ahead of time (1.5 hr. expected wait), arrived at that time and still waited 45 minutes to be seated -waited one hour for our food to be served after ordering -around 3/4 of our orders were COLD -a female African-American employee behind the bar said to the person paying in our group "always someone who has to complain" Which was extremely rude and unnecessary when she was uninvolved Pros: -the only food that was warm were the seafood boils because it remained covered with a lid. It was yummy! -the waitress was very nice and polite, she offered salads to us while we waited for our meals -the manager was very polite and handled our complaint very well -male bartender on the back side was great and polite, alcoholic drinks were all delicious and no complaints

Overall: it was very disappointing because we have eaten here several times in the past (I loved it last year when I visited for the first time) and had great food! This was a big family reunion and we looked forward to this dinner. We saw they were extremely busy the night before, so we literally planned our evening around getting a reservation here. When the dad's of the group voiced their unhappiness (not rude, loud, or yelling) but clearly we have a problem and directly to the manager. Everything was handled well, again, the manager was fantastic. But the bartenders being so disrespectful need to be addressed and the staff need to communicate with one another better. Our food sat there, ready...