The Island Cafe of Port Aransas — Restaurant in Port Aransas

VERY BAD OLD MEAT and old bacon grease in corn!!!! I’ve eaten at this establishment off and on for 40 years at a couple of their locations as they've had to move a time or two. Have always loved their food and atmosphere. Went several times to the newest location with a great experience. Yesterday, I went to have lunch... they offer specials daily during the week. I’m trying to avoid much fried foods lately, especially since I was going on 5 hr deep sea fishing trip shortly after. I ordered the ‘chopped sirloin with gravy n onions plate. I wanted mashed potatoes instead of French fries and was aware that they had them ready Because they were serving them on the chicken fried steak lunch special that day. I requested them and was told by waitress... “well, maybe, i’ll Have to ask’. She returned and “said sorry you have to get fries”. So I said ok. I was brought the plate which also included corn. The corn had old bacon grease in it. The old hamburger style meat was horrible!!! VERY OLD AND NEEDED TO BE THROWN AWAY!!! I was in a hurry and hungry so I Ate it anyway...30 minutes later, a bout of bad diarrhea to follow. They used to be great but must have a cook now that doesn’t give a hoot about what he dishes out. I told the cashier... she didn’t even respond and continued to take my $$, I repeated again and she finally acknowledged that she heard me but still had nothing to say about it. I WILL AVOID EVER EATING THERE...

We had the absolute WORST experience at this restaurant!! For starters we got there at breakfast time but they had already stopped serving breakfast. We waited over an hour to be seated. As we were sitting down at our table, an employee rushed in and said "oh no they can't sit here this is for the fire department" and then rushed out. She didn't tell us where to go or what to do and our poor waitress was new and had no clue. So we just stood there confused. The way it came off was like we were not as important as the fire department and had to give up our table. So finally she found out that they were trying to get us a new seat. We eventually got seated and got our food after an hour and a half of waiting. The food was pretty good except there was hair cooked into some of the shrimps. Other than that the food was really good. While we were there, another family went up to a server that was by our table and told them that they were tired of waiting and just wanted to pay for their drinks and leave and they left. We also noticed another local couple walk in after us and they were seated and served immediately. The vibe is that they prioritize their locals and don't seem to care about the service they provide to the tourists. Oh also, they add gratuity on checks of 6 or more, will not let you split your check, and add 3% on card purchases. It does say that on the...

We came here for lunch, and it was an underwhelming experience. Kind of what you’d expect for a local cafe on a small island. The service was alright, but nothing memorable. Everyone was nice and efficient. But at some point our waitress completely disappeared after bringing out our food. No one came around to ask if we needed anything like a to go box or a refill or something. We had to ask for the check from a different waitress when we were done. We did however get there early for lunch and our original waitress made sure that our ticket was put in first as soon as they stopped breakfast. Very thoughtful!

My boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed his food. He got the fried fish sandwich. I however was displeased with my country fried steak. It felt like they might’ve purposefully under seasoned everything cause a lot of elderly folk eat there??? Idk just a theory cause I know that elderly people are more sensitive to overly seasoned food. Their sweet tea was also very lightly sweetened and kind of watered down. For the old people perhaps?? The hush puppies though were so so good and I wish we had more.

All in all, we spent $45 on two entrees, 2 iced teas, an appetizer, and tip. This place is very fair priced. I would come here again and give them a...