Cafe On The Beach — Restaurant in South Padre Island

I liked the location. It’s cute and quaint. We went for fried shrimp. The shrimp were good. The batter was good. I’m glad because some batters never have enough salt, and I’m a person who favors salt. The Cole slaw was just alright. Their fries were pretty good. I was able to substitutes my fries for a Caesar Salad, but I was able to try their crispy fries from my kid’s plates since we all ordered the same. I paid 2.50 to substitute. I’m only giving a three because our server disappeared. She took our order after a while of waiting. We were ready by the time she came, and we had been since we knew what we wanted by the time we arrived, but she never came. I thanked her by the time she came for that reason. She probably didn’t know why. Then, she took our order and disappeared again. I’m not sure if she was assigned to our table, and that’s why the others didn’t come. They may take turns. But what I do know is I had to ask another server twice for something. First, I had to ask for forks for our Cole slaw and salad because she was no where around. I got tired of waiting. She should have brought those things. Then, I had to wait again because she still hadn’t made it back to check on us because I needed horseradish. I finally got tired and asked the same server taking care of the other table. It was annoying. I felt bad, and I also felt my tip should have gone to him, but whatever. I’m glad they help each other out, but it was my first time there, and I wasn’t impressed with the customer service, so I rate it a 3. The food would be a three as well. I think they can do better and serve a few more shrimp as they only have 6 and could use 8, and they could improve their Cole slaw recipe that is bland. I had to put salt and still didn’t taste fabulous. I remember when these baskets were 8 dollars. Now they are 18. I would hope they are delicious in every which way. Anyhow, I would certainly visit again and would hope that I have a server that actually deserves her tip. This one was in and out super fast, didn’t seem to care too much about her clients. Lastly, I must say they don’t devein their shrimp, and that is a no no for me. It’s disgusting to...

Cute little place near the beach. Yes, odd location. Not much parking. Very busy, like all of the restaurants in the area.

We fully expected to have to wait for a table. No problem! We planned to walk on the beach while we waited. Like many other reviews mentioned, much of the staff needs some training in customer service. The hostess was very......curt. I don't know if she was having a bad day, or what. She told us it would be an hour wait and by that time it would be noon and we would ONLY be able to order lunch, NO breakfast. Okay. No problem. At this point, it was going to be like that just about anywhere we went. We asked if we could have a menu to look at while we wait. She replied, "A LUNCH menu. Yes." Yes, yes, we get it. Lunch, not breakfast. Sheesh. Another hostess was rude to a friend who stayed behind to listen for our name to be called. We enjoyed our walk on the beach and arrived back just in time. It was a perfectly beautiful day to sit outside. I reeeeeally wish I could remember our server's name. She was SO NICE and completely made up for the rest of the rude staff. (I even wrote a note on my credit card receipt so that management would know how rude the hostesses were, and how nice our server was.) She said she has worked at the Cafe on the Beach for 5 years, and it showed. She was very friendly and knowledgeable. A friend asked about the malted pancakes. I would have never considered them. But, our server explained that they are made with malt powder. So, we ordered them to share. (An order is 3 large pancakes.) I am glad we did! The malt powder is a nice touch! They are really good!! I also had the smoked salmon eggs benedict. Also very good. My friends had migas and the two eggs breakfast. Everyone was very happy! (Yes, it's a little pricey. But, it's a tourist...

We wanted to have a morning beach view and thought Cafe On The Beach would be a great find and we weren’t disappointed. It’s a very busy spot with limited parking so plan cautiously ahead. They do also accept dogs but on their patio which has limited seating as well. The place is clean and very cozy with a nice view of the sky but you can’t see much due to the tall grass towards the beach. We were placed on a waitlist and quoted at a 20 minute wait but it was more like 10 minutes so it moved fast.

After we sat we ordered pretty quickly, our server was attentive and friendly as well. We ordered the palms malted pancakes with sausage on the side and the giant breakfast taco with chorizo, potato, and bacon. The pancakes were good, pretty standard for most places but from other places in SPI it’s definitely better. They did make a mistake and brought out bacon on the side instead of sausage, which was unfortunate as it was not good, firm and not the best. The giant breakfast taco certainly lived up to its name. The thing was massive and extremely hot, almost too much so because it was difficult to handle. It was good though, packed with flavor. This was the rare time we didn’t get any drinks while out but based on the food alone, we would say it gets a pass, nothing crazy but also nothing bad.

This spot is a nice place to sit at and the ambiance feels nice and beachy and the service is good. It’s certainly better than other breakfast spots on the island but if you’re coming here it will probably be more for the setting than for the food, which isn’t necessarily...