Louie's Backyard — Restaurant in South Padre Island

Aug 2023: This is my 2nd time eating here. & I was very disappointed. We came here with a party of 15. You have the option to pay $32 for a buffet style meal or order off the menu.

The area we sat in was by the pier to the very far left by what seems to be a bar/club next door. The chairs & tables looks to be made from PVC pipes which makes for a cute design. I bet it's easier to clean & move around. There was a weird smell in the air. We were told that were we were sitting the water is shallow there. Well as the night came our area was extremely dark. It was due to the lights not being plugged in on above us. So our dining experience was in the dark. We ordered as a big group & was told that they were gonna deliver all the food together. Basically telling us that if one person in the group places a order that the system will have the other orders wait to be made. So we all had to order together. Which was fine at 1st with us bc everyone was ready to order.

Well in my opinion that was dumb & they need to fix that system. It took them a very long time to bring out food. Because of the wait for the whole order to be finished the food was getting cold & the children in our party fell asleep or was complaining about being hungry. The wait for the food was long & when we got out food it looked great....but it was VERY COLD. I guess that's what you get when u have to sit & have the food wait to be served. The food was good but it would have been better if it was not cold. Neither to say we were not happy.

My husband went with the buffet options. He thinks the buffet line has gotten smaller compared to his last time here in 2020. So he said that it was ok buffet. We sat down at 8:20p & we ended up leaving at 11:30p. The food was good, but just cold. Our waiter was extremely nice & he made sure to keep our drinks coming & keep apologizing for the food coming to us late.

Upstairs of the place turns into a night club so by the time we left the dining area was empty. I wonder if that's why our food service was slow. & there was a firework show that we got to see & enjoy. & parking is crazy...

The buffet was pretty limited, but did include (noticeably) fresh peel and eat shrimp, crab legs and prime rib. Prime rib has never been a favorite of mine so I won't comment on it. My children really enjoyed it though. The peel to eat shrimp and crab legs, though tasty, were all over cooked and on the dryer side. I felt like I kept getting more in hopes the next batch would be better. My last plate of crab legs were superb. If only my first and second had been, I probably wouldn't have had a third. The grilled shrimp skewers were very good though. I felt that, for serving such expensive items, they did well to keep them stocked. It was kind of strange that they serve you at the buffet, you tell them what you want. I mean, I get it from a business standpoint, to prevent waste or limit how much a person feels comfortable asking for, but it felt strange. I'm not a fan of this serving style. One of the servers made me feel uneasy and judged because he wanted me to choose between shrimp scampi and spicy shrimp and I asked for a little of both. It was so weird the way he acted, I opted just for scampi. He made the place feel cheap.

Our server on the other hand, was very attentive. He kept our drinks full and plates cleared.

The atmosphere had a cheap vibe for sure. The walls were all a seafoam green, the tables all looked very dated, there was no decor in the dining area except a mirrored trim and those old 70s glass squares everywhere. It was on the water though, which was neat I guess. The dining area was also a pretty warm room. The staff was noticeably sweating. To be fair, I did not enter a single establishment in this area that was actually cool, so I don't blame them.

All in all, I have no regrets about eating here. I just feel that a restaurant that has such a large focus on seafood should probably know how to cook it. Perhaps they do and everything we had was just reheated from the night prior. I'm not sure. Either way, just not...

I don't know what happened to Louie's but I won't be back. This was one of my favorite places on the island to eat over the last 3 years, but this year things were different starting last fall and seemed to go down hill ever since. They used to have great food, but it seemed to be less quality this year. the services used to be good also until this year. My last experience there was my last. For example: We went there around 4pm, sat in the bar area. There were 3 other tables with people, so they weren't busy at all. It took about 10 minutes for someone to come ask what we'd like to drink. We ordered our drinks and an appetizer (chips and queso), they brought our drinks and asked if we were ready to order. Wifey ordered chicken club sandwich, and I ordered the smash burger. About another 15 minutes go by and still nothing. Bar tender walks by to check another table for drinks and tells us ours will be out shortly. about10 minutes later he comes with my wife's club sandwich. I asked about our appetizer, ha said should be right out and and left. She bit into her sandwich and it was cold as were the fries, not fit to eat. We waited for him t come back but he never did after another 5 minutes or so. I finally got up and went to the reception area and asked for a manager, and told him what happened. He said he would see the bar tender and get our food to us. I asked the manager if they were under new ownership or management this year, and told him how in my opinion there service and food has gone down hill and worse as this season progressed. He said no to both and said he'd put in another order for us, to which at this point I told him no. I was just going to leave and won't be back. Haven't been back since. Used to go there twice a week and take guests there whenever they were in...