La Palapa Coastal Cantina Spring — Restaurant in Texas

We waited months for this restaurant to open, excitedly watching the progress each week, awaiting signage to reveal what was replacing the old Slim Chickens.

The restaurant was clean and inviting, with subtle nautical decor.

Our waitress seemed shy and confused throughout our visit, and she had an extremely odd manner of trying to upsell our order and/or offer multiple orders of food. She went on and on about the most expensive item on the menu, even after we expressed that we do not like octopus.

Avoiding the impressive bar drink menu, due to the prices being way too high, we started with an order or calamari. First of all, when the waitress delivered the dish, she asked if we wanted a second order. We were confused as to whether there were refills or if she wanted to sell a second order, and we declined. The appearance of the dish was lacking. The portion size was small for the price. The breading and size of the pieces were inconsistent, and about a third of the order was one tangled mess of tentacles balled up together that none of us wanted. The seasoning was inconsistent, and the sauces were a miss. One seemed like pure mayonnaise, without anything added for texture and no acid to make it a sauce. The other was some kind of thin brown sauce without a distinguishable flavor.

We had three entrees, and all three were disappointing. My child’s chicken quesadilla looked good, with pico de gallo and a small bowl of green salsa on the side. The cheese was nicely melted and creamy. Oddly, though, it seemed like they heavily salted the inside of the quesadilla before they folded it. The fried shrimp, French fries, and coleslaw looked like a colorless blob on the plate. A little garnish or side of sauce would have made it more visually appealing. The fries were limp, and the breading on the shrimp was inconsistent. The shrimp were a bit undercooked. Thankfully, the coleslaw was in a bowl, because it was drowning in a disgusting sauce. Finally, our order of Mediterranean Sea Bass with broccoli and some kind of rice casserole was also not plated nicely. The items were spread out across a large plate, without any type of garnish. A smaller, rectangular plate with at least a lemon wedge and some parsley would have been an improvement. The broccoli was over cooked and lacking in color, the casserole and fish were just okay. Some type of sauce would have been nice. Again, when the waitress delivered our food, she looked at us uncomfortably and asked if we wanted to order more. I asked if there was supposed to be a sauce with the shrimp, and she had to go talk to the others to find out. She came back and said they had a coctail sauce, but it wasn’t an American cocktail sauce, and they weren’t sure I would like it. She asked if she should bring some out. Sigh. The sauce was okay, but even some restaurant supply tartar sauce and cocktail sauce would have been better.

Stupidly, after so many misses, we tried the tres leches for dessert. Once again, as soon as she put it on the table, the waitress asked if we wanted another one. So odd! The tres leches was the WORST part of this already disappointing meal. It tasted like they poured water over it.

We were so disappointed. We try to support local businesses, and we will usually give a new business three tries before writing them off. However, at over $80 for a meal without drinks that was a miss at every turn, we will not be returning. The owners should visit other restaurants and pay attention to plating, sauces, and consistency. The salt shaker should be removed from the kitchen. Our waitress did not just seem new; she seemed like she has never even been to a restaurant! I hope they will work on plating, food quality and consistency, reconsider their prices, increase their marketing and social media presence, and train their waitstaff better. Otherwise, we don’t expect this business to last a year.

My son was actually shocked to see any positive reviews and stated their friends or staff must have...

My wife and I love trying new or new to us restaurants. So tonight, we decided to try La Palapa after looking at their menu and thought it looked interesting. And let me say, do not pass this place up, the food and service were great! Our server was deeply knowledgeable, we had a couple questions especially since it was our first time there and his suggestions were spot on! More on that later.

When you walk in you are reminded a little of Joe’s Crab Shack with the décor, lots of memorabilia everywhere (I want the Storm Trooper). We ended up picking a quiet night because they weren’t that busy, so we were seated immediately.

They bring you Chips, Red & Creamy Jalapeno Salsa, both incredibly good. I have a hard time finding salsa I like cause unfortunately I’m one of those that cilantro is a bad taste to me and this is not heavy with it but a good smoky flavor.

After that and our drinks we started with Shrimp Empanadas (Because my wife loooves empanadas) and a half dozen raw oysters. The empanadas were ok, not great and the reason I say that is cause there was not much filling in each of them and the dough wasn’t exactly right (Not a bad dough but it wasn’t very crispy like fried empanadas, I think they were baked) But that being said they were ok and the slaw they come with was great along with the queso. The oysters were fresh and came with the normal dress. The only thing I could say about the oysters is they could be released from their shell but that is a tiny ding. I’m an oyster lover and would have eaten a dozen on my own but we tend to over order on our first visit to a restaurant.

My wife ordered the Chicken & Sausage Gumbo and I decided on the Mariscos Soup. My wife took her first bite and said “Interesting!” She wasn’t expecting the flavor, smokiness, and heartiness and loved it. I tried it and yes, the smoke comes through on top which I love cause smoked meat is heaven. My Mariscos first bite you taste the seafood but not very spicy which is ok cause there are plenty of hot sauces around. I added the squeezed lemon juice which woke everything up in the soup. Of course I love spice so I added hot sauce on the table and that enhanced it even more, very tasty!

The main dishes, I went with Combo Fajita Bowl (Molcajete) and she chose the Seafood Enchiladas. My bowl comes out and looks awesome, great presentation, plenty of sides and toppings. The bowl itself had a tomatillo lime sauce in the bottom of the bowl with shrimp, chicken, steak, andouille, queso fresco, green onions, & jalapeno (All grilled!!!!). Needless to say, this was the perfect way to try every kind of fajita and more. Amazingly it wasn’t too much and yes they do a single serving and for two. As far as flavors, everything tasted great alone and all together. The sides, dirty rice and refried beans were delicious and again with a different taste was the dirty rice which was a pleasant surprise. My wife’s enchiladas were ok. She said the salt ended up a bit too heavy. They were a little one note because the filling melded with the queso, so not much of a differentiation between them. Also, they could have had a little more seafood filling. She was only really tasting the crawfish and queso. She really loved the dirty rice and the charro beans were good.

The only other thing I could say about tonight and it is just my own personal opinion not anything bad. Timing of bringing out the dishes, our appetizers came out and we were able to finish those before our soup and gumbo, which I loved the timing. As we were starting to eat those our entrees were brought to the table which we were finding places for everything at that point.

Unfortunately, we did not leave room for dessert. That will have to wait until next time. Which there definitely will be a next time!

Overall experience was great. Service, food, friendliness, attentive… all B+

If you made it to this point pat yourself on the back and give yourself a gold star, cause I know I’m long winded and hope this...

One of the best meals I've eaten this year was at La Palapa Coastal Cantina tonight. Every dish we tried was made from scratch with fresh ingredients, the portions were generous and most importantly everything was delicious. The restaurant was very busy but we didn't have to wait an extraordinary amount of time to get our food. Our waitress was attentive, our drinks never went empty and I felt very well taken care of. They start you off with chips served with a ranch type dip and a fresh salsa. The chips were fresh and crispy and held up well to the yummy salsa. The salsa was very bright and wasn't too spicy but had a nice amount of heat. Next we tried a cup of their Chicken and sausage gumbo . The garlic toast that comes with the gumbo is the best garlic toast I've eaten. It was crisp , crunchy had a nice amount of garlic and butter but what really set it apart was the cheese they put on top (parmesan maybe?) SO GOOD. The gumbo had a nice flavor with a good portion size. I liked that there was plenty of chicken and sausage in it so you got some in every bite. The sweet chili glazed salmon was a special treat. It came sizzling in a pan of a sweet spicy sauce with plenty to dab my salmon into. I will definitely get this dish again. My partner who hates fish even loved it!!! The fish was nice and flaky and easily broke apart with a fork. I was glad to see they did not include the skin. It came with a piece of their incredible garlic toast, mixed veggies and outstanding mashed potatoes that were perfectly buttery and creamy. SO GOOD! We split the fajita Molcajete for two. My goodness it had everything! It comes with tasty andouille sausage, steak fajita, chicken fajita, grilled shrimp, and a piece of grilled cheese (not the sandwich, it was a piece of white cheese that had been grilled, salty and creamy but firm .. unexpected but very tasty). There is also two onion bulbs, jalapeños, and a generous portion of avocado. These were all placed in a molcajete that was filled with green salsa. We tried both the flour and corn tortillas which both appeared to be fresh made from scratch. All the meats and the grilled cheese were yummy although I will ask for them to be served separately from the salsa they are presented in in the future just out of personal preference. Served with the molcajecte was my choice of charro beans (you could also pick refried) and DIRTY RICE! the Dirty rice packed a lot of flavor and had a lot of chunks of sausage throughout it. I loved having this instead of the traditional Mexican rice I normally get with fajitas. The flavor was really yummy and it was a delicious addition. Sour cream,pico de gallo, and guacamole also came with the dish at no additional charge. One thing I kept noticing about the dishes that were being served to tables around me were how generous the portions were and how delicious everyone's food looked. The table next to us had the Steak Nachos which I saw multiple people order while we were there.... I will absolutely be coming back to try them. Instead of the pitiful couple chips you get at Pappasitos , the Nachos at La Palapa come with a heaping plate full of meat chips and cheese (aswell as lettuce, pico, jalapeños, beans, sour cream and guacamole) I also took a photo of their Friday night special the Palapa Boat Fish and Shrimp which looked really tasty. The other dish that caught my eye that I definitely recommend checking out was their Boil Combos. I did not get a picture but was very impressed with how much came on one and the family I saw eating it seemed to really enjoy their dinner. We ordered a piece of their White Chocolate Bourbon Bread Pudding for dessert. It came to us hot and fresh with a very nice creamy texture. The bourbon sauce that came with it had a bit of a bite and it all mixed well together. We ate it too quickly to...