Baytown Seafood Restaurant

This place recently closed after having a rodent infestation issue. There is a sign outside now announcing a Hartz Chicken Buffett. It sucks too because I ate here a few times and thought the food was pretty decent. I guess you never know with any of these places.

3.5 out of 4. Alvin’s location was closed for a few weeks. I went the second month it re-​opened. ’ noticed it felt cleaner/​fresher. (Years of frying add up.) Expect diner décor with a few coastal décor items. Great place for kids. Stay in the lower to mid range priced choices and you won’t be disappointed. Fried shrimp po boy is a good value and tasty. Last month I tried the grilled shrimp po boy. The shrimp are plump. The bread grilled crispy and veggies fresh. Switching my «go to» order for the grilled version. I like that this location has a drive thru. According to Ronnie’s review, I’ll have to try the burger. (Alvin’s fast food selection of dining is limited.) This is not gourmet, 5 star chef fare. The gumbo is mild and not bitter. Side salads were worth skipping; ice berg lettuce, 1 cucumber slice, and tomato. Disappointing stuffed crab. It beats fast food sea food. Years ago, the shrimp were impressive. Now, they are okay. Don’t be shy — ask what the freshest catch is.

They have one of the best hamburgers in Texas in spite of their name, and the french fries are very good — they do not taste like fish like other seafood places do. I also like their seafood. I have eaten the shrimp and a ‘blackened’ entrée but I can’t remember the type of fish it was. The blackened seasoning was excellent. But I always go back and get their hamburgers because they are so darn good. A friendly staff, and decent prices are a couple of more reasons to pay them a visit.

They are the better of the local Baytown Seafoods. I like that they seem to change their cooking oil regularly and the fries don’t taste like fish as some seafood housed do.
The dozen shrimp is hard to beat. Staff is nice and friendly.

I threw up in my mouth once, that tasted it better than this place.

I took my sons who were visiting from out of town for lunch.
The restaurant was pretty much deserted… maybe two other tables and yet they still had a hard time keeping up with keeping our drinks filled, bringing fresh beers to my son and generally just checking up on us.
The high points? Fresh shucked oysters were tasty and delicious but kind of expensive at 10.99 a dozen. Plus, they needed more horseradish in the red sauce. I suspect they use a bottled sauce though. The calamari we ordered as a starter was really good, too. Nice and light and not greasy. Could definitely have used more marinara but trying to get our server back to the table for anything other than a drop-​off was a lost cause.
My youngest son ordered the crawfish and they were good size and seasoned well but hadn’t been purged so I thought that was kind of gross.
Three of us ordered various fried seafood plates. I love their fried shrimp but again, they don’t go the extra step and clean them. My eight year old daughter ate one and got so disgusted that she made the rest of her meal out of french fries and crackers.
My eldest son got the grillled red snapper and it was really yummy and the vegetables that came with it were cooked nicely. The dirty rice was absolutely horrid as per usual.
Prices are good and when they’re on their game, it’s a decent place to eat. We spent less than 90 bucks (including tip) for two appetizers, five meals, four beers, and three sodas but we left wishing food and service would have been a little better.
Edit: I forgot to mention the worst part! Do NOT order the scallops here. I’m not sure what it was that that they served as scallops but everyone at our table agreed that these were some of the worst things we’ve ever put in our mouths. Tough, overbreaded and had a horrible flavor. Ugh.

I decided to try this place out after hearing so many great things about it. That was a bad idea. I was starving when I got there and after waiting in the drive thru for 15 minutes, I finally got my crawfish étouffée. Thank goodness it came with a side salad, because I couldn’t stomach the étouffée. I tried a couple bites and had throw it away. Disgusting!

Here on business and the hotel desk clerk told me about this place when I asked about a good seafood place. It is right on highway 35 just a few blocks from highway 6. The seafood was very good, could have skipped the crab cakes, a little too much bread/​crackers in them for me. The fish and shrimp were outstanding. Very fresh and properly prepared. The baked potato was just right. Best of all the waitress was wonderful. She kept an eye on the tea glass and stopped by several times to check that everything was OK and ask if there was anything else I needed. Wonderful place. Definately will keep it on my list for the future.

This is the first place I hit when I come into town. The first time was a lucky coincidence. It was right across the street from the hotel and the desk clerk recommended it.
The other times have been not only for the first reason above, but because I am in love, love, love with seafood and this place has practically everything you can think of and things you never heard of every which way you could want to eat it. For cheap. But, it’s not just cheap, it’s really, really good.
That’s what has kept me coming back despite what I now see as somewhat grungy décor. It used to appear rather quaint and cute, but has quickly lost that charm and could get rid of the 70’s at some point and update just a bit. A mild suggestion.
Otherwise, no complaints. The menu made my eyes pop out the first time I read it! Not only could I get one of my most favorite of favorites; crawdads (crayfish), but they also had frogs legs (I love those!!!), soft-​shell crab!, catfish, jumbo Gulf shrimp, King crab, lobster, Ettouffee, HUSHPUPPIES, and on and on and on.
So basically, they had all of the usual seafood stuff, plus a ton of delicious, regional specialties that you don’t see everyday on the menu in good old California.
I absolutely had to have crawdads the first time I visited as they were in season whileI was there. I had the fried tails, although you could get the whole ones in the boil but not having anyone to enjoy that with decided to save that experience for another time. I have since also had the grilled frog legs and they were splendid. So for $ 6.99 you get 4 legs (that’s so cheeeeep!) and the plate came with grilled fresh veggies, dirty rice (was not wild about it) and a salad. I also ordered the hushpuppies as that’s a must have when on the menu anywhere for me.
On other visits I have also enjoyed their fried catfish and shrimp (2 catfish and 6 shrimp, $ 8.99) and was elated to see that they cornmeal breaded the catfish and panfried it, while the shrimp had a buttermilky, batter dip and was deep-​fried. And boy, oh boy was it tasty! The Gulf shrimp are much larger and sweeter than what I’m used to getting if I get prawns in California. I do have to give props where it’s due after all, sorry Cali. These shrimp blow away anything I can get on the West Coast they are that good.
The hushpuppies weren’t killer for me here. They put Jalapeño in them which is fine, but failed to balance that with a bit of sugar for that sweet/​hot thing and so don’t top the charts for me, but were good to have even so.
If you love seafood, then I definitely recommend you give this place a try. The selection of fresh offerings can’t be beat. Neither can the prices or portion sizes (literally order from 3 to 60 pieces of something!).
And if there is someone in your group who must have their meat, they also serve a few hamburger/​cheeseburger offerings, some chicken gumbos and stuff, some salads and vegetarian sides like dirty rice, grilled veggies, onion rings, hushpuppies; even add a quail, fried or grilled, to your order for only $ 2.99.
Written in my travelogue: If a hunger for seafood finds you here, enjoy a great meal in friendly, small town surroundings.