Kemah Seafood Restaurant

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I, along with his family, decided to eat at Kemah Seafood restaurant.
When we arrived, there was one other table of two in the restaurant. Obviously, the torn up parking lot acts as a deterrent to those who would eat there.
We were sat by the owner who had her children running around the restaurant. As she took our drink order, a young boy came up to the table and started whining at her and she got into an argument with him. We ordered two waters, two sweet teas, and two unsweet teas. The drinks themselves took more than 10 minutes to get out to us and the order was wrong.
After the drink order had been corrected, we ordered our food. The food took almost an hour to start getting out to us and we ended up getting our orders, one and two at a time. Finally, after five of us had been served and all of us are sort of picking out our food, waiting for the last meal to arrive, the owner came over and asked if we were happy. We gestured at the man who had yet not received his meal. She started apologizing profusely and blurting out orders that he never made. Finally, after several minutes of trying to get her to understand that he only ordered fried shrimp and french fries, she went back into the kitchen and brought out his plate approximately 10 minutes later.
With the wait, the misunderstandings, and just an overall very poor experience, I will never return and warn everyone I know not to give their patronage to this establishment.

Just discovered that this fantastic thanks for the restaurant in my husband bought out by another individual named: Michelle. Although the portions are still huge and the gumbo is to die for, my server, Kathleen, had to wait until the owner left in order to get the mower ride with a very large bowl of gumbo. Apparently the rice is the hold out one grain of the time about this new owner and if you want more you have to ask and pay for it regardless of the over hundred dinner you just finished with friends. Try not to be so cheesy Michelle … Last time I checked rice was dirt cheap.
KELLI L.

This use to be my favorite place to go and get crawfish. I love the sauce they give you to dip the crawfish in. ½ lemon juice, ½ lime juice with crawfish spice mixed in. This new management /​owner is driving this place into the ground. They had to have boiled up dead crawfish because there wasn’t a single one out of 6 or so that I peeled that seemed half way decent. Nasty, nasty, nasty. I am glad that the manager did not try and charge me for what they served. I drove all the way from Conroe just for dinner. I think I know why I was the only person in the restaurant and it wasn’t construction.
I will give you one more try please square yourself away.

(Btw, I put one star because i cant put zero stars!)
Ok, so here is the list that is wrong with this terrible business…
Me, & my boyfriend came in there one night after work. Im not kidding, there was only 2 other people sitting in this place! Plus, there were kids running around all over the place. A young boy almost got ran over by a waitress at one point! Later on, we realized that these kids were the owners. The waitress explained to us that this was her 3^rd day working… she was alone. she was running all over the place because she did not know how to do everything. i felt so sorry for her! Bless her heart! She was a good waitress, but the food was DISGUSTING! I ordered raw oysters. They smelled bad. i ate one, then realized these were canned! They took them out of a can and put them on a shell! I couldnt eat anymore! I just ordered some fried shrimp instead. btw, the shrimp were way too small for the price! the fries were stale, & the shrimp were gross. The manager checked us out, and we explained to her how horrible her food was, she got defensive, and said that we had to pay anyways because we ate it. We never said we were going to not pay? I also asked her if the kids were hers, she said yes. i told her it is a hazard to have them running around WITH NO SHOES ON, SCREAMING, THROWING THINGS! She proceeded to yell at her kids in-​front of us, in another language. (Her nationality was not American btw)
All i really have to say after this, is that if you want to throw away your money, then eat here. im surprised my boyfriend & I did not get sick!!! THIS PLACE IS DISGUSTING AND NEEDS TO GET SHUT DOWN, IM SURPRISED THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT HAS NOT SHUT THEM DOWN YET.

My wife and I eat all over the country. Admittedly… our standards are high.
We ordered a simple dish, fried shrimp, raw oysters, drinks and a piece of pie after.
When the store bought tiny Sysco shrimp hit the table I should have known right away to only eat that meal and leave. But, I figured… how can you mess up an order of raw oysters right? So I’ll tell you how… They brought me my order of raw oysters and I was presented with a plastic tub that they came from the store in, on a plate. I could have simply gone across the street to brookshire bros and purchased these items for a fraction of the cost.
Now for the pie, I was hand delivered a flattering frozen piece of Sara Lee pie that when I sliced a piece off, it literally shattered the pie and that piece hit my wife across the table from me.
Price? Too much. If the whole meal cost $ 5 it would still be too much.
Brookshire bros would have been better, it would be cheaper, and I would thaw the pie so as not to create a shrapnel health hazard.
Please reconsider eating at this restaurant. Good day.
Ps, I would put zero stars but I can’t post without clicking at least one.

Absolutely agree with Karen O. This place has really gone downhill. We haven’t eaten here in several months. The food was not nearly as good as it used to be. Two other tables next to us complained about their food also. The service was as bad as it usually is. There is never enough people working and they aren’t trained properly. They walk around like Zombies barely even smiling when they talk to you. The food used to make up for that. I can’t place too much blame on the wait staff. This is 100% management’s fault for not training them. Our salad’s were forgotten so we had to remind them, the steak was tough and the cheese in the baked potato had a moldy taste. Their jumbo shrimp is actually large shrimp that has been butterflied. It took twice as long to get our food as it did before and tables sat uncleared. People had to wait so long to get someone to seat them that they just started to grab their own menus and seat themselves. I should have paid attention to the fact that we never see as many cars parked out front like we used to. Obviously not as many people come here anymore. The new management is really running this place into the ground. We will definitely not be back. Such a shame since most of the places to eat out here are Mexican and it was a nice to be able to get something different. Also, my personal opinion, they need to stop letting other businesses hang advertisements on the walls. Looks very tacky.

Visit on FRI early evening was short of disaster. Young female server — according to manager who was called to help out — was only one week on job (why was nobody assisting her, along with her? It wasn’t as if they were swamped with business) took order, but… ONE plain soft shell crab, w/​o fries, NO condiments, when it was a DINNER. Whoops, … Manager shows up, gets extremely defensive, one more soft shell crab at one point, and plate with fries at yet another stage. She Tried to explain that ONE crab can be had, except NOT on menu, and also couldn’t come up with a price when asked as there was NO LISTING ON MENU! Only «it would be less than the dinner». What kind of explanation is that?
Manager disappears, not to show her face again, but male server comments «next time ask for me, I’m better». No name tag, and lousy attitude: why not help newbie-​server instead?
No comp of any kind. New management? Wow… This was not first visit… If their fried oysters and soft shell crabs wouldn’t be so good… But will they make up for this experience? Time will tell…

Wow this place has really gone downhill since the last time I was there. I moved about one year ago, and prior to that my family and I ate at this restaurant at least 1 – 2 times per month. It was a down-​to-​earth, casual, no-​frills seafood place where everyone knows the owner and his story, and you get what you expect — fresh seafood in generous portions for reasonable prices, friendly smiles, and good service. They used to play Christian or country music and it was usually had a nice crowd. People had to park across the street on the grass most of the time because it was very popular.
A few months ago we saw a sign proudly declaring «new management.» What was wrong with original management? It ran well, food was good, and the quantity vs. price was fair. Regardless, we decided to go tonight and will not go back again. Ever. There were only 2 other tables occupied, and 3 tables uncleared from previous customers. One person serving as hostess, server, and busser. No music and it was uncomfortably warm. My partner asked how many catfish fillets were on the daily special — catfish and fries for $ 3.99. The server said 1 piece, so my partner ordered 2 of the specials. It came with coleslaw. What came out would have been a nice kids’ meal for my 9 yr old. OK for the money, but not a «daily special» for adults. The coleslaw was spicy and salty. Gross. I ordered the popcorn shrimp basket for $ 10.99. It came with salad or coleslaw and fries. They were «out of lettuce» so they brought me coleslaw; again could not eat it. The popcorn shrimp was brought out on a side salad sized plate, on a bed of fries. There were maybe 20 small popcorn shrimp. Not that I needed more than that, but for $ 11 I expected something more substantial. Again, this serving was appropriately sized for a kids’ meal, priced perhaps at $ 5.99. The waitress returned once to ask how the food was — it was hot and fresh so that was a plus. We were never offered refills so I gave my tea to my partner since he finished his halfway through the meal.
Needless to say, we will not be back. The «new management» should have kept up the standards that the previous owner put in place to keep the established customer base.

Had lunch with my family after church on Sunday. They were playing Christian music, which was awesome! We also have 2 with gluten allergies, and they were able to accommodate us well. Good food and service.

My wife took me, our daughter & her fiancé’ here for Father’s day. Waiter was obviously new & we had to remind him for drinks, silverrware, etc. He forgot our salads & a side, so I asked for credit. He checked with the manager [Jacob] who said these were complimentary, so there would be nothing he could do in the way of credit. I had to get on the phone with the owner [Monica] who gave My wife credit for 10% of bill & told me again these were complimentary, so no credit was really due. Fine, these are built into the cost of the meal, whatever. We paid for the meal that had these items listed on the menu as coming with them. When I went to pay, I told Jacob I should not have had to make the call, & then he said I didn’t let him finish, he was going to pay for the salads etc. Exact opposite of what he told me.
I hate having to work these kinds of issues on Father’s day…
Food was good, but I’d have to say «stay away», based on my experience with service and Manager’s reluctance to deal with the issue. I know I won’t be back.

My niece found a chicken bone in her hamburger. How does that happen? Nasty. Avoid this place if you can.

This no-​nonsense eatery at the edge of Magnolia is an unexpected (pleasantly so) source for cool and salty raw oysters on the half shell; shrimp, fish, po’boys and more! They have a menu on line for review. They do offer specials and are happy to accommodate any special requests. This is especially good for our diverse dinner group — adults and kids alike always want something not listed on the menu.
The service offered was welcoming and pleasant. At one point the waitress stopped what she was doing to visit with one of the children «sharing a moment» with everyone in a 2 mile radius. She was able to make him quiet enough to laugh and finally smile. (That’s not easy to do with this kid after 7pm). She brought over a tray of coloring books and crayons for the little guys and peace was restored for the remainder of the night. Talk about leaving a nice tip! Sister woman earned our admiration and gratitude. How tolerant and genuine! OK, enough about the ankle-​biters in the group. (You’ll understand if your group brought kids from time to time… it’s a test of patience!)
KSR surpassed our expectations! Phenomenal Oysters, great service, cold beer, excellent ice tea and service was very prompt. It’s earned a place on our «List in the Sticks» to eat, drink and be merry.
Cheers!