Drop Anchor

Chill inviting atmosphere, good vibes. Always friendly staff. Friendly bartenders, good drinks. Come here everytime were in town. Highly recommended for a chill laid back time. Go up top to the deck to get «ship shots»

Drop Anchor was great! We loved the atmosphere of the upstairs deck, pretty and great views of Port A. Our food was really good! I had the tacos and they were fresh and delicious. The black beans were so good too. My husband had the barbecue baked potato which was huge and so good. The kids menu was reasonable and tasty for our two kids. The French fries are so good! We also love the appetizers and desserts, the corn dip and triple play were our favorite. Fresh fruit margaritas too, not a mix! Staff was friendly and the place was clean and pretty.

We went to Drop Anchor twice on our trip. The view, food and service were all great. I had a burger with delicious fries. My husband had amberjack and black beans and loved them. The other couple with us had large salads and they were good too. The next time we went for drinks in the afternoon because of the deck view and shared nachos. Clean too so we will be back in June.

This place used to be a cool laid back place to hang out, but not anymore. Pulled up to this place & saw some flags flying out front that weren’t there last time we were here. Kinda put off by those offensive flags, but decided to go in any way. Right away noticed the vibe had changed. They used to play laid back Reggae & other island type music, NOT anymore. Got glares as we walked in also, instead of a pleasant greeting. We looked around & decided that we didn’t need the negative vibe and left to go eat somewhere else that’s a little friendlier. I spend a lot of money when we go out to eat, but We WON“T be spending our money here anymore. You all need to leave politics OUT of your business, I come to the island to relax, chill out & get away from all the political noise & BS. I come to your place to eat & chill, I don’t care what your politics are. We won’t be back!

do not look at times posted here… this place closes the kitchen at ten! then she said, ’ we close at ten.’ :/

Woooooow has this place gone down. We decided to eat inside where it was air conditioned because i had an awful headache. The waitress was super nice and attentive. Fried pickles were good as usual. We decided since we were not super hungry to get the bbq baked potato. Had i noticed the price i would not have ordered it. They got it wrong the first time (bbq was suppose to be on the side). The second potato wasnt done. We had to ask for butter and sour cream which was suppose to come with it. The bbq was ok, very fatty. Mom ordered a strawberry daquari and said it was like a strawberry slush. The bartender made several drinks wrong while we were sitting there. The old man who seemed to be in charge was extremely uninviting. After we got our bill of $ 45 we walked out angry. It will be very hard for us to go back here.

To say I’m glad this is my 2^nd Unilocal review is an understatement. Rarely, and I mean RARELY do I find it necessary to spend time doing a Unilocal review. But for such a fine establishment I figured I could cast my vote for 1. Waitress was nice, but absolutely unprofessional management. If you want to be spoken to in a condescending tone while being served bland food, come Drop Anchor

Came here twice on Easter weekend. First time was by myself & sat at the bar upstairs outside. Great view. I had the stuffed hamburger which was VERY tasty. Their fries are amazing. Then next day I brought a friend, & we had the Caribbean seafood plate: grilled amberjack & veggies. They put something extremely spicy on the fish, which I wasn’t expecting. Good thing I like spicy, but if you don’t, make sure to ask about that. The cucumber and pineapple margaritas are sooooo goood!

We were well treated here today! Took a boat out this morning and caught our lunch then brought it to Eddie to cook it for us. The staff is super friendly and took very good care of us. Great place to stop if you are in town!

Took fresh fish in to the chef he did an excellent job preparing blackened, grilled and fried fish. Service was very good

So we tried the food when they first opened. We tried and tried and finally decided to just go there because of views of the ship channel. One of our favorite singers was playing at the bar so we thought a year later we would try the food again. We tried again twice. No changes even with the daily all you can eat specials. The chef tries to place a little twist on classics and it just tastes off. I will say the place has great views and décor is fun. We always have a good time when we hang out.

After reading the reviews on this place we thought it was going to be a good meal and night out. However, this was the worst meal we have ever had on the island. We had shrimp tacos and brisket nachos. Can’t really mess that up I thought. Did not even put a dent into the nachos due to the horrible taste of what I thought was spoiled cheese and nasty black beans. Staff was courteous but service sucked. We will not be returning and will not recommend to anyone. For a 60.00 dollar meal should have at least had a decent Piña colada.

A simple lunch of Mahi burger for him and amberjack tacos for me — oh, and a peachy drink that was excellent! We loved everything! And the upstairs patio was great! Thank you to our server for his suggestions!

After a sub-​par dinner we ended up at Drop Anchor via a tip from a local. We shimmied on up to the rooftop bar, the view of the channel was great. The breeze was perfect and the fans were going so we didn’t sweat our asses off.
I tried the Beer Passion with Pacifico, what can I say, I’m adventurous. It’s a beer/​rum cocktail. It was a pretty good drink, but as a helpful tip I would advise to put ice in the glass so it doesn’t get warm.
Amber got the summer shine (some unlisted special with gin). It was pretty good! I would go for that again.
Then we Split a beautiful Hurricane.
Anyway back to my 3– star rating. Much like all the places in Port A, if you aren’t from here you have no clue what to do. We walked in downstairs and nobody was around… So we wandered through the back door where we found stairs that led upwards.
The moment we sat down we were quickly greeted and the server had great menu knowledge. Okay. Here’s the problem — a very very very drunk lady blacked out while standing up and the restaurant just stared. Maybe she’s a regular? Who knows. The issue is… They walked her home. Okay. She literally blacked out… Probably has a concussion because of the concrete floor… And they took her home to sleep it off. Maybe she’s fine. Maybe she’s dead. We will never know. Turned me off and kind of put a damper on my evening.
Anyway. If you don’t care about being over served and you like to be around drunk people. This is a great place to go!!!
Aside from drunk lady possibly dying — this place is pretty okay.

We were looking for a dog friendly, low key restaurant offering seafood when visiting Port A for the day. The restaurant has a full bar with indoor seating, plus the dog friendly spots: an outdoor patio downstairs and another upstairs.
We felt very welcome, and actually had the whole lower patio to ourselves at 1pm on a Saturday!
The food was fresh and hot. I had fried shrimp tacos and my husband had fried shrimp. What bumped the rating from 4 to 5 stars for me was when our server provided a bowl of treats for our dog. We were checked on several times during our meal to make sure we were taken care of.
I would definitely recommend Drop Anchor to anyone looking for a dog friendly, casual, and delicious seafood grill with a full bar!

This place SUCKS!!! Seriously the worst service I’ve ever had anywhere. You will order your food multiple times (because your waiter/​waitress will forget to put in your order) and you’ll get warm drinks (because the bartenders will make them and your waiter/​waitress will forget to get them). Both us and the table next to us had to take our food to go because it took over two hours and we were ready to get out of there. Oh, and we ordered burgers… seriously, burgers. The management is rude too. We go to Port A a couple times a year and definitely won’t be going back.

Delicious food and friendly staff! Service was great, and the drinks were heavy handed. It was great, will definitely return!

Went to Port A. for a 2 day trip out of the city with my girlfriend. Naomi the server (hope I spelled it right) was awesome. We seat on the top deck overlooking the ferries and pier. All staff including the owner were very friendly including her Rottweiler Ginger :). We tried the fish burger (mahi-​mahi) and the shrimp black bean nachos both were great.

Haven’t been here since they closed for the holidays 2014. My husband loved the whole snapper (they were out) so he ordered the seafood platter. The menu said, «black drum may be substituted for $ 1.75.» He substituted the oysters for black drum. Waiter came back and told us the up charge will be $ 5.00 for that substitution. That’s NOT what the menu said in writing. He cancelled his dinner. Here comes the owner, Ashley to our table. She explained the up charge, but we explained that it’s not printed in the menu that way. Ooooo… Ashley says, «I can charge whatever I want.» Wrong answer! If it’s printed, that’s the charge. You just can’t change prices whenever you feel like it if it’s not in print. Correct the menu to state the correct price. Otherwise, it’s called, «FALSE ADVERTISING!»
If you want your business to succeed on such a small island, you better be careful what you say and how you say it to paying customers.
We will never go back to this business. There are better restaurants on Port Aransas that appreciate us.
I now understand the other bad reviews about this place. I think the owner of Drop Anchor should stay behind the scenes.
I’m attaching a picture of the menu for the above remark.

On the roof top deck its breezy enough to be pleasant even on a hot summer’s day. There’s a bar, they serve decent food, and you have a view of the ferry harbor. That’s about as good as it gets in Port A for day drinking.
I recommend the tasty shrimp tacos: they come with mango salsa and the accompanying fries are fantastic. If you don’t mind a little heat ask for the jalapeño and cucumber infused vodka cocktail; it’s surprising refreshing. Plus they have happy hour drink specials.