Tarpon Bar and Grill

Stopped in on a whim, never been here in 25 years of visiting Port Aransas at least twice a year…
We had the crawfish queso appetizer to start — it was awesome! Creamy and flavorful, with tortilla chips that were just right.
We tried the fish tacos, shrimp tacos, and a Tarpon burger — all very tasty, attractively presented and served by a very efficient and pleasant bartender on the top floor.
And the top shelf margarita is indeed top shelf — just excellent all around…
We’ll be back!!!

So many great things about this place; service, food and atmosphere. We had the crawfish queso which was amazing. Then we had the the full pound shrimp, half grilled and half blackened. Both were delicious. The shrimp were the large Gulf shrimp, as we called them «mini lobsters». As our sides we had fries and onion rings, both great as well. Our waitress, Jasmine, was wonderful! We were never without drinks or anything we needed. Nothing negative to say about this place. A must try!!!

Stopped in on a lark. I was skeptical. .it is a no nonsense, not fancy, average looking place. No fear!!! Best… I said the best oyster and shrimp Po Boy!!! The gumbo was great without being overpowering. Shrimp tacos were yummy. Good prices… god portions. Friendly enough service. I would rate ⁸⁄₁₀.

Good service, great burger, good seafood tacos, and an amazingly good margarita for $ 3.00. Service was efficient if a little stilted.

Tarpon acheives the rare accomplishment of having both excellent fish and a flavorful burger. The blackened fish by the pound is delicious and filling. Choose 2 sides for this family-​style platter. The ½ lb. burger is moist with homestyle fries. I love the hushpuppies with bits of chives in the batter. Outdoor dining is above the street level, with a nice breeze and a view of the historic Tarpon Hotel.

Great fun restaurant! Very beachy feel and sweet girls working! I stopped in to order tacos for my hungry boys who have been fishing all day and the gal packed up my specific split taco orders and have plenty of napkins like she knew they were messy bessies! The boys are devouring their Baja and chili lime tacos and French fries so they must be good! I didn’t dare ask to take my infamous Unilocal pictures prior to eating since they have been starving at sea all day! We will definitely be back when visiting Port A and will tell my gal pals that are heading this way to come here. I didn’t get my Unilocal check in Margarita or highly rated mojito busy sure wanted to but needed to feed my fishermen.
Thanks for hitting the spot and providing fresh fast service on to go orders without compromising quality!

Great food and service! Our server went above and beyond. The food was fantastic! Hubby had the seafood platter and the blackened mahi mahi was excellent. One daughter had the shrimp and grits and said they were the best she has had– which is high praise as she is has it every place that offers it. The other daughter had the shrimp tacos which were very fresh. I had the tuna steak special. All of the food was wonderful.

I ate here yesterday. I had oysters three ways — raw, charbroiled, and fried. The raw were the perfect size and extremely fresh, pulled from the gulf that day according to the pleasantly personable bartender, Brandon. The charbroiled were solid, they weren’t cooked long so were near raw, which isn’t a problem, but I’m used to New Orleans chargrilled with loads of butter and other flavors for bread dipping. Again these were solid but could be called bland. The winner for me was the fried. I’ve been on a quest for good fried oysters lately and these were probably the best I’ve had in said recent quest. 4 – 7 HH 7 days a week w $ 3 rocks margs, mojitos, and wells. The mojitos were top notch. This was probably my best ever Port A dining experience. I’m heading back right now to try more of the menu. BTW this is my first ever Unilocal post, I think I like it :)

We came on a Tuesday, not too many people, but service and were great, Jennifer was attentive, and I agree, the mojitos were great. Coming again with the gang to sit on the deck.

Our waitress Tina was very nice. Well versed in the menu. Grilled oysters were so fresh tasting. Menu was very reasonably priced.

First time to Tarpon Bar and Grill in Port Aransas. What a great experience! Our young server Jasmine was a delight and has a work ethic uncommon to people that young. I had the Blackened Drum with the Blue Cheese topping and it was one of those meals I wanted to eat slowly to delay it being finished. It was that good. And it was served HOT and it was fresh. My wife had the Shrimp Wedge Salad with a generous amount of shrimp. The fries were wedges that were perfectly salted and didn’t need catsup. Got there for Happy Hour and had the best $ 3 drink (Mojito) I’ve ever had. I don’t know what problems they may have had in the past that drew poor reviews but they’ve been cleaned up. They probably could have used another server on duty because ours was doing it all, but still gave us great care. I hope you’re lucky enough to get Jasmine to be your server.

I seriously want to give this more stars cause there was literally one blonde girl trying to do everything. All though are real waiter was a bartender and did give me refills of water so I have to give that a plus. The wait was pretty long but they seemed short staffed. Anyways the shrimp was ehh. It was like all batter not shrimp but the blackened fish was delicious so with that alone I give 3 stars

We went in lunch! The place looks great! Matthew and Trevor were the bartenders upstairs and they were very helpful and nice! I ordered the crab cakes with a salad and mashed potatoes! Really good! They loaded the potatoes for me also! Mojito was great! My husband ordered the red drum plate with veggies and green beans! He said it was also delicious! He also said the Bloody Mary that Matthew made him was the best Bloody Mary he’s had in awhile! Thank you for your service and great food!

The waitress was warm and welcoming! The cheese crab appetizer was very yummy! Kids meal of fish and chips along w the burger good too! Our Maui Maui lime tacos were very dry and not so good. Margarita and Chardonnay were not so good either. We will not be going back again.

Fantastic food and service! Loved our server, Tina! Baha tacos reminded me of my time in SoCal! Will be back soon!

We loved this place. Shrimp and crab cakes were great, as were the veggies and salad. Our waitress was very attentive, as was our bartender. Thanks all, we had a great time! Oh, dessert was excellent too.

Where do we begin?
The fact that the restaurant was almost empty on a busy night should have been a clue (we were starving though).
No fault to 90% of the staff. For example, our waitress, Gabby, was GREAT! We felt bad for her. It’s almost as if she knew the entire restaurant/​management did not have her back.
Even the other waitresses had a constant fear of failure on their faces. Just a complete lack of training from management. The effort was there! Just no training to back it.
The bartender upstairs COMPLETELY SUCKED! She was on her phone as she is making our drinks, eating behind the bar and handing out silverware with her bare hands and no napkins.
We literally had to give another table our napkins so that they could enjoy their dinner.
We did see what we assume was the owner. And she could have cared less about the overall atmosphere.
Tarpon Bar and Grill really could be on the next episode of Restaurant Impossible.

4pm on Saturday. Maybe 20% occupied. Almost every table was dirty and needed clearing and wipe down. The staff seemed to be on break or something. The bartender waited on us.
The upside was the happy hour priced Mojitos which were light and fresh.
We had blackened Mahi. It was rubbery. Not fresh fish. The steamed veggies tasted microwaved. The rice was too firm and without much flavor. Hush puppies were right out of the fryer with a nice crispy crust but the centers were heavy and dough-​y.
Not a good lunch experience.

We didn’t have any problems here at Tarpon besides the wait for our food being reaaaaally long. The food itself, however, was delicious. I had the blackened fish: mahi mahi that was perfectly cooked and tasted fresh, with cilantro lime rice: a little light on the cilantro and lime if you ask me, but still good nonetheless, and a caesar salad sans croutons: a bit too much dressing for my taste, but the dressing was good and the lettuce nice and crisp.
The environment is a bit boring and quiet — they need to put on some louder music for sure. It has sort of an upscale diner feeling, and it seems that only high-​school aged girls work there. Small town vibes for sure. Our waitress was very sweet and apologized for the food taking so long to come out — not your fault, my dear.
Others at my table ordered po’boys and a burger. Both options looked GOOD and I was totally envious of the glorious fried fishies and beautiful hushpuppies. Someone please start making gluten free hushpuppies, thank you.

You will find two other reviews here from family members. Those reviews were made immediately after leaving this restaurant.
I gave it a few days before posting mine, in hopes the problem could have been addressed privately. I emailed the restaurant directly leaving my email address, phone number and name for the OWNER to contact me.
It has been 4 days now and no reply. So, I will contact the owner through the only means I have: Unilocal.
Dear Owner of Tarpon Bar & Grill:
Five family members visited Friday night, July 17. The food was very good. My tab (for my three members) was $ 140 including tip. Including the others in our party, the tab for the entire table was right at $ 200.
(Two tables were pulled together to accommodate us.)
After bragging on how good things were, the rest of the family wanted to go back. A total of seven adults and two children.
We arrived around 5:30 pm on the very next night, Saturday, July 18, and your restaurant was empty other than one table of six. We came early to avoid a crowd.
We asked for a table and was told they would not seat us at one table, but rather two tables next to each other. They could not «pull tables together.»
Again. Seven adults and two children.
(And again, there was a table of six already seated with two tables «pulled together.»)
I asked to speak to the manager and the kitchen manager, Tammie, came out. She very rudely stated, «We can not seat one table of nine. It is too difficult on my kitchen staff.»
(Never have I known a business, of any kind, to be in business for the satisfaction of the employees.)
(And once again, the restaurant was empty other than the table of six who were already eating. The kitchen staff could not have been very busy at that very moment.)
Rather than say, «Folks, with a table that large, it may be a little wait to get your meals or to serve you all at once. However, if a little longer than normal wait is ok, we’ll be happy to do our best», we instead were told we would simply not be seated together. There was no other options or negotiating with Tammie.
We would have stayed if Tammie had any type of customer service training and offered an alternative. We had no agenda or anywhere else to be that night.
We immediately left and went to Trout Street Bar & Grill just down the road and were promptly seated, and served.
I am a former business owner. And the decision to send over $ 200 out the door because your staff may be a little inconvenienced is a very, very bad business move.
A decision that should not be left up to a staff member who has no investment other than receiving a paycheck from YOUR business.
Mr./Ms. Owner, should you unfortunately ever go out of business, Tammie (your kitchen manager) and Michelle (your general manager) will not miss a beat and will be working elsewhere. You, however, will have a mess to clean up.
Your rent/​mortgage will still need to be paid. Your insurance will still need to be paid. Your vendors will still want payment. Your staff will demand their final paycheck.
Especially Tammie and Michelle. The very ones you are allowing to make bad business decisions on the behalf of YOUR business, will be standing there demanding their final paycheck.
(If you will notice Michelle’s response to other unhappy customers here on Unilocal,she offers nothing to encourage the customer to return.)
This situation could have been handled in a much more professional manner. Kindness goes a long way with customers. People are generally very understanding when a situation is explained. But when people are simply told «no» and no options are offered, that doesn’t settle very well.
Because there has been no response to my email to you four days ago, this tells me you have no interest in the satisfaction of your customers. The very reason for going into business is make your customers happy and have them return. And tell others about your business which brings you more business. This however, will not happen with me.
Just this morning, because you have no interest in addressing this situation, I told a co-​worker who is leaving for Port A tomorrow, of the situation. She goes multiple times a year.
Her response? «Wow…we’ve never been there and won’t be going. There’s too many other places to go. We’ve never been treated like that anywhere in Port A!»
That should tell you right there, your competitors have the upper hand on customer service and they provide a friendly staff for their customers.
Port A is not a large town and word spreads fast.
I wish you the best of luck and hope your business is able to survive on one-​time visits. It appears there are many (according to Unilocal) who are not unlike my family, and will choose to take their money elsewhere.
And if you or any of your «managers» feel people don’t take reviews seriously, let me assure you, people do.