Tropical Ocean Café

Oh where do we begin? This comedy of horrors began at 11:30 am on a Saturday, the 4^th of October 2014.
First impressions: After traversing an empty parking lot (clue #1), we navigated a dirty mop bucket in front of the front entrance (clue#2). Upon entering and waiting for the waitress (clue#3), we observed only one couple eating (clue#4). The couple said the food was good, so… we decided to take a chance. Oh how clueless we were, hugging someone from West Africa with Ebola is taking a chance.
The service: The waitress, apparently clueless as well, spent more time flirting with another female at the bar then making sure we had flatware, taking our order or any of the duties normally associated with being a waitress. In fact, I had to go look for her to wipe the table off, which she never did. She clearly believed in the saying «the Lord helps those that help themselves. «
The food: Finally we were able to order. I had the «Mermaid», two eggs, two bacon, two sausage, two French Toast and hash brown’s. I also had coffee. So let me start with the coffee, the cup had dried crunchy stuff on the lip, and the coffee was cool and tasted stale. When we asked for a fresh pot, the waitress brought out a half pot that was clearly not freash.
The eggs were cold, the two pieces of bacon was actually just one cold piece. The sausage tasted off… maybe old? Not sure with out further tasting and that was not going to happen. I never got to the French Toast, and here is why… I know you already know the answer.
I observed a bug crawl off my plate on its way to the table. That was just to much of an injustice to ignore. I guess the little guy had had enough as well and was headed out the door.
I normally do not write reviews, in fact this is my first. But my civic duty to my fellow Americans outweighed my hesitancy. You have been warned, just like the CDC has warned us about Ebola, avoid contact at all cost!!!

Probably one of the worst restaurants I have ever eaten at.
I will do this review in a «play-​by-​play»
My friend and I walked in and were eventually seated in an empty restaurant by someone I only assumed worked there. Even though every table except for one was taken, he seated us at the table covered in water (more on that later).
We then waited for the waiter to just give us menu’s, something harder than it should have been. After we decided what we wanted the waiter came back and my friend ordered both his food and drink. Then the waiter walked away. I’m not sure if he was high (based on his eyes and professionalism its highly possible) or just stupid but he didn’t take a food or drink order from me. I had to wait an additional five minutes for him to come back to take my order.
Eventually we got our food. I ordered the Chicken Parmesan and it was just awful. The chicken was way overcooked to the point it was rubbery and the «marinara» sauce was sour, I couldn’t eat more than a bite of the pasta that was covered in it.
Here is where we get back to the foreshadowing, the water that was dropping on the table was from the faulty AC unit that they sat us underneath. The restaurant obviously had no AC, but they sat us under a broken AC that proceeded to drop nasty water on us (and our food) throughout our meal.
I know there are very few choices «on-​the-​island» in Corpus Christi, for the life of you avoid Tropical Ocean Café.

When we first visited Tropical Ocean Café, breakfast was so good. Chief Mike was awesome. The place during breakfast was busy… 4 – 5 months later we went back. Well I tell you there was no one in the place during breakfast. Food was not that great, presentation was horrible. Who ever they have as a cook, get rid of him, not a good good. The person who waited on us said that she was going out for a smoke break. Seriously? do you really tell your customers, that you are going on a smoke break? Not going back for any reason… To bad the owners are letting it go down hill. It really was a nice place to eat before the new management came. What a shame…

We felt bad that we left after ordering tea and an appetizer but their menu is more of the regular American menu that had burgers and we wanted more of a seafood place. The appetizer was nachos and it was small! And it was empty in there, the waiter was nice and said they recently opened a few weeks ago. We left to look for another place!

I am not exaggerating when I say this: worst restaurant experience I had ever had. A friend of mine wrote a review of this place on TripAdvisor, but the review was taken down probably because he wrote such extreme comments that it might have sounded dishonest and malicious. I have to back him up with this review just so that our experience gets some justice. Allow me to re-​emphasize: worst restaurant experience I had ever had. Let’s break this down…
Food: I ordered clam chowder, blackened shrimp, and some beer. The clam chowder tasted like what you would get in a canned soup from a grocery store. The shrimp was undercooked, which I suspect was because it came from a freezer. Also, they gave me less shrimp than they were supposed to give me. How can you ruin the beer? Dos Equis is supposed to come with a wedge of lime/​lemon. When mine did not, they did not want to supply me with one even when I asked… really?
Service: When my friends and I arrived at this place, we were told it would take 20 – 30 minutes. This surprised us because the place was essentially empty, but we were all hungry enough to stay anyway. After 30 minutes, the staff would come by and tell us it will be ready in 10 minutes. This happened over and over until about an hour and a half passed by and all they offered was some sliced oranges. We should have left after 45 minutes, but we all felt invested. When the food finally came, we received no apologies and a check to rush us out. There was only four of us, so we wanted to pay for our own portions, but the waiter said he could not do this. We asked if perhaps he could just split the check in four equally. He did not want to do this math and instead blamed it on management that he was not allowed to do this. Finally, one of us had to cover the entire check.
Sanitation: Finally, if the above hasn’t convinced you yet, this place is absurdly unsanitary. They kept pets in the building. A dog would occasionally have a walk around the restaurant where everyone ate. At the end of the night, ²⁄₄ of my friends had diarrhea lasting all night. To top it all off, when my friend tried to visit the restroom, he was greeted by a signed that read «OUT OF ODOR» in that exact spelling.
I don’t think that I am a difficult customer and I always tip well even if the service is sub par. However, this place truly deserves some bad karma. Please stay away, for your own health if for nothing else.

Horrible food. Don’t expect anything to be fresh. My hubby had the clam chowder that was super bland and looked like curdled milk. There’s no doubt in my mind that it went from the can, straight to the microwave and onto the plate. I had the sampler and the wings were raw. The mozzarella sticks were nothing special. You can find them in the frozen food section. The onion «rings» were terrible as well. Service was good but the food left a lot to be desired.