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    King’s Inn

    3.3 (254 reviews)
    ModerateSeafood
    Closed Closed

    King’s Inn Photos

    KING’S INN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - King’s Inn

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    Fried orange roughy, fried oysters and gigantic shrimp, onion rings, French fries. Best ever tartar sauce.
    Jenney N.

    We had the best meal. Everything cooked to perfection! Service was quick and efficient. Our glasses were refilled frequently without having to ask. Plain simple ambiance. Please remove your hats, no service otherwise.

    Fried Shrimp and "grilled" black drum.

    Service was poor, at best. Server didn't come back to refill drinks. We had to wave down another server to help. Food was ok, but came out cold. This was not surprising considering the level of attentiveness... I really hope someone can rally this restaurant. Nobody does shrimp and Tartar sauce even remotely close. But, for the journey it takes to make it out there... ouch. Seeing such poor reviews, and knowing what it used to be...

    This is how the staff act if you wear a hat or fishing cap  So we left, all 8 people
    S S.

    This place is run by hardcore management We were told to leave if we didn't remove our fishing caps So we had to leave because some of our party members had to check their vehicles and needed their lids on because the brutal sun and forgot about the chastising they got I have eaten here before and the menu is very limited and kinda pricey! Luckily there is another restaurant down the road that has a similar menu, that was more welcoming and happy to serve us food even when we walked in with our hats on, saved us some driving time during our week long visit to the Baffin Bay Area Kinda sad policy that a sawdust joint would turn down clientele eagerly wanting to eat and spend money there

    One pound of fried Gulf Coast oysters
    Ryan M.

    My Yelp brethren confound and disappoint me yet again. How can these aesthetically challenged dips bestow a paltry 3.5-star overall rating to a local staple like the King's* Inn? Call me a romantic misanthrope (or a misanthropic romantic), for I shall castigate these pinheads whilst professing my passion for fine dining. Yes, I consider the King's Inn fine dining; the plain, slightly ramshackle nautical setting belies some of the *finest* fried seafood in the Gulf Coast region, possibly anywhere in the country. "Character," when applied to the context of an established restaurant, is often synonymous with eccentricities, the kind embraced by locals but spurned by outlanders. The King's Inn is brimming with "character": menus available not on paper but in the server's hippocampus, no split checks, fried seafood ordered by the pound, and a house seafood/tartar "sauce" with the consistency of potato salad. Accept and embrace these eccentricities and I promise you will enjoy your meal...unless you're a snooty hipster or an aesthetically challenged dip. The King's Inn offers steaks and chicken tenders, but locals and (open-minded) outlanders flock here for the heaping platters of fried Gulf Coast seafood, all of it sourced locally. On our recent visit, my dad and I scarfed down nearly four pounds of food between us, a testament to our hunger and a compliment to the kitchen's prowess with the fryer. The colossal U12 shrimp were plump, crispy, well seasoned, and not the least bit greasy. The same held true for the locally caught black drum and oysters. The former, once unfairly maligned as a trash fish bordering on offal, was a treat in and of itself but paired especially well with the Inn's legendary seafood/tartar "sauce." Yes, let's discuss that tartar "sauce," arguably the restaurant's claim to fame. That mound of white paste might raise a few eyebrows, but I assure you it's delicious, an immediate hit with my dad and me. The "sauce" is a smorgasbord of ingredients, including mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, hardboiled eggs, anchovies, jalapenos, bell peppers, onions, Worcestershire sauce, and Saltine crackers (yes, seriously). The Saltines give the sauce its signature pasty texture and appearance, the jalapenos give it kick, and the anchovies and Worcestershire contribute acid to tame the richness. The tartar sauce pairs well with the seafood and the three slices of thick, juicy, ripe tomato that accompany it. If you are intrigued, I have included the recipe at the bottom of my review. If you follow my content (and you really should if you aren't), then you know I seldom review a place after a single visit. I was so impressed with my sole experience at the King's Inn, however, that I feel comfortable awarding a laudatory five stars. This place has been in business since 1935, so they must be doing something right! Do yourself a favor and ignore the naysayers. You know the ones to whom I refer: the grammatically and syntactically challenged Yelpers whose hasty one-star rants lack expressive ability and whose dark, blurry photos invariably include distracting garbage in the foreground and background. That last comment was particularly *misanthropic* (my apologies), so let me leave you with something *romantic*. I savored every bite of my meal and wish The King's Inn another 86 years of success! _______________________________________________________ *Yelp lists this place as "Kings Inn" sans apostrophe. This bothers me. Please fix it. _______________________________________________________ Pro tip 1: Look for the kitty cats that prowl the parking lot hunting for scraps. They seemed especially friendly to me, but then again, I am a cat whisperer...and my hands reeked of seafood. Pro tip 2: Visit nearby Chamberlain Cemetery and pay your respects to the King family, the individuals for whom Kingsville and the King's Inn were named. I conducted an instrumental trans-communication session there and reached the spirit of Captain Richard King via my Poltertune music box (video clips forthcoming). I review restaurants. I speak to the dead. I befriend feral cats. Behold, for I am the mysterious, inimitable Ryan M.! ______________________________________________________ The King's Inn seafood/tartar sauce recipe (yield 3 quarts): 1 quart of mayonnaise 1 quart of Miracle Whip 10 eggs, hardboiled and peeled 3 tubes of Saltine crackers 5 stalks of celery 1 jalapeno pepper (seeded to taste) 2 1/2 ounces of Worcestershire sauce Salt (to taste) 2 small bell peppers (seeded) 1 four-ounce jar of pimentos 1 two-ounce can of anchovy filets 1 large onion Fresh garlic (to taste) Finely chop the celery, jalapenos, bell peppers, anchovies, garlic, and onion. Add salt and Worcestershire sauce. Break crackers into small pieces. Mash the hardboiled eggs. Mix all ingredients together with the mayonnaise and Miracle Whip. Refrigerate and let sit over night.

    Bombay salad.
    Raul Z.

    Make reservations, first and foremost. Really nice place to eat, right off the water. Home cooked food, homemade tartar sauce. It is family style dining, so you get about a pound of what you order. Salad is great. Plenty of elbow room. Bathrooms are clean.

    Elsa C.

    Driving down to SPI and I read the reviews on YELP so we decided to stop by King's Inn and eat. First we walked in a party of 3 and the hostess would NOT sit us by a window as they only had large tables by the window!! Well the problem is that it was 1:30pm and the dining room at this place is DARK as it does not have many windows. So we got sat near the restroom. Then we scanned the menu on our phone as they did not give us paper menus. We ordered water with lemon and they forgot our lemons. Then we ordered the fried shrimp large which the waitress said was 10 fried shrimps we got 9 for $29.00, it came with fries. We also ordered the large onion rings which were NOT rings but greasy onion strings... yuck. The whole meal was over priced and did not taste good. We had eaten at a great BBQ in Mathis Texas, but had read the great reviews and made a stop just to eat here which is why we ate small. I do NOT recommend this place as it was too greasy for us. This place is like an AppleBees of seafood.

    Onion rings

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    1 year ago

    Love taking a road trip to Kings Inn it's definitely worth the drive and it has awesome views.

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    1 year ago

    I love this place, food and service are exceptional; the store next door is a must; the cheesecake is delicious;

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    2 years ago

    I love the avocado salad! It is a long wait but worth it! Fish is fresh, ambience is nice and calm.

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    Ask the Community - King’s Inn

    Is it a cash only establishment?

    We accept debit and all major credit cards. (Discover, Visa, Mastercard and American Express)

    View All 2 Questions

    Salt Water Grill - Blackened Tuna BLT Tacos w/ Chipotle Aioli, sweet Potato Fries

    Salt Water Grill

    4.3(909 reviews)
    31.5 mi
    $$

    Amazing! The Ribs!!!!!…read more Lovely casual or fancy date night. I've been here a few times actually and each time the service is great. Always filling up your glasses, never got an order wrong, and are so accommodating to all requests. I always get the ribs. They literally fall off the bone. They are that tender!

    We arrived early on a tired Tuesday evening and my partner and I were immediately seated, handed…read moremenus and ordered drinks. The restaurant is located in a strange space right where Airline and Cimarron intersect; it's a bit hard to find. The inside is painted bright sea blue with nautical decorations with about 20 tables. The menu contains mostly seafood but some chicken and steak selections. We ordered fried grouper/shrimp platter with okra and cole slaw and grilled shrimp with rice pilaf and mixed vegetables. We were given a bowl of fresh potato chips, warm from the fryer - they're good, but I would suggest salt and seasonings, maybe even a sauce for dipping as they are bland. Bland seemed to be the cuisine of the day. Our fish and shrimp were not seasoned very well, and needed more salt/pepper just to be palatable. The tartar sauce is very tasteless as is the cole slaw made with mainly red cabbage. The okra was fine, the hushpuppies were forgettable and would benefit greatly from a little jalapeno, onion, corn or pepper. Grilled shrimp was good except for the seasoning and the pilaf was okay, but who raves about rice pilaf? Steamed veggies (yawn) were yucky. Even a cheese sauce or butter sauce would have improved the flavor. The portions of grouper on the fish/shrimp platter were tiny - about the size of a half dollar and there were only three of them. At the price you would expect a little more. The shrimp on that platter were large but overcooked. Everything tasted fresh - - no complaints there. The service was attentive and friendly. The restaurant is clean inside and has a full bar. Total for two platters, two teas was $46.88 without tip. With just a few tweaks this restaurant would be five stars.

    Photos
    Salt Water Grill
    Salt Water Grill - 1/4 lb. U Peel Em Shrimp,fresh and deveined

    1/4 lb. U Peel Em Shrimp,fresh and deveined

    Salt Water Grill - Parmesan crusted shrimp is so good !! The best vegetables I've ever had ! Don't forget the bread pudding !

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    Parmesan crusted shrimp is so good !! The best vegetables I've ever had ! Don't forget the bread pudding !

    Kingsville Steakhouse - Pork chop and asparagus.

    Kingsville Steakhouse

    3.8(76 reviews)
    15.1 mi
    $$

    1.) no seating for 5 at this facility. Sat uncomfortably at a 4 seater table…read more 2.) tables around us came and went before we were offered to place our dinner order. 3.) had to constantly bus my own table because Mel V was unavailable. Gave her the empty bread basket and she left it right in front of me on our already crammed table. Cleared the table again of bread plates and abruptly left them at the bar and they looked at me like "what's her problem" yet no one came to our table even then. 4.) 2 out of the 5 silverware sets had dried crusty potato or something like it on the knife's. The fork had lettuce stuck in between the prongs!! And it was wrapped in the black napkin so who would do such a nasty dirty thing? The manager is not managing anything at this place. 5.) Appetizer(fried mushrooms) came out hot and tasty but we never saw Mel V again to ask for dipping sauce. Disappointing. 6.) main dishes came out together but a lot of it was cold. (Very disheartening) It was as if some plates were ready before the others so half of it was cold to the touch, again unimaginably disappointing. 7.) waited 20 mins for wait staff and no one came back, went to ask a short stubby man if he was the manager and he said yes. Told him my concerns but he didn't give a crap, he actually turned his back to walk away as I was still talking. He didn't bring the Togo boxes he said he would get OR even visit the table. He just went and found Mel V. Just so I'm clear, Mel v. is not the problem and to my knowledge, she did her very best. it's the manager and lack of support provided to the wait staff. Side note: There was shit at the base of the toilet, so this place wasn't even a good restroom stop. I'm just very disappointed as my family and I came from Houston to this "good place" when really it was nothing but a disaster from the get go. At one point my dad asked if we should just walk out. We literally watched so many people come and go and no one paid any attention to our table. There are millions of places to eat in-between Houston & here yet we chose this place and left completely dissatisfied and unfulfilled. Pick another establishment because between the cold food and service, this place is not worth it in my opinion.

    A lovely place for a meal!…read more Kingsville Steakhouse has a wide variety of food aside from steak, all of which were very good. The portions were large and the food was flavorful. I especially appreciated the construction of the Caesar salads! They were loaded to the brim with parmesan and dressing (which are obviously the best parts of the salad)! The rolls were perfectly fluffy and warm. This spot even got a pickle-hater to like fried pickles! I made the small mistake of ordering seafood at a steakhouse but regardless was not disappointed. The portion of shrimp was a tad small but the sides made up for it. It definitely feels like the food was made with love. Like many restaurants in the region, the walls were lined with beautiful mounts. The restaurant had a very homey feel. The service was very homey as well. Our server was incredibly sweet. She was quick and offered refills for the table frequently. She kindly provided to-go cups for our drinks too! This is a must-visit when in Kingsville!

    Photos
    Kingsville Steakhouse - Bar area...

    Bar area...

    Kingsville Steakhouse - House salad with Bleu cheese

    House salad with Bleu cheese

    Kingsville Steakhouse

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    King’s Inn - seafood - Updated May 2026

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