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The Gumbo Diner

4.0 (1.5k reviews)
Open • 8:00 am - 9:00 pm
Updated a few days ago

About The Gumbo Diner

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THE GUMBO DINER ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Casual
Classy
Happy hour specials

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Recommended Reviews - The Gumbo Diner

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Fried Shrimp Special
Sheila L.

While in Galveston for a cruise, we finally tried The Gumbo Diner on a friend's recommendation, and we were not disappointed! The space is small but cute, and the food is packed with flavor. The manager greeted us at the door and got us seated right away. We started with the Jacked Up Jalapeños. Extra-large golden fried jalapeños stuffed with crab, shrimp, and crawfish. Absolutely yummy. My husband ordered the seafood gumbo and said it was some of the best he's ever had. Fair warning: portions are generous, so come hungry, you're definitely getting your money's worth! I went with the fried shrimp daily special, and the shrimp were fried to perfection. The fries were crispy outside, soft inside, and the coleslaw was delicious. Their cocktail and tartar sauces were a great finishing touch too. No review would be complete without mentioning the service. Caleb was extremely attentive, and the manager made frequent rounds checking in on customers. We're not sure what took us so long to try this place, but we're so glad we finally did. We'll definitely be back next time we're in town! Note on some of the pics...the hubs started to dig in before I could get good clean shots

Gumbo Burger
Kara W.

This is the best diner in Galveston. Every meal is good here, but my favorites are the Bourbon Street platter and the po'boys. The burgers are also huge. The shrimp here is gulf coast shrimp, and it's BIG shrimp. I got the shrimp special recently and it was 10 massive fried shrimp with French fries and Cole slaw for $15. Also about any time of day you can come in here and it smells like pancakes. Who doesn't love that?!

Seafood Platter
Abigail R.

Absolutely loved this place. Everything we got was delicious! The service was amazing. All the guys that work here are college students visiting their church ministries for the summer. Great group of solid good, respectful kids working. The restaurant is small diner vibe and only has one restroom for each gender. I want to come back and try other menu items as there was so much. My favs - bacon wrapped shrimp, gumbo, and the french fries are my favorite. I want to try breakfast next.

Inside
Jazlyn R.

Quick trip to this establishment during non peak hours and it was still busy! Love to see a Galveston institution succeeding in business. We also brought along a 2 month old which is harder than it looks. Iykyk. Staff was very helpful and let us sit where she was out of the way. The food was good and the serving size was larger than expected. The restaurant was clean and bathrooms were as well. We will be back!

Outside; Sign
Camilla M.

Locatiom: acroas the Seawall Parking: very little Food: fresh/good Service: "Daniel" very attentive. They freet you at the door. Cleanliness: clean. Price: average. Paid $32 for Mimosa, breakfast, add on toast and grits. The Pancakes are enough to share if you aren't a big Eater. This is super small quaint restaurant.

Bourbon Street Platter
Bec S.

Amazing food and service. The perfect meal after a long day at the beach. The crawfish étouffée is better here than little daddy's

Suelynn N.

I came here with three of my friends for lunch on a Friday afternoon. We were able to get seated very quickly . We ordered the fried seafood platter the grilled fish platter, shrimp and grits with extra grits and a small salad. This was enough for a four of us. They had the best shrimp and grits I've ever had. It was topped with some kind of gravy and cheese. The shrimp was decent sized. The fish was well cooked and flaky. The ones that were fried were battered evenly and well. Some of the french fries were a bit soggy. I'm not a big spicy person, but their jacked up jalapeño was a good appetizer. It was battered well and didn't break apart when you cut it. Since we were doing family style, our waitress brought us as some extra sauces and plates and utensils . She was very sweet, very quick and have checked on us several times amazing service. The tables and chairs were stable and there's free parking out front . You could also see the ocean right across the street from the restaurant. It's a really good spot on the shore. Keep in mind they do not take reservation, but they can post events here . So if you plan to come and be a walk-in, I would expect this place to be busy on evenings and weekends.

Not sure what this is call but it's a pepper filled with seafood and it's good
Lindsay S.

Love this place and love the service. It the last stop we make before heading home . The servers are always so happy to see people walk through the door. I've only ever had the shrimp and grits here and it's so good that's the only thing I'll get here. I e tried it at other places in Galveston and they don't compare. I also have found anything as good back home. I look forward to this dish every year!

Christopher S.

+Customer service was excellent. +Food portions are huge. +The hash browns were crunchy and crispy, just how I like them. -Both, the seafood gumbo as well as the chicken and sausage gumbo, tasted very similar. Hard to describe, but a strong herb flavor at the end that lingers. -The pancakes were a bit too dense and doughy. Thick and fluffy would've been the perfect meal. What we ordered: Kids Cheese Omelette $5.99 Seafood Gumbo $14.99 Chicken and Sausage Gumbo $14.29 All Day Pancakes (3) $11.59 Total: $50.73 post-tax plus tip

Crawfish Étouffee
Jason F.

I stopped by here a couple of days ago with my wife for dinner. We happened to be on the beach nearby when looking for a place to eat and my wife found The Gumbo Diner. When she called in the order they told us it would be ready in 5 to 10 minutes, which I thought was super fast. We arrived at the restaurant about 30 minutes later and the food was waiting to be picked up. Since I was only inside for a moment, I can't say I paid too much attention to the surroundings, but it did remind me of a classic diner. For dinner on this day, I decided to go with the crawfish etouffee. The menu described it as a traditional Cajun delight served with white rice. It was packaged into multiple containers, one for the etouffee, one for the rice, and one for the bread. I appreciated that, since it kept the bread from getting soggy and the rice from soaking up all the etouffee before we got home. After adding it all to a plate, I tried it and thought it was pretty good. The etouffee had plenty of crawfish meat, and the gravy had a nice flavor with a little bit of spice. Both my wife and my mother-in-law thought the shrimp and grits they had were pretty good as well. The bottom line for me is that I would head back here again in the future. I enjoyed my crawfish etouffee and thought the prices were reasonable too.

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16 days ago

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23 days ago

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14 days ago

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2 months ago

Had the sausage and chicken gumbo. Roux was just a tad too dark for my taste but still was good. I'll be back.

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5 months ago

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8 days ago

The Food and Service were great when we stopped in for breakfast before we jumped on a cruise ship.

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4 months ago

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2 months ago

SIGNATURE DISH!! THE GUMBO!!! YUUUUMMMY! Full of seafood and meats, wonderful flavor, staff are very kind.

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1 year ago

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Page 1 of 37

Ask the Community - The Gumbo Diner

Do you need to make a reservation?

No, first come, first served

Do they serve oysters on the half shell?

Yep!

Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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BLVD Seafood - Greek salad, full of texture and flavor. This is a half portion (we shared), so it worked well as an appetizer.

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4.4(1.8k reviews)
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Hands down one of the best meals we have ever had. We are from Houston as well as in the restaurant…read morebusiness. We are admittedly food snobs. our meal from start to finish was nothing short of spectacular. We highly recommend starting with the CRAB STUFFED SHRIMP, (yum). The WEDGE (get a half!) is so good and fresh (I had no blue cheese, substituted with ranch). The WHITE (loaded chowder) and the JOBBER (loaded gumbo) were totally delectable. They both came with crispy garlic bread. THEN, even though we didn't need it, we shared the CRUISER LINGUINI (linguini with clams, bacon, white wine sauce, tomatoes, leeks) seriously totally to die for. We counted at least 30 little neck clams. We could have rolled out the door by now, but nooo... we had to have dessert. We chose the Crème Brûlée Trio. The selections are seasonal. Tonight was coconut, tres leches, and pecan. Of course we added cappuccino and Baileys. We couldn't have asked for anything better. Our server, Misty was a delight. We WILL be back!!

This was a fantastic meal. We had some recommendations from people on the plane with us and we also…read morehad some recommendations from our Uber driver, but ultimately we needed to find a restaurant that had available reservations for the evening. We made an 8:00 reservation and then we're running late and called to let them know. They had no issues when we arrived even though it was 20 minutes late. The restaurant was smaller than I expected but very nice and when we arrived we were among the last tables to be seated for the evening. The servers were fantastic, and especially our server, Haley, who took care of all of our needs. She kept our water glasses full, kept checking on us and took care of all of our dinner needs. My mother and I started with the chowder and house salad. We then ordered our meal and my mother had the Cedar Plank Salmon and I had the Blvd seafood sampler with Redfish, shrimp and scallops and both of our meals were outstanding. The seafood chowder, even just a cup was huge with tons of seafood, so much so I was wondering if I'd be able to eat my meal. It was filling but I devoured the seafood and found that I love Redfish! Yvonne came over mid meal to check on us. I presume she was a manager. Blvd is an outstanding and reasonable restaurant and I highly recommend that you check it out if you are in the area or coming to Galveston for a cruise. I look forward to returning in the future.

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BLVD Seafood - Lemon and Blueberry Martini. Perfect.

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Shark Shack Beach Bar & Grill - Grilled Shrimp over Fettuccine Alfredo!

Shark Shack Beach Bar & Grill

4.5(1.3k reviews)
1.8 mi
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Shrimp tacos are the best. We have always had great service. Love its located right on the strand.read more

Cutting across Texas to New Orleans, I knew we would be skimming the shore of the Gulf of Mexico…read more Shut up. My review, I can call it what I want. That being said, it had been some time since I've gotten some proper fish-n-chips. I had to remedy that. Especially since the BBQ fiasco the other day, I was going to go on a hunger strike, but once I made the sign, I got potato chip fingers on it and started to eat it. So, I decided to fight fire with fire, and figured I would eat myself happy again. Which I'm never mad about. Sometimes I make myself angry just so I can eat myself happy. And now, the rest of the story. I have learned that I enjoy Cod fish for my fish-n-chips. And I think also Haddock. I am not a fisher nor a fish. So it's hard for me to say. But I know Cod is one for sure. I also sometimes have baby mouth and am afraid of new things. I do know I love my fish battered and deep fried. I also know that Shark Shack had good reviews for their fish, so, that was all I needed to hear. Plus, it was a perfect little eatery with bar seating, table seating, and gifts! So you can bet your bottom dollar tomorrow I ordered the English fish-n-chips. Boy oh boy. Just like how Britain colonized all those countries back when it was the cool thing to do, these fish and chips colonized my taste buds. Respectfully. This plate came with FIVE logs of fish. FIVE! Maybe they were tubes of fish? Honestly, I don't care what shape they came in, they looked perfectly crunchy and perfectly brown and perfectly fish. The super cool extra bonus? These fish came with CRISPIES! I've only ever seen crisps with fish from Long John Silvers, whose fish is probably as far from Cod or Haddock as legally possible. I actually think one of my pieces of fish from there had shoelaces. Didn't matter. Still ate it. Respectfully. (If you aren't privileged enough to know what fish crispies are, there little batter pieces that fry or fall off the fish as they cook. Basically little crumblies. If you make a wish over a fork of them and get the forkful in your mouth without dropping any, your wish will come true). Homemade tartar sauce was good, but there was a certain flavor profile that I wasn't a fan of. It was still good to use on the fish rods, it just tasted a little too much out of the tartar sauce field for me. The meal was wrapped up nice and tight with lovely square-cut fries. Perfect doneness. Perfect Ketchup vessel. I could just stare at a pile of them all night. Mostly because I'm weird. Perfect Fish Capsules: 12/10 Ideal Fry Sticks: 12/10 Times I Would Re-visit: Infinite

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Shark Shack Beach Bar & Grill - Top Rated Seafood & Burgers in Galveston's Downtown, just 1 Block from the Cruise Ships!

Top Rated Seafood & Burgers in Galveston's Downtown, just 1 Block from the Cruise Ships!

Shark Shack Beach Bar & Grill - Redfish Tacos!
"Famous for Fish Tacos!"

Redfish Tacos! "Famous for Fish Tacos!"

Shark Shack Beach Bar & Grill - Blackened Fish tacos

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Fish Company Taco - Grilled fish Vietnamese Flavors

Fish Company Taco

4.6(367 reviews)
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Why 5 stars? Because this might be my new favorite restaurant in Galveston…read more --- --- --- We had been in Galveston for a couple of days, and while we had some solid meals, we were feeling kind of gross and overstuffed. Fish Company Taco proved to be like finding water in the desert. A lot of Galveston eateries are very similar, in that there's an ample amount of fried seafood on the menu, which is not exactly what you're looking for when you're in the bloated, but wanting to eat *something* state that we were in. My thought was: fish tacos are relatively light and we can walk there from our hotel - how do you beat that? What I didn't realize is that this place probably belongs more in the Heights than Galveston. And I mean that in a good way. The menu is very hipster-coded. And the food matches with hipster quality. It's hard to say what my favorite item even was. The one thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the fish dip - it was just okay. Everything else ranged from good to great. We tried... The burger: FYI, it's more like a double stacked slider than a burger, but delicious. 3 Tacos: Dirty South, Empire and Korean Flavors. I really liked the empire and the korean flavors, but thought the dirty south had a little too much going on with the pimento cheese and chips. Sticky Shrimp: I don't even know how to describe this, but it was delicious. I thought it as more like bang bang shrimp, but it was more fried that I expected. But not hardcore fried - they almost had the airy texture of fried pork skins, but were much tastier. Chili marinated Cucumbers and corn ribs: Simple, refreshing and addicting. But I liked the cucumbers a bit more. They also had some fresh juices and we enjoyed both the mango and the coconut lime concoctions. An easy 5-stars for me and a place I will definitely recommend to anyone visiting Galveston.

The food was decent, but the service was good. I tried the Captain Johnny it was crispy and…read moresatisfying, especially with a side of fries. The Vietnamese taco stood out the most for me, while the Baja and Korean flavors were just okay, not really my favorites. Overall, it's a chill spot with a relaxed vibe and not too crowded. I'd recommend coming during happy hour to get the best experience.

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Fish Company Taco - Garnishes Omar the counter for the fresh drinks!!!!

Garnishes Omar the counter for the fresh drinks!!!!

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The Gumbo Diner - seafood - Updated October 2026

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