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Aquarium
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
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- Category:
- Seafood
- Location:
- Seabrook, TX
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10 reviews for Aquarium
On my recent trip back home, I visited Kemah for some post-hurricane adventures. I saw that my Original Crab House was long gone; and, in a desperate (almost pathetic) way of searching for some snow crab legs, I wound up at the Aquarium.
I thought the target group for this place was kids... however, I found myself "ooh-ing and aah-ing" at the stingrays; while rambling off bits of facts to my younger (and not very interested) sister from my ichthyology and comparative anatomy classes.
Let me just say that there is one shark in that tank who looks like he/she needs to be put out of its misery... It's huge, and just sits there in a sloth-like manner while the other younger creatures float and scamper about. Congrats to the owners for replacing the sea animals after the original bunch were lost to the hurricane.
As far as the food is concerned, I was pleased. I ordered this bayou shrimp pasta with andouille sausage, shrimp and creamy mushroom sauce. Nice little Cajun spin to it.... I also tasted the shrimp enbrochette, which is always a treat. For an appetizer, we settled on the shrimp & crab dip - it was excellent with the garlic bread.
If you're on the Boardwalk (which is now a brick walk, due to the damage from - you guessed it... the hurricane), stop by for good food and great times. The staff's service is excellent, by the way.
I liked the atmosphere, especially the first floor. The second was a little too roomy. Surprisingly, it wasn't ruined by yelling kids or loud music. The menu was decent, advertising the standard two star seafood selection. I did not look at the wine list, but I am not a drinker, so I wouldn't know a champagne from a Zima.
The crab cake sandwich I had was about what I expected, I would have eaten it all if it wasn't so large. My dining companion had the shrimp salad and finished it all, and claimed it to be good. The dessert list was packed with intricate desserts that I wouldn't eat even if I hadn't been stuffed.
All in all, I would only travel the hour it takes to get there if invited by someone special.
Compared to other Laundry's restaurants, the aquarium has fantastic food. The calamari is soft and fresh, the seafood ,in my experience, has been very well done.
Much like Rainforest cafe, the Aquarium is very gimmicky--but much more in place with a trip to Galveston Bay. It is decorated from ocean carpeted floor to coral reef ceiling with ocean decor that will delight your mermaid/nemo loving kids and will impress your Mom and Grandma. The aquarium tanks are very big and clean and add a mellowing ambience to the always busy dining room.
I very much agree that the blue tinted windows, while water-like- disturb the view and give everyone and the food a sickly greenish hue. But, I got used to it.
The kids desserts (only 2.50--a serious bargain in Kemah) are really cool. There's a make your own sundae which comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and 4 ramekins of hot fudge, sprinkles, chocolate chips and m&ms. Another cool one is a rice crispy treat shark that comes on an artist's palette plate with red, blue and yellow icing and a paint brush. One word of warning though--these desserts take a long time to create and eat--so they are best ordered when Mom and Dad want to linger over drinks or talk awhile--not for the hurried.
If you come, I highly recommend petting and feeding the stingrays downstairs..they are so sweet and tame--like puppies-- I miss them already.
This is/was a really fun place to eat. I've eaten here at least 10 times with the whole family, took our Grandma once, even held business meetings here several times. In fact this is one of the first places I ate dinner with my now wife, during her first week in the United States. So I guess you could say, I am a fan. No let me correct that, I was.
Kids love this place, and the aquarium is quite impressive. If you get lucky you'll be able to see a human diver come down in the aquarium and feed the fish. You'll find sting rays to sharks in there. At one point they were helping a large turtle named "Stumpy" to recover and be released back out into the gulf, after losing a leg in a fishing net. A shrimp boat brought him there after that accident and while the Aquarium was intending to release him, they were working with the State to determine if they could keep him.
The food is okay and you do get a lot of it. You will not be able to finish a combo seafood platter. And at $15 you can split one of those with your spouse / partner / friend. While the food is not world class only the most picky eaters (like me) would think of mentioning that it's not. As most people that eat here, I would venture to say over half are families enjoying the Kemah experience, are probably not 5 star diners, I suspect most everyone is pleased with the food. So I won't knock it... :)
However, here is why I am not longer a fan and why this only gets three stars. In some grand and brilliant (idiotic) idea someone in a position of management (or ownership) whom obviously does not have any degree or qualification in architecture or design decided that "Wahh Wahh" (baby crying sound), the sun is too bright. See, this place had the best view of anywhere in Kemah where you could sit and watch the boats coming in and out. I mean a really nice view. So what does some brainiac decide to do? Cover ALL of the windows with a dark blue tint. The result is that it's now dark inside, the view of the gulf and boats is distorted, the food now looks weird and in fact it is so gloomy it made me feel notious. And forget being able to see outside at night anymore. Pure stupidity.
When I explained this to the manager he didn't seem to really care. So I called back a few times over the period of a year and asked if they ever took the dark tint off the windows and the last time I was told they were not going to. How can a business do something that stupid?
The Aquarium is a good place to eat. My son loves seeing all of the fish. The only downside is that he found a tank that had clown fish. That led to him asking me to let him see "Nemo" throughout the meal.
The bruschetta was good and had an original twist.
The fish tanks are cool, service is slow and its a tourist trap.
Food is over priced and not the best in the area.
But do go, try it and watch the fish.
The fish tanks are fun for kids but the rest of the decor is cheap and cheesy. Chain restaurant quality food that is over-priced and mediocre at best. I'd give it a higher rating if the prices were about half of what they are. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it. On a side note, I believe the same people own Rain Forest Cafe and previously owned Joe's Crab Shack...just so you know what you are getting into here.
I was wondering around the Kemah Boardwalk when I chanced upon this restaurant. I didn't know it was a chain and decided to dine here after seeing that it was quite crowded. I mean, crowds generally mean the food doesn't suck right? Well, the food didn't and our waiter was very nice to us. When I'm in a new restaurant I tend to stick to their recommended choices and so I got the Seafood platter and the shrimp pasta (I don't know if those are the actual dish names but I'm working from memory so don't sue me). The food was so much I pretty much busted my gut. Thanks for making me fat, Aquarium.
A little pricy, but the most wonderful crab cakes! And I am picky. All food is good here and the scenery is worth remembering! I'd bring my closest ones here.
We made reservations for Aquarium for Mother's Day and our visit got off to a very rocky start. We arrived at the restaurant and encountered a long line at the restaurant's front desk. The employee working there was completely clueless about how to interact with a crowd. She avoided eye contact with waiting customers, gave no verbal instructions to anyone, and generally acted completely helpless and overwhelmed, all the while incessantly talking on a walkie talkie. A second employee walked by and we asked her if we needed to wait in line if we had reservations. She said, "Yes." So we waited some more. Several minutes passed and the line wasn't moving so we interrupted the first employee's walkie talkie conversation to ask AGAIN if we could go directly to be seated if we had reservations. She replied, "The restaurant is open." Uh, OK. So we maneuvered our way through the crowd to a staircase and found yet another employee on a walkie talkie. Mass chaos was occurring and waiting customers were all getting grumpy...it honestly seemed like the staff at Aquarium have never seen customers before. After another long wait, seating FINALLY began. Our server, Allison, was terrific. She and my children's fascination with the fish tanks were the best parts about this dining experience. My husband and I both ordered fish and chips. I thought it was quite tasty...my husband, however, thought the fish tasted previously frozen and "fishy." My children enjoyed their meals, which were typical kiddie fare. All-in-all, I'm glad that we visited this restaurant because it was a fun touristy thing to do but I'm not sure we would ever go back because the novelty of the aquarium and the quality of the food isn't sufficient to draw us back again.