This Famous Gulf Coast Texas Seafood Joint Serves Golden Fried Feasts Well Worth A Road Trip Detour

Along the southern coast of Texas, the shoreline is packed with communities that live year-round by the gulf waters. With the gulf as their neighbor to the west, destinations along the coast, like the historically beautiful Port Isabel, have grown into marine and fishing hubs that are famous for seafood. There's one particularly legendary seafood joint in the town of Riviera, which sits about an hour south of Corpus Christi and Port Aransas (a beach destination you'll either want to flock to or avoid completely). Here is where King's Inn has made a name for its seafood and old school hospitality for close to a century.

King's Inn is an anomaly in the food industry, as it rests in the small bayside town of Riviera, which has a population of under 1,000 residents. Word of mouth and mouthwatering recipes passed down through the generations have helped make this hole in the wall a destination for Texans and foodies from all over. It may not be located in an area you plan to spend several days visiting, but it's worth adding it as a stop on your trip. When visitors experience their food with waves crashing into the shoreline as the backdrop, it's not hard to understand what makes King's Inn a South Texas icon for seafood lovers.

The property's century of culinary history began with a local woman named Blanche Wright, aka "Mom." She found a business opportunity in grilling fish and burgers for the fishermen that frequented the area in the 1930s, and the idea for "tide-to-table" Gulf Coast seafood restaurants was born. First named Orlando's, after the owner of the fishing pier on Loyola Beach, the name later changed to King's Inn in 1945, which has stuck ever since. Over the years, tourist visits have risen as the legend grows around King's Inn and its seafood, but the customs and traditions of the 1930s remain almost identical today.

There's a distinctly old school vibe in the no-frills dining room on the east wing of the property, though gentlemen and young boys are still asked politely to remove their caps in keeping with restaurant tradition. Unlike most restaurants, there's no menu to peruse; the well-trained servers promptly recite what's available, from starters to seafood varieties, which can change daily, and the food is typically served family style for each table of visitors. Undoubtedly, the star of every meal at King's Inn is the variety of local catch.

Every meal at King's Inn begins with an appetizer of freshly sliced tomatoes paired with a side of their homemade tartar sauce. The interesting combination raises eyebrows but wins over most visitors. The tartar sauce recipe is a long-guarded family secret that's also the perfect complement to the seafood to come. Interestingly enough, restaurant guests highly recommend the simple avocado salad, a light and refreshing start for the taste buds.

When it's time for the entrée, all things fried take center stage. The daily seafood list typically includes the restaurant's wildly popular fried shrimp along with fried drum, oysters, and catfish. King's Inn visitors swear by the crunch and crispiness of the fried seafood, but it can be ordered broiled or chilled as well. King's Inn also serves delicacies like crab cakes, frog legs, chicken, and ribeye steaks.

As if the smorgasbord of freshly caught seafood isn't enough for guests, King's Inn also serves a variety of cheesecakes to top off their epic South Texas meal. With the serene setting just steps from Loyola Beach, it's the epitome of the seafood shacks that personify the tropical region of Texas. Not only are visitors to King's Inn eating the freshest seafood in the state, but they're also sampling a piece of Texas culinary history.