The Meatball Cafe #MadeFromScratch

This place is insanely delicious! Scratch-made pastas, desserts, bread, local beer!!! Pizza! It does not get any better! From the dipping sauce and fresh pressed breakfast juices, this place is great! Super fresh! Extremely friendly staff. Always a great time here. If you're lucky enough someone will play the piano! Some of the most delicious foods on South Padre Island!

While on South Padre Island, we decided to give The Meatball Café a try based on their Google reviews. We were not disappointed! This was the best meal that we had on the island. The atmosphere of the inside seating was intimate and perfect. The service was excellent! Our server’s name was Joel, and he was very attentive and made us feel valued as customers. To start with, the bread with dipping oil was great! Crusty on the outside and soft and airy on the inside. Just look at the photo and you’ll want some too! My wife got the Seared Sea Scallops, but instead of Tuscana-style on the menu, the cook was happy to do it scampi-style for her. The scallops were cooked perfectly, and she says this is one of the best scampi dishes that she has ever had. I got the Italian Sausage Milano. Outstanding! This was a great dish, and the sauce was phenomenal (I would probably had licked my plate if we had been at home!). We had absolutely no complaints about our meals or the service. The portions were also large enough that we both took leftovers to eat the next day, and our server even gave us a loaf of the bread to take with us. Yes, the food was just as good the next day (and I might have even licked my plate when I was done). I highly recommend that you go to The Meatball Café and eat their food! Based on our experience, you will not be disappointed. I wish we lived closer because we would be eating here all of the time!

This place was the best food of our 3 day vacation! The BLT Eggs Benedict with pesto Hollindase was to die for! You can taste the love that was put into making their food and they had the best tasting water we found on the whole island. 10/10 highly recommend

Well we didn’t really expect to be eating Italian on a beach trip but we did! Honestly, this place turned out to be much better than expected. The atmosphere is chill, the staff was kind and the menu has lots of different options. I ended up getting a Matcha Pina Colada and let me tell you, I could have drank 20 of them. I also had the Toscana soup which was extremely good! We had mozzarella sticks and creamy risotto bites which were both decent. I had the chicken parm as an entree which was overall pretty good. It was cooked well and had good flavor but it could have been crispier. Either way, for being an Italian place at the beach, it was acceptable. I will say service was a little slow but they were pretty busy. Overall though, I would definitely recommend and will be going back on our next trip to South Padre!

I'll be honest, my husband and I were expecting just the average Italian restaurant experience, but we were surprised in the best way. The food was incredible, our server was outstanding, and the atmosphere was actually kind of romantic! We usually don't get to dessert but I'm a sucker for made from scratch tiramisu and it was probably the best I've had. I would drive six and a half hours again from my home town just for this restaurant. Absolutely amazing! The only complaint I had that isn't exactly something The Meatball Cafe can control is the parking. It's so hard to find a spot, but we got so lucky. Other than that, everything was dang near perfect!

Wow! Meatball Cafe exceeded all expectations. The linguine with clam sauce was genuinely to die for, the Caprese salad burst with freshness, and the meatball appetizer was a delight. Don't even get me started on their amazing bread and oil! Add to that a wonderful waiter (Carlos) and a thoughtful gluten-free menu for my wife – this place is a winner. We'll be back! Oh also the cheesecake is a must!

Celebrated my bday here. Food was delicious and freshly prepared to order. Waitress was on top of it the whole night. It happened to be 1/2 price wine bottles, so we indulged for the occasion. I was having trouble finding a good Italian restaurant on SPI. (Being from NJ, finding good Italian food is hard to come by in Texas) I don't know how I missed this place. I will definitely return.

I cannot begin to explain how excellent the food is here! We were craving some Italian food during our stay in SPI and I’m so glad this was recommended it to us. We had the tuna and mussels for appetizers, all types of pasta (I had Mama Mia’s Ravioli) and I swear it was one of the best pastas I’ve ever had. The cheesecake and espresso martini were phenomenal as well. Our waiter, Joe, was so sweet and very knowledgeable. I could go on and on, but you should just go ahead and see for yourself! Absolutely incredible!