republic of texas bar & grill

my wife and i had dinner here recently. good things: the view, the wine list, overall food quality. marginal things: steak was overdone, prices were high and service, though cordial, was spotty even with a slow business night.

management. the republic of texas is located in the omni bayfront hotel. i stay there on a weekly basis ands wish i could dine at this establishment. i have had nothing than sub-par service at this establishment. on more than one occasion there has been a extremely bad experience with the management, etta butz. i will not mention the first several times that i have encountered the experience in her restaurant that she manages. the straw that broke the camels back was when i was seated with an employee wanting to show him a good time. we were seated by a hoastess and after 20 minutes were not acknowledge. therefore, we moved to the bar thinking we would get better service and it was actually demeaning. i ordered a $16 glass of wine and my employee odered a drink, too. then we proceeded to order dinner (it was 7:15 pm an was told we couldn't order until 8:30 because they were slammed with room service! since when is room service come ahead of people actually eating in the restaurant? needless to say, i do not recommend this restaurant to anyone and wish i could dine at this establishment. unfortunately, the management needs to be addressed. until then, i do not recommend this restaurant.

amazing view. the view from the 20th floor of the omni was what attracted me to the restaurant and it definitely did not dissapoint! the staff/service we interacted with (waiter, bartender, hosts, manager) was wonderful, food was pretty good. cocktails were excellent. definitely worth trying.

wonderful. went with son and wife for mother's day. we are new to corpus christi, so this was our first visit. have to say.....everything about the place was beyond good. the atmosphere is excellent, the service was impeccable, and the food ranked up there with the best we have ever had. wife bragged about her swordfish dish for 2 days. didn't mind the lofty prices because it was so special. however, if it weren't so pricey we would eat there more often than just on special occasions.

certainly one of the best in corpus. 

the restaurant itself is starting to show its age pretty bad, but luckily the food is still pulling strong.

typical higher end steak/seafood house. 

whats better you say? morton's, ruth's chris, etc. but im certainly happy this is in corpus.

our first visit was for our 4th anniversary. we will definitely be returning customers. everyone from the hostess to our waiters, cruz and tommy, were excellent. the atmosphere was gorgeous and relaxing. the view of the harbor bridge was stunning. the food was outstanding! we loved the complimentary dessert we received for our anniversary. our waiters explained everything and answered all our questions about the menu, restaurant history and best drink choices. it was well worth the money to have such a fine dining experience.

super tough $45 steak. we have always considered this place our "special place for special events". on april 15, we took new friends there for dinner. wonderful atmosphere and the view was outstanding (as it always is). wonderful evening (until our food was served). friends had ny strip steaks and my wife and i had the fillet for two with vegetables. every steak was cooked to perfection. the only problem was they were so tough you could hardly chew them. i won't say it was the worst steak i've ever had, but i can say that i've had $15 steaks at montana mikes or sirloin stockade that were far superior. it's such a shame to spend $400 on drinks and meal 4 and receive this quality of food. we did comment on the steaks during the meal but i think our new friends were too embarrassed to say anything and we really didn't see our wait staff that often during the meal. i did comment to the waiter as we were leaving about the steaks. we will not return to this place again. for the price you pay, there is absolutely no excuse for this.

nice place but. this is a very upscale restaurant. looks very nice just to fancy for me. food is ok i ordered a steak but i could have gotten one just as good from texas road house. the sides are big enough for two people.

we went there for our wedding anniversary. overall, the food, service, view was exceptional.
tip: ask for a bay view. if items on the menu are unclear ask a lot of questions.
this is a fine dining top notch restaurant & our expectations were met completely. i would highly recommend rep of tx!

i made a reservation for our
aniversary, using their website and confirmed by phone. we still had to wait, even though we were on time. the excuse was that the waitress was going to be few minutes late. we where sat in front of a column, facing the building, even though there were other tables available with a nice view. although my food was good, my wife's stake was bland and dry. we were expecting a nice dinner, but apparently there was a class reunion and the noise was unbelievable. prices are too high, for the quality and service received. we don't expect to go back.

worth it. while i believe it's possible for a aaa four-diamond-rated restaurant like republic of texas bar & grill to have an off night, i also believe that anyone who says 'hostess was terribly rude,' is probably stretching the truth. either that, or the reviewer neglected to say 'customer was a horse's ass.'

still... the hostess was quite polite to us during our visit on feb. 19, 2013. but that could have been because we said 'good evening' to her. (we aren't the type of people who think we can treat people like garbage just because we're eating a $200 meal.) all of that aside...

atmosphere
it's probably the best restaurant atmosphere south of houston, if only because of the views of corpus christi bay. the warm woods, light linens and low light of the place make for a nice ambiance.

service
from the time we walked in the door, until the time we left, service was top notch. everyone was polite and seemed to care about our experience. our server (a college-aged kid whose name i cannot remember) was about as genuine as they come.

food
between the three of us, there was a filet, shrimp and a bone-in prime rib (me). the beef was lightly seasoned, as all good beef should be. (if it needs sauce or a boatload of seasoning, that usually means someone's trying to hide something. -- i expect such shenanigans at places like k-bob's or golden corral).

my prime rib was ordered 'medium' and was perfect. there was a nice char around the edges, and it was fork tender throughout. the same can be said for the filet. the shrimp, according to my wife, was some of the best she's ever had. (i thought it might have been overcooked by 15-30 seconds, but i still rate it high.)

we ordered asparagus and sauteed mushrooms to go along with our dishes. divine.

the ladies shared a creme brulee for dessert. my wife is still talking about it two days later. i had the bananas foster, served with banana bread. outstanding.

backing up a bit, i ordered oysters republic for an appetizer. in short, it is similar to oysters rockefeller, but topped w/ shiitake mushrooms, capers, spinach and a brandy cream reduction. the oysters were smooth -- like butter. some of the best i've ever had. even the ladies (self-professed oyster haters) had one each. both gave a thumbs up.

i honestly expected nothing less from such a highly-rated restaurant. and you shouldn't either. whether you want a seriously good steak, a fine view or service that is far beyond your local chili's, republic of texas bar & grill is the place.

great food plagued by poor layout/management. the food is exceptional, among the best, if not the best, in corpus christi; the wine selection is second to none (for corpus); and the view is incredible, especially at dusk.

what kills the ambiance, however, is what appears to be a poorly managed/laid-out restaurant;
a) the smoke area is located outside of the doors at the front of the restaurant, which means smokers are constantly walking through the middle of the restaurant through dinner service (and bringing with them the faint odor of burnt tobacco and inevitable gust of smoke when the door is opened) - it makes dinner a lot less appetizing (but i'm sure the view for the smokers is incredible)
b) every time i've visited this restaurant the wait staff appear to be very disengaged, almost robotic. even asking for something as simple as a replacement piece of silverware usually gets you at least a sigh of disapproval.
c) people who work downtown hang out at the bar, which separates the entry and the restaurant, and they usually crowd the bar area (at least every time i've visited) and are usually pretty drunk. it definitely establishes a certain vibe for the restaurant (i.e. walking through a bar scene to get to your table)

there are other issues with republic of texas b&g, but all minor. despite the issues i highly recommend the place, at least for one visit. they use opentable for reservations, i recommend adding in the comments to be placed at a table near the front windows if dining there at dusk.

i recommend the wedge salad (they use freshly cooked, warm bacon pieces instead of store-bought bacon-bits) and the steak (i think it's a bone-in rib eye).

wonderful food. average service beautiful view

nice view from the 20th floor but otherwise old and unpleasant ambience. the service would've been considered poor at chili's so here it was just plain terrible. the food was ok but nothing spectacular. this is nothing more than an overpriced hotel restaurant with mediocre food quality. really corpus? is this the best "fine dining" you can do? i won't be back.

great filet mignon with pepper crust. the bananas foster is not as good as in new orleans, but it's ok for corpus christi.