Wife and I are going to spend about three days down there at the end of the month. We've never been. Tell me best places to stay on the beach and where we should eat. TIA.

Here is an older thread with some good info.

https://texags.com/forums/54/topics/3301424/replies/70549922

https://texags.com/forums/41/topics/3549901

Add Captain's Cove to your restaurant list - it is my favorite restaurant on the island. Been 5 or 6 times in the past year and it is consistently very good.

We were there last year and liked the restaurant Lobo Del Mar. They were partnered with a business that did parasailing in Laguna Madre. Would recommend that also. Plan to go back this year and do both again

We go a couple times a year, my wife grew up in the valley so most of the restaurants we go to are more nostalgic than good. The newer ones we like are Viva, Captains Cove, and F&B. Liams is always solid.

There are a few places that do decent happy hours or specials, Meatball Cafe (italian) has half price wine bottles Mondays and Tuesdays.

We like Wanna Wanna or Claytons during the day for a drink or two on the beach, and Isla Grand has crab races Wednesday nights. Kind of goofy but a fun time.

There is a buffet right on the water forgot the name of the place.

I will say I've been going to Port A most my life and love it. However, I went to south Padre a few years ago and the beaches are noticeably cleaner and better. The sand is whiter and not brown mud like Port A.

I stayed at the Marriott Courtyard after references from TexAgs. The hotel is nice but not great.

SPI really lacks great hotels .
The Pearl has potential but was so poorly run with bad management. They sold to Margaritaville and the property was remodeled . It's ok now but overpriced and still falls short of what could be. Pool area imo is best a SPI hotel offers as you can go back/ forth to beach and it's a resort style pool with a bar/grill.
Meatball cafe and Sea Ranch were our favorite dinner spots.
As mentioned , wanna wanna and Clayton's good lunch/ drink spots on the beach

Might be kind of weird to go for Italian while on South Padre, but we found The Meatball Cafe to be very good, not fancy, but good food.

We ended up staying at Margaritaville…it's nice and clean with a good pool and direct access to the Gulf but way overpriced for what you get…We've eaten at Viva and Mahi Nics so far and enjoyed both especially Mahi Nics..Tonight we are going to The Sea Ranch…South Padre is pretty slow between spring break and the family vacation season in the summer…
ETA: Sea Ranch was very good!