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BRIDGE CITY — Nestled along Cow Bayou off Texas Avenue in Bridge City sits one of the most unique dining experiences in Southeast Texas.

High Tides offers attendees the ability to pull up in their boat, get gas, a meal and listen to live music.

The business features a beach-cabin style design with options to eat indoors, outdoors and even along the bayou.

The restaurant opened three weeks before the pandemic shutdown dine-in services, which caused the eatery’s ambitious plans to be put on hold.

High Tides’ large footprint allows the restaurant to offer several outdoor options, as well as plan for more in the near future.

“When they first introduced me to this restaurant and I looked at the layout and demographics of the area, I knew this is something new and fresh with the potential to become so much more,” Manager Alex Abrego said.

The business started by serving Po’ boys and boiled seafood.

“Our menu was very limited,” Abrego said. “We carried a different vibe at that time, which people really do enjoy. But after the COVID phase, we really did expand. We started serving grilled items, and burgers were added to the family. Every few months we are looking to add something to get bigger and better.”

Abrego said High Tides’ next culinary endeavor will be adding menu items for the winter.

“(The winter) is our slowest season,” he said. “You can tell it is an outside, summertime, crawfish place. Wintertime is a little less. That is why we added burgers. We are going to add different soups. We will have chicken noodle soup and maybe a vegetable soup for the vegans and people that don’t eat meat.”

Seven months ago, High Tides added gumbo, which is served all year and has become a popular choice.

“We are on the edge of fried food and not fried food,” Abrego said. “I feel like the difference between us and a lot of places is the fact that we do not just do fried food. It is a little different, and people know not to expect that coming here. We talked about doing an étouffée and something like that, but we still have to work those things out.”

More fun

Patrons can play a game of washers or watch sporting events on one of the numerous televisions at the restaurant.

High Tides already has one beach volleyball area set up with another set to be complete in the near future. The eatery has a bar, as well a snow cone stand and oyster bar near the bayou.

“Washer tournaments and cornhole tournaments are the next thing to come here,” Abrego said. “Once we get a little bit better with our organization on tournaments and getting people serious about playing, that will be the next goal for sure. The next thing people will hear about is our tournaments on the volleyball court.

“We have the white sand area. In front of the volleyball court, we have been laying out sand to get enough to have a beach setting for some lawn chairs. We want people to have an area where people can get food and relax like a sandbar.”

Abrego said High Tides is trying to become the face of Bridge City.

“We are the talk of the town nowadays and we want to keep it like that,” he said.