Some beach bars come and go. Wanna Wanna Beach Bar & Grill has been a South Padre Island institution for decades — and the accolades tell the story.
Playboy Magazine called it "where you want to be on South Padre." MTV selected it as their choice hotel-bar for their 2003 Spring Break film shoot. And Coastal Living Magazine named Wanna Wanna a "Best Seafood Dive" three separate times — in 2003, 2009, and 2012 — also including it on their list of the "23 Great Seafood Dives of the Coastal U.S."
Located at 5100 Gulf Boulevard, Wanna Wanna is both a 14-room beachfront inn and a full-service beach bar and grill. Guests walk from their rooms directly onto the sand, past the pool, and up to a bar with tables literally on the beach overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Live music plays on weekends year-round, beach volleyball courts are visible from every seat, and the atmosphere is family-friendly and pet-friendly.
But the real draw? The Turbo Pina Colada. It's what Wanna Wanna is famous for — a smooth frozen pina colada blended with a swirl of dark rum and an extra shot on top. Nearly every review mentions it. Other signature frozen drinks include "The Wanna Wanna" and the Padre Punch, alongside a food menu of fried fish baskets, U-Peel-Um Shrimp, fresh oysters, ceviche, and fish tacos.
Wanna Wanna carries a 4.1-star TripAdvisor rating (ranked number 17 on South Padre Island), a 92% recommend score on Facebook with more than 8,400 reviews, and hundreds of Yelp reviews praising the drinks, the food, and the view.