Reviewing La King’s Confectionery: Award winning treats in Galveston, TX.

As a history nerd myself, I can’t say enough about how fascinating Galveston’s history is to me. Galveston has no shortage of fascinating stories to tell, from being once referred to as the “New York of the South” to the devastating 1900 hurricane that almost wiped the city from existence.

One of Galveston’s gems that locals and tourists alike love is La King’s Confectionery, which has been popular since its creation in the 1970s. Most people associate La King’s with their famous taffy, but they also have delicious handmade chocolates, novelty candies, coffee, egg creams, and more available. They even have a 1920s-style ice cream parlor that sells Purity Ice Cream, which has been locally made in Galveston since 1889!

Before you even step foot in the store, you can immediately feel that the building has a history. When you walk in, you see the wooden floors and beams, the soda parlor to the left, and the rows and rows of candy; it almost transports you back in time.

I’d been a few times before to get bags and bags of taffy, but my friend, who is new to the Houston area, had never visited, so we stopped by around 11 a.m. Even at this early hour, it was still crowded, especially towards the back. La King’s often puts on a show for customers by showing how they make their taffy by hand. If you’re lucky, the person making the taffy will throw you a fresh one. We were lucky enough to grab a fresh one, which was lemon-flavored. The person who was making the taffy was super friendly, chatted with the other customers, and gave the children a few extra pieces for free.

When you’re at the beach, getting a giant bag of La King’s salt water taffy is a must, so that’s just what we did. We both got our paper bags and filled them with an assortment of the handmade confections. They have many flavors in giant barrels, such as watermelon, licorice, chocolate, cinnamon, banana, lemon, grape, vanilla, tutti-frutti, strawberry banana, lime, and more. Of all the times I’ve had their taffy, I’ve never had one that tasted bad, stale, or overly hard. It always has a perfect texture and a strong, delicious flavor that can’t match any run-of-the-mill taffy you can buy at grocery stores. No, La King’s taffy and other candies, like pecan pralines, hand-dipped chocolates, fudge, and more, are made from old-fashioned recipes, making them truly unique.

While we didn’t partake in the ice cream or coffee, one can’t help but smell them as they walk around the spacious store. La King’s has regular flavors of ice cream like your typical vanilla, chocolate, and mint chocolate chip, but they also have interesting flavors like cinnamon and various sherbets too! Their coffee smelled great, but on a scorching summer day, I opted for water, which they also have for their customers.

Next time we visit La King’s, we’re going to try the ice cream and other soda parlor treats, which I’m sure will have the same high-quality ingredients and handmade flavor that I’ve come to expect with this wonderful store from the past.