Willis Seafood Market, Salter Path NC 28575 Owner: Vesta Willis — Restaurant in Bogue Banks

Vesta and the staff at Willis saved our annual shrimp creole dinner for 40 people. We travel to Emerald Isle every year. My aunt is usually Top Chef for our big mid-week shrimp creole meal. She was unable to join this year, so my cousin and I volunteered to sub in. We were feeling very proud of ourselves. We delegated pre-chopping the vegetables, peeled all the tomatoes, and had all of our spices ready to go. When it was time to start cooking, we realized… NO SHRIMP! We’d forgotten to run out for shrimp. I made a mad drive to Willis about 15min before closing. When I ordered 14lb of peeled and deveined shrimp, they were incredibly kind and found it exactly! They really enjoyed the adventure and story of the whole day. Instead of being on the bad end of an eternal family shrimp creole joke, I know have a fond, funny memory of the night my cousin and I cooked shrimp creole for forty....

We've lived in Emerald Isle for 10 years and make it a point to support the local businesses over the larger chain stores. I go into Willis Seafood market several times a month to purchase fresh seafood and general products. My favorite employee no longer works there, but there is another woman that is very lovely whenever we come in. The owner isn't the friendliest person so I do my best to ignore her. Yesterday the young girl working was so unbelievably rude. I understand it is high season, and you deal with a lot of tourists, but high season is what keeps your business afloat the entire year! As a consumer, especially a local resident, I expect a respectful, pleasant reply to any inquiry I have about your seafood. But now I'm done. In the future I will just go to Publix for my...

We were in Atlantic Beach enjoying the beach. One of our group suggested getting some fresh Mahi to cook for dinner that night. I called friend that lives in Emerald Island for suggestions. They immediately said "If anyone will have fresh Mahi, it'll be Willis Seafood Market!" We loaded up and drove directly to Willis's. Upon entering the market we were greated and sure enough, they had fresh Mahi. We bought several pounds and looked at the red snapper next to the Mahi and bought some of it too! We were in the RV so we put the fresh fish in the fridge and headed home. The next evening we cooked the fish and were delighted with the freshness and quality.

If you want fresh fish...go to Willis...