Fish Bites Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Carolina Beach

This rating is mostly based on the customer service I experienced. I feel the staff could be a lot more friendlier & knock off the "rushing around" act (esp when it's slow, lol). I mean, take a sec & treat your customers like human beings that are CHOOSING to spend their hard-earned (& I mean hard earned!) money at YOUR place of biz.

After an exhausting week, was happy & excited to finally try out some NC seafood!

Almost didn't come here tho due to the way I was treated a few weeks before. Chose this place - over several others - to get a gift cert, & the staff was not very friendly. The blonde waitress helping me acted like I was putting her out...really? I'm always smiling & friendly, so didn't get it. When I asked her what are some of the delicious items that people love as I'd love to come back & eat, she told me I could "look at the menu up front" as she rushed away... K. Super brush-off & rude. Us consumers are spending OUR money there, & you can't take 2 secs to be kind & tell me what most people like? Don't need a full convo, just a few good tips. Ridic.

Nonetheless, I decided to brush it off as maybe a bad night & go back to give it another chance to eat as it's close by where I'm staying.

When I walked in, the hostess had like a blank stare, was not friendly at all, & told me I could sit in the bar...kind of brushed me off like she had no time for me, lol. No warmth or friendliness at all, & she didn't even bother to show me where their bar was - it's small so of course I could figure it out - it's the principal. Not the best person to represent your restaurant, it'd probably be better to have somebody with a better personality that was friendly & accommodating, especially since it was not busy at all (there were only maybe 1 or 2 customers there), & it would not have taken her 2 secs to be kind for crying out loud, lol.

The blonde waitress (could've been same 1 from before) was efficient, but brushing me off as well. I will say that when a man came in to get his takeout, she perked up & was really friendly to him. Not sure what the deal is.

I was kind of chuckling to myself cuz even tho there were only a couple people in the restaurant - & zero people in bar area - she acted like it was prime-time rush hour & couldn't be bothered to just stand there for 2 secs to take the order & be personable. She was asking my order as she was walking away, rushing around doing busy work...K. I started to feel bad about "bothering" her or asking her anything.

If you can't even be personable to your customers, maybe this isn't the right role for you? Also sets a bad example to the rest of the staff, as they see other staff being rude & brushing people off & getting away with it, so then they start following suit (which was evident by the way the hostess acted).

Food & drink - got the: Pomegranate martini: Nah. Suuuper sweet & couldn't taste alcohol. When I told her it was sweet, she didn't offer to fix it, so I just squoze in limes to take away some of that sugar flavor (didn't feel comfy "bothering" her). $15 crab leg app: There were about 2 pieces where I actually got a good bite, but really skinny legs & it took so long just to get a tiny piece of meat out. But, the parts I ate it did taste good. Not sure I'd order the full crab dinner due to the amount of skinny legs (too much work with little reward!). Regular dinner salad w/blue cheese dressing: Really good. Fried shrimp: Nah - don't bother. Pretty small shrimp, not crunchy or crispy at all, & kind of soggy & lifeless.

Customer service is really important!!! We all work so hard for our money, & to go into a place & have the staff make you feel uncomfortable & not be kind is not the best experience. Maybe some customer service training would benefit this place, if the owners care! Also, allowing a waitress to treat customers this way only spreads this same attitude & behavior to your other staff.

Will find another place for my next seafood meal for sure & not bother coming back here - I mean, I hate putting people...

Worst customer service experience I have ever received at any place in my life! We had some guests in town who wanted some seafood while they were visiting. Were locals and had heard of this place but never eaten here before. After looking at reviews and checking out the menu, we called to find out what time they stopped serving lunch because my wife is extremely picky and doesn't eat seafood (I know, why go there then, but the guests insisted on a seafood place). The person who answered the phone was very sweet! She told us that they stop serving lunch at 4:30pm but if there was something we really wanted, they could probably make it anyway. I asked if it was really busy because we were on our way and we had heard there is usually a wait. She said it was quiet but would pick up around 5pm or so. 2 of us (out of our party of 4) arrived at 3:35pm and told them one of our guests was going to have to leave dinner early so we would like to go ahead and sit to start ordering appetizers. The waitress was very curt and told us no, we couldn't be seated until our full party has arrived. My wife and I looked at each other... looked around the restaurant... and looked back at her with confusion: As you can see from the photos included, the place was almost completely empty. There were only 2 tables occupied and 2 people at the bar in the entire restaurant. When we replied with "I'm sorry I'm not sure we understand. The rest of our 4 person party will be here in about 15 minutes and we would like to go ahead and start ordering. Are these tables reserved?" She replied with no - but they get really busy around 5pm so we couldn't be seated until our full party arrived. Again, it was 3:35pm when we walked in. Plenty of time prior to 5pm and the place was pretty empty. We asked if we could speak to the manager or another person about being seated because my wife needed to go ahead and start eating to get to her job in time. A second waitress came over and told us we could sit at the bar and order an appetizer and some drinks but, if we did, we'd have to finish them at the bar and pay the tab at the bar prior to being moved to our table, even if the rest of our part arrived. I could understand if the place was packed or, even if it was around 4:45pm - but almost a full hour and a half prior to their busiest hour, there should have been no reason, as two paying customers ready to eat, that we couldn't have been seated at a booth that typically holds 4 people anyway and begin ordering until the other 2 people arrived. They were very adamant, took our name down, and directed us to the bar. When we arrived at the bar, we tried to order a drink but they were out of their specials... before their busiest hour... We then asked for a lunch menu so we could decide what we wanted and the woman behind the bar told us that the lunch stopped at 4pm; a full half an hour prior to the person who answered the phone. At this point, I called my family who were on the way and suggested we go somewhere else. Upon recounting our experience, the woman behind the counter interrupted me on the phone call, shoved the lunch menu at us, and said "fine, we can make you something from the lunch" and grumbled. At this point, I was so furious I was ready to go. Not only could we not be treated like regular customers, but, every person we spoke to in person was very rude. I was a manager of a restaurant and am currently a manager in an office and if I knew any of my staff spoke to customers that way, I would be mortified and furious!! This is NOT how you treat paying customers. Luckily, when my party arrived, our waitress had just gotten on shift, and she was super nice and helpful. The meal was ok - Nothing to rave about and not good enough to erase the first part of our experience. We will most certainly never eat here again! Be warned: don't go between busy hours or prepare to be treated poorly for being there when its not busy. By all means, wait until there is a 45 minute wait at 5. At least then you may...

My youngest son (11) said he wanted a new favorite of his...fish. After much debate on this very cold & rainy Thursday evening and since his mother was hosting an event...he and I chose to visit Fish Bites Seafood for the 1st time together as father & son.

FOOD: My son ordered the kids fish & chips meal rather than the swordfish he said he originally wanted. Funny enough, this thing was no joke for a kids meal. Lol. I mean really...these were strips of fresh, flaky white fish in a fresh batter, lightly fried golden brown. As for the chips...once again, house-made thin slices of potatoes, deep-fried to a moist, but crisp texture (homemade potato chips). The kids meal was some good, gourmet sh*t and went well above my expectations. There was nothing left after my son ate his and allowed me the opportunity to have a bite. Nice surprise that Fish Bites also caters their culinary artistry to our young ones. I have been on a journey to taste shrimp & grits around Wilmington...so this was a must this evening. I wasn't starving but had a light hunger so I ordered the small portion and a Budweiser to drink with the miniature cornbread appetizers, but prior to my entree. Once served, the shrimp & grits appeared to have a golden-fried filet of fish under the blanket of creamy cajun sauce and sauteed shrimp...but it turned out to be the pepper-jack cheese grits, lightly fried in a parmesan crust. This dish was interesting because it plays on the traditional, southern shrimp & grits but offers up that beautiful crunch, blended together with that dreamy, cajun sauce (was that a dry white wine in that sauce?). Yum. Honestly...I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it is not the absolute best shrimp & grits I have ever had, only due to overall flavor, alone...it's very close. SCORE: 4.85 STARS!!

SERVICE: Since the weather was not being kind with cold temps and monsoon-like rain, there was immediate seating back toward the bar area in the rear of the restaurant. My son and I looked all around and admired the decor and ambience of the restaurant. It reminded me of a past favorite seafood restaurant in the Dallas, TX area, called Rockfish. The atmosphere is casual but classy. Nice ocean-themed items and positive energy with room to breathe as well. Our server, Clare, was also the barkeep, responsible to 4 - 5 tables of her own while managing the wine & cocktail orders flowing throughout the restaurant. She was a workhorse and very pleasant throughout. Follow-up's were prompt and she had assistance from the supporting team to keep each and every customer satisfied. We were thanked for coming in and displayed professionalism throughout. SCORE: 5 STARS!!

OVERALL SCORE: I can get used to this place. The setting is right up my alley, each dish coming out of the kitchen looked incredible and the service is top-notch. Oh yeah...the food is damn good too. We will be back as a family to enjoy more. Thank you for a wonderful meal!...