SeaWitch Cafe & Tiki Bar — Restaurant in Carolina Beach

If I could give zero stars, I would. My husband and I came here for dinner on our honeymoon, just trying to enjoy a nice meal. Instead, we got one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had.

First, our food took forever to come out. Then, out of nowhere, a staff member drops a plate of crab dip on our table and says, “Enjoy.” Naturally, we assumed it was a complimentary appetizer—especially since we saw other tables with the exact same dip. We started eating it, thinking it was the restaurant’s way of making up for the long wait.

A couple of minutes later, our entrees finally arrived, and shortly after our waitress comes over and tells us, “Oh, that wasn’t for you. You’ll have to pay for it now since you ate it.” Excuse me? How is it our fault that your staff placed food on our table and literally told us to “enjoy”?

When we asked for the manager, things somehow got worse. The manager was completely rude and condescending, treating us like we were idiots for thinking it could have been complimentary. She literally said, in the most belittling tone, “Oh, you thought you got a free crab dip? No one would ever get a free crab dip.” Meanwhile, our food had been delayed, the staff made the mistake—not us—and instead of apologizing, they tried to humiliate us.

To top it off, the manager looked at the half-eaten plate and smugly said, “Well, since you only ate half, I can give you 50% off.” As if that was some huge favor. Unbelievable.

This place ruined what was supposed to be a special night for us. Between the slow service, the staff’s mistake, and the manager’s nasty attitude, we left feeling disrespected and completely ripped off. We will never be back, and I strongly suggest you spend your money somewhere that values...

Well we just arrived in town a couple of hours ago. Couldn't check into out place yet so we walked down to Sea Witch. Thought we had found the place we would return to a couple of times because everything was great, especially the outdoor areas to dine. The trouble was that we ordered a strawberry salad for our kids to split and we clearly asked for no blue cheese, because...kids. It came out with blue cheese crumbles but we did not see them until they walked away. We tried to get the kids to eat it anyway and one of them would but the other was having a breakdown because we just got into town and he was starving. I brought the issue to our server, Taylor and she corrected it promptly. Then we get our bill and they billed us for both of our salads. I brought it to her attention and she says "Yeah, because your kids ate both of the salads." We would never have had to order the second salad if she had rung the first one in correctly. It's restaurant 101. You screwed up our order and we shouldn't have to pay for your mistake. I still tipped 15% but it definitely would have been more and they would have gotten at least 2 return visits out of us. If you want us to change our review Sea Witch, reach out and fix our check. We visited today and our check is attached. Ridiculous mistake to make.

EDIT: Following up on this. The owner was very prompt to reach out. I haven't talked back to them but am confident from the nature of their response that they will fix things. With how well run everything seemed to be around there I definitely felt like this slip-up was the exception and we will be going back later this week. Thanks Seawitch for turning our experience into a very...

This place is very popular, but I admit that I have no idea why. The food (I had a fish sandwich made with Mahi Mahi) is ok - it was served hot and fresh, so that's good, but it was pretty bland/unseasoned. It was still good, of course, but nothing to write home about. I ordered a painkiller for my cocktail - seems the bartender has a heavy hand with the nutmeg, and a light hand with the alcohol. It was OK. The place gets packed every day, and they have live music every night (at least, I am pretty certain it's every night). I managed to sneak in a meal before the live music started (I have very sensitive hearing, and having walked past the restaurant while said live music was ongoing, I could tell it would be too loud for me), but I still ended up having to leave very quickly after eating because of the noise generated by the sheer number of diners. Despite getting there well before the live music started, the place was still packed, with children running around free, especially in the stage area for the musicians. The tables were all very close together, with only a little bit of room for getting around. The eating area is outside, but I will say that I did not find that there were many bugs. The decor is interesting. It seems like they wanted to go for a boho chic/tropical feeling, but gave up after only doing a little decorating, so the restaurant is left feeling a little bare bones. The staff are friendly. I don't really recommend this place, especially given that you can listen to the music quite clearly while being just nearby and that seems to be their only true merit. Rather than this restaurant, I recommend Nollie's or Havana's, which both have delicious food and...