Sooey's BBQ & Rib Shack — Restaurant in Corolla

Terrible experience. Waited almost two hours for food I hardly even ate. My family and I arrived a little past 7:00pm. We were told we could go sit at a table then didn’t get any utensils and our drink order wasn’t taken until after 10 minutes of just sitting there. We finally ordered our drinks and appetizer and our waitress just walked away. We were all ready to order our main food, but she didn’t take any of our orders until she came back another 10 minutes later. We finally all ordered and then it took almost 40 minutes for our appetizer, which was mozzarella sticks, to finally come out. Those were awful. Literally just breading with no cheese in them. After waiting all that time, the waitress came to me to tell me I couldn’t get my onion rings because they were sold out. So, I opted to switch to mac and cheese. We didn’t receive our food until 8:40pm. Which was an hour and 40 minutes of waiting. Some of my family said they enjoyed their food, however I didn’t like mine at all. The chicken was okay. The flavor was good, but it was very dry. Pulled pork was a greasy mess. My entire plate was full of grease from the pork. I couldn’t even eat it. Cole slaw was okay and the Mac and cheese had no flavor. Definitely disappointed that I got that instead of the onion rings. Hush puppies were probably the only thing I ate besides some of the chicken. Definitely will not be coming back. Took way too long and the food...

On a previous trip to the Outer Banks a couple of years ago, we picked up a carry out order from Sooey's. The server was nice and we had our order really quickly. The food was fantastic, we had no complaints whatsoever.

That being said, we made it a point to stop in for dinner on our recent trip and boy has it changed. While the server was good and courteous, the barbeque was not nearly as good as it previously was. The hushpuppies, greens, and the fried okra were still good, but the meat was not.

I got the Sooey's sampler and was thoroughly disappointed; the chicken leg and thigh were dried out and tough, the ribs were mostly fat but the little meat that was there was alright, the brisket was tough and I couldn't taste any smoke on the pulled pork. I normally don't leave food to be thrown away, but I did this time.

In addition to the above, the white board advertised "Homemade Desserts". After we ate what we were going to, we decided to try to get dessert to go and were told that one of them would need to be heated in the microwave after it is taken out of its package. Sure enough, it was a sealed package, not at all homemade as advertised.

It pains me to leave this review given how good it was on our first trip here a couple of years ago, but I honestly can't recommend Sooey's and the next time that were are in town, we will not...

I'm always leery of stripmall restaurants! Especially in touristy areas! From the outside this looks no different than the souvenir shop a few doors down.

When I walked in you immediately are met with the strong smell of smoked meats! We sat down and ordered, food was out within 10mins. We had a basket of cornbread for starters, followed by 3 different combo plates. I had the Pulled Pork + Fried Chicken with sides of Fried Okra, and Classic Slaw! The other two people I went with had a half rack of ribs, and a pulled chicken dish. Everyone was extremely happy with their choices.

One of the best parts of BBQ is the sauce! Being N. Carolina BBQ they have a very nice house sauce that had a strong vinegar and pepper taste. It complimented their meats very nicely. My favorite though was their bottle of vinegar, with red chili flakes. It was so flavorful and delicious.

Being in a tourist destination, the prices were unbelievable. My meal the Pulled pork + Fried Chicken Combo was only around $15. it was one of the lowest priced meals I've had in the Corolla area, however was the most filling and flavorful!

I will be visiting again and again during my next vacations to the area!

Great work!

Sincerely, Phil "from...