Kimball's Kitchen — Restaurant in Duck

I have to vent. I was excited to see my friends and we had thanksgiving dinner at the @kimballskitchen at the @sanderlingresort in Duck. I had to make reservations a few weeks ago. There was limited seating and they requested your dietary restrictions up front. I have a severe citrus allergy and is a vegetarian and my friend has a pretty intense gluten allergy. They did not provide us with a menu ahead of time. I was so disappointed by the poor performance of the kitchen staff. Our courses were not brought out together ( one was 20 minutes late) and there were no options on the menu for us, we had to make special requests that the kitchen did not follow, sending food that we specially said that we didn’t want, some things never arriving, and telling my friend that her plate was gluten free (unfortunately she believed them). We were the first patrons to arrive for dinner and were seated at a back table next to the bathroom. It felt like we were forgotten or ignored there. When we placed our order, we were told that they were out of the soup, and the pie!! The Thanksgiving menu only had nine items, and they were out of 2 of them for our table! We did express our displeasure with the manager. They did comp my meal. The manager, Marina, promised that the meal would be better if we came back to eat there at Christmas. We paid $125 per plate for this meal, and I assured her that we would NOT be back for a Christmas meal!! About an hour after we left, i began feeling the beginnings of an allergic reaction and my friend Shelli started having stomach cramps and joint pain. I had to take a Benadryl and Shelli ( my friend with the gluten allergy) had to increase her dose of prednisone last night and this morning due to a flare brought on by gluten in my dish (which looked suspiciously like my friend Michaels dish that was not gluten free). There was a blatant disregard for our restrictions and these meals were not cheap. If we had known what the menu was, we would have eaten somewhere else. Now Shelli has the physical ramifications of their negligence. We want to note though, we loved Tracy the bartender that we met when we arrived and she was mindful of my allergy and also brought a concoction over to help with Ryans headache. This morning we ate at @stackemhighkdh and had the most amazing experience. They treated us with respect even though they were slammed. They had overheard that my friend Shelli has a gluten allergy before even ordering and accommodated her without even asking. Everyone was on top of things. My friends left today and i was grateful that they had a true Outer Banks experience. #foodallergies #obx #kimballskitchenobx #stackemhigh...

I'll start by saying I never write reviews like this but our experience last night compelled me to post this one. A huge transformation has taken place at Kimball's Kitchen -- a great one.

We tried this place about six years ago and the food was subpar, the service was lackluster, and the atmosphere was stuffy. Combined with the high prices, we vowed never to return. But last night our kids wanted to go crabbing at a nearby pier, so my wife and I decided to grab a drink at the bar. The bar and dining room are beautiful - Kimball's has arguably the nicest sound-side location in all of OBX. Yet because of our past experience, a quick visit and a view of the water was the plan. But as we started to look around, we noticed the entire mood of the place was different than before.

The room was fun and upbeat. The staff was engaging. The menu was different, and we could see from the food being served that the quality was significantly better. We had reservations at Lifesaving Station across the street, which the team at Kimball's kindly helped facilitate, but Steve (Kimball's manager) introduced himself and said he could seat us at Kimball's if we wished. We warned him that our kids would be underdressed arriving in sweatshirts from their crabbing mission. Steve didn't hesitate. "No problem at all," he said. "We'd love to have you." So we decided to give it a go. And we are glad we did.

From the very first course we could tell the food was going to be spectacular. It was. Everything was incredible. Toward the end of the meal I said to Steve as he passed by that our experience was night and day from the last time we had been there. He appreciated the comment and said that he had been working very hard this season on turning the restaurant into the great place it has now become. He then sat with us for 15 minutes and regaled us with awesome stories about his 25 year career in the food service industry. What a great guy and talent - Sanderling Resort is very lucky to have him.

So ... a quick drink to see the best sunset view in OBX at a spot we had once written off forever is now, thanks to our experience last night, at the top of our list when we come back next year. Steve, Angel and Paul: thank you for making it a night to remember, and we hope to see you all...

I think this restaurant is trying a little too hard and missing the mark. The staff was very pretentious and our waitress couldn't be bothered to listen to anyone or be proactive. We consistently received wrong items because she wasn't listening or we didn't receive things we asked for..like salt and pepper or water. DO NOT GET TAP WATER HERE it wasn't what we ordered but what we were given and it was like sewer water.

The food was less than mediocre sadly. We were very excited to try this place however it seems the chefs are allergic to seasoning and flavor. I've never had such a tasteless duck.

The drink menu doesn't match the food menu...you have foie gras next to beefeater and Tito's drinks ..it's so bizarre.

It's a restaurant having an identity crisis. It's very beautiful inside and the staff are beautiful people. However instead of being friendly and helpful they just turn their noses up. The menu could be great if they would learn to execute their own dishes. And the bar manager needs to really overhaul the whole thing.

Tips for the restaurant to improve: if you want to charge Paris pricing .. offer Paris service and food. It seems they are going for a French vibe but sticking to the old stereotype of the French being snobby which is so uncouth.

I hope they can iron out the issues because the restaurant itself is very pretty. Sadly one can't even go for a decent drink because that just...