Skrimp Shack — Restaurant in Durham

I am a long time fan of this establishment. I mean since it first opened. I was disappointed today. I feel like somebody slapped me after ordering a take out order. Please don’t take it wrong, the food is great! But in your quest to hire people to be in front assisting customers, please be advised that the ad libs are not necessary. Baby, sweetie, honey is not acceptable. I don’t know you , nor do I have a relationship with you to warrant you calling me that! I am a Customer, or Patron. I’ve never heard Chic Fil A tell me that when ordering in store , or in their drive thru. Only my order repeated back to me, Thank you, and My pleasure. What is the necessity for anything else? And doing it to the extent of the same person ordering the wrong order is not acceptable! Especially at the expense of me, and please believe it isn’t about the money. I paid in full, However I asked the cashier twice if the order she took was correct and she confirmed that she did. Only to find out that the order was upsized, but not at my request! Please, if I am in front of you, I don’t need you screaming “Welcome to Skrimp Shack”over me. If that’s the case this establishment needs to hire a host or hostess. This type of activity leads me to believe that this is happening on a re-occurring basis. Also, there was another young lady , dressed nicely who walked in at the front to assist. Although I can appreciate whoever it was coming in to assist, they came in from outside and did not wash her hands and started handling peoples food! No gloves, No sanitizer, No water and soap. This also is an issue, do not put a fork inside my plate. You”re preparing my food in the back, I can only pray you have on gloves, but Forks should be in plastic covers inside the bag! Not loose inside my plate. There is still a thing called Covid that is still running rampant. Today’s actions have sadly confirmed that this is a place I will not be returning to because of the aforementioned circumstances. Hopefully ownership will be able to make the necessary adjustments in regards to this issue at their establishment. Please hire professional personnel who are structured and put them in place to ensure that your patrons are assisted correctly and professionally without being overcharged for something that they did not even order. This during Black History...

I was working in the area on an event and the day before some people working on the event as well went to this restaurant and the food smelled good. They also were speaking about how good it was but sometimes you don’t know until you try it for yourself. So the next day for late lunch early dinner I went. When I got in, the restaurant was clean and not too busy. I didn’t know what to get the menu is clear to read but everything just looked good. Most of the options you could get grilled or fried. They had everything from crab sandwiches to whiting, haddock and oysters and some other great seafood options that you usually don’t see in a basic seafood takeout restaurant. I didn’t have the time to get a little of everything but I got the skrimp shack basket that came with 2 pieces of fried whiting and fried shrimp, fries, cornbread. I got a drink as well. Oh and they had some strawberry shortbread in a cup that I had to try because that’s one of my fave dessert’s. The homemade sweet tea was perfect! I love a good southern sweet tea where you add ice and it contains its sweetness. I think it took me about 10 mins to get back to my work place and another 10 mins to start eating. Phew, my my my that food was amazing!!! The cornbread soft and sweet, shrimp and the whiting was fried to perfection. Not sure what I was expecting but I thought at least after the 20 mins it would be a little cold but it was still nice and warm. I enjoyed every bit including the strawberry shortcake too! I will be stopping by again to try that crab sandwich because the chicken sandwich someone got was big I mean like thick big fried chicken tender in the sandwich. Please go try for yourself you won’t be...

Clarification is probably helpful, but "Skrimp" is just shrimp for those, like me, that weren't aware of this. Also, although I believe you can get grilled items we only ate the fried varieties, so your mileage may vary. TLDR; great-tasting fried seafood joint with just the right amount of speed for busy people.

First, the negatives (which are pretty minor, mostly related to the space, but worth consideration): the location of the fountain drinks makes the flow of traffic pass through the line for food (probably a bigger problem at the moment because of new opening crowds), seating can be a little tight to maneuver during busy times, and the noise level can be pretty loud.

The positives though, are that you get a good quantity of delicious food for a decent price. We were able to eat as a family (2 adults; three young kids) with 20 skrimp, a pound of whiting, a box o' fries, and a couple fountain drinks for around $40 with tax. We had lots of fries left over, but devoured the fish and shrimp. All three things were fried to perfection with just enough crust to get the texture but not over done and not greasy. The fries were excellent with a good crisp outside with a nice soft inside to give that full potato taste. If you like cocktail sauce or tartar sauce the ones that come with the dishes are flavorful and complement the food well. We were fortunate to get to speak with one of the managers and enjoyed putting a real face to the work being done.

Overall a repeat visit will definitely be in store...