Bistro Tropical — Restaurant in Elizabeth City

This is by far the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant. I cannot even comment on the food because after the interactions I had with the owner, not manager much to my surprise with her behavior, I left before actually receiving my food, after an hour wait. To begin with, we were seated outside and ordered alcohol, there were no issues with ordering more as well. Until the manager came out and said they were mistaken, they could not serve alcohol outside and she could lose her license if they did. She offered for us to come inside and after politely declining and telling her she could take the empty bottles and someone would come inside to finish it, she persisted we come inside so that we could have more drinks. We declined again. Three of us in our party had similar orders, just differing in which meat we wanted. The first time the first order was brought out, we kindly corrected the waitress (who was fantastic even throughout this entire ordeal) that it was not correct and both orders that were brought out were chicken, not tuna nor steak. The waitress apologized and took it back. The waitress came back after and said that it was explained to her that all of it would include chicken and the tuna was on the bottom. Explained to waitress that we did not want the chicken, that we specifically ordered shrimp/steak and shrimp/tuna and nowhere in the menu description did it state that that was how it was prepared and that none of us received tuna in the bowls anyways. The waitress herself said that this had been a problem with multiple orders this day and she apologized. The owner proceeded to come out and explain that there was tuna on the bottom and we were mistaken. We showed the owner that there was clearly no tuna whatsoever in the bowls. She retook the orders and went back inside. 15 minutes later the owner came BACK OUT with two different types of cooked tuna, INSTEAD OF THE FOOD ORDERED, and condescendingly tried showing us the difference in cooked tuna vs chicken. I was so appalled at the audacity and patronizing behavior that I asked for my food to be packed to go and the bill to be brought immediately so we could leave. Never in my life have I had this happen at a restaurant. We were all so shocked by the behavior of this owner. They were so blatantly aware of the poor service, the meal was comped, but several of us didn’t even leave with our food. To summarize this experience, don’t waste your time here. This place will never improve with the management it has and the owners disregard to remaining...

I came to experience the atmosphere and share with the community the excitement of the soft opening. I went for lunch with my two boys ages 9 and 10. We were there over an hour and a half and didn't get our food until I exclaimed that I had to leave to get somewhere by a certain time. They then packaged it to go with all the broth and it soiled the bag and fell out when moved. I was able to salvage it due to the type of lid they used. It was cold by the time I got to eat it. The corn tasted bad. The shrimp had soft spots that looked like it had spoiled and now I'm feeling nauseous 2 hours after eating. Service was bad, she spoke to us twice. Once while taking our order and once while basically telling my kids to be patient after more than an hour of waiting. The hostess told me boys they needed jobs. I'm sure she was trying to connect but it didn't go over well. It's just in bad taste. We will not be returning. Save your time and go...

Just stopped by for lunch and it was absolutely delicious in every detail! We had a Coconut Shrimp platter and Shrimp Empanadas with a fresh garden salad. Everything was fresh and made to order and the service was outstanding. We looked over a menu that had something for everyone's taste.

Exceptionally nice people and a very attractive decor. Plenty of seating and perfectly clean. We already made plans to come back next week with more family and plan to make this a favorite place to dine! You'll find it a...