Vailhouse Oyster Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Goldsboro

Being from the South, I expected a warm welcome and some good authentic Southern cuisine.

The only thing that was warm and authentic was our servers attitude. Thank you for that...she was great.

As a party of 8, we went for some oysters and a bit of seafood.

Raw Oysters: 4.5/10

Fried Green Tomatoes: Don't know, we never got them, but still got charged.

Oyster Po-boy: The best thing about it was the "special sauce". By the looks we got from staff, I don't want to know how "special" it was. Also, slimy lettuce on it.

Burger: Must have crept straight from Satan's own taint, because it was overly well done.

BBQ Chicken Breast: Seems like someone mixed up their Ghost Pepper sauce with the BBQ sauce. But, to be fair, he whines a lot.

Mahi: Overcooked and dry. (Not everything needs to be well-done.)

Grilled Shrimp: Don't know, got fried instead. Thanks for that, we didn't want what we ordered anyway.

Collard Greens: This is the biggest complaint I have....I took the first bite..."maybe they're just not seasoned." Second bite "Why are they SO bitter?!", Third bite, "These are the WORST collard greens I've ever had!" No amount of vinegar, nor bacon, nor, Michelin Star rated chef could save these. Any person should be offended after eating Oscar the Grouch's very own can scum. Holy JESUS.

Overall review: Our waitress was very sweet and I'm not blaming her at all. The best things there were the fries, and sweet tea.

We were all severely disappointed in this place and will not be recommending it.

If you are a manager at this restaurant, perhaps have a talk with your team. Kitchen staff clearly does not have a sense of pride in their food.

This restaurant is serving overpriced, small portions of the remnants of a chicken house floor as food.

No, I don't want to give this place a second chance. Time to shake things up at this seafood place if you want to remain afloat....see what I did there?

Seriously though,...

What happened to the quality of food being served at the Vailhouse? My husband and I went to the Vailhouse tonight and were completely and thoroughly disappointed and disgusted. We ordered the chargrilled oysters as part of our appetizer order. When they arrived at the table, we saw that they were "completely" burnt...not even edible. And to think, the waitress actually brought them to our table for us to consume. You could even smell that they were burnt. We called her over immediately and brought it to her attention. She then apologized, noted that she could see and smell that they were burnt and offered to bring us another order. Naturally we passed and just ordered our dinner. One mistake can be excused however, it just got worse from there. Both my husband and I ordered the crab legs for our dinner. When the crab legs arrived, I took one bite...to my surprise, I found that they were NOT completely cooked. On top of that, my husband's crab legs actually had ice on them...still semi-frozen at the tip. The server even grabbed it and confirmed that she too felt the ice. As the server took away the plates, I watched the staff gather to discuss what was happening. Again, to my now complete shock, they didn't even throw the whole plate away. I watched as they threw away a few pieces and took the remainder of the crab legs on the plates to the back.....hmmm. When I brought the situation to the manager's attention, all she could say was that she wished we would have brought this to her attention sooner....us????? What about trying to find out why HER STAFF didn't bring this to her attention in the first place....And now that you are being made aware of it, is there really nothing you can do??? Wow! Well, needless to say, we will not be going back. Trying to serve your customers food that is not fit for human consumption....how low they have fallen. Please do better...your customers deserve it. Will...

The Vailhouse is a cute local place that serves seafood and straightforward fare.

Ordered the grouper bites for an appetizer. They were delicious, though they came out as strip and I was expecting something more nugget shaped. No problem though since they were hot and the grouper was definitely fresh.

Also ordered six raw oysters and a half pound of steamed shrimp. The oysters were great, the shrimp were fine. (They had a slightly bitter flavor). To be fair the last restaurant I ate at was Southern Salt in Morehead where I had the best shrimp I've ever had. That's a tough act to follow.

Our server was terrible. It took 5 minutes before she came to the table to get a drink order. I had to ask another server to bring us the complimentary hush puppies that every other table received as soon as they sat down and we were finished with out meal before she came back to check on us.

We just got unlucky though. It was obvious that the other waitstaff were hustling and providing the tables around us with competent attentive service. The busboy was even more engaged that our waitress. She looked like she was the youngest of the crew and didn't appear to enjoy the work. If you have the option, try to get one of the more seasoned waitstaff.

The decor is perfect for the presentation of seafood. They did a fantastic job taking a restaurant in a strip mall and elevating it a bit. They do have outdoor seating, a nice plus though I sat inside. The lighting was a little too bright and stark for dinner. Slightly dimming the lights would make it a bit more romantic in the evening but that's just a personal preference.

There was a young man playing guitar on a Saturday night, Eli (didn't catch his kast name) ...he was excellent.

I'll definitely be back though next time I will opt to...