The Deadrise — Restaurant in Hampton

I so wanted to post a great review of this place. An outside table, overlooking the water, Bloody Mary's made with homemade mix and garnished with not just olives but yes bacon, the place was prime for a 5* review. But alas, it was not fo be. We arrived at noon, not in a hurry, meetng friends for lunch. The hostest greated us cheerfully as we climbed the outside stairs to the second story restaurant and said she'd be right in to help us out. We put our name on the wait list for an outside table for four, and grabbed a seat at the bar while we waited both for our friends to arrive and the table to open. The bartender promptly took our order and freshly made us two very good Bloody Mary's. Honestly, this turned out to be one if the few highlights of our visit. Our friends arrived, and we were promptly seated at our table. The harbor view was exactly what we came for and the atmosphere was great. Our waiter came and we ordered drinks and fresh calamari. A short time later we placed our lunch order and settled in to relax and enjoy. The calamari came and it did not disappoint. Fresh, piping hot fresh from the kitchen, and deliciously tender - a definite must have if you visit. Little did we know it would go downhill from there. We had ordered cajun fries, and we were provided with a small dish of cajun seasoning and a comment that the kitchen only had a couple of people working so that would help speed things up. Honestly not sure how sprinkling the seasoning on the fries in the kitchen was the step that would send the kitchen into chaos, but we were fine with the "some assembly required" request. About 30 minutes later, our waiter informed us our food was next on the list to prepare, and should be out shortly. We were having good conversation and not in a hurry, so that was fine, until ... Our food arrived, and upon opening one of our sandwiches, an 8-9" hair appeared right in the middle of the sandwich along with the salmon. Having been on the receiving end of problems before, I calmly walked the sandwich back inside to let them know the hair was not something we had requested. They took the sandwich and said they would have a fresh one right out. It really was replace fairly rapidly, although it did cause the rest of our party to be finished eating before the last was served their replacement sandwich. Had our experience been handled differently, I'd probably still have left a 4* review, but success in the foid service industry is in the details. At no time during this hairy escapade did anyone ever come to apologize. Not when I returned the sandwich, not when the replacement was brought out, not when the meal was complete and the waiter asked if we wanted dessert. The icing on the cake was the bill that was brought out, complete with the full price invoice for the sandwich with the hair, and no apology for the mistake. Not even a visit from a manager to apologize for our experience. I guess it should be a saving grace that when "we asked" if they gave a discount or a comp for the sandwich with the hair, they did remove it from the bill, but again only because we asked. I do hope the restaurant management sees and reads this review. The place is nice, and otherwise the food was good. Hopefully they can use this review to share with their staff as a "how not to" give good customer service. A little apology would have...

We had a terrific bartender at the Below Deck downstairs who introduced us to the Pain Killer which was amazing.

We ate here three times and found the servers to be nice but the service wanting and the quality of the food deeply inconsistent.

When we first came about 1/4 - 1/3 of the inside tables had recently departed but there was no visible effort by anyone to bus the tables, no pre-bussing had been done which was consistent across our visits (the tables are small, get the extra dishes out of the way). During each visit, once seated (we preferred to sit outside) it took forever to get our drinks and was generally a rare treat to see our server again. During a very slow early afternoon, we ordered a couple fish sandwiches for take away and when we asked how long we should expect that to take the server said "oh I have no idea" ... How do you not know this? Is it your first day?

On separate occasions we ordered the fish sandwich (it was fine), the tuna steak (cooked perfectly but it was tiny), the steamed shrimp (way over-cooked), fried clams (terrific), the seafood nachos (very good), she crab soup (absolutely terrific), fish tacos (got the blackened fish and it was very good though the tacos themselves were shrug), and finally the mussels... The mussels highlighted the inconsistency coming from this kitchen.

We ordered the mussels, 6 of the 20/25 of them weren't opened and the broth tasted off. I commented that it tasted like it was reheated from the day before. My boyfriend, the human disposal, ate them anyway because the waitress never confirmed if they would provide a replacement or a discount or what. Ultimately, and to our surprise, she brings out what is seemingly a completely different dish than we originally received. The sauce is a different color and tastes like magic milk butter wine (I was literally eating it with a spoon), the mussels are all open, the bread was toasted. When she returns, we say how grateful we are because that was such a better experience. She told us the head chef made that order so a dish can taste like reheated leftovers or magic depending on who is cooking.

The view was awesome and everyone was very nice. We would absolutely return but due to the inconsistencies we experienced from both the front and back of house it seems like there are some management issues that would really benefit...

If you're within an hour or 2 drive of here, stop in. You won't regret it. We were vacationing in Williamsburg...we actually were supposed to be in the Marina but our reservation got canceled by the Airbnb host due to electrical issues on the boat but that's another story....I had already planned to eat here so we made the trip from Williamsburg... and so glad we did. Upon entering we were greeted by a girl who ended up being our server. We were seated at a high top. Our server (younger blonde girl.. I wish I remembered her name) was very friendly and very attentive. We ordered calamari which was delicious and fresh. (I forgot to take a picture until it was almost gone) I ordered the Deadrise burger and fries with a house salad. It was like a smash buger and cooked perfectly. The fries were great as well. The salad was a salad (large chunks of cucumber) My wife ordered the loaded fried seafood basket with shrimp and oysters. It came with fries hushpuppies and coleslaw. Luckily she shared the oysters and hushpuppies. She said the shrimp was the best she ever had...incredibly fresh and delicious. I grew up eating hushpuppies and I can say without a doubt, these are the best I've had.... very crisp outside, soft and moist inside but not mushy... and full of flavor. The oysters were very good also. The atmosphere was great as was the location and view even though it was night and raining. There is also a full bar area which we did not have any drinks from but looks to have plenty of variety. I would frequent here often if I lived...