Goombays Grille & Raw Bar — Restaurant in Kill Devil Hills

Disappointing! Went here for years but has been about 4 years as we left the area for a while. Service a 5 by the waitress but dropped to a 3 overall, maybe should be lower, due to manager’s? poor customer service by phone. When returned to VA, realized must've left credit card there. Called, said to rushed man on the phone that I was there for lunch today and think I left my credit card. He very quickky said, “Okay, just come on in with your pic ID” and hung up! I had to call back, same guy, and say, “Please don’t hang up on me! I’m trying to confirm whether you HAVE my credit card, I’m in VA, so can’t come in”. He said they were very busy, Saturday nite, can you call in the morning? I said I have been a paying customer also when you’ve very busy and I need to know if server Kate found, turned in, my credit card”. He then asked my name, said hold on, came back, said they have it and that he just threw it in the trash. I asked if he cut it up, he repeated “threw it in the trash” and hung up. Do I believe he even checked? No. I now have to call 2 more places to see if they have it because don’t trust him. He appreciates customers there at this minute, but not customers who already paid and were regulars from out of town. Doesnr ger the importance of repeat customers. Terrible. That’s it for me now and Goombay’s, for sure. ON TO THE FOOD- mediocre. Special fish of the day, Wagoo, was overcooked and chewy; rice was good. My Dad’s crab cake didn’t have much lump crab meat, fries were good. My Mom’s mahi fried fish plate was fish nuggets! - mostly breading. Menu should have listed it as nuggets; and they were warm, not hot. Sweet potato fries were good. Wood chairs uncomfortable, especially for older folks, and though the music wasn't too loud, restaurant was very noisy (but festive) with the acoustics the way they are and how loud everyone was talking. Too many other good restaurants nearby to go to Goombay’s again with a hope that today’s lackluster food was just an off...

This was a return visit since we found this amazing joint last year. I was eager to take our family this time, upon our return to the OBX. We arrived right at 4pm, was very easy to get a table within 5 mins. Your party must all be present to be seated. The hostess and the staff at the T-shirt counter were amazing. The waitress was a tad off. She seemed impatient and asked for everyone’s drink order but skipped me and left. I had two children I was trying to focus and tell me what they wanted to drink. Eventually she took my drink order upon return. I was a bit annoyed because I’m in the serving business as well at a hot spot restaurant…I know we all have our off days…but there was no genuine service for the entire meal. Our food was delicious and the kids loved the “surprise” in their drinks :) A very nice touch! At the end of service, our waitress brought our check. We had 5 adult 3 kids with us, never asked how we wanted the bill. Just handed it to us. So I tried to crunch out the tab of what we all got to figure what we all owed. She came over and asked us if we were ready. I politely responded, “not just yet. I’m trying to figure out what we each owe. What’s the sales tax here?” She quickly responded…”I don’t know. I can take multiple cards up if you need.” That still didn’t solve the issue as easily as just dividing the bill up into two…asking for which person/seat went on which bill. Was just very in-genuine…we were a simple “non-needy” group either. So not sure. We figured it out and just paid on one card and figured it out amongst ourselves. Not trying to be a Karen…just annoyed since I do it for a living. It was amazing service last year…especially at the bar! GREAT PLACE, GREAT OWNERS, GREAT FOOD…just need to reiterate customer service to some wait staff and it’s a 5 star cool joint to go to. Bill came to $247 for 3 cocktails, 2 kids meals, 5 adult meals, 2 kids “mock tails” & soft drinks. A decent outing. We will be back. Enjoy...

The worst service I have ever experienced in OBX. Avoid this place if you are hungry, have small children, or lack the patience of Job. #1) was not obvious where to check-in with hostess as the hostess was doing double duty selling T-shirts. #2) shorter than expected wait time was the one an only positive. #3) Waited over 30 minutes at our table before being greeted by a server. Saw people who got sat after us being served so I actually had to call the host over to ask if he could help and he said "I forgot to assign you to a server, it's my fault." Ok, thanks pal, now that it's your fault and you know there was a problem, what are you going to do about it? #4) Waitress comes and takes our order, we know everything we want including appetizer. It is the last time for 53 minutes we see our waitress. After watching several other tables who sat after us receive their meals and basically be done dinner, I finally call the host over again. I tell him we've been here over an hour (it is about 1:23 that we've been seated) and he tells me "Hey man, I'm not the owner", before saying he will check on it. He comes back out and informs me that our order has only been in 43 minutes and we should be patient. I told him if our dinner isn't out in 5 minutes we were leaving to which he responded, "You can leave now." Having been invited to leave I gathered my family and left. I will let you do your own math and imagine all the things the host/manager/"not the owner" COULD have done to make our stay and wait more enjoyable, not to mention our waitress. And, I hate leaving a terrible review because I know all restaurants like this are struggling right now - but this WAS NOT a being understaffed problem. This was a NOT BEING...