John's Drive In — Restaurant in Kitty Hawk

This is a drive-up, order at the window, wait around, get your name called, grab your food and go kinda beach place. Just perfect for the area. I drove up and parked right in front and ordered at the window. I was told the dolphin bite basket was probably their most popular thing (and the folks in front of me ordered it) so I got it, too. It comes with a side + hushpuppies; I got coleslaw. You can also get fries or fried okra (normally I'm a fried okra fan, but I had seen from other google posts that they looked like your typical, frozen fried okra and I've had that too many times. My apologies to John's if they batter and fry their okra there). I also ordered a large, chocolate shake. I then stood by my car (they have few benches to wait on, most people wait in their car with the window down to hear their names called). The ordering process is simple enough, order off the large chalkboard. This place, by the way, has so many things other than burgers. Anyway, the reason I took a star away from the service is that they do that thing where they rotate the screen so you can add a tip. I'm so over that and don't usually patronize businesses that still do that. My name was called and I sat in my car to eat. BTW, there is a nice picnic table seating area around back, too far to hear your name called, but perfect to go and sit and eat. First, the shake wasn't great. It seems to be handmade but it is from soft-serve, so it has that soft-serve artificial, McDonald's taste about it. Not my favorite. When it was done, however, there was clearly chocolate syrup in it so it is hand-spun, not just a shake machine thing. The food was great. I got four pieces of dolphin hand battered and fried in an almost funnel cake-like batter. The flavor of the fish came through and the frying was top-notch. The hushpuppies were a delight: sweet cornbread with a thin fry crust reminiscent of a corn-dog. Yummy. The coleslaw was not the star of the show. Good, but I think it needed to be wetter with more slaw dressing. I would definitely go back. I think the okra deserves a try at least, and I want to know how their burgers compare to that place down south...

I’ve been going to John‘s drive-in for decades since I was a little kid the new owners I thought I was cool with today. I ordered my food and Jason Jorden freaked out on me and scolded me in and told me I had to wear a shirt when I come on the premises to order now remind you they are on the beach and everybody’s walking around half naked for some reason I was nice to his daughter And just made a comment about her tattoo because I’m a tattoo artist well that freaked her out and I I’m just this horrible person to the point where her dad had to scold me in the parking lot I tried to talk to him. I tried to stare in this man’s eyes, and he would not look at me. He would not accept my apology and he would not talk to me like a man he would not look me in the eye because he knew what he was doing was wrong if I did anything to disrespect his daughter, he would’ve put his hands on me instead of giving me some weird lecture. I will never go back to this property. They made me feel very unwelcome. You lost my business forever there...

Used to be good prior to take over. Visited weekend open in April and waitiwas long but ok. Owner or manager seemed to be picking out friends, from the crowd, waiting and handing out merchandise. Never witness him speak to anyone he didn't know. Second visit on May 1 and 2 orders of fries packaged up for call in togo and back to house in few minutes. Fries were raw and frozen so we decided to return, since just a block away, pricey fries, and quite surprised by actions of employees upon my arrival. They(employees) knew the order was not up to standards, and were a bit hostile. The girl at the window, took the fries to the cook, he opened and threw them across the kitchen to some random trash can, I guess. Well, if you been here before, the front is all open glass and this was completely visible to everyone around. Since it was almost closing time they offered no refund, since we left the premises, no fries, since it was too late and gave us a to go of dried hushpuppies. Years of coming here and this is the...