Wicked Tuna @ 2nd Avenue Pier — Restaurant in Myrtle Beach

We were planning on visiting later in the week but with the thunderstorm that came through. We had to move our plans inside and ended up at Wicked Tuna. From other reviews, I am glad we stopped in because it was early enough to beat the crowds, so our food came out pretty fast.

The drinks were pricy, but we came for the food, so we looked past that, lol! The photographer, well, I wasn't thrilled about that, but we're on vacation, so I didn't gripe and kinda just paid the guy to get him away from the table. It felt "tourist trappy" if that is even a phrase. He comes by with the "free photograph" line, and of course, we are like, ok. Then he shows up with the one random photo with advertising all over it. But immediately pulls out a $45 package! Bait and switch?? Like I said, we're on vacation, so I just paid it to get him away from the table.

Unfortunately, I didn't grab any pictures because I had a great time with my wife and daughters. Thinking back, I wish I did because the presentation of the meals was very well thought out!

We had the devil egg, calamari, and the bang bang grouper for appetizers. In order of preference, I will say the devil egg was fantastic! I wasn't expecting an avocado studded with crab meat to be so good! Then the calamari, I mean fried octopus, you really can't mess that up. And finally, the grouper. The texture seemed off, but the sauce was very tatsy.

I had to drop our service down a star because, as I mentioned earlier l, it was raining, and then the roof started leaking as we were sitting seaside next to the windows. Our waitress didn't seem excited about moving us, and then we asked where her section was, didn't want to cheat her out of her tip, she was like I'm not sure?? Between that comment and the one about the roof is always leaking, it would have caused me to leave under normal circumstances. But trying to keep it upbeat, we pulled the table away from the window and switched seats so my wife wouldn't get wet.

My daughter's order sushi, I had the prime seafood scallops, and my wife had the grilled seafood platter. The presentation of the dishes was very nice, and even the plates, which were shaped like oysters, just added to the overall ambiance of the meal. Again, I wish I had taken pictures, but the other reviewers have posted plenty. No complaints with dinner. No odd smells, not overcooked and tasty. It's just the right amount of seasoning so as to not hide the taste of the ocean!

We finished up with dessert, a blackberry cheesecake, chocolate mouse cake, a type of lemon cake, and tiramisu. Pretty nice ending.

Between the pictures and the meal, I paid about $400. Seems pricey, but I figure the price of seafood fluctuates based on the market. Besides, my ladies enjoyed themselves, and you can't really put a price...

Starting off the atmosphere is not all that as when you walk in it is very confusing on where to check in and as a fine dining restaurant you are walking in to a smelly staircase, random people with bathing suits on, and not a lot of parking. We got seated and the table was missing silver ware, our waiter Taylor came over and we asked for more silver ware for the 2 that was missing and he brought 6 more and napkins in which you have to fold yourself and they are more like paper towels. The service from him was slow and minimal as we already had two pitchers of water on the table, so he didn’t have to fill water, after we were done with our menus we put them in a pile and put the non necessary silverware with it he had said he would get it but then walked past our table with everything on it about 7 times and started cleaning a table with no customers, so we had to move the stuff off ourselves as he never came to do it. Following this, our food came out which he did not bring so that was another regular aspect of dining especially fine dining that he did not do; Additionally a 22 dollar burger that comes with lettuce and tomato had no tomato on it and the piece of lettuce was almost sad as it was smaller than a hush puppy which was also undercooked. When we received the bill there were multiple taxes and fees on it including a facilities/operation fee and a 20 percent automatic service charge that was not clearly stated anywhere that we could find. When we asked the waiter what it was he said it automatically comes with a large party which is 5 or more, however I have never heard of a party of 5 being large as that is most families which is absurd. We asked to see the manager and he came over and was very rude, non accommodating, and unprofessional. As he kept saying that the waiter should be compensated for the service, but as the customer we did not receive the fine dining service that should be expected when going to an establishment that withholds themselves as fine dining and charged those prices for average food. After we basically had to argue with the manager as he was extremely rude he walked away and we felt the conflict was unresolved so when we said that it wasn’t he aggressively turned around and came back to the table and told us that he couldn’t let us not tip which we never said and then finally after we were upset now with him he gave 10 percent off the bill. However, our experience was ruined and we walked out regretting our decision to go to this establishment as it is a tourist TRAP and a complete and utter disappointment if you are looking for fine dining experience on vacation! If you are looking for good food, good service, and a good environment go to...

We were pretty happy with our dining experience. We stopped in for an early dinner and were immediately seated near the windows overlooking the beach. We got the Water-Melon and Strawberry Kiwi Mojito cocktails with an order of Pork Gyoza, Seaweed Salad, Mussels, and a Salmon Crunch Roll. Pros: -Overall each dish was very tasty and we finished just about everything we ordered. -The food came out quickly and all at the same time (which we prefer). -The portions were great; I've never had such a large serving of seaweed salad, which is one of my faves! -The gyoza was yummy, crispy on the outside but still juicy and flavorful on the inside. Plenty of sauce too. -You get a discount on the cost of walking the attached pier if you show your receipt from the restaurant. Cons: -The restaurant was pretty warm even though they had several blinds closed/lowered and 2 large fans going. It was slightly uncomfortable. -There were mutliple errors on the menu. "Avacado" instead of avocado, "freid" instead of fried, and more punctuation errors/missing spaces as well. -The entrees seemed a little pricey ($40-50) which is why we ordered from the app and sushi menu because we ended up getting 4 dishes and 2 cocktails for about the same price as 2 entrees alone. -I ordered the Mussels and they were kinda spicy even though the menu didn't say anything about it. It was described as a "creamy tomato bacon broth," and I also did not taste bacon. The spice wasn't a problem for us, still ate all of them. My husband had a couple and didn't notice the spice (he loves spicy) and they were piping hot so I thought maybe that was why but after eating the rest of them I still thought they were kinda spicy. So just be cautious about ordering them or mention something to the waiter if you prefer zero spice. Ultimately I wouldn't order them again because I just didn't think the flavor profile held up as well as the classic garlic and white wine broth, but kudos for them trying...