Austin Fish Co — Restaurant in Nags Head

We ordered a large seafood boil for our family of 7. Upon arrival for pick up, the staff member that grabbed our food from the kitchen was super nice. The cashier however was completely unfriendly and incapable of doing her job efficiently. I had three prepaid gift cards (two with $100 on them each and one with $50) that I wanted to use towards my $400 bill. She begrudgingly took them, complaining the entire time of how time consuming this was when there was such a line behind me (there were people inside but nobody was actually waiting behind me ready to check out). I did not ask to break my payment up with specific amounts onto multiple cards. This was a matter of swiping three gift cards which quickly deducted the available amount on the card off my total and then it said my balance due was $150 and change. She got out sticky notes and a calculator to determine what my remaining balance was, despite the cash register clearly giving that information. We paid the balance with cash, which resulted in more calculator usage to determine my change…. The cash register did all this for her too - I could see it on the receipt. It was ridiculous and I was told again she’s not normally allowed to do things like this, it takes too long. I don’t know, I wasn’t being difficult and I hate to be made to feel like I am, especially when I’m spending $400 somewhere.

We had clams, mussels, crab legs, shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob. All the seafood was cooked really well. It was delicious. The potatoes were horrible - almost completely uncooked. The corn on the cob was really bad, like it had been dehydrated or something. The kernels were all shriveled up and dried out. The sausage was okay. Obviously the seafood was the star of this meal, so overall we were happy with everything. And if the cashier had not been so horrendous to deal with, I probably would have left a 5 star review and never even mentioned the potato/corn issue. We will definitely try another spot next time...

Good prices, it's crowded but the best in the area, I bought a little over a pound of shrimp, reasonable at $7.99 a pound. Though next time I'l get not the medium sz. For they did shrink when steamed , flavor was good but the shrimp were just a tad to soft, I say this as a native of Hatteras, whose family has fished &crabbed & shrimp'd my entire life... the small piece of fish I purchased was delicious, I wish I had bought more of that.. it was definitely fresh, so be sure you ask for the fresh catch of the day, and try to go in between hours, after 10am, before lunch..and after 2pm before 5pm. Then it wont be so crowded. Haven't tried lunch but I'v heard it's worth doing and prices I saw listed is what you'd pay at a fast food resteraunt , and your supporting a local establishment. So enjoy.. and call ahead for big orders to go... or eat outside picnic style, they have tables and it's all neat and clean. Enjoy, and remember even if some of the employees don't seem the friendliest, it's proabaly because there so busy, it is nice to go back regularly and be remembered but if your not, your there for the seafood, not the ambivalence ' and if the waitstaff that waits on you if eating there, isn't the best, then I always say... well its there tip there missing out on, but if there good, 'remember it's 20percent, they do deserve it, for that's how they make there...

We have been going to the Outer Banks for 6 years and have never cooked fresh fish before. We have paid a fortune in restaurant food over the years and this year we decided to try cooking our own. We stopped in 3 different fish markets and this one had the best prices by far. We were staying in south Nags Head, so this wasn't the closest fish market, but we went there twice and bought raw shrimp, steamed shrimp, yellow fin Tuna, red snapper, swordfish, crab cakes and even with buying beer and wine and all the rest of the meal fixings, we still spent half what a restaurant meal for the 5 of us (all adults) would have been. The lady even told me how to cook swordfish when I asked. We were there in September, so their fryers were turned off, but during the summer season, they have fried seafood for takeout. Our only choice for pre-cooked was steamed shrimp which was lightly seasoned and delicious. I'm not knocking the local restaurants and we will still go out once or twice, but our main source of locally caught fresh seafood will be Austin Fish Company market...