Fish Heads Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Nags Head

Late review, but had to share my experience. Get ready for a novel. 🙃 My girlfriend and I dined 6/29 for lunch while hanging on the beach waiting to get in our rental for the week with my family. I believe it was Kelly C? who took care of us. May have the last initial wrong, but regardless, her and the rest of the staff were amazing. From the back of house, front of house and in between, the staff handles the mobs of hangry, tired vacationers like true pros. For the amount of people that line up and wait for them to open on key rental turnover days like Saturday and Sunday they keep the place rocking. Food is always amazing and served as quickly as possible. Whether by your waiter/waitress or another staff member helping run food and drinks to you. They all do it efficiently, with a smile and a great vibe. Saturday was their local caught tuna special either a sandwich or tacos. My girlfriend got the tacos and couldn’t stop making noise about how fresh and packed full it was. I got the sandwich cooked rare and it literally melted in my mouth. So fresh and a huge tuna steak. The sweet potato waffle fries are always a must for us when we go. We also got a couple carafes of mimosas too. They made them proper! More bubbles than juice like it should be. We ended our week there as well for dinner on 7/6. We knew it would be mobbed and would have a wait, but my girlfriend wanted those tuna tacos again and I’m always down for anything on the menu. (I got the grilled shrimp tacos🔥🤤.) We were told our wait would be 45-1hr. Got seated 50mins after putting my name down which was right on time from what they said. Which, we knew what was going to happen being we are seasoned customers and again this place stays packed! While waiting there though I couldn’t help but notice the amount of people going up to the hostesses and hounding them about when their table will be ready. Complaining to the rest of their party after putting their names down. These women at the host stand handled them all with smiles even when some people were being real pushy or copping attitudes. It’s crazy some people either lack all patience or never worked a service job a day in their life, and it shows. Hats off to the staff and all involved keeping that place rocking. It is a must stop every time we go down there and it is always solid and exceeds expectations. If you read this and plan to check it out for the first time remember some key things: 1. You will never be the only person there. Just look around. This place is packed for a reason, and it’s not just the scenery. 2. Be patient. When it’s packed you will be waiting. The kitchen is moving as fast as they can, the servers and hosts are literally doing everything in their power to make sure you have what you need, and they all do a damn good job. 3. Don’t be the person who constantly ask the host about your table. They have no control over the people at the tables and how long they are eating and drinking. If you are concerned and in a hurry. Keep track of the time of wait they give and when that time is up give it 10 mins more. Then it’s perfectly reasonable to ask, but don’t hover and hound them.

All in all just be kind. tip good (they work hard) and be chilllllllll. You’re on the beach, on a pier. You made it to vacation. Enjoy the scenery and get ready for a top notch meal! Thanks Fish Heads. See you again...

I actually ordered twice to make sure my first experience was not an anomaly. I read the reviews and was excited to sample the excellently reviewed food. My first experience was as a customer of the pier, and in the mid-afternoon, I placed an order for what I thought would be a great break during my fishing. I ordered the blackened tuna bite tacos. I created a note that would pick up when ready. At the prescribed time, I walked to the restaurant to retrieve my order. When I went to the counter I told the waitress I had an online order. She looked behind her and he handed me a bag. Nothing was said. Nothing. The tuna seemed less than sashimi grade, was extremely rare, and had no sear to the outside at all. There were two plain flour tortillas filled with raw, unseasoned small chunks, accompanied by what appeared to be a store-bought mayonnaise slaw mix. Lacked any originality and was cold. Was also presented with a condiment cup of lower-quality yellow rice also lacking flavor. Very disappointed but tried to remember it was off-season and later afternoon around 3 pm. The tuna bite tacos reminded me of frozen tuna from a big box store not thoroughly defrosted. I did not ask to speak to a manager or complain as I was still fishing and thought it may be a fluke. Fast forward a few hours and the family wanted to try. We ordered the appetizer southwest egg rolls, crab cake sandwich, shrimp basket, fish basket, and family fries. As I was going to check out I noticed that after I chose the crab cake sandwich the item on the menu showed out of stock online. So we called. We were told that there was one crabcake sandwich left for our order. I proceeded to the restaurant and to the bar carryout area. A young lady then asked if I had called in an order online and I stated that we had. She said that they had tried to call me (this is within 3 miles of our home) to say that they were out of crab cakes. I questioned her as we had just confirmed the crab cake was available. She said they had been running low and asked if I wanted a replacement sandwich. I had to feed my family so I said yes and asked what was available. She told me to look at the sandwich menu. I did but was also did not want the remaining orders to get cold while something else was being prepared. I opted for the tuna salad sandwich for expediency's sake. After a few minutes, a bag was placed on the table in front of me with nothing said and then the waitress approached me with a receipt for refunding the crab cake sandwich due to being out of stock, and then proceeded to hand me a new bill for the tuna sandwich for $14 and said there was a price difference. The price difference was a full-price tuna sandwich with no apologies or discount for their issues with portion control and availability of product after verbally confirming the order. At home, the shrimp basket appeared to be a few low-quality store-bought breaded shrimp, fries, and slaw. Overcooked mass-produced breaded shrimp. The fish basket was again low quality, the same size commercial breaded fish rectangles of small proportion. Family fries were commercial fries deep Fried with condiment cups of sauce. The balsamic sauce was one of the worst attempts at a balsamic that I have ever tasted. In summary, not fresh, not good and they...

I just got back from my first trip to OBX and it was amazing!! I ordered the coconut shrimp and my boyfriend ordered the fish tacos they were both absolutely fantastic!! The shrimp had a wonderful coconut flavor, the fries were extra crispy and super delicious, and the one bite I got of my boyfriend's fish was flavorful and flaky! The music was great and just the right volume so you could still talk and hear the ocean crashing beneath you. I highly recommend this restaurant!! I read a review about a woman's experience from last week and you all scolded her for speaking about what happened. I was there that night and I really didn't pay attention to most of what was happening around me because I was having such a good time. But at some point out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very slim young man jump up and lean over the edge of the pier when he turned back around he was wiping his mouth so I assume he got sick. I also saw a girl and a woman at the table shaking their heads no to the waiter. I focus my attention back on my boyfriend. When we exit the pier this group of people are hanging around outside, I stop to take some photos and I hear the older man who is holding a beer getting loud with the younger man his tone was very aggressive and the younger man started speaking aggressively back. I decided it was time to leave before I witnessed anything that would ruin my vacation. I get you want good reviews and yes maybe someone should have stepped up and said hey this guy has had too much to drink but shouldn't your wait staff have noticed he was too intoxicated especially if someone at the table is telling them no? Is it possible that no one wanted a conflict and that's why he kept getting served alcohol? Is it also possible that the wait staff was too busy to see that the young man was drinking from the other man's cup? Mistakes could have been made by your employees and you made a customer who was leaving an honest review seem like a bad person for reporting it from the safety of her...