Miller's Waterfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Nags Head

We were in OBX with friends for one night and chose to stop here for dinner. In hindsight, we would’ve been better off going somewhere else, but we made the most of it. When we arrived around 5pm-ish, we were told it’d be an hour long wait, but we could wait around back where there was live music, a mini bar, and the option to order appetizers. We took them up on this and it ended up being the best part of the evening. There were several areas to sit right along the water, a boardwalk, live jams in the corner, and plenty of waitresses to take our orders. Our apps arrived timely and we enjoyed the breeze, views, apps, drinks, and good conversation. Then our buzzer went off announcing our table was ready, so we grabbed what we hadn’t consumed yet and headed up the back stairs into the building. We were seated near the back with a great view, but it was super hot and super crowded. (I know, it was our choice to go in July). We were given full menus to view and once we placed our orders, it took almost an hour to get our food. Once it arrived, my disappointment set in. I ordered the surf and turf with a medium rare steak and broiled crab cake. It came with veggies and mashed potatoes as sides. I am by no means a picky eater and was saddened to find the sides lacked flavor and inspiration, the crab cake had shells in it that scraped the roof of my mouth, and the steak was the toughest piece of meat to cross my plate in years. I know shells are a hazard with seafood, but it was the final straw. I explained my feelings to the waitress (she was wonderful) and she offered to take my plate and remove the charge from my bill. My friend had ordered the same thing, but instead of a crab cake, she ordered fried shrimp. Her steak was overcooked and tough as well, so she asked the waitress to take it back. The waitress removed our plates and a manager then came over to the table and talked with us. She apologized for the food and the steak, saying their quality of steak hadn’t been that good recently, and said a full refund would be issued to me and that she’d take $5.00 off my friends dinner for the steak. That told us all we needed to know about the quality of the steak. My wife and other friend enjoyed their main dish (shrimp, broiled and fried), but didn’t care for the sides either. The veggies were a mix of soggy squash and zucchini strips (my guess frozen then steamed) and the mashed potatoes were dry and lukewarm. However, their ahi tuna nachos were fabulous, and my friends enjoyed their hush puppies and calamari. I recommend sticking with the appetizers and the outside area if you venture out...

There are a lot of thoughts on this place. Let me start with the fact that it was an hour and a half wait. Missed the sunset while eating, couldn't make a reservation. We got here at 6 hoping to watch the sunset, and we didn't get to. We were a table of seven... but I still feel like how they run this place needs some oil.

The hostess didn't give me a lot of options. I said I wanna sit outside, I want to see the sunset while we eat. She said it would be forty minutes to an hour. I agreed to that time period, that was fine. We went around the corner, got drinks, and waited outside at the waterfront. And yes it was beautiful, but we watched that sun go down and didn't get seated til it was dark.

Next, the bar we got drinks at, those poor bartenders were understaffed and didn't have a great system in place. They need more help, and there needs to be a better system for customers to get drinks. I felt confused and underhelped. And some guests got into fights about who was in line first. It also took nearly 20 minutes to get one drink! And I overheard a hostess say it wasn't really busy, and she stood around talking to a friend while I waited patiently. On the plus side, the drinks were good! I got the Painkiller and my friend's coconut marg was also good. But I really recommend the watermelon mule.

Next, after an hour and a half of patiently waiting, they tried to split my party up!!!! That was when I almost started a fight with the staff. I contained my frustrations, and the hostess ran over and cleaned the bigger table off for us. But that wasn't until I asked if we could just get seated at a window inside with a view!!! She said to me "I mean you could go check if they have availability" and I about lost it. That isn't how you treat guests who waited an HOUR AND A HALF just to be seated. They definitely could have had better communication and gotten us sat down faster.

Next: The food was good! That brought my rating from 3 stars to a four. And the waitress was very sweet. But I will say the crab was a bit expensive for what you got. I am full, but I felt like I've gotten a lot more for a lot less in the past. And I thought on the website there was mention of kingcrab. But there was only snow crab so :/ but $44 bucks for a pound of crab was the most expensive I've seen.

Lastly, why the hell am I charged extra for using my credit card?! At a high end restaurant? Who pays for their meal with cash? That's a scam.

Overall, I don't know if I would come back. But the sunset was gorgeous and the crab was good. The hushpuppies were awesome! The crab dip was great! And the flounder was...

The food here was outstanding! Chose this place based on reviews, was looking for some fresh seafood, something a little more special for our last night meal on our week long vacation. This place delivered, and was a great decision! So thank you all for your reviews! We started with the she crab soup, it was excellent, fresh crab, hot, and had great flavor! I had the seafood trio: oysters, shrimp, and scallops. It was great, good flavor, the scallops were cooked right and were soft, had great flavor: highly recommend!! I also had a crab cake to try, it was full of fresh real crab meat, not filler, had great flavor, it was quite big, and was delicious! Family member had the waterfront style scallops: it had lump fresh crab meat piled on them and smothered with a creamy cheese sauce, I also highly recommend that! The scallops were very soft and flavorful, really cooked just right. This place is great, the food was outstanding, and I highly recommend it! I did have 2 minor things though: 1 - it was extremely loud: I could barely talk to person sitting next to me at the same table, and had to yell pretty loud for the person across the table to hear me, which I couldn’t hear them back (and I don’t have hearing problems). To put this in perspective, at one point we started texting each other because we couldn’t make out what the other was saying. 2 - it was hot, at one point it was 80 degrees (seen on thermostat on wall) and felt like an oven. Mentioned to our waitress about the heat and within a few minutes I felt the air turn on - it got down to 73 by the time we left. This was one of the more expensive seafood restaurants we tried on this trip, as was expected, but it was worth it!!! Also, this restaurant is on the sound side of the island. So we were able to enjoy the colors of the sunset, but it was mostly clouded out so we didn’t get any good pictures. Most of the time you would get a very nice...