Sugar Shack Fish Market Oyster Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Nags Head

DON'T GO HERE FOR SEAFOOD. We went here because the ratings were good, but they shouldn't be. It was horrible.

Several of us wanted to get the Fish and Chips platter, assuming that it must be the standard "fish and chips meal" like every other restaurant that has a platter with that name. (You know, The Fish and Chips dish is always Fish and French Fries, but it goes by the English name for fries due to the place that it originated, hence, Fish and Chips). There aren't even real menus actually, the items are just printed on beat up pieces of paper, they didn't even make the effort to laminate it.

Anyway, when I went to the counter and ordered the Fish and Chips, the lady asked me if I wanted a sandwich. I was confused, because a "fish and chips sandwich" sounds silly and it is not an item on the menu, so I pointed to the menu item to show her what I meant. I also ordered a drink. She asked me what side I wanted with my meal. I said: "Oh, I thought that the side was the fries! Does it come with the fries AND another side?" she said yes, so I ordered another side.

My brother and dad heard what she said, so they ordered the same thing along with their sides.

When the woman came to give everyone their drinks, she pointed to me and said: "You didn't order a drink, right?" I said that I did, and reminded her. My brother also had to remind her what he ordered to drink twice, she wanted to give him the wrong thing. We were the only ones there btw, it was not busy.

She brought out my brother and dad's "Fish and Chips" meals first. There were no "chips" in sight. Just sad, triangular pieces of fish on flimsy paper plates and the other side that they ordered with the meal (fried okra).

Mine came the same way. I spoke up and asked where the fries were. She said that she had told me the wrong information, and because I ordered another side (as she instructed me to when I asked), that it did not come with the chips. I said: "Well that isn't what you told me, and I would like the chip part of the fish and chip meal that I ordered, please." I also told her that my dad and brother ordered the same thing, and they were confused where the other part of their meal was.

She ignored the part about my dad and brother and proceeded to bring me one side of seasoned potato chips in a paper basket. I have never been to a restaurant in my life where a "fish and chips" dish came with American potato chips. Fish and chips is one of my favorite meals and I have never had someone bring out sad potato chips with that dish at any other restaurant.

I didn't say anything because I guess the menu didn't specify one way or the other what kind of chip it was technically, but they should really specify that on the menu because literally nobody at the table who ordered that meal was expecting what we got. (Or didn't get, because my dad and brother never got their side of "chips" at all).

Our plastic utensils were poor quality and brittle, and they kept breaking repeatedly while we were trying to eat our food. The fish was rubbery and flavorless. We were really disappointed. Not only was it the most expensive meal that my family ordered on our trip thus far, but it was also the worst.

My dad brought up his and my mom's cup for a refill of tea, and asked the lady if he could have a lid for the plastic disposable cups they came in so he could take them to-go. The lady tried to give him only one lid and she was going to fill both the drinks with Dr. Pepper before he stopped her and reminded her of the correct drink again. This lady needed to get it together.

My brother went to throw his trash away in the large trash can beside the table, but noticed that it had no bag in it. We mentioned it to the lady and she said she would get it later.

I also want to mention that my adult sister's drink (water) for some reason came in a tiny kiddie cup when everyone's other drinks (which came after hers) were in normal sized cups?? It was weird that they gave only her a little baby cup. Why?

Edit: We're all feeling a bit sick after eating here. Go...

Honestly, I would rate zero stars if I could. I don't know why anyone would rate this place so highly. I saw some other reviews saying the owenership changed, so maybe that's why it's not good anymore. We went here due to the good reviews, but it should not be rated as high as it is. When you order Fish and Chips, you expect the British dish of Fish and Chips with the "Chips" being French Fries as we call them in the USA. Not Fish and Potato Chips, which would be fine if they'd actually specified that they were talking about Potato Chips, but they didn't. We even asked if they were French Fries, and the waitress lied and said yes. Apparently, this place never learned what fish and chips actually mean. The seafood we ordered, supposedly fresh local flounder with our Fish and (Potato) Chips, was flavorless and rubbery, we paid over $9.00 for mozarella sticks that were super low quality and store-bought, the plastic cutlery is the cheapest I've ever seen and are so brittle they snap with just the slightest pressure applied, and everything is ridiculously overpriced even for a seafood place in a tourist town. You could easily go to a far more upscale place for seafood for these prices and you'd get much better quality! I didn't expect this place to be a Michellin Star restaurant or anything, but it's pretty bad when a fast food chain's "seafood" tastes better compared to this place. Then there were problems with the staff, namely our waitress. The waitress we had couldn't remember anything we said, the "Lunch Special" price isn't any different than the normal meal price, and the waitress messed up our orders then ignored us when we asked whether or not we got the right things. I mean, they didn't even have a trashbag in the only trash can available. You know a place is bad when the parking lot is empty at lunchtime. Please don't go here. There are so many better options for seafood around that are much more reasonably priced and have staff that...

We’ve been doing takeout from Sugar Shack for a number of years when we’re in Nags Head. The fish is usually fresh and freshly prepared, perfect for a quick takeout dinner.

This year, we were surprised to see an online ordering option which we quickly took advantage of. It was nice to be able to place an order online early in the day for a dinner time pickup, and other than a little confusion about menu options (which necessitated a quick call that easily resolved the confusion), the online ordering was easy.

I arrived at the appointed pick up time, and was immediately told it would be 15 more minutes as they were in the middle of a rush. (The three young men working there were clearly working as fast as they could to fill orders!). In the meantime, I enjoyed checking out the small inside, complete with fresh fish displayed) and a walk around the surrounding dock.

We finally got our order about 20-25 minutes after the requested time. After a five minute drive back to the house, we dug in. The fried entrees in our order were all good, except for an order of fried okra which still had some raw batter. The grilled entrees were okay, but overcooked, ranging from mildly overcooked to nearly inedible. Out of our nine entree orders, all were correct except for one which had an incorrect side.

Overall, this was a disappointing experience from a place we’ve loved over the years. We’ll certainly try again, but I hope for a much...