Diamond Shoals Restaurant & Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Hatteras Island

Just had lunch here with my family. I wished we had picked a different restaurant.

The positives: we were seated right away as there was no wait this Friday afternoon. The food for the most part was pretty good! My husband enjoyed a cup of their “award winning” chowder and really liked their all you can eat salad bar. We ordered some appetizers to share: chicken wings, hush puppies, and fish bites…all were good. For entrees, we had the grilled mahi, fried grouper sandwich, grilled chicken wrap, and chicken tenders - again, all pretty tasty.

The negatives: The grilled mahi was grossly overpriced for the size that it was. That being said, as I stated above, it was good…just too expensive.

The biggest problem with this restaurant is the SERVICE, which was awful. It took awhile for our waitress to come and get our drink orders. Then it took awhile for her to circle back and get our food order. By then, it was clear that our waitress was not in a good mood today. She was extremely curt and every time we asked for something, it was as though we were a big burden for her. It got to a point in our meal that we wished there was a way of getting our own drink refills- so as not to have to bother her for anything. Our appetizers came and she did not come out with plates so that the 6 people in our group can share the appetizers. My 2 school aged daughters opened up their napkins to use as plates - even they sensed something was wrong with the waitress. One of my family members ordered the grill mahi with a side of French fries and collard greens. Instead of collard greens, green beans were brought out instead. He pointed this out to the waitress. She said that they were out of collard greens and said nothing else! I’m pretty sure when a restaurant is out of a side dish, it’s customary for the waitress to come and ask the customer what other side dish he’d want instead. For side dishes, they also have fries, waffle fries, onion rings, and mashed potatoes. There was no apology, no offer to get him something else. It was just a very matter of fact…this is what she brought out for him and that’s what he gets. What was most upsetting is approximately 15 minutes later, a gentleman 2 tables away got his meal with a side of collard greens!!

I don’t leave a lot of bad reviews. I think long and hard about what kind of rating I give a restaurant. I almost gave this restaurant a 2 star review because the service was just that bad. However, the food was decent…and therefore justifies a higher rating. I just hope that no one else gets the same kind of service my family and...

Executive Summary: Please don’t think you are going to call ahead and get a table ahead of time here. They have a confusing “call ahead” system versus a “reservation system”. The operations of the restaurant are chaotic and mismanaged. The food was definitely good, and the place is historic. It deserves better from its management and front of house staff. We recognize this is a seasonal establishment and that you may be the only game in town, but you have to be better than this. The food was decent but this was masked by the horrible service.

We were initially drawn to this seemingly historic establishment by its fabulous reviews and its long tradition. And let’s preface that most of us in our party have worked in hospitality/restaurants before and so we get it. Although immediately upon stepping into this establishment we began to see signs of chaos and mismanagement. We called ahead several hours before for a “call ahead” service for 6, and when we got to the restaurant before our “call ahead” time we were told our table would be ready promptly. Okay sure, it shouldn’t be more than a couple minutes because we called 8 hours ahead of time, right? The hostess and her staff were running around like their heads were cut off. After waiting 30 minutes following our “call ahead” time, we asked the general manager what was going on - we were told we would be sat “soon”. 15 minutes later we still found ourselves waiting and wondering how this establishment operated successfully. From there we witnessed 2 huge parties (talking a 14 top, and a 12 top versus our 6 top) walk in after we did and get seated as “WALK INS”. The front of house service was abysmal, and the general manager left a lot to be desired. We asked what is a “call ahead” versus a “reservation” she gave a non-exact answer. After we were seated, you could see signs of mismanagement left and right from things like the bartender running food and not actually pouring drinks, to the bus boys/girls interrupting our server 6 times while she was taking our order, to the the food runners delivering the wrong food to our table 3 times in a row. Our server meant well, and she tried hard and was nice, but was clearly overwhelmed and was slacking support from her peers and management. She also messed a few of our orders up but how can you blame her given the messy management and structure around her? What kind of rinky dink outfit are they...

I've been eating at Diamond Shoals since I was a kid, the breakfast is awesome but I had dinner the other night with my son and family, Edith sat us and was friendly as always...the food was great, had the shrimp and crabcake fried with a baked potato and slaw, delicious, had the broiled sheepshead and wow awesome, had a few sushi rolls which can't be beat (and you couldn't get that when I was growing up) ... the hushpuppies were some of the best I've ate anywhere.. now for the reason I couldn't give 5 stars.. a gentleman was our server,and he was lacking in customer service... we were pretty much ignored all night and getting a refill though we asked several times was like pulling teeth, as for friendly service if he had smiled or tried to be helpful it would had helped but I guess he thought we were tourists for he totally dissed us the entire night.. all I can say is ..what a shame for we spent 192 bucks for 4 dining.. and even though he didn't deserve a tip we still tipped him 40 bucks..does this mean I will never go back? No, as a matter of fact I just ordered food again tonight.. but I said ordered for I'll not dine in for our server made a special occasion an enjoyable experience , so for now on I'll enjoy food by takeout.. to those cooking in the kitchen keep up with the great food....it's definitely 5 star's plus..but as for...