Pirates Landing — Restaurant in North Carolina

I, my friend, and my 3 children arrived here at 2:40pm this Friday, but 3pm is when they actually open. I called and a server kindly let us in to sit "anywhere we wanted" at 2:55pm. There were two couples that came in behind us and sat down as well. More than 30 minutes passed and I saw that the other two couples had received menus, drinks, and appetizers, while we had yet to even be acknowledged or receive a menu. We were totally ignored. At every single turn, our food and drinks arrived extremely late, while all of those around us were served promptly and thoroughly. We were in the restaurant over an hour before our actual order was taken. We were there 2 hours when our food was received and I asked to speak to the manager. My mother had arrived to eat with us shortly after 3pm and she is 68 years old, but was made to wait 2 hours to eat her dinner, not to mention the 13, 10, and 8 year-old. She is also a lifelong resident and business owner in Jonesville and we have both worked in restaurant service and management. To put it in her words, we simply "won't be back." We spoke to the manager, who mentioned several times how large the amount of our food order was, which makes me wonder strongly if he thought we were there for a free meal. We were not. My mother and friend each picked up their own bill, while I took care of mine and my kids. We saw countless diners arrive, order, eat, and leave while we were still waiting on our food. Now, let's talk staff. Our server was a kind person, but clearly had zero interest in us. He came to check on our table a sum total of one time during the entirety of our stay. Another female server saw and then completely ignored my friend as she was trying to get condiments for her meal, which took 10 minutes. The manager looked put out to speak with us, mentioned the bill several times, and then offered and withdrew a $30 gift certificate while then saying that "some" of the meal would be comped. To his benefit, he did listen to what we had to say and tried to lighten the mood, but the end result spoke for itself. I had a total credit of $3.50 on my $100 bill. My mother had her soda and my friend had an appetizer removed from her bill. The two young hostesses were discussing us and our table as my mother and I were stepping out for a cigarette, so I turned to address them and they were rude and defensive of the lack of service we had received. I had to walk out. Those young girls and essentially every member of staff who walked anywhere near us were giving us terrible looks and discussing us and the situation was entirely the fault of our server. Now about the food, my daughter's chopped sirloin was burned and my friend's steak was flavorless. I didn't even actually eat much, but what I did gave me terrible heartburn. The cheeseburgers looked absolutely sad. To the owners of this restaurant, shame on you for giving your manager what he said amounted to "very little" he could do in this situation. Of course, there were actually 3, not 1, paying patrons, but that is what he said. Also, shame on you for hiring those who are petty and judgemental and who would treat paying customers the way we were treated. I have visible tattoos and piercings, but am highly educated and independently wealthy, while also having been born and raised here. Again, my mother is a lifelong resident and owner of a successful business in town. Perhaps those working here did not think that by looking at us that we amounted to anything, but I will tell those shallow and unintelligent individuals that they can stuff that in the same manner they stuff a crab. We will...

We too use to love going to this place . My husband worked for Theofanis Kakouras for several years during our teenage years an early 20’s . We stopped going a while back because things just weren’t the same . Gave it a shot a few weeks back when they were packed an it was pretty good so we decided when we went to elkin lastnight we would eat there since it wasn’t to busy . Theo was there for a little while helping the cooks since his best cook is on vacation. No big deal … we had fillets we had crab legs chicken tenders cheeseburgers an a few other things … total was $153. And some change . The steak wasn’t even touched my kids didn’t take but a few bites out of their food my husband did eat the crab legs right before my daughter jumped up because there was roaches crawling on the table under her plate! Called the waitress over told her we wanted to speak to Theo that we wasn’t paying almost $200 when we didn’t even eat a lot of the items a roaches crawling around! The waitress told us Theo left a the manager was trying to call him . We waited and waited all for the manager to come tell us that she was sorry but Theo had told them if it’s over $75 it has to be paid regardless . I told her she could have Theo come back cause wasn’t no way we was paying that an hadn’t touched the $30 steaks a the freaking roaches crawling around our plates! Of course he didn’t answer the phone when they tried to call again so my husband tried calling him an got nothing . We ended up paying the $153 a some change an left letting others around us know what had took place. Bad customer service to ignore the fact that you have roaches crawling around peoples food an they don’t even eat it an come to you with concerns an you only care about your money an not the fact the food didn’t get eat or the fact you’ve got roaches . Just really made me look at his restaurants  an himself differently after being done that way. We will never eat at any of his places again . Had he handled things differently an not made us pay for food that wasn’t even ate an took concern in the bugs on our table I wouldn’t have made such a fuss but knowing he had no care other than the money . Says all anyone...

I’ve been a loyal customer for years and have always enjoyed their food and service and usually leave happy, but this time we were blindsided with an unexpected $2 charge for AN EXTRA PLATE. Not food, not a service, not a disposable cup they have to buy more of… a PLATE. And EMPTY plate with nothing on it. So we were literally charged $2 for air on a plate. I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous in all my life! We were never once told about this fee beforehand and would have declined the extra plate had we known. The manager was also absolutely no help whatsoever and just stared at us like she didn't care. Horrible customer service!

I will either be avoiding this establishment going forward, or will be bringing my OWN plate to use because apparently it now costs extra just to ask for one (I mean, I can go to dollar tree and buy a pretty plate for $1.25 and get to keep it, unlike their empty plates with nothing on them but air). People are struggling and don’t need extra fees tacked onto their bill for nothing (money that probably would have gone to the waiter’s tip)!

If this plate charge is to discourage people from sharing a meal, then it is really turning into a major money grab and shame on you! I mean, Carrabba's will portion half of our food on our own plates for us if we decide to share a meal, they even split the salad and they never charge extra for any of it. Wouldn't it be better to have customers come in and share a meal (which has gone up $5, BTW) then to not come in at all because it's too expensive? Sorry, Mr Theo, this is a BAD move and made loyal customers leave angry and feeling taken advantage of. My husband and I are not exactly feeling like returning at this point. There are other seafood restaurants out there that are cheaper and don't charge you extra...