Sandbar & Grille, inc. — Restaurant in North Carolina

My wife and I ate at Sandbar and Grille last night and I can tell you now that we will not be back. I would love to regale you with stories of flavorless or improperly cooked meals, unsanitary conditions, or watered down cocktails. But no, all that was generally fine. I will tell you about the service we received at this establishment, which was satisfactory (at best) up until we were asked to leave. Allow me to start at the beginning.

My wife and I decided to go to Sandbar and Grille while staying in Avon. We happened to be in the Outer Banks at the same time as some friends of ours from West Virginia who are about to move across the country. We met up with them and another couple at this restaurant, partly because of the good reviews, and party because of the convenient location between us. We arrived at 5:30 PM and ordered drinks at the waitresses leisure. There was not much rush for us, so I have no complaints with this or the fact that we ordered our dinners about 20 minutes after arriving. We enjoyed our meals and there were no major complaints with any of the food. Service was normal - my wife never got the hot sauce she asked for with her potato, but I have come to expect such things by now.

Our plates were cleared, mine as I finished my last bite, and our checks were brought by someone other than our waitress a few minutes later. I should have picked up on some cues at this point, but I did not. We paid, but sat and visited for a few minutes, as I believe is normal. As I mentioned, we are on vacation and trying to visit with some friends who are in the same place out of coincidence, and who we may not see for some time. At about 7:10 PM our waitress approached me. She told me that there were other people waiting for a six-top, who had been waiting longer than they were told, so it would be great if we could wrap it up.

Let me be clear, I understand that restaurants get busy. However, I cannot remember a time where I have ever been asked to leave an establishment because of this. We'd been seated for an hour and forty minutes, which I do not think is exorbitant. Our table spent a few hundred dollars this evening between drinks and our entrees, and honestly I am extremely angry and disappointed that after paying our bills we would be ushered out the door as if we had been loitering about the bar, drinking free refills on sodas. And to be frank, the table next to us was empty, and was also a six-top. There was nobody waiting at the door, possibly they were at the bar, but there wasn't a mass of patrons waiting in the entrance that I could see.

Honestly, I'm not sure why our party received the treatment that we did, but I was happy with our service and meal up until they asked us to hurry up and leave. Doing so completely ruined my experience. Not only will I not return but I will be certain, when asked for recommendations in this area, to share with others the treatment we received at...

My fiance left a review earlier but I just wanted to add to It, we had such a good time. We are locals and we have both worked in restaurants on the island especially down south. It was an amazing experience. We have only come here twice in the past 4 years. The first time was good but this time was beyond fun. We don't go out too much anymore especially with it being the begining of the season. It is definitely worth the money we spent. The portion sizes were good. Compliments to the kitchen. Overall the best service was from our waitress Carley. We came in around 730 and we felt like we were being a bother because I believe y'all closed at 800. We asked a lot of questions about the food and drinks at such a late hour and she responded very well and reinsured is that it was okay and they often stay late sometimes. We stayed till almost 900. We asked if it was okay if we got 1 more drink at 845 and she said it was not an issue. If you ask me that's top notch customer service. I left a decent tip because of the service and I hope she thinks so too. We also had a 2 year old with us tonight which was 03/26/2024. She was interactive with him and kept him entertained for about a couple minutes at the time given it was slow. She was very nice and we will definitely ask for her again. Overall a wonderful and fun experience especially with it being so late. We didn't feel rushed at all and a 10/10. Definitely recommend to anybody visiting the island. Shout out to Carley 🤙😁❤️ P.S. to the owner, please make sure she sees this review and give her praises. She is an...

8/26/2024 - Had to wait for a table(for 2), so we sat at the bar to wait. The man behind the bar saw we were waiting for a table so was in no hurry to serve us. We were contemplating what cocktail we would like to get and when he finally came over we started with just waters until we decided. He served everyone around us refills on their drinks, appetizers, etc. Finally came back and brought our waters. At that point I was a little frustrated because I knew he wasn’t bothering with us because, in his mind, we weren’t making him any money with waters. When I went to tell him what cocktail I wanted, he immediately walked away and never gave me the opportunity to order. So we didn’t. About 15 minutes passed, he never came back and our table was ready. Waitress stopped and told us specials. The table ahead/beside us ordered and she was very talkative with them. We ordered. It did not take long for food to arrive. The steamed shrimp was mushy. Waitress served table beside us who had ordered the high dollar special. She was very attentive to them. Never came back to our table to ask how our dinner was or if we needed anything. I tried to get her attention about the mushy shrimp to no avail. There were probably half that were not mushy, so I settled. She brought our check. Never asked if we needed or wanted anything else/dessert. But the table beside us was well taken care of. Waitress was middle age- short dark hair pulled back with a clip/pin of some sort. We have been here many time in the past and never felt this way. All in all - ya, we...