Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar — Restaurant in North Carolina

I sincerely dislike leaving negative reviews but in this case I believe it is warranted. Me and a friend, who I catch up with around once to twice a year, decided to eat at Shuckin Shack due to the reputation of their great seafood in the area. Upon arriving I noticed their menu had changed. Not much for change but giving it a try I noticed they had taken a lot of local favorites off the menu. Willing to compromise I had made my selection prior to my friend arriving. Once we greeted each other we began talking and catching up, ordering drinks periodically throughout our conversation. The waitress had approached us twice woth patience, not ready to order yet we kept talking and catching up. Shortly after the waitress approached us for the second time a man I had met with the same disregard and candor, at a previous visit with family, approached our table rather aggressively and asked us if we were ready to order. Feeling rushed and disrespected we began combing the menu, while I had my option ready I was giving my friend time as it was her first visit. He then came back less than 1 minute later practically demanding we have our order ready. We made our order in haste to basically "get rid" of his negative presence and continue our conversation. Our original waitress returned with the food at a reasonable amount of time later and always made sure we were taken care of, while the man, turns out his name is Dan, kept clearing our things very shortly after we were done with them, and mostly without asking. Overall, I am not impressed with the new menu, the waitresses are doing their best despite Dan's negative influence, and I feel like this is no longer a place to accommodate locals. This makes me sad and I truly hope that the managers will focus more on comfort and hospitality as there is an ever increasing number of "locals" that consistently influence the tourist attraction. By word of mouth or reviews such as this. I also saw several parties displeased with their interactions with Dan, as I saw several tables come and go some without ordering food due to their interactions with him.

Previous encounter with Dan(2022): we brought our family from out of town and when he noticed my 4 year old niece eating chicken nuggets (we had brought from a previous dinner as she is very selective and uncomfortable in new locations) he demanded that we throw them out or we will not be served. It was a table of 6 adults excited to eat at the location. We tossed her nuggets and tried to get her to eat our food we ordered. But he still...

It was good overall and worth a visit if your selective and order what they are known for; peel and eat! This restaurant is very consistent which is a good thing BUT the seafood is not local because its consistent. You get me? So, the food was brought out quick but we had nothing broiled, all fried and one grilled. Fried pickles are spears and not chips and enjoyed by all. The calamari was good, medium portion with medium to small rings but they included the tentacles which are the most tender! It was served with a spicey remoulade sauce. The grilled mahi salad was awesome. The lobster roll was not liked by my older guest; he said it was bland. The hush puppies nice and crispy with a hint of sweet but it would have been nice to have seen them bigger or more for the price of the appetizer. The Grouper basket was the special of the day (fried) and my guest liked it. Personally and IMO the pieces were a bit small for grouper. I had the fish basket of cod, two thick fillets served with fries only, I liked it. The other baskets came with slaw....but not my fish n' chips? Our server was good and even though he was busy he stayed on top of things so no complaints. This was our second visit. Our first visit we took advantage of what their overall specialty is; peel and eat shrimp, broiled crab legs, clams and oysters. Their oyster shooter selection is impressive! The food was broiled correctly so the shells peeled off easily and crab legs snapped when cracked. They have a great selection of heat on each table and buckets hole'ed in the middle of the table for shells. That's a true touch of casual coastal eating!

NOTE to seafood newbies or folks from Ohio, shrimp shells that stick and hard to peel are overcooked, reheated or old and crab legs that dont "snap" are the same...so this place can be considered one of the higher rated seafood restaurants in the area but my three star is for the (possible frozen ) shipped in seafood. Sorry no water view but the prepared meal made up for that..... to the owner, my suggestion is to maybe try to add seasonal local specials to help keep it "local." My source? An honest employee who received a 30% tip for integrity when answering...

My wife and 2 kids were told by the SUPER NICE guy at the front it may be 20 minutes. Even though the new years games were going on there was a check on the table and he could put us on the list. He said we could sit on the patio area where televisions were and wait if we liked. We hadn't even sat down and he came running out saying i know I'm making you play musical chairs but, I asked the people at our big tableand they said you could sit there with them if you'd like. We sit down and our server Noah comes up and starts off with a new years joke, win in my book. From there it only gets BETTER! Appetizer:Crab balls[excellent] Food: kids got Chicken tenders[ Lightly breaded and still juicy] Along with Mac And cheese bites That had a white cheese in the batter[GREAT].

Adults got the seafood trio I believe it was called?? Had clams, oysters, shrimp, corn in the bucket. Oysters were DEFINITELY FRESH, the crab legs SUPER FRESH, the clams were little pieces of Heaven and the corn... who doesn't love ol silver queen!!

Noah did a great job serving us, kept our drinks stocked and his friendliness is the reason why we will now be regulars. This was our first time here and the environment was still very kid friendly considering the alcohol content in there. The staff is friendly and I would say if you are someone who DOESNT WANT TO HAVE A GREAT EXPERIENCE AT A RESTAURANT, don't go there. This experience is the kind that made the Grinch's heart grow 3x its size!

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