The Cove Restaurant — Restaurant in North Carolina

HEADS UP: Make reservations because you will need them. They don't advertise reservations are needed but they probably are for any party larger than 2 for dinner.

TOP NOTCH. If you look up the phrase "hidden gem" in the encyclopedia, a picture of this restaurant should be next to it. Highly recommended for anyone within decent proximity of it.

The timing of the courses was great. The restaurant has a very authentic and cool feel to it as a great low country type Mom and Pop restaurant. I visited here as a party of 6 with my family of 4 with 2 small children and my wife's parents. We were quickly given complimentary bread which was a perfect start. The bread tasted homemade, warm like it was just out of the oven, with just the right hardness on the crust contrasting well with the warm bread.

My wife and I started with the Nachos Grande. The nacho chips were the perfect amount of saltiness, crispy, and fresh. They were smothered in melty cheese, black olives, and jalapenos. We cleaned the plate. My father-in-law had the shrimp cocktail and he thought the shrimp sauce was great, with just the right amount of horse radish.

We followed the appetizers with salad. The house salad I had was filled with fresh leafy greens, cucumbers, onions, and grape tomatoes with a house balsamic dressing. It was also yummy. We all ate every bit of the salads that were served.

For dinner I had the Blackened Tuna Steak served with a nice sauce over greens and squash with fries as my side. The steak was moist, prepared to order, incredibly tender, and complimented perfectly with the sauce. It might be the best fish I have had and I have had a lot of fish.

To top off everything, our server was wonderful. Very considerate to our needs. My young daughter ended up changing her order to chicken tenders after food was served. They were incredibly responsive in getting her the chicken quickly and she loved the tenders.

To sum this up...eat at this place. You...

This was our second time eating at this restaurNt. The first time was really great. Food was delicious. So far the best restaurant we found at Holden beach area. service was good. Our server was really nice. But last night we came in for dinner My husband and i around 5 and we sat toward the back of the restaurant. The server came in and asked us for our drink and poured oil on the plates for the bread. She came back with our drink and asked us if we are ready to order and we told her to give us a minutes. Meanwhile a larger table sat sat next to us and she started asking them with their drinks and a minute later the bread was given to them, multiple serving of bread because it was a larger group. So i told my husband we don’t have bread. The other table that was just sat after us already got their drinks and bread. So when she finally came back to us she asked us for our order and we gave her our order and i asked for a bread and she had a snappy attitude. She told us in the snappy tone “ that was my table too” and she pointed at the larger group table ( she was loud that everybody can hear her, it seems like we were bothering her for asking for a bread, ) with the tone and the attitude my husband wants to leave but i told him that i like the food here. And then continue to tell us that the bread was in the oven. And then not even a minute later she came back with the bread but it was not hot . It was cold so i told my husband that she was lying about the bread being in the oven.. And she only started being nice to us towards the end. Maybe she will remember me because i was asian and my husband is white. I think I stand out. I think she...

It was a very busy restaurant. I would say if you're going to visit this place, make sure that you don't come completely starving. They do have some water of a wait time from the time that you make your order until you receive your food. So make sure that you order an appetizer lol. There weren't a lot of gluten-free options. I had to kind of improvise. A dish which they were more than happy to fix for me the way I wanted. So on the service end. I give them five stars. The quality of the food was good. And the selection was what I would expect from a Carolina seafood place. Which they had more than just seafood. Of course. The menu did seem broad, but I went there for the seafood. The waitress was very attentive to us and she was extremely busy. The place was very crowded, but I feel confident in my rating on the atmosphere, as the price of the food, did not match the decor in which people were being seated upon. Seated upon. Basic kitchen style chairs and what look like folding tables in the middle. It sort of had a grill decor atmosphere with a lobster joint price tag. Lol. All in all the visit went well. I was there with friends and although we did wait a tremendous amount of time for our food. It went by quickly as the busy atmosphere of the restaurant was consuming of the attention.

I'm not sure if I would go back. But I don't really regret the visit. If you have the time, stop in and experience the place. I don't think you'll be completely disappointed. Especially if you're having a hard time trying to decide where to go. The paintings on the wall were reminiscent of a Hollywood/ music industry area. And the booth...