Captain Jack's Seafood Buffet — Restaurant in North Myrtle Beach

It's ok some things are great others not so much, but it did check all the boxes for the seafoodies and the picky eaters in our 9 top group. Our server Anastasiya was amazing as was the photographer that goes around to take photos and then sell them and yes we spent another 75 on ALL the photos he took. The littles with us loved the accents Anastasiya and the photographer had, and both were so very sweet and patient with all of our kiddos! About half of us went just for the crab legs but also had some with us that don't do seafood, 50(before 5 dollar coupons on 6 adult buffets) dollars not including drinks and tax for those folks not eating seafood was a bit high. The crab legs mostly were very good but we'd occasionally get a few clusters each that were over cooked pretty badly and would pour out of the shell. We hated wasting those but they just weren't edible...BUT over all those of us that had crab legs enjoyed them and yes it was worth 45, (50 before the coupons for 5 off each adult meal.) Drinks are separate and they have an amazing strawberry lemonade (non alcoholic) however when I ordered it I assumed the $8.99 cost meant I'd get at least a 20 ounce glass, the size the soda and tea comes in being it's not refillable. What I got was a small standard pint mason jar that was gone before half of my meal was gone. It was amazing but not worth 9 dollars without alcohol in it! Those of us that are seafoodies had a small mixed plate of regular food first and half of what most of us got was underwhelming or just not good. The things that were good were very good but I'm glad I mostly filled on crab legs because it would have been daunting to attempt to try a little of each thing offered in the buffet to find the things that were good, great or amazing because there are far too many options available. I can only assume looking at the plates leaving or table that that leads to much waste. I'd rather have 20 total items plus salad bar and have those items be great or better than great. Cleanliness was around 7 or 8 out of 10 but there is a large turnover of customers and the staff does very well to keep up with it. We didn't meet any staff including kitchen as they refilled the buffet that were not very pleasant and polite that part is a 10 plus. The women's bathroom needs attention, both of the s the stall doors do not have locks and the doors don't stay closed. With the amount of users it could be kept a bit cleaner but it wasn't nearly the worst I've ever used and me and my littles held the doors for each other and another stranger that was in there so immediate problem was handled, locks would be great! I'm sure we will go back again next summer. Our overall experience I would rate a strong 7 but the service could easily tip it to an 8. Honestly with a nearly 500 dollar bill we most likely would have tipped out server $80 to $100 instead of the 70 dollars the18 percent gratuity covered. I walk a thin line of supporting inclusive gratuity. I'll keep those reservations and or my support of it in different scenarios to myself for simplicity of this review. I have worked every aspect of a restaurant from cook,line cook, prep to dishwasher, busser, waitress, hostess and cashier. My opinions are based on those year's of service in the industry along with the 4 decades of many of my family members running restaurants and diners including one Michelin star chef nad many others but to far behind. Adults are 50 each plus drinks, Children 6 and under $12.99 Children 7 to 12 $23.99 Adults (13 and up) $49.99 *All drinks are extra and only soda and sweet tea is refillable *5 dollar coupons can be found in the Myrtle Beach coupon book and it applies to all...

WASTED MONEY AND WASTED FOOD

This was possibly the worst restaurant meal I have ever eaten. I totally wasted the $50 charge (+ $3.00 for iced tea and several local taxes) and threw away a lot of food. Although the buffet offered 140 items, I tried only the ones that interested me the most. Here is an analysis of these dishes.

I'll start with the star of the show - CRAB LEGS. In a word - AWFUL. I have eaten a lot of crab legs and I know how to dissect them efficiently. (Break the legs apart at the joints, slide out the two thin pieces of cartilage, snap the leg section in half on one side, turn it over and snap the other side. Then gently slide out the delicious, juicy, firm meat. The lobster cracker is used only on the claws.) A bit of work, but worth the effort. UNLESS, when you get to the final step, you find the meat is mushy and tears apart like a wet tissue. Part of the problem with the crabs at Captain Jacks was that the shell was not crackable - it was like thin linoleum. As a result, it was virtually impossible to get at any of the mushy meat out except for the largest leg section. After struggling with two clusters, I finally gave up and tried other items.

SHRIMP - another of my favorites. The peel-and-eat shrimp were very hard to peel and the meat had the consistency of 'Play Dough.' This is the result of shrimp that have been lying around for a long time or grossly overcooked - or both. I ate two shrimp and, unfortunately, had to throw away the rest. The fried shrimp (at least that's what I thought they were) were like little lumps of battered stones, with about as much flavor.

MUSSELS - The is nothing better than a properly steamed P.E.I. mussel. If they are removed from the steamer just when they start to open up, they are tender and succulent. However, when they a cooked the way Captain Jacks does them, they are wide-open, dry as cardboard and just as hard to chew. Again, I had to throw away most of my serving.

PRIME RIB - The only good thing about Captain Jacks prime rib was that it was sliced thin was paper; otherwise I don't think I could have cut it at all. Even the thin slices were so tough and stringy that I had to hack at it aggressively in order to get a few mouthfuls. I quickly realized that it wasn't worth the effort and more of my meal went in the waste tray.

CRAB BALLS OR CRAB CAKES - Whatever they call it, it was really bad. Smelled and tasted so fishy I was afraid to swallow the first mouthful - more food for the waste tray.

I did not try any of the other items, but I will say that some of the desserts and salads LOOKED tempting - but I can't comment on how they tasted. Also, the service was very good, Of course, this is a buffet so you get your own food, but the server was attentive to the table and emptied the waste food tray and refilled drinks in a timely manner.

The restaurant was not adequately air conditioned. The warm dining room seemed to curb our appetites and caused us to finish our meal earlier than otherwise. Since this is an "all-you-can-eat" buffet, I guess this works in the favor of the owner.

When you are visiting the South Carolina Grand Strand, do yourself a favor and go to a real restaurant - one that focuses on quality instead of quantity. There are dozens of...

Hi. We just had the worst experience ever here last night!! First, the food was very bland and we eat at buffet every year we come down, so we know a good one when we are there! Now, just to show you how non compassionate they were, my girlfriend was sitting at the table as I was getting food, a rude gentleman said to her as he walked by, " Smile, it doesn't hurt"!! So instead of us confronting him, cause once again he is just trash, we went to the manager and told him and My girlfriend was pretty distraught, that we said we are leaving! The manager said I wil move you, I said sir we will still run into him at the buffet etc.. so with all that being said, that will took the classy route to leave, they still charged us full price! So please do not EVER EVER EAT HERE! You would think they would reach out and give us a refund. Oh well. Update on October 1st. We are sitting on the couch back home and just to show you how you never know what people are going through, never talk or say something so stupid about smiling! This guy had no idea if someone just died or a pet to her etc.... so once again we stayed classy and didn't confront him in front of everyone! So, just to show you their class at captains jacks, we could of had the whole place Walk out and not paying, but they couldn't refund us after eating hardly anything! Just wow! All the new reviews you read about Anastasia and Leo are correct! Leo was great. But in end the decision to not understand what we experienced was understood and not handled correctly! So once again, the owners should reach out for a response because we will be back in the same place staying next year and I will gladly tell everyone how you handled our experience! Another update on October 8th. No response from management or owners! So once again this just shows how much they care about customer satisfaction! Well, I will keep updating until they answer! Sad. 01-04-25Well the one review about a month ago is correct! All the 5 Star are absolutely fake! This establishment and owners could care less about humans emotions! Hence no response still!!! I love how I just went back a little bit of reviews, and the "owner" finally responded to something positive lol. This owner is obviously not a good person if he can't respond to the absolutely negative responses!! You people can make your own decisions!! But, this is a legit...