HOTO's - Harold's On the Ocean — Restaurant in North Myrtle Beach

Won't be back. To start off, there was a concert night going on outside. It was raining and extremely difficult to find parking unless you wanted to pay for it. Since we were only a few blocks away, we went back to our condo and walked down with an umbrella. Not a big deal since we love to walk. BUT upon arrival the 4 hostesses that were at the door were miserable because of the rain. It took over 10 mins to be seated and the hostess that did seat us didn't say a word to us and slapped the menus down on the table and walked away. RUDE! Apparently they never conveyed to the waitress we were there and it wasn't here area. So we waited about 15 mins before she even showed up. We were ready to walk out.

Our waitress was great! She got our drinks, made sure our drinks never ran out, took our order right away (without writing it down mind you) and was the most pleasant part of the evening.

The story continues....not a good one either. We ordered the pretzel, and it was good. The food running was miserable to say the least. When she brought our pretzel she just about threw it on the table with no smile or anything. Just pretty much walked away. The reviews about the cheese sauce are still accurate. Couldn't figure out what it was.

When our dinners came, we got shrimp salad sandwich and fish tacos. Can I say they were the smallest tacos I've ever seen. They didn't use the standard soft taco shell. My husband said they were tasty. I got the shrimp salad sandwich. A NOTE TO THE COOK, PEOPLE EAT WITH THEIR EYES. MAKE THINGS LOOK GOOD AND APPEALING! Lettuce and tomato and some fresh herbs make a meal look and taste wonderful. My shrimp salad just about had any mayonnaise to hold together and it looked grey. It tasted fine, but the ciabatta roll it was on was way too much bread. I can say the pub chips were really good.

Finally, the restaurant manager was so worried about partying, between watching the games going on on the TV's, hanging at the hostess station and going outside to listen to the music, he wasn't even interacting with the customers. He would also make random statements inside, out loud, that weren't professional. Such a shame. This restaurant will never grow if there isn't interaction from the manager.

So needless to say the experience wasn't great. The reviews given...

We went to HOTO’s because we wanted to eat on the beach. We had a larger group and they told us there were no seats in the Oceanside area, so we agreed to eat inside. Upon looking, there were plenary of seats outside, even larger tables that would have been fine. Inside our party of 16 still had to split into 3 tables. There was an odor inside, like an old room odor. The staff was very nice, but we had to ask for everything. Every condiment, every refill, everything. There were lots of people ‘working’ but not a lot of people doing what needed to be done. Two ladies stood and stared at customers from the hostess stand, and at one point a manager came and asked if we enjoyed our meal. Other than that we saw them standing at the bars. The food was all over the place. I had the bacon ranch flatbread- it was delicious, but my sweet potato fries were cold. Other family members had wings which were very meaty and well flavored. The tacos had good flavor, but were barely warm. The burgers were nothing to write home about and the mixed drinks were not great and sloppily made.

The prices were a bit outrageous for what it was. The receipts were extremely confusing with a cash amount and a card amount. Mixed drinks were charged for a drink and then separately for the alcohol. They added a 20% tip charge for our party, which we knew and expected, but they charged the 20% on the credit card fee as well. We left feeling like we had been taken advantage of.

Overall, we will NEVER go back or recommend this place to anyone. The sketchiness of the place and the confusion of the tickets isn’t worth the $20 + per person for tacos, pizza, and hamburgers. If they can’t afford for people to use credit cards with the prices they charge, they need to rethink their business plan. I have never been charged a CC usage fee at a restaurant! IMO- There are way better places in Myrtle and...

1st time & last. Sat for 10 minutes & had to ask for a menu. Was handed 1 and told she would get my waitress. 1 Finally came to my table and was not very friendly. Like I was a bother. They were not busy. I asked for the beer battered mushrooms that were notedon their website menu. Was told they no longer have them. I than ordered a house salad with grilled chicken and what their menu states home made croutons and an order of steamed broccoli. Well, the broccoli was soggy and over cooked. The croutons were stale and the chicken was greasy, over cooked & dried out. I removed both from the salad. My waitress never came over to ask how everything was. When she came to take the dishes away that I pushed away, she then walked over and asked me if I wanted anything else. I proceeded to tell her how disappointed I was and showed her the croutons & chicken I removed and placed in the soggy bowl of overcooked broccoli. She apologized, returning then with the check. I took a look at it and said, r u kidding me? Did you let the manager know that i wanted to speak to him/her? She responded yes ma'am but they did not want to come out tospeak to you. I said please go back in and tell whomever that I am not going to pay for chicken I did not eat. My bill with 1 drink, a side of broccoli & the salad with the added chicken was slightly over $30.00!!! She went back in and returned with an updated bill for my 1 drink and broccoli. I told her that I would be doing the restaurant a dis- service if I did not make them aware of the unacceptable food coming out of the kitchen and that it was totally unacceptable that a manager refused to come to my table. Needless to say, I will not...