Splash by the Sea — Restaurant in North Topsail Beach

NEVER. In my life, have I ever received such horrible service. It was absolutely appalling how the waitresses, bartender, and the manager conducted themselves.

Let’s start out by saying there was an hour wait to be seated, which was totally fine because it’s a popular place.

So we sat at the bar to get some drinks. It was loud and crowded and just a fun vibe. My friend I was with, had her young daughter at the bar with us watching her show on her ipad. The bartender rudely asked if the ipad could be turned down because it was too loud. Number one, it was already loud in there and number two, the volume wasn’t even high.

We proceeded to go outside to get fresh air. We were met by a wonderful waitress named Abigail. She was so kind and helpful and ordered us some appetizers to snack on while we waited to be seated. It’s unfortunate we could not be seated in her section because instead, we got stuck with a miserable, disgusting- attitude waitress. She never told us her name so I’m going to refer to her as the chunky girl with short black hair who needs help learning how to properly do her makeup.

She was rude and condescending. My 7 year old son asked her for a refill on his drink, and she snatched his cup out of hand and walked away not saying a single word.

She then came back and said so rudely, “what other drinks do you guys need?”

We were all shocked at how unprofessional she was and how rude she was.

As our first time coming here, I was NOT impressed with this waitress.

So my friend and I addressed our issues with the manager and of course, we just wasted our breath.

On our walk out, our condescending, and rude waitress was rude again by mocking us and faking a smile as the manager obviously had spoken to her.

Had we not had this awful encounter, we would definitely return because the food was amazing and so was Abigail.

Do better management. Hire employees who want to be there and ones that actually give a damn about their patrons. I understand bad days, but this was beyond that. Had she came over and apologized for her actions, I wouldn’t be sitting here leaving...

My wife and I have just moved to Sneads Ferry, North Carolina and have been looking around for new places to eat. For our anniversary we took a nice walk on the beach to celebrate getting married on the beach! On the way back home I noticed a small sign, Splash by the Sea, hmmm, we'll have to check it out someday, well, that someday was yesterday continuing our celebration of our anniversary and we were so pleasantly surprised! We sat on the little gazebo which only had 3 tables under it. Straight ahead was the Atlantic Ocean and if no one told us, we were on Topsail Island, we could have been anywhere! We felt like we are back in Cancun or Honduras, the way we were seated only seeing the water and not the beach, we were transported to another place. It had such a high end resort felt to it. Service was so good, food was excellent and atmosphere was unbelievable being that we were only 15 minutes from home. We both kept commenting on how we felt like we were on a vacation. My wife got the Tuna with Wasabi mashed potatoes, I got the shrimp tacos with Boom-Boom sauce on the side, glad I did, because it was very spicy, I just drizzled it on and it was perfect! We saw the chocolate chip cookie skillet on the menu, but we were both so full, so we decided to pass this time, however, the folks to our left got it, and then the folks on our right got it, and we couldn't resist! We ordered it and so glad we did! OMG Batman, this is better than the tight tights we wear! For Splash by the Sea, there is only one album for them that makes total sense, "Better Than!" Yes, that is my lovely wife on our wedding day, just up the road in Emerald Isle where we got married! Thanks Splash by the Sea for making our anniversary a Big Splash and special day for us. We will be back to share more memories there! Do yourself a favor and visit this little gem of a place! And no matter how full you are, get the Chocolate Chip...

We had a bad experience at Splash by the Sea on 8/5/21. With Covid and restaurants struggling, I wasn't going to leave a negative review. However, when we returned from our vacation, my husband checked our receipts and the bartenders overcharged us by adding an extra $6 on to the tip. He left $4 on a $22 tab, they gave themselves $10. I'd ordered a martini that was only 2/3 full and my husband had a beer, we didn't sit at the bar but took our drinks outside. When we saw we were overcharged, my husband called and talked to the manager and he refused to believe him despite my husband having a copy of his receipt.

Now, for our experience there. The crab cakes were terrible. They were mealy, with shreds of crab (no lump crab meat), full of breadcrumb fillers and seemed to be pressed into a pan, then "cut out" with a spatula and fried. And, I found a crab leg and shell in my crab cake (see photo)! When my husband told the manager that, he said it was impossible. The macaroni and cheese was unseasoned and though my broccoli was overcooked it had nice flavor. The boom boom shrimp was just average, nothing special.

The place is pretty run down, though you can see the ocean from the outdoor tables. The highlight was definitely our server, Maddie. She was attentive and sweet...the only real positive I can say about Splash by the Sea.

Again, I wasn't planning to leave a negative review, but overcharging customers and calling them liars is unacceptable. We loved our Topsail vacation but will never be...