Island Way — Restaurant in Oak Island

Staff training and manager issues, also understaffed.

They literally gave away our reservation. We were not late, we were there before our reservation. A party who did not have a reservation complained that they were sat at two tables and requested to be moved to the large table and were reseated. We were sat at two tables.

I physically went in to the restaurant to make the reservation to make sure they could accommodate us all at one table. I cared enough and it was important enough to plan ahead with a reservation. If they could not accommodate us we would have not eaten there and made different arrangements as it was for a celebration.

At the end of the meal I asked to speak with the manager because I wanted to politely bring to his attention that we had a reservation and his hostess gave our table away, which was confirmed by other staff as they apologized that we weren’t seated together because the other group complained. The other group with no reservations. The manager’s response was sometimes tourists are mean and can be intimidating. My husband said the old ladies look pretty harmless, and he said it could be because they had people in the night before that were mean and they just didn’t want to deal with them. I said then it’s a training issue. It’s not more complicated than saying no, that table is a reservation. He just reiterated that tourist can be mean and rude. My take away was there was no expectation for his staff to hold a reservation if someone complained to avoid conflict.

If you accept reservations, you should honor them and not give them away especially if we were early and not late.

As a result of being sat at two different tables, two meals were switched. Both people were disappointed and thought their tuna was prepared incorrectly. One didn’t touch their rare tuna, because they ordered it medium, and the other ate tuna almost completely cooked very disappointed that it wasn’t rare. It was not brought to our waitresses attention because they were short staffed and by the time our waitress checked back in with my table two of us had already completed finished our meals and I told my daughter I’d make her something different at home as I did not want to wait for another meal at that point..it was a similar conversation at the other table. Had we been at the same table the switch would have been obvious and not something discovered as we were dispersing. Disappointingly, the person we were there to celebrate was the person who had to eat the over cooked tuna.

This was our third visit in a row that had significant staff training issues. I don’t know that we’ll be...

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY HERE!! My family and I had a 8pm reservation on the deck. We always come to this restaurant when we go on vacation, and this year will be an experience that will have us NEVER coming back. First off we never received bread at our table upon arriving like all the other guest had on their tables. Secondly my family and I all ordered soup and some ordered salad for an APPETIZER, and our waitress took our order around 8:05. Around 9:00 I ask the waitress “how much longer for the appetizers to come out” and she replied with “oh wow they haven’t brought them out yet” after asking her where they were we FINALLY got 1 soup and 1 salad. So 9:15 rolls around and none of the other appetizers are out so at this point I am hungry and annoyed. I went inside to speak to the manager and he was very attentive and we soon got our appetizer and fresh bread after speaking to him. He also advised me that our waitress had “forgotten” to write down all the appetizers and that our meal ticket got “lost” in the kitchen. Our appetizers were very yummy (even though we had to wait an hour to get them). Now was time for the main courses...our meals come out and our waitress doesn’t apologize or acknowledge how long we have had to wait. I had ordered crab legs that were so over done half the crab was stuck to the shells and most of the meat was wasted. My cousin got their special that night (prime rib) and a huge portion of the meat was ALL fat...disgusting. Another family member got a chicken dish and the chicken was so dry that he almost choked on it. At this point we were all just done with the restaurant and just wanted to leave so we didn’t make a stink about the food. Upon receiving our tabs once again there was NO apology from the waitress and there was no sort of discount for the long wait we had to go through...when no other tables around us had problems. Our reservation was for 9 people so a 18% gratuity was already added...this frustrated everyone at the table because our waitress did NOT deserve a 18% tip and the restaurant did NOT deserve our money honestly. The manager apologized to me when I had gone in to talk to him but never came over to our table to apologize to my family as well. This restaurant HAD great food and great service in the past but after this last visit I will not be spending a dime on them. 2.5 hours later AFTER our reservation we were finally on the road to head back to our vacation house, everyone very disappointed and with a large hole in our pockets from the...

This restaurant has more potential than they know. The atmosphere is amazing. The view of the sand dune out the window is beautiful & the ambiance inside is pleasant.

We ordered the Steak Medallions, the Seared Tuna & Shrimp Alfredo. Although the food wasn’t horrible, it’s just wasn’t as good as it should be. The best flavor was between the shrimp Alfredo and the tuna. They were good, but honestly, I make better shrimp and tuna on my own at home and I am far from being a chef. The seasonings used to season the shrimp and tuna tasted like they were straight out of any seafood seasoning you could buy at your local grocery store. Also, the Alfredo flavor and texture was a bit liquid like or runny - like some kind of off the shelf box macaroni and cheese. That said, I won’t go back because the price doesn’t match the quality. Also, the tuna steak was no better than the tuna steaks I’ve bought many times at my local discount grocery store which starts with and “A” and ends with an “I.”

Now about the steak medallions… they were like eating tough chewing gum and had to be returned to the kitchen. The gravy was definitely some sad gravy out of a box.

The “chef” is putting in no effort, or maybe this high dollar joint doesn’t actually have a chef?

Our waiter was very nice and did comp the steaks. That’s the least that could be done.

Ultimately, this is not a restaurant worthy of 5 star reviews and a 5 star chef and 5 star recipes. It’s disappointing and also sad. They lack authenticity, energy and a staff that truly love the food they serve. I’ve been to many, many restaurants and there is one thing that always rings true - if the waitstaff can’t inspire your order, something is amiss. I could see how uninspired this kid was to serve food here. He hadn’t had anything even at his young age that gave him that wow factor. It was a very mechanical style of serving for a restaurant - A menu is presented, the food I decided upon and ordered, the waiter puts order in and then it is served… like an hour and a half AFTER it was ordered. ZERO wow factor whatsoever.

We won’t be back. We enjoy food, but all of the gears in the machine need to mesh and the food MUST have good flavor and texture… hence the lower rating...