Salt64 — Restaurant in Oak Island

Decided to review after our second visit to this restaurant. If we were rating off of food alone, then it would be a solid 4-5 stars.

The good: the restaurant is pretty, well laid out, feels comfortable/clean and a nice atmosphere for dining. It is not super fancy, but a little nicer than the average beach restaurants. Both times we visited our food was good! Last night I had the osso buco which is an elevated pork pot roast with mashed potatoes, carrots, and green beans. It was flavorful and delicious. My wife had the crab fritters and they were good, but not outstanding. The fries were tasty! Honestly the hush puppies that came with it were freaking fantastic! They need an entire appetizer of those! We started with flash fried chicken wings and they were just ok, plus 3 of the wings had been fried so hard there was no differentiation between the bone and meat… they were black, not sure how they made it on our plate. Maybe the grilled are better? The sauces that came along were very tasty!!

Now, the “ahhhh” part. Both visits have had really poor service. Like really poor. The first time they were super busy and it wasn’t long after they had opened, so we figured it would work out once they were established. On this second visit it was my birthday and the hostess was really sweet and wished me happy birthday upon our arrival, and she even caught me on the way out and wished it again! Give that girl a raise! But, even though it wasn’t busy when we walked in, the host stand was disheveled and they didn’t greet us right away or at least smile, say hello and ask for just a moment. Needs a little tweaking. Our server was very friendly and polite, but not very good. We had ordered a salad, but it never arrived and our wings came out within what seemed like moments of ordering. It took a long time for our main course to arrive so when it finally did and we hadn’t received the salad, we just left it alone. Our drink glasses were empty multiple times. Once she filled my wife’s glass partially and said she would bring some ice; after 10 minutes my wife caught her and asked for ice again. After the second time the waitress went to another table, they requested something, she went straight to the kitchen and returned with what they asked for. Still no ice for us though. Took another 10 minutes and a third mention of the ice and by that time my glass had been empty for a while. I had asked for a side of butter to mix in with my potatoes, never arrived. They were not that busy last night, so I think they just need training with their staff.

Overall it was ok, but there are other good results around with much better and more efficient service. The food is important, but how you treat people is how you build a lasting relationship with your clients. We eat at a restaurant close to our home all the time and the food is kind of bad, hahah! But our server is AMAZING, so we go back!

To those about to nosh, good luck! I hope you have better service! We will not be back for a while, hope...

This was our first visit. My wife and I found Salt 64 on google. So if you are like we were and looking at reviews please continue to read ours. We shared the fried lobster tails and grilled artichokes to start. To say they were delicious, great, or any other adjectives you pile on really do not let you know how good they were. This was the constant for our entire meal. We followed with the herb Romano horseradish crusted salmon and the Salt 64 special for the night a large piece of Halibut that was presented like a work of art. The entrees were accompanied by risotto, spinach wild rice and blood orange gastric with blood orange pieces. For me using citrus on fish is brilliant. We shared a Nic and Nora that went perfect with our meal. Finished with cheesecake with a raspberry drizzle. For perspective I want to add the we can cook well and are people who appreciate fine dining. We have been fortunate enough to dine in Michelin star/guide restaurants. Salt 64 was on par with the best! The service matched the quality and greatness of the food. Our sever Jessica was truly a professional and spoke highly of the food and chef’s expertise. She correctly described the sauces and cooking and finishing process and we knew the food would be amazing. Fantastic! Well done Jessica. The experience left us excited about returning to the beach not for the beach but to dine again @ Salt 64! Congratulations to the exceptional chef and crew outstanding! Please continue to create excellence, do not settle for anything but what you all are capable of as we feel you are at the beginning stages of creating a landmark restaurant that will become a legend! I am editing review after dinning several times @ Salt 64. The last two times we did not enjoy the food. Both my wife and I ordered from the menu but not the specific 64 option. Our food was lackluster and not worthy of the stellar review I originally gave. It appears consistency is not here. Still worth trying as our guests liked their food. Although he and I had the same -Prime rib. For me I can make far better prime rib. The meat was completely flavorless almost as if it had been boiled. I’m guessing our guests were being polite because to me this meal should not be on the menu. I call it as I taste it and our first few times the food was fantastic. The last few times meal was lacking in many areas. If the meal isn’t fantastic don’t offer it. It’s...

We ordered the shrimp cocktail, ill tempered tails, and bisque as appetizers, and shrimp capellini, and the 6404 burger for mains. Besides the bisque, cocktail sauce, and truffle fries, which were very flavorful, the rest of our food was disappointingly underseasoned and frankly somewhat bland. Service was excellent, no complaints there. The 6404 burger sounded good in theory, but the hamburger meat was underseasoned, and far too greasy for the brioche bun to hold up for more than a few bites. Would probably have benefited from getting it cooked medium well rather than medium rare to try to cut down on the excess juice. Too much cream in the shrimp cappellini and it just overpowered the flavor of everything else, and again, lacked seasoning. Shrimp cocktail was fine, cocktail sauce had a welcome punch of flavor that we were missing from the other dishes. Ill tempered tails promised big on the menu as "spiced" baby lobster tails with "jalapeno horseradish" dip, but the flavor profile of the dish was closer to popcorn shrimp, and failed to deliver on any of the spice or heat (or lobster) suggested by the menu description. Bisque was very flavorful and tasty, although the description of "lobster, shrimp, crab, scallop" overpromised inasmuch as no chunks of any of them were in our bowl. Taste highlight was the truffle fries, which showed that the back of the house is fully capable of nailing it on the seasoning. Very nice portion sizes in general. At $16 a glass, we'd probably skip the middling Reisling next time. Overall, the food was enjoyable, but pretty clear they are catering to a clientele with a less adventurous palate. Like the food, the atmosphere was "fine" but nothing particularly memorable, and was also quite loud (in fairness, we did visit on a busy Saturday night). At about $120 including tip for the two of us, not the worst value proposition ever. With some bolder choices by the kitchen, and a few more upscale touches in the front of the house, this could easily be a 5 star review and something we'd gladly pay a bit more for. For now though, their "play it safe" approach resulted in a pretty good meal (especially compared to other options in the area), just not one of our most memorable fine dining...