Cape Fear Seafood Company — Restaurant in Raleigh

So we ate here last night (8.26.2021). We had a 7:45 reservation. We were a party of 3. The hostesses promptly greeted us. They were very welcoming and attentive. The young gentleman who sat us made sure we were comfortable and happy with our seating. A great beginning experience!!

It went downhill after we were seated. We waited about 10 minutes before anyone even acknowledged us. Finally one of the Managers came over and notified us that she would take our drink order. She too was very friendly and helpful.

It took a while longer after we got our drinks before the waitress came.

The waitress was pleasant. However, she was extremely slow and seemed very distant and distracted at times. She kept getting missing for long periods of time. I almost feel awful saying that about her because she was nice.

I saw something foreign floating in my plain Margarita. I had to get the attention of a Manager to replace it. The Manager replaced it.

The food came out luke warm. The waitress brought out absolutely NONE of the condiments that I had requested with our food. I waited over 10 minutes to finally get tarter sauce. And once again I had to flag down a Manager to get it.

My daughter's chicken breast was extremely dry. Once again, our waitress was no where to be found. We had to flag down a Manager to replace it with one of their Signature dishes. My daughter was very pleased with the second dish that came out. It was freshly made and piping hot. It hadn't been sitting.

You would think that was the end of our bad experiences....NOOOOOO. There's more.

When we asked for "TOGO" boxes, the waitress brought out a box that was visibly DIRTY.

When we got our check. We had been overcharged by $4 for our meal "Add ons". The Margarita that I sent back hadn't been taken off. ONCE AGAIN OUR WAITRESS WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. So I flagged down the manager. She was more than helpful and removed the charges.

Overall, this was a really bad experience. I was super disappointed after reading all the good reviews and seeing all the good stuff about this restaurant.

It was very hard for me to unwind and have an enjoyable experience with all the "incidents". And I have never spend over $100+ on such an unpleasant restaurant experience in my life.

*I added a picture of another person in my parties plate. They ordered the Whole Boat. I don't know if you can tell but all the Seafood is over fried. It came out luke warm.. The hush puppies were hard as a rock. This is a $30 plate.

I just can't say enough how bad if a food experience this was for the 3 of us....it wasn't just the waitress. It...

I wish we could review the food and service, but after waiting 15-20 minutes we didn't even get in, nor on the list of waiting diners. This has to be one of the most disorganized restaurants in the area and this is not the first time we experienced it. Sunday lunch is a busy time everywhere, so restaurants do well to be prepared. We arrived around 12:30 to eat lunch and we were second in line to put our name down on the waiting list. There were three young "hosts" shuffling all about the desk and running about, shuffling menus, all together looking on the table chart talking and pointing, walking to the back and coming back to the hosts desk to talk and point some more, BUT they never talked to ANY of the guests or took names down on the waiting list. They were totally busy with themselves and whatever it was they were doing. It was almost comical to watch. The welcome area continued to fill up with more guests as we waited. After about 15+ minutes we left because they had not even talked to us. Not a welcome, taking our name down or anything. They kept busy with themselves as before. I went in to check the bar area to see if there were options to sit there, but there weren't enough seats for the three of us. I did notice however a bunch of empty and set tables across the Restaurant. It was a bit flabbergasting to experience this. When we left the hosts area had completely filled up with guests waiting, yet nobody was welcomed or put on any list when we stepped out. Some people started to get visibly annoyed. I assume this is not that uncommon anymore for going out to eat post-COVID. Restaurants try to do with less and untrained personnel, but also don't spend the time for basic training. I'd NOT recommend to go here during hours when a lot of diners can...

Cape Fear hosted a 20+ dinner celebration for my Mom's 80th birthday.

Despite having several questions, last minute changes to headcount, special request for the menu based on dietary restrictions and basically being an anxious planner, the management always responded with professionalism and patience.

The day of the event we were well taken care of. The servers Ray and Olivia kept in communication with the hosts (my sister and I), responded quickly to concerns, and managed to meet the varying demands of our party. They accommodated latecomers by getting their orders quickly and provided us with excellent service. Ray seemed to lead the service and assured us at every step that we were taken care of and it felt as if he was invested in this being a great night for our family and friends. Olivia too was responsive, always with a smile and providing great service. Having been a server in my younger years and this having relatively high expectations of service, what they pulled off was no easy feat.

The food was well-seasoned and everyone enjoyed their meals with many cleaning their plates and offering compliments to the chefs and gratitude for the restaurant choice.

If I had one thing to change, it would be to offer a banquet menu with seafood, chicken and beef options. For large parties, I understand the need to make things easier for the kitchen. We choose the banquet menu with seafood and chicken option and added a Crab Cake entree as the host selection.

All in all, an excellent experience that made this milestone memorable for all involved. We praised the staff at the end of the evening and the manager was very gracious. We will...