Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Raleigh

There once was a little shack; Shuckin' Shack Oyster Bar - Raleigh NC. We found what we thought was an awesome piece of home away from home when it came to coastal eats. Tonight made us completely change our views on this cute little oyster bar. We went with my family (whom we bragged to about how amazing the place was) for my birthday. My little family ordered the steam pot. Being that my husband is from the coast we know that steam pots generally come served in some kind of metal bucket. Once our meal is brought to the table we immediately dive in. Including our 4 year old son (who ate the corn which is not covered in a shell before you eat it) and our meal was delicious. Then we found that the bottom of our bucket with no buffer between the metal of the bucket and our food is 100 percent rusted to the point where the front of the house staff was mortified. So we have all indeed ingested rust in some way shape or form now that our entire 45 dollar bucket of seafood is gone. The very sweet staff is so apologetic and disgusted that this even happened. The owner is called and said to give us a 50 percent discount because we ate the food. PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW IN THE WORLD WE ARE SUPPOSE TO KNOW THE BUCKET IS RUST INFESTED BEFORE WE GET TO THE BOTTOM?!?!

So when the check was brought back to us we then told the very nice and amazing bartender that the entire steam pot should be comped. She then calls her owner again and he tells her to give us his phone number and we can take it up with him. Well Brad, let me tell you as someone who worked behind the bar of a very well known seafood restaurant on the coast I know how much you pay for that meal. The sheer fact that you are so adamant on not refunding us for ingesting rust on your restaurants behalf is disgusting and morally wrong. As a small business owner, when we mess up we go miles to make it right. I feel horrible for the wonderful people that work for you because it was very apparent that they were scared to lose their jobs over you making a horrid decision when the customer was right. Your establishment could have poisoned my family and you’re more concerned with making a dollar to pay for your vacation that you are on at the moment.

Telling your staff to give their customers your phone number and e mail to take it up with you is absolutely insane and clearly horrid customer service.

I HATE complaining and leaving bad reviews but, again, my family’s health was and is at liberty due to your poor back of the house staff and should have been taken care of in a respectful manner and it certainly was not.

Brad, you can keep the 10 percent off coupon for the next time we dine with you because we certainly will not be coming back due to the way you treated us. Word of mouth is everything and we have nothing good to say any more after bragging about you for weeks after our...

Awkward encounter just now with the bartender. We walked in at 8:58 and sat at the bar. We were informed the kitchen closes at 9, which seemed odd because the listed hours are until 10. Maybe because it's Thanksgiving evening? Anyways, we tried asking multiple times whether it's okay to go ahead and place an order or not, trying to be considerate since the kitchen might be already closing up. The rude bartender just shrugged and made faces at us a few times as we kept trying to ask, while pouring herself a drink. Finally I said I guess we'll try another place, to which she also didn't have a reply other than a rude facial expression. It's not our fault we walked in when we did. We didn't plan to come in when the kitchen was closing an hour before the listed time to inconvenience you. We can't comment on the food, but we won't be coming back to try it because of the attitude of this staff member.

Edit: In response to the owner, I don't believe you understand the negative review. The issue wasn't that your kitchen closed early the night before Thanksgiving. Kitchens close early for a variety of reasons all the time, which is fine. The negative rating was for the rude employee who lacks communication skills. If she said to us upon walking in something along the lines of, "we're really sorry, but the kitchen is closing early tonight for Thanksgiving. We hope you understand," then there would be no issue whatsoever, and we would've been happy to return another day. Instead we were handed menus, which insinuates you're taking orders, but then told the kitchen closes in two minutes. That puts us in an odd place where if we do order, we might be jerks. And her not answering us after asking if it's okay to order or not was her way of saying you're technically open, but your order isn't welcome. Just say you're closed! After reading other reviews here, this doesn't seem like an...

We Went there last night to have dinner with friends. Needless to say it was a hot day in Raleigh. We wanted to try this location as we had a terrific experience at the Surf City location. Well we walked in and it was not busy at all. I guess it had to do with the AC not working. We decided to stay even though it was a bit uncomfortable. My friends ordered the wings and they said they were ok nothing to be impressed about. My wife had the Greggah and it was nothing like the one that was in Surf City about a month ago. I got the Sunday special $1.50 oysters, two dozen steamed. The bartender was the waitress and told me that they would come out shucked either raw or steamed ( everyone at the table heard her). I don’t have an issue shucking them if needed but don’t tell me they will be and bring them out unshucked. Also we ordered 2 Shack Attacks since the website showed that it was a Sunday drink special. The waitress said that they were not discounted and that it was corporate’s fault for the website and they have no control over it! Asked to speak to the manager who was actually the owner when we first ordered the drinks. He did not come talk to us until we had already finished our meal. He repeated what the waitress told us about the website! He did however honor the price which was nice. As for the food it could use some improvement on service and flavor. I would expect that all the franchises would be as close as possible with the quality of the food and having their specials honored even if it is the corporate office that manages the website. I would rather travel the extra time to Surf City because I felt it was better...