Steamers Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in Southern Shores

Updated Review: After posting my review below, the owner reached out and explained what happened, along with an offer to make it up to us. We accepted her offer and enjoyed an excellent Steam Bag2Go for two, along with their Sangria kit here in early September, and it was wonderful. I do recommend going to Steamers while in OBX. It is worth it.

This review is in response to the service received and decision by management, not the food. On Thursday, December 29, I called Steamers to verify that they will be offering takeout on NYE, and if they had a special NYE menu. The answer to both was yes, and was even told what the NYE dinner menu was going to be, to include some special dishes just for NYE. It was made clear that I was asking these questions as a take out patron, in addition to the fact that Steamers proclaims on their website that their entire Dine-In menu is available for take out. Now, come NYE, I proceed to place said take out order with them at around 4pm, when they first opened, knowing that come 5pm, the dine in traffic will quickly pick up. However, as I trying to place my order, knowing what was on their NYE menu from Thursday, I was told that there was a special take out only menu for NYE. This seemed like an 11th hour change, and the menu items offered for takeout seemed like leftovers, with not one special NYE dish on it (specifically the seared rockfish and crabcake mac n' cheese, among others). When I spoke to the manager, he said they only ordered so many dishes and it wouldn't be fair to the reservation dine in patrons to offer the dishes for takeout as well. Steamers has clearly forgotten that we are still in a pandemic, with new variants of Covid going around, and are forcing customers to put health and safety at risk in order to experience the full benefits of the dining experience, and thus segregating which patrons they give full menu service to. It was purely insulting to see what they chose to offer on the take out menu, and their reasoning defies logic, including not even offering any of the regular menu fish entrees on their take out menu (goes against their website proclamation). I was misinformed and mislead as to how they were going to operate their menu and services on NYE, and their lack of care to ensure they accommodate all customers, all in the name of profits, left me a very bad taste in my mouth on a special day that should be full of celebration. Very...

Chris and his team at Steamers made our wedding an even more unforgettable experience than we could have imagined. Starting with the Wedding Expo the previous year, Chris made an instant impression for being personable and having a willingness to make our wedding dinner exactly what we wanted it to be. He invited us to Steamers a couple months after the Expo for a tasting while we were down in the OBX visiting with other vendors. When we told him both sets of parents and my brother would be with us, he insisted we bring them with us to the tasting. We were all on board when Chris brought out option after option for us to try. I told Chris that a family member had a serious whey allergy and couldn’t have anything that was dairy-based or came in contact with dairy. He simply said to have him talk to one of the crew the day of the wedding and they would make him a plate on a clean prep service to make sure he wouldn’t have an allergic reaction. Over the next year, we would drive down to the OBX to meet with different people and made sure to stop by Steamers for lunch or dinner; Chris would always come out to greet not only us but all his guests in the restaurant. He was very responsive via email when we had questions or had to submit our dinner options and payments. He helped put our minds at ease when it came to bar and table setups as well. When the wedding came, we both felt so confident that we wouldn’t have to worry about the food because he had everything well in hand. We chose the 3 appetizers, 3 entrees and 3 sides option and Chris made sure we got exactly what we wanted. The night went seamlessly and Chris was a big reason why. He and his team deserve all the credit in the world. Even months after the wedding, people still tell us how much fun they had and how insanely good the food was. A trip to the OBX isn’t complete without a stop by Steamers! Don't miss out on their seafood bisque or calabash...

Last night we visited Steamers for the third time, and for the third time we had an excellent experience. Let's start with the food. The oysters on the half shell were fresh, plump, and served with two delicious sauces. Two of my dining companions had the seafood bisque and raved about it. The salads were creative and delicious. Two of us had the fish and chips. Now you may be thinking, "Fish and Chips is Fish and Chips." Wrong. The fish was tender, flaky, perfectly battered and plentiful. The "chips", fries, of course, were "meaty" and cooked to perfection. My dining companions said the fried oysters and hush puppies were delicious. Now let's talk about the atmosphere. The restaurant is beautiful inside. We sat upstairs. Each booth had its own separate window with tea lights on the sill. It's a very contemporary decor and very comfortable. Ok, the service. We had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Linda. We discussed her history in the restaurant business and the history of Steamers. She's delightful. Our server's name was Megan. I saved her for last. We found out toward the end of our visit that she was fairly new at Steamers. Well she fooled all of us. She was an absolute delight. Professional but playful. We like to kid around with our server and Megan was more than happy to play along. She was so much fun. She was also extreme attentive without being over solicitous, friendly and helpful. Nothing was too much trouble. If you go, I would definitely recommend asking for Megan. You won't be sorry. There are so many restaurants in the OBX and, like most people, we like to go different places. Steamers, however, is a "we must go there"...