Preston's Corner Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Swansboro

Where to begin? I'll start with the small parking lot! We pulled in to park and there was literally nowhere to do so, so we parked across the street at the boutique. My wife said, since there is no parking, go inside and see how long the line is. So I did, and surprisingly they grabbed menus and sat us down.

Waitress approached, took our drink order, answered a couple of questions we had about the menu and let us take our time to decide what to eat. We ordered appetizers and our meals. She was great!

Appetizers took a little longer than expected in which we had soup, salad and a side of hush puppies. Hush puppies were hot, salad came as ordered and the soup "clam chowder" was very runny. Although there was a lot of meat, it was not chowder nor hot. We took our time eating it to fill the time between the meal. The waitress kept checking on us, and telling us sorry.

We arrived at 620pm, ordered at 633pm and received our food at 722pm. In the mean time we grew anxious, watched others that were there before us slowly get their food as they looked as if they were impatiently waiting as well. The waitress again kept checking and apologizing about how slow it was.

The waitress finally brought out the first meal, grilled cheese and fries for my son. The cheese was hard and overall was room temperature which leads me to believe it had been sitting back there for some time. As she put it on the table, she said the rest should be coming out shortly behind it. A few minutes later, the other two meals showed up. I ordered the shrimp gumbo and could feel the heat coming from the dish. My wife had the Mahi tacos, and it was again room temperature.

As we had been there for nearly an hour by this point we were ready to leave and if the food hadn't shown up when it did, we would've left. Which probably would have been the better decision! My wife took a couple of bites and was done, obviously wanting to get out of there rather than stating it was cold and waiting another hour for more food. So my son's meal and my wife's meal went to waste.

We asked for the bill and the waitress could probably feel the tension at the table, because she came back with the receipt with a slight jog. Unfortunately we didn't tip as well as we usually do, at no fault of her's but our experience in the new to us Preston's Corner from the food and beverage company before it.

It was agreed that it was a one and done. We will not be returning. We even had our employees ask if we could do our end of year party there. Well after that experience, it will not happen. So few restaurants in the local area and even fewer that we will return to...

I took my girlfriend here a few days ago. Drive by it all the time and wanted to try something different. We we’re seated immediately and the waiter brought our drinks out. It was a little slow being New Years Day so he carried on a nice conversation with us. I ordered a chicken sandwich and she ordered something on the menu that was like a chicken Alfredo minus the chicken. Food comes out and I tried hers thought it was really good. My sandwich was really good as well. Waiter came back and chatted with us some more. We paid and left and walked to the dock downtown and enjoyed the scenery and Christmas lights before those would be coming down in the next few coming days.

I’ve got a remark for the individual named Linda Guss from a few weeks ago……I’ll gladly come to the defense of the owner for this establishment …..You say you had a horrible experience, gave no details why just said “the one star is for the waiter…complained about your food and how it was cold in the restaurant .” You also mentioned that “your parents love coming here so that’s important to you”….. I’ll gladly address a few of these…..How can the owner improve the business or correct the staff if he doesn’t know what to tell them or can’t name a specific person that caused the issue for one? Number two would be if something was horribly wrong with your meal why didn’t you say something? You gave no opportunity for someone to correct it. Also you complain about how cold it was in there…..Wanna know how many restaurants I’ve been in that were very cold? Too many to count……bring a jacket. You live at the coast complaining about a restaurant temperature…..clearing noting that your parents like to come here. Don’t think your driving an hour to get to this place….the weather changes suddenly and can be unpredictable at times. That’s on you. Lastly, why keep coming if your find this place so intolerable that you want to gripe about literally anything you can find to complain about? Oh that’s right, you are still living in your high school bedroom in your parent’s house in your mid to late 30s and won’t turn down a free meal from your parents since you like the idea of your parents thumbing the bills for a nice night out on the town. You sound like a miserable Karen looking to destroy the reputation of businesses because you find it entertaining when you are sitting on the couch watching whatever your parents want to watch on tv. Please stay home and stop...

We stopped in to get a hot meal before Dorian, but we got so much more. This is now our favorite table service restaurant in Swansboro.

They were out of a couple of items because they couldn't get trucks in for delivery. We cannot wait until they have a full menu so we can try even more.

We started out with my wife getting a Blackberry Sangria and I got there specialty cocktail Cherry Bourbon Manhattan. To me, the sangria was overly sweet, but it was perfect to the wife. My Manhattan was on point and tight. Great cocktail.

Then we had individual appetizers in my wife had French Onion soup and I had the Corn & Clam chowder. My wife is a French Onion soup fanatic. I mean she will have it any time and any where, no matter the meal or the outside temperature. She actually told me and then anyone within earshot that was the best she had ever eaten. Even better than an actual French restaurant had made. I thoroughly and completely enjoyed my chowder. Firm corn kernels, meaty clams and big delicious chunks of bacon made the chowder to die for. Amazing.

For our entrees, my wife went with the Applewood Sirloin and Bay Scallops (sea scallops were not available) with smashed potatoes and whole kernel corn and added sauteed mushrooms to her steak. Her steak came out perfectly cooked to medium rare with beautifully sauteed mushrooms on top. She had a large side of bay scallops cooked in butter that were still firm and not chewy at all. The mashed potatoes were good and corn must've been good because it disappeared quick.

I had a 2 seafood combo of Spicy Fried Shrimp and Fried Flounder with coleslaw, fries and hush puppies. The spicy shrimp have some heat without being overbearing and the flounder was flaky and crisp but not greasy. There were 7-8 large shrimp and the flounder was a nice size piece of fish. The slaw was creamy but not watery, fries were crispy with a nice snap. I did not get to the hush puppies but they did not feel greasy like so many do.

Our server, Katie, was phenomenal with her service. She was attentive without being overbearing and she made great suggestions. She knew the menu and apologized for the lack of some items, despite it not being their fault.

Go here. Eat here. Drink here. You will enjoy without question. I cannot recommend it enough. Next time I'm getting The...