Breezeway Restaurant — Restaurant in Topsail Beach

An update on 8/21/23

We went back to give our favorite Topsail Beach restaurant another try and I'm so happy to say that we had a very good experience!

We got there a little before 5:00 and were the second family in line in the lobby. There was a sign asking for patience due to being short staffed, which is understandable since colleges are back in session, but our wait was short. Our server was very pleasant and attentive. Drinks were promptly refilled without having to ask. The hushpuppies were delicious, as usual, and the calamari we had for an appetizer was scrumptious! Our dinner orders arrived promptly, the hot food was hot, everyone said theirs was very good. I know everything on my plate (fried clams, deviled crabs, French fries, cole slaw) was extremely good! Well, the slaw still isn't my favorite but at least it didn't have the taste of cinnamon in it 😂 this time so it was edible.

I've updated my star rating from a 3 last year to a 5 for this year. Thank you for a great dining experience once again!!

An honest review of a place I've been going to for 40 years. I normally enjoy it very much... this year, however, not so much. We were a group of three on a Thursday evening in early Sept. We were told the restaurant was short staffed but the wait time wasn't bad. The food service time wasn't too bad, considering there were several large groups already in the dining room when we got there. Our waitress was pleasant and seemed to do her best for us while also waiting on a large table.

The disappointing part of our visit this year was the food, and the prices. The 12 year old in our group had an appetizer for his meal because he wasn't very hungry. His little mahi mahi bites looked good (except for the crazy amount of wilted lettuce they were served on) and he said they were tasty. My adult daughter had the shrimp scampi that comes over pasta and I had the blue crab cakes that came with a baked potato and cole slaw.

The scampi was absolutely swimming in butter which made it look awful. My daughter said she could taste garlic in the butter and the Parmesan cheese that was on top of it but not the lemon or basil mentioned in the menu description. My two crab cakes were small, bland, and one had a large piece of shell in it. Unfortunately, the remoulade sauce it came with was not good at all. It was bland as well.The worst part for me was the cole slaw. Oh my goodness, I took one bite of it and was shocked to taste CINNAMON in it. What in the world?! Their cole slaw has been going downhill for years but this year it actually baffled me. lol

We all had water with our meals and our bill, with a tip of a little over 20%, was $70.... $10 appetizer (about 6-8 small mahi mahi bites), $20 shrimp scampi (no side salad or slaw served with this), $25 blue crab cake plate (2 small crab cakes, 1 small baked potato, small bowl of cole slaw).

A little plea for the owners... PLEASE, for the love of everything, stop trying to have fancy cole slaw and just bring back the basic recipe you had many years ago. You know, finely grated cabbage and carrots mixed with mayo. That goes so well with seafood... but cinnamon just does not. The thought of that makes me LOL now.

Bottom line... I'll check the recent reviews before I go again next year instead of taking for granted that it is still as good as it's always been, which is what I've always done...

I ate here with a party of eight people; three adults and five children. It was a slow night; probably 30-40% full We ordered one appetizer and then everyone ordered their entrées. The entrées took an insanely long time to come; at least 35min and closer to 45min. Again, we had kids with us that ordered from the kids menu. At the very least, their food should’ve come out in a timely manner. How long does it take to make fried shrimp and chicken tenders? Anyway, the food took an insanely long time to come out. No Manager ever stop by our table to apologize or offer an explanation. Our waitress told us that the food is being plated right now, and it still didn’t come out for another 15 minutes. When our waitress stopped by, we did order a round of drinks. After waiting for over 20 minutes, we attempted to cancel them, because they were taking so long. Again, the place was only 30-40% full. Six minutes later, the waitress brought over one of the drinks and said she couldn’t cancel it because they can’t cancel liquor. A competently run restaurant would have comped the drink and apologized for taking so long. This restaurant charged us for the single drink. On the positive side, the food wad good enough. The crab cakes I ordered were good, and the pork chop another adult in our party ordered was pretty solid. That being said, I wouldn’t return to this establishment. The service was simply too poor to put up with when there are other...

We've eaten here over 15 times over the past few years and the food and service has been great. Tonight absolutely did it for us. We arrived around 7, we had a group of 12, we we seated, received our drinks, ordered, and then proceeded to wait an hour if not longer to get our food. There was only 2 other parties dining, so it definitely wasn't busy. There was a group of 12 who came in about 45 minutes after we did, they had already received their food and were leaving the same time we were. The smaller tables who were seated after us, had already received their food, ate and left. No manager ever came out to explain or apologize for our wait. We had suggested this place to our friends, who are visiting Topsail for the first time. They said they will never eat here again. Our food was cold, our ticket alone was $125 (for 2 adults and 4 small children), which in my opinion for the service and food was a complete joke and ridiculous. I am extremely upset with the way we were treated. We were forced to pay an 18% tip because of our partie size. However the service we received was absolutely awful. Nothing was done to make it right, nor was any explanation given. So after tonight I don't recommend going here. It was embarrassing to invite our friends here, and then have the absolute...