Pier 16 — Restaurant in Tybee Island

We decided to go here after the beach to get some seafood because my best friend has never tried seafood before. We decided to get the steamed seafood platter and share it. We also order fries, a blue crab cake, and a pink flamingo margarita.(our sodas were flat and the water tastes unfiltered.) The fries, blue crab cake, and margarita were amazing; it was very very strong.. And our server was very sweet and amazing..but the seafood platter was just streamed with a little dash of old bay and cocktail and butter on the side..we noticed the one crab leg we got was overcooked. It turned into mush when we tried to take it out. We told the sever and she got the manager and the manager acted like we didn’t know how to eat crab legs and bought us a crab fork. When we tired to use that it still just came out as mush. Then the manager came back and we showed her the mush and how it just wasn't eatable she told us she could either discount the meal or give us one more crab leg. We asked for another crab leg and she left and came back with the same plate saying that “we can’t give you another one because most of this one has been eaten already” I told her everything from that crab leg was on the plate we weren’t able to eat any of it because it was all mush. She then told us all she could do was give us a discount. After that we got 11$ off the bill and the sever had told us that the owners had trained the employees to not discount/void/ replace ANY food. That is ridiculous. Especially how rude management was to us. We then looked up reviews to see that they have done this before and claim they can’t replace the food because “you’ve already eaten It” But I want to make very clear our server was very amazing and was very helpful and sweet. We will not be coming back. This place needs new management/owners. this is pathetic for a $40 plate. I wished they could have just told us from the beginning that they only would be...

Wow… where do I even begin?

I guess with the appetizers. The spinach and artichoke dip was tremendously bad. It tasted like they tossed raw spinach into a bowl of canned artichokes and called it a day. The pita bread was just as underwhelming—barely cooked and impossible to dip. Then there was the Tuna "Tartar"… which turned out to be seared ahi. Not terrible, but definitely not tartar. Just something to be aware of if you're expecting a classic preparation.

Now, the entrées—this is where it went from bad to downright awful.

My daughter ordered a chicken sandwich that, surprisingly, wasn't bad. But her fries were undercooked and basically inedible. She had planned to dip them in ranch, but the ranch was so watery it barely clung to the fry. At that point, it was a moot point—but still worth noting how poor the quality was.

I had the Cajun salmon with a house salad and corn on the cob. The salad was an immediate no-go—the lettuce was brown and wilted. The corn was drenched in a generic-tasting Old Bay knockoff. As for the salmon? Calling it "Cajun" is almost laughable. It had zero flavor. I've had tofu with more personality.

But the real tragedy was my wife’s dish—the “Low Country Boil.” It was truly depressing. Four halved new potatoes, three undercooked pieces of sausage, eight peel-and-eat shrimp that hadn’t even been deveined (disgusting), and a sad half-ear of corn covered in the same cheap, flavorless seasoning. It was borderline inedible.

All of that disappointment, plus three soft drinks, came out to $107 before tip. And the kicker? When the waitress came to clear our barely touched plates, she smiled and said, “Looks like you guys enjoyed that!”

No, we didn’t....

I was in Tybee Island with my girlfriend looking particularly for fresh seafood, and initially started at North Beach Bar & Grill. They had a nice outside patio and live music atmosphere, but it was a bit loud & the menu had mainly fried foods, so we went to Pier 16 instead after some research.

We are so grateful we did! With the restaurant chock full with an hour wait, fate lead us to get immediate seats at the beautifully relaxing rooftop bar, where we were fortunate enough to meet Brandon, our gracious bartender.

Hands down one of the most authentic and charismatic bartenders we’ve ever met. He knew the names of every customer sitting around him (most were first timers), and even though he was completely slammed with orders, Brandon somehow emphatically made time to make each of us feel special. He even shared with us his personal stash of homemade hot sauce (love spicy).

For some reason his energy & level of customer engagement led us to believe he was an owner of the restaurant, but nope he’s was just being a fantastic salesmen who just actually cared deeply for his clients & work.

Aside from recommending a perfect mixture of fresh seafood, Brandon also gave us amazing pointers of what to do in Tybee Island that night. We ended up having unforgettable night thanks him.

2 days later that experience really stuck with us, so I wanted to make sure to take the time to let his employers and the world know Brandon is a gem.

Brandon - Tybee Island is lucky to have you, and thank you so much for your amazing energy and sincere kindness. We’re looking forward to seeing again at Pier...