Big Sam's Inlet Cafe & Raw Bar — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Friday 5-2-25 lunch 12:42 pm. Not busy.

1st visit here. Nothing fancy. The place inside was clean and the staff attentive. Your view is of the scum filled water around the jet ski rental dock facing Rudee inlet. The dumpsters and grease bin out front isn't too attractive. The crab ball appetizer was mostly crab and very good. *Get the sauce on the side. I didn't care for the taste and had tarter sauce instead. The clam strip basket with slaw and fries was good. The wife's shrimp tacos and charro beans was very good. We would return for dinner if in the area again.

Billing for meal: Half & half tea was $2.99. Sweet tea was $3.25. Figure that one out???? Pay in cash and you save $3.5%. More restaurants are doing this so we always pay in cash now.

*Note this review was completed without using ridiculous un-discriptive terms like out-of-bounds, OMG, on point, awesome, the bomb, yummy, delish, to die for, do yourself a favor, trust me, flavorful, or kids emojis etc.. Describe the food, service (or lack of) and provide details on the cost/copy of check and include pictures! Is the place clean? No disrespect to the employees, but no one cares about the waiter/waitress/clerk names, or if they look like they fell face first into a tackle box. They get changed like underwear and you don't get to pick one. We don't care about your allergies, vibes, how "chill" you feel, or the need for gluten free food.

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We had always enjoyed Big Sam's when visiting VA Beach. This time we went there in the middle of the afternoon, approximately 3:30, to sit outside with my Service Dog in Training. There was an event going on and no outdoor tables were available and it was extremely crowded outside. We sat inside by a window. Our puppy is still mastering not barking at other dogs. A few times a dog walked by and she let out a few barks. My husband and I quickly distracted her from barking to quiet her. The third time as I was calming her down the owner/manager rudely told us we had to take our food to go or sit outside. If she would have kindly walked over to talk to us we would not have been upset, however, the manner in which she chastised us was unprofessional and rude. She repeated a couple of times that she would be fined for a health violation because of our dog, and said service dogs don't bark. I tried to explain she is still training, however, the woman insisted that we leave. We did as she requested and will never go back.

Update :Couldn’t find an away to respond to the owners statement . We were not there long , didn’t even get our food and did not see anyone get up. The little boy at the table next to us calmed down when we got there to look and smile at the dog. She was under the table. She only barked at a dog walking by out side the window . The staff was extremely rude which of course they wouldn’t tell their boss. If we can’t be somewhere in the afternoon to get our dog trained how do you train them? And she only barked a few barks two or three times until we calmed her down. She was not continually barking . We had her at a few other restaurants at dinner time ( this was in the afternoon). I reviewed the other restaurants that we were at with no issues . If you’re handicappped they wont accommodate to you...

We went there for dinner. Went around 5pm so there was no wait. They have great sweet tea. We ordered their chicken wings, steamed clams, steamed oysters, steamed shrimp, the fresh raw tuna sushi, and oysters rockafeller. To start, their wings are the BEST wings we have had in the area. They taste crispy, hot and fresh. They have 1.50 wings during “tiki hour” and you have to get increments of 6. Tbh you aren’t really getting that great of a deal far as price because even during happy hour they are 9.00 for 6. They come with celery and homemade ranch. A full order on the regular menu is 18.99 so you only save .99 if you order 12. Next, the steamed clams were little neck and good. No complaints. The oysters were sooo small they were about the size of a nickel. lol. And one was about the size of a dime. I couldn’t believe they would even serve them. Hubby said the tuna was very fresh and taste great. Good seaweed and wasabi. The oysters rock we actually sent back because they had a terrible taste on the first one. Oysters rock is one of my favorite appetizers and I get it just about every place that has them, these were gross. (Sorry for saying this) but they were. They had large chunks of onion in them. Spinach that was barely warm and very tasteless. And they just threw some white cheese on top and cooked it. This restaurant is so good but they NEED to re-think their Rock recipe. Lastly, their steamed shrimp. We had 3 orders of them. They were great! Steamed great. Nice size. Homemade cocktail and drawn butter. We will...