Welton's Seafood Market — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

Earlier this week my mother in law stopped by Welton’s to pick up some flounder that she had planned to fry for dinner. She chose Welton’s as a returning customer with whom she had a really good customer service experience in the past. However, this was several years ago when Mr. Richard Welton was in ownership and the food quality was high and market prices were more competitive. Though the prices were a bit higher in her most recent experience she had no reason to question the quality of the flounder she purchased, that was until she got home and began to prep the fish for frying. Once she got the fish unwrapped she began to lay the fillets out to wash in the sink before battering, that’s when she noticed a live worm crawling from outside of the meat of the flounder. Usually where there’s smoke, there’s fire so we presumed that since one fillet was contaminated then the rest of the others were to. We took photo’s and video of the contaminated fish before throwing it in the trash to present to to the current owner and manager of Welton’s, “Mike Gnilka” as evidence in efforts to my mother in law $91.09 refunded back to her account.

I spoke with Mike about the situation to which his response was rude, combative and abrasive all adjectives counter intuitive to good customer service. Mike offered us store credit as compensation for our troubles instead cash, credit and or debit refunds. He stated that the business did not offer refunds as per store policy. I responded that store credit wouldn’t work for us as for all we knew the other fish may have been contaminated as well. The flounder itself was stored next to another species of fish which was laying next to another species of fish in the same refrigerated glass container. Mike then goes on to insult my intelligence by saying that fish have worms in them all the time and, all we had to do was cook it and it would be fine. I responded that that may be fine for him and his family but it wasn’t for me and mine. He then continues to further insult my intelligence by saying that even most restaurants in town didn’t offer refunds for bad service and product but instead gave store credit to which I responded was false. Most restaurants either will not charge you for the meal or will refund your money if you are not satisfied. Further more I also explained that most restaurants and even chain grocery stores usually buy their meats from venders who have the tightest inspection of contamination process before shipping, the chefs upon receiving usually follow restaurant policy protocol of inspecting the meat for contamination prior to prep, cooking and service. In short there is usually several levels of quality assurance by the time the meat leaves the vendor and ends up on your table.

Once I realized Mike and I were pretty much at an impasse standoff I began to recognize that he was willing to die on his hill in not doing the right thing and refunding my mother in laws money. I went home and did research with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS). I had even spoke with a rep which informed me that unless Mike and the Welton’s staff were advertising the flounder as a product for raw consumption like sushi then there really was nothing I could do as flounder is a wild ocean fish and their diets could include contamination. Though this gave Mike and his staff all sales final protection it did call into question Welton’s vendor sources. As stated earlier my mother in law had better quality of fish and cheaper price in her previous experience under former owner Richard Welton. Mr. Welton turned over ownership and operations to Mike Gnilka in December of 2015. It’s not that far of a stretch to assume that things may have changed since then. Mike could have changed vendors and went with lower quality for a cheaper price wholesale but inflated those prices retail to the consumer, who knows. Customer service could have down graded since the change of hands which would explain our experience in dealing with this...

I don't know how I have not written a review for Welton's in the past! My family comes to the VA Beach oceanfront every summer for a 1 week vacation in July. We have a great tradition that we started about 6 years ago.

On the first night of vacay, by the time we get checked into our place and unpacked, the wait at local area restaurants is already at least 2 hours long. That's not doable with hungry kids and 11 people total. So, every year, we pre-order 13lbs of snow crab legs and 4lbs of steamed shrimp from Welton's. We all check-in to our place and then pick up the food in aluminum pans before they close at 5PM. On the way back we pick up a to-go order of hushpuppies and some cold Corona's with limes. We celebrate the kickoff of our family vacation with a seafood feast instead of going out. Welton's seafood is always so fresh and they always do a...

Stopped by this place unexpectedly. The gentleman behind the counter was very friendly and very helpful. He was super patient with me as I asked if I could call my Mom to review her order. Ordered 2 dozen steamed blue crabs (#1 Jimmy's) and he told me that they were very big. Well, I guess I may have expected VERY big because of what he was describing....but they were a decent size. Nothing extraordinarily LARGE. The taste, seasoning, and flavor surely made up for the imperfect size though!! Not complaining about the size, just was expecting a little larger. Price was about average (market value), but his personalized approach was well worth it. Would have given 5 stars, but the crabs weren't a large as I expected. GREAT place though and I will surely go back when in that area. Customer...