Shuckers Oyster Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Wake Forest

I gave the food 3 stars because mine was good, but my husband's made him sick. The hush puppies are so good! I got one grilled lobster tail with a side or red skinned potatoes. Both were delicious. The lobster tails don't say the price on the menu. It just says "current market price," and when you order it, they ask if you want 1, 2, or 3 tails. One ended up costing $22. I got water, but my husband got a sweet tea and they charged us $3 for it. He also order the crabcake with a side of redskinned potatoes. It only came with one crabcake and was $17...so with his drink, his meal was only $2 less than mine. I tasted his crabcake and it was not something I would never want to eat again. He only ate half of it and it gave him diarrhea. He had to get up and go to the bathroom and barely made it on the toilet. My father ordered the small portion of fried flounder and it came with two big fried fish filets. We were there to celebrate my father's birthday and when our waiter asked if we wanted dessert, my dad said it was his birthday several times and he ordered the brownie and my sister ordered the banana pudding. We were charged for both, but right before they brought out our desserts, some waiters came out with a brownie with a birthday candle and sung happy birthday for the table right next to ours. So that's one thing that was annoying/ frustrating. Maybe our server didn't hear us say it was my dad's birthday. 🤷‍♀️ Anyway, I was really full and ended up getting a to go box for the potatoes that were left, but I still tasted my dad's brownie and ice cream. It was pretty good and my dad barely ate any of it, so I knocked the ice cream off and took the brownie home. My sister kept saying her banana pudding was really good and tasted like creme brulee, so even though I hate bananas, I tasted it and it was amazing. She didn't eat much so I ate as much as I could and took the rest home. It didn't taste like banana to me...more like vanilla flavored. It had fried banana slices on top, but I knocked them off and took the rest of the pudding and nilla wafers home with me. The banana pudding was better than the brownie and I would definitely get it again. Good experience overall. I was so hungry, I ate it all without even thinking to take any pictures...

Excellence all around and a tangible atmosphere of success

This is a great location in a small NC town. With this being right outside Raliegh, NC; this is an epic, worthwhile trip for a delicious meal. My wife and I were looking for something unique but not a chain. This perfectly fits the bill. The excellence is evident upon entry. The warm greeting and friendly staff reassured us this was going to be a good choice. The atmosphere and the number of guests was a good sign of how great this place is in the local community.

Let's start with the service. I am always big on the attentiveness of the wait staff. EMILY was INCREDIBLE!! She greeted us with a warm demeanor and provided ideas, suggestions, and answered our questions with grace and understanding. Her recommendations were spot on. LUKE the bartender was more than just a pourer of drinks. He is a true mixologist. The Apple Martinis were flavored well and generously portioned. At the end of the meal we asked to speak with the manager on duty to express our gratitude for the service. It was easy to see why everyone seemed to receive the outstanding effort from all the staff. AMY was sweet and professional and as we were telling her how great everything was, you could tell she was proud of her team. Amy was focused on asking us questions and engaging in conversation. She delivers excellence and expects the same for those who work with her.

The dining experience from appetizers to entrees to sweets at the end was fantastic. Well prepared, presented well, and the flavor was that of award winning cuisines from multi-star restaurants. Those who prepared this meal were at the top of their game. Definitely worthy of opening the kitchen doors to hear a cheer and a round of applause of well earned appreciation.

While we only visit the area twice or three times a year, this will be on our list of MUSTS with each visit.

Thank you - AMY, LUKE, and especially EMILY for the kindness and excellence in what you do. Shuckers is definitely a place to dine, and ask for Emily - you won't be...

We visited Shuckers on a Thursday night. We only waited about 10-15m to be seated, perfectly reasonable in my opinion.

We ordered (to share between my fiance and I) a beer and a glass of wine, the bacon wrapped scallops, a cup of new england clam chowder, their garden salad, the pecan crusted trout (small plate), and the fish and chips (small plate).

Drinks: Fine, but took nearly 10m for the bartender to come over and tell me the original beverage was out. Suggested something else and it was good.

Appetizers: The bacon wrapped scallops were pretty good; better than I expected to be honest. The "clam chowder" was unbelievably bad however. It was more of a grease-clam soup and I would not wish it upon my worst enemies. It also didn't come out until I asked them to cancel it after the entrees had already been out for a few minutes. The salad was fine but also came out after the entrees, even though the receipt clearly had it marked as "pre-entree."

Entrees: Both the pecan crusted trout and the fish and chips were fine. Nothing spectacular but definitely fine. 3.5/5.

At the end of all this, we did speak with a manager who came by our table to ask how things were. By no means were we upset or distressed by the experience. They were absolutely slammed, especially for a Thursday night, and the staff seemed to be some newer summer break employees, but I wasn't 100% on that. The manager apologized profusely, even though we sort of chuckled and made it clear that we knew it wasn't her fault. Things happen. She gave us (essentially) a $20 managers coupon to "give them another chance" sometime in the future.

We'll definitely go back at some point to give Shuckers another shot. I do believe that (besides the clam chowder) that everything else was just fine, and once they can iron out some of their staff training it'll be a better experience...