Pup's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Wilson

BEWARE do not make the same mistake that we did!! Overpriced and overrated!! Read this entire review!! A group of us dined at the famous Pups about two weeks ago. I made a reservation because when we tried to go the week prior we were told that they were completely booked and said it was best to make reservations a day or two in advance. Thus we waited a week and called two days prior to make reservation. I asked for them to seat us in the bar area because according to their website they have live music on the weekends, so I thought it would be cool to eat and then hang out after for drinks and music. When we arrived we were immediately seated at a table that had been set aside for our party even though it was only set up for three and our reservation was for 6. (I bring this up because aftter our appetizer arrived we had to chase a waitress down to get the proper place settings, oh and there were plenty of empty tables, so maybe it was an "off" night). To start we ordered the crab dip as an appetizer. It was awful! I am pretty certain that it had absolutely no crabmeat in it and it was overly loaded with cheese and very salty!!! Basically we paid $18 for a bowl of melted cheese. I had the catch of the day which was Salmon with Shrimp Scampi on top. Well, it definitely was not scampi, but rather shrimp with lemon. The salmon wasn't very flavorful and the risotto was overcooked having the consistency of mush. My husband had oysters which were overcooked and cold. The others in our group were not very pleased with their entrées either. TO top it off, our waitress barely checked on us, maybe she forgot we were seated In the bar? One person in our group had to go up to the bar twice to get additional beers. ALSO, turns out they no longer have live music (major bummer). Typically I do not complain, however, considering the prices (our group spent around $250) AND the hype around town about this place AND the fact that I was told I needed to have a reservation to dine here AND the website advertised live music, I figured I would carry out my due diligence to let others know that this place is truly overrated and way overpriced! We will...

Price to quality ratio was much less than it should be.

Staff was friendly but fairly absent. Certain tables (regulars, I'm sure) received far more attention than others. Food was seasoned well and timing was pretty good.

Bread was brought out with some kind of compound butter. Bread was fine, nothing to write home about. The compound butter looked disgusting (imagine clumpy, broken buttercream) but my wife said it tasted great.

For what is called a "steakhouse" there are few steak options. I ordered the Surf n' Turf. It was supposed to be a parmesan encrusted ribeye and shrimp; what I got was a grey steak (almost no browning at all) with no crust, a few shrimp, and some kind of grainy cheese sauce on top. No mention of sauce on the menu, and the "crust" that was mentioned was nowhere to be found. The baked potato I got was overcooked and half was rubbery. The brussels sprouts had a greasy mouthfeel.

Wife got the special. Bacon wrapped mahi, risotto, and green beans. Her reaction was "meh". Bacon wrapped fish is a travesty by itself, but my wife missed that part when the special was read to us. Instead of risotto she got cheesy rice; y'all know that it requires a special rice (arborrio) to make risotto, right? And it shouldn't remain clumpy when plated?

That's just the food. For $30+ entrees I expect the restaurant itself to be in good shape. The forks are cheap and can be easily bent with two fingers, there is wallpaper missing in bathrooms, and both menus we got were dirty (food smears and residue). I'm not expecting the Ritz in Wilson but those little details are what help justify higher prices, because the food quality doesn't.

For the quality of the dining room and actual food I feel like all of the entrees are $10 too expensive. If you're going to call yourself a "steakhouse" then offer more steaks and stop hiding the low quality...

One of the worst dining experiences I have ever encountered. With a reservation, my party waited almost 2 hours before food ever came out. It was during lunch and there were only 2 other parties in the place, and a few people at the bar who came in after we did, they also received their food before we did. I understand being short staffed, but we were not acknowledged during the entire wait, no apology or anything. I wanted to be able to give the young waitress kudos because she seemed new, but she hardly came to the table and when one member of the party wanted to place a to go order while we were still waiting for our food, the waitress told her no because they were closed. They closed at 2:00, it was 2:01 when they attempted to place the order. By the time we got our food it was 2:30, which is crazy considering the 12:45 reservation. The majority of the party asked for takeout boxes when the food finally came. And let's talk about the food. I ordered the yard bird sandwich. Half of the bun was as hard as a rock, the chicken was burnt in places and had 0 flavor. I would never come to this establishment again. Even with the snails pace of the food coming out, the attitude of the staff members that were there was terrible. They truly did not care about the experience we had and showed that. If I could give the place 0...