Big Daddy’s Restaurant

Had dinner there last night with a friend. The kitchen messed our order up twice, but our waitress was wonderful and got it fixed quickly. The service was excellent and so was the food. They just redid everything after the restaurant got passed down to the current owners and they’ve only been open two days since. They have a new head chef who makes everything in house and redid the menu. Not five stars due to the kitchen errors and that our oysters still had some sand and dirt clearly on them.

Opening this season with many positive changes including all fresh, local seafood and daily bar/​app specials, this is the place to go this summer! Outdoor and indoor seating, steps to the beach. Doesn’t get much better!

Went here Sept 15^th, Not sure what happened to this place. Got wrong dish, weak drinks and flies everywhere outside. Our appetizer came at same time as our food and the wait After ordering was terrible. There are definitely better places to go. Definitely needs better management.

The seating outside is nice to people watch! The hush puppies are good! I had lobster macaroni it tasted OK but was swimming in grease. My mom had to pick out a dozen bones from her fish that wasn’t that great.

I showed up at 8:58 and was still able to place a take out order to my surprise. So thankful because it was amazing. The oysters were cooked perfect. The fire shrimp had the perfect sweet and spicy flavor. I was even offered a $ 1.00 draft bud light while I waited. The staff was super friendly even though it was closing time.

We were in town camping at Carola Beach State Park and we drove over to get some lunch. We sat outside and were served right away. We were entertained by folks walking by and birds which were trying to get a bite to eat. I had a chicken sandwich (blackened) and fries. It was great. I will be back next time I’m camping at CB.

I used to come here years ago with my family while on vacation, decided to come back and try it again, and it was the worst decision of my entire vacation. The food was horrible! I ordered catfish, mahi and scallops (blackened), it tasted as though it was all boiled and then given a dash of seasoning. The scallops were flavorless and the fish didn’t even taste like fish. It was the most bland, tasteless seafood I’ve ever had. Long john silvers would put this place to shame, and that is obscene because this restaurant is less than 200 yards from the ocean. I wouldn’t even use Big Daddy’s food as bait! By far the best part of my meal was the French fries, yes the best part of my seafood meal at a seafood restaurant was the fries! That’s pathetic! I will say that the server was very polite and timely and the manager did the best he could for us, I cannot make a bad remark about them, but that was a horrible excuse for seafood.
In short, if you feel like having a crappy, over priced slop of a meal, Big Daddy’s is your place, if you want better seafood, Jack Mackerel’s is on the other corner and for better hush puppies the pier house is a block away.

I do not recommend! Poor customer service. Took forever to get a waitress. I honestly don’t think the staff communicates. People before us walked out and the staff didn’t acknowledge them. We decided to close our tab and leave and are so glad we did after reading reviews.

I am pleased to announce puppygate is over! Hush puppies are free! And mandatory gratuity is optional waitress discretion (but do always tip the waitress as they have little control aside from fountain drinks)
We decided to step out on a limb and try big daddy’s even with the helpful reviews (again thank you all). Our experience tonight was very nice.
Our waitress was pleasant and the slow night appeared to have everyone working to please us. (Half of the tables taken) We had both bar tenders address our needs and the chefs and other waiters came around to assure we were pleased. Drinks remained full. Food service being slow was a bit long. But 17 minutes for well cooked seafood I’ll take over rubber any day.
The Alaskan snow crab was steamy and moist, well done chef! And every piece of shrimp wether Alfredo or peel and eat tasted as juicy and fresh!
The snow crab was true Alaska not the farm raised red lobster junk with no meat. So expect a premium price for the authenticity and actual full meat for 2lbs!
Kids Mac n cheese was fresh and creamy. (Personally polished off a plate with this wonderful surprise)
I do suggest you try the draft fish bait beer. (Shark bait). It was fruity and fresh almost summer ale and light finish
Overall 10 people topping out around $ 200 for an outdoor ocean view and well done food qualify at 4 stars for our visit. (So enjoyable we missed our planned evening fireworks!)
We held back a star as the service seemed a bit disorganized with so many people helping it threw off a typical routine (drinks, appetizers, main course, night cap). Also for the price of the main menu it would be refreshing to have a salad freshly tossed to break up the wait and or hush puppies delivered with the drinks.
Note the hush puppies were warm and moist with a generous texture of butter (clearly freshly made by someone who knows breads)
Overall we do suggest if you have avoided big daddy’s over a management change, it appears they have listened to your thoughtful and heartfelt input and I hope you’re experience is as nice if not better than ours
Jeff
Burgaw, NC
(Not close enough to monkey junction or we’d be regulars again)
5′ sharks on the pier tonight 10 pm ish and glad to see the drainage pipes are sanded over again (took forever)

I’ve eaten here a couple of times (since the new management) and I have always been greeted warmly. Unlike some reviewers I don’t care for hush puppies and I dare say some people would not eat them and that would be a waste. I liked what I ordered, but my only complaint is that I wish they had a brunch on Sundays.

We thought we would venture out from Carolina Beach and try a restaurant in Kure Beach. Bad mistake. I had the soft shell carb sandwich that was devoid of taste. Even slathering it in their «special sauce» barely made an improvement. They touted their seafood chowder as «the best». But apparently they feel a soup without taste is something to recognize. The soup was mostly potatoes and needed a lot of salt, pepper and tabasco sauce just to give it enough flavor to be palatable. I don’t know how the hamburgers, etc are but I would stay away from the seafood unless your tastes lean towards the Senior Citizen Buffet line.

Eww is all I have to say… I went here with family while they were on vacation so they could get some crab legs. I had the Shrimp Alfred, which was OK, seeing that you can’t really mess up a sauce from a jar on a pile or reheated noodles. The crab legs were gross… the kids wouldn’t even eat them! What really grossed everyone out were the flies that arrived at the table with our food. We literally went from not seeing any, to being swarmed by them the second our food arrived (need I mention that we were seated inside, at the back wall of the back room so they couldn’t have just been flying by?). Yuck!

It’s funny to read the mixed reviews of this place. Simply put, however, the service was bad, the menu has changed (and not for the better), the food is over priced and our experience left everyone in our party with a bad taste in our mouths… And that was mostly due to the entire experience, not even because of the hush puppies, because now they charge $ 2 a basket for those instead of bringing them out for free like they used to.
We tried to not let the menu change bother us when we first sat down. Half of us had been looking forward to the hush puppies since we got to the beach and we asked if we could have them. «Sorry, we don’t just bring them out… We charge for them now.» ok fine, whatever, we get a couple of baskets. The baskets come and there is no honey butter and there’s maybe only like 8 hush puppies in each basket. What. Also, the salad bar is gone, but that wasn’t a huge deal. Want some stir fry for $ 13 and add some chicken for $ 6, though? No? The menu is a mess.
Got an appetizer, it was meh.
Got our food, it was meh. There was a lot of it, though. We’ll give them that. Pretty sure Robert Irvine would have a problem with their proportions though.
Got the check after waiting for a very long time. Change was made incorrectly (tried to stiff us at least $ 20 and then at the end she still didn’t get it right). During that time we listened to another large party near us and they were having a near identical experience as us, right down to the fact that they couldn’t get ketchup out of any of their bottles and had to go searching for others. We talked to a couple near us and they were extremely unhappy with their experience as well, but they hadn’t been here for at least 5 years. We have been coming at least once a year for the past 20.
The candy room was sad. The hostess had a very see through dress with a lovely thong poking through. Our waitress was barely being held into her shirt. And the staff was all very chummy and not very productive. Place was near empty.
You’re one of the only seafood restaurants at a very busy pier! How do you screw that up?
It pains me to say this, but save yourself some money and don’t go to Big Daddy’s. They seem to be going downhill and our experience shows exactly why.

Been eating there for 20 years. New menu, poor service, overpriced chow. After so many good experiences this simply is a different restaurant. Not a good experience.

We were greeted by the hosts telling us it would be 45 minutes before they could get us food (including appetizers) because the kitchen was slammed. We chose to stay and enjoy a few drinks. Make no mistake the outdoor patio is the best feature of this place. Two of us ordered daft beer (cold) and the third ordered bottled beer (not cold).
The staff were friendly and treated the situation as best they could trying to accommodate us. People around us were getting up and leaving.
My grilled fish tacos were fresh and tasty, the (rubber) chicken sandwich not so much and the oyster po-​boy oysters were good but not the roll or sides.
I have to agree with other posters: this place needs management that knows how to run a restaurant. I would avoid this place unless changes are made.

We have eaten at Big Daddy’s every year that we come to the beach… so much that the kids look forward to it as a family tradition. We will never be eating there again. Sweet baby Jesus, our meal tonight was disgusting! First off, the service was terrible… it took at least an hour to get our food. Granted, we ordered some appetizers, and they were pretty good (wings and fried artichokes). But after that, we sat… and sat… and sat. When the food finally came out, several orders were just plain wrong. My mom ordered fried oysters and blackened flounder and got fried shrimp and flounder. We never got the oysters at all. Several plates were supposed to come with vegetables and got cole slaw instead. My mom and dad both got flounder and said that it was inedible… we figured out later that it had been microwaved. I got «blackened shrimp» which was really overcooked sautéed shrimp thrown with an incredible amount of salt. My crab cake just tasted off… the frozen crab cakes at Costco are much, much better. And the «seasonal fresh vegetables» are those watery frozen Birds Eye ones. Several people at our table got fried shrimp, and it literally tasted of nothing but old oil. We have been gone from the restaurant for an hour and a half now, and I can still taste it in my mouth.
Believe me, I don’t post a lot of bad reviews, and it sucks to post it about this place which I always looked forward to. I can’t believe how far downhill it has gone.
Here’s the kind of comical thing about it… this place must employ half the population of Kure Beach. There were about 15 people walking around the dining room like their hair was on fire, but no one seemed to actually be doing anything of importance. The dining room was nowhere near filled, but no one had food. Every once in a while, someone would walk out of the kitchen with this tiny basket of hushpuppies. The servers kept walking around saying «It will be out in a minute!» to anyone that would listen. Um, ok. But when our food was disgusting, all of a sudden the manager «was busy doing something else.»
Also slightly hilarious: My dad ordered a beer… first one came out just fine. The second one, they were apparently out. So this guy we had never seen before walks out of the kitchen, carrying a case of lukewarm Coronas, plops it down on an empty booth, opens the box with a box cutter and just basically throws it at Dad.
At least we have some funny memories… right!!!

My wife and I had a great time enjoying the patio and live music. We ordered some adult beverages and enjoyed a pound of peal and eat shrimp along with a crab dip appetizer. Both items were good and the drinks were cold.

This place has gone down hill. I’m not sure if there’s new management, but the place was empty. Also, they no longer serve you a basket of hush puppies unless you ask specifically. Even then, they’re not fresh. The menu itself has been cut down significantly as well.
It took the waiter about 20 minutes to get our food order alone and about 15 minutes to get our drinks out to us.
The food itself wasn’t spectacular either. My friend had blackened mahi that wasn’t cooked well. My crab cakes (2) were a good size, but the flavor was subpar. The only thing that actually tasted good was the sweet potato fries. They were covered in cinnamon and sugar.
Overall, I wouldn’t really go out of my way to come back unless someone told me there had been significant changes.

Love, love, love me some seafood and if I’m in Kure Beach it’s Big Daddy’s! Last time I went was under the old management and I was cool with it then, but now it’s even better. They just opened (literally like last week) so are still getting their sea legs under them, but the food is is awesome and the staff is just great. Fun people, cool atmosphere (it’s at the beach people … so expect some maritime décor) and the seafood is fantastic. Oysters? Yes please! If you like Sriracha (who doesn’t? Try the Big Daddy’s Fire Shrimp (but have a cold beer handy). The crab cakes are fat and happy … and so was I after downing two of them!
Anyone giving a bad review on here is either a competitor, or should just go eat foie gras on a white table cloth somewhere! This is a beach restaurant, serving beach food and they are damned good at it!

Es un excelente sitio para comer después de un día de playa. El servicio es muy bueno. Con dos ambientes al aire libre y otra con aire acondicionado. 100% recomendado.
It’s a very good place eat after a day at the beach. Excellent service, outdoor and indoor area, 100% recommend it

I ordered the fish and chips for $ 14.99. The menu pictured a nice crispy filet with flaky white fish inside and a side of slaw. My actual order consisted of a few over cooked fish sticks your standard lunch lady wouldn’t be caught dead serving, three hush puppies and some fries. I would have made out better in the frozen section of Food Lion. (I will be posting a picture) I got no slaw and when I asked about it the server, very nicely, told me that the dinner portion didn’t come with coleslaw. Two tables over I saw another patron eating her’s with a side of slaw.
My margarita was only $ 5 since it was the special and it tasted like a sour salt lick. No bueno! $ 20.00 later I closed out my tab and left, not before swearing off this joint for good! On the plus side, if there is one, my server was very nice!