Big Al’s Soda Fountain & Grill

We had a pretty great experience when we went, actually. We picked the restaurant randomly and enjoyed all our food. The chili was awesome, as were the fries. My friend enjoyed her tuna melt, and I enjoyed my burger with crab on top. The server was very friendly and attentive. I’m not saying they should be a 5-​star restaurant or anything, but for a simple enjoyable meal, it was a good choice.

We always love going to Big Al’s! Since I started coming to the OBX with the woman I eventually married, Big Al’s has been a favorite. My kids, now 6 and 3, love eating here as well. It’s a great family restaurant, with good food.

Want a sit down lunch on a busy tourist day? 30 minute wait, that’s ok and to be expected. Driving by and want to pop in for a scoop of ice cream and milkshake to go from the ice cream bar? Same 30 minute wait since the ice cream requires you to sit down and be served by a waitress… What a joke…

We ate here many years ago on our first trip to the outer banks and I remembered my daughter enjoying the coca-​cola themed soda fountain motif. I remembered very little about the food.
Now I know why.
We decided to stop by here again recently, more for nostalgia than anything else. The food was subpar across the board. Seafood portions were small and quite tasteless. I suspect they were something different than local and fresh. They were also lukewarm bordering on cold. I know the right thing to do would have been to complain but the few waitstaff they had working were on the verge of being overwhelmed and quite frankly, the last thing we wanted was to extend our stay. We paid the bill and left.
But the milkshakes were pretty good. We both finished them with smiles on our faces.

We went in and couldn’t bring ourselves to order food, because the place was so ill kept. So we still ordered root beer floats, but the root beer was all carbonation and the glasses were half full. Not worth the ten bucks for two drinks.

Had Casino hot dogs. Buns were cold. None of the onions made it to the hot dog, look like they were thrown in the general direction and all landed in the basket. Waiter took orders with toothpick in his mouth.

It’s been a long time since we’ve been here and doesn’t seem quite as good as it used to but it was still good and we got our order fast. But business was really slow when we went.

If I could give Big Al’s no stars I would. The service was horrid. When we came in we were told that all their large tables were going to be in use since they had a large bus party coming in. We were given the option to use two booths within proximity of each other (we should have left at this point). We waited well over 30 mins for our food and when it came put it was stone cold. The shrimp was undercooked to the point of almost being raw and it wasn’t anything to write home about. Our drinks stood empty for extended periods of time and the food was overpriced. If our kids hadn’t been restless we would have sought out a manager, but who knows how long that would have taken.

Came here for lunch on a Monday and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. The hostess and wait staff let us know (multiple times) that they were understaffed and apologized. Even being understaffed the service was decent and I have no complaints about that.
The atmosphere is kitschy and there’s a lot of Coca Cola memoroblia throughout the restaurant. Pretty neat to look at, however it does have a little bit of a «tourist trap» vibe since you have to exit and pay at the gift shop.
Food itself was decent, our table each had milkshakes – I ordered a chocolate malt but got a regular shake – no biggie. Everyone enjoyed them, you could tell it was premium ice cream being used. We also had the smothered fries as an appetizer (french fries topped with cheese, bacon, and chives served with ranch), while it was definitely not healthy it wasn’t overly greasy and the toppings were generous.
For our meal the food was basic diner food – mostly burgers, sandwiches, and platters. About 90% of it fried food. I got the Blue Monday Burger which was really tasty – it had a spicy sauce on it that complimented the bleu cheese really well. Also had their sweet potato fries, which were delightfully crispy.
Overall not a bad spot. Pricey, but you’re at the beach and you’re going to pay for it.

Oh wow this place was gorgeous and I loved all the old coca cola stuff in and the old drink machines. My friend and I stopped by there yesterday for lunch for starter we ordered the cheese fries and that was the bomb .com and for our meal I ordered the drafty burger and onion rings they were melt in your mouth good I’ve ordered onion rings from other places and the when u bit in it the onion slides right out if the breading. At Al’s it stayed in the breading it was so juicy and good and I told my friend I didn’t get a handful of grease from the fries or onion rings like you would at other restaurants. My friend at the Swiss Burger and she had that burger gone in no time it was that good. I server was very nice and always checked on us and then my friend and I got 2 milkshakes to go she got the chocolate milkshake and I got the mocha the best milkshakes in town. The fountain drinks were fresh, good and ice cold. The little giftshop was so cute too. I wanna go back real soon!!!

We waited over 45 mins just to put our Togo order in! Cuz the cashier kept getting bombarded by her manager and the other waiters needed her help. Than when we got our food two hours later! They didn’t give us what we ordered and the food was cold and disgusting. Will never go back

The wife and the baby and I had a great time here. The burgers are just what we were craving, and our 1 year old loved his hot dog. I especially enjoyed my Blue Monday burger. Yum!

Best part about this place was the staff. Very friendly and willing to take care of us. That being said everything seemed to be from a box. The wife’s meal seemed questionable to taste but they were quick to let her order something else and of course didn’t charge us. My shrimp was good but seemed to be more of what you would buy in a grocery store vice something local (I could be wrong). Cole slaw was great and amazing hushpuppies. Will probably try again to see if this was a fluke or a standard.

For some reason I go here every OBX trip. I always leave full, but not very satisfied. The food is not great, but the staff are very nice.

Just had lunch.. Had the crab cake sandwich in the middle of the afternoon. It was very good and the service was great.

Tourist trap? YES! Fun? YES! Staff was friendly and full of smiles. Kids had fun looking at the little «museum» and the gift shop while waiting for food. There menu consists of traditional American comfort food and has a mind boggling selection. The portions are large even for kiddy meals. Kids had fun afterwards in game room.

AVOID. This place has extraordinarily slow service. When our (mediocre) food came out, it was cold. We waited so long we just ate it anyway. The chicken finger plate also had a shrimp accidentally included. It’s a good thing there aren’t any seafood allergies in our party. We also tried to order the steak (we try to eat paleo) and they didn’t have any. They have NO options for gluten-​free/​paleo/​primal. Unless you want a house salad with no dressing.

This was one of our stops while on vacay, décor is really cool. It’s like 50’s era and all about coca cola products. However that’s where the positivity ends.
No wait for seating, weekday afternoon, the waitress was well she seemed like she’d been up all night and needed a nap, bless her heart.
Food…leaves a lot to be desired. Fish & chips was ok, fries sucked. Sweet potato fries were cold, burgers were blah. Kids meals came last, not first as it should’ve been. Just can’t say anything good about the food. The manager was nice and comped our meal since it sucked. Try at your own risk.

Overall, we had a fine experience. The wait was about 30 minutes. We ordered right away and waited another 25 for our food. The food was good. Enough for two meals and the price was okay. Some other things I noticed were the tunes were upbeat and fun, but the whole place had an odd smell throughout.

What a waste of time and effort.
It’s a shrine to everything Coca-​Cola, with a retro atmosphere. That’s the last positive thing I can say.
30 minute wait for two people to get seated at 1:30 on a Thursday on a non holiday weekend. The hostess apologized for the wait which she had originally said would be 15 minutes.
Our waitress came over about 2 minutes after we were seated and my husband had gone to the bathroom. When she got our beverage order she asked if we were ready to order. No I said politely, we just sat down. She came back with my beverage but not my husband’s. He had not returned to the table yet. She asked me again was I ready to order. No, a little impatiently. Wewaited for 30 minutes patiently and now it feels like we are being rushed. I literally just opened my menu when she asked again.
My husband arrived and after telling her one more time that we weren’t ready she brought my husband’s drink. We then ordered.
My husband had a cheese burger and I chose the Philly cheese steak with onion rings and side salad, which was $ 2 extra.
The cheese steak was atrocious, overly peppered to the point you could only taste the black pepper, and the bun was soggy. Blech.
Our waitress passed by 3 times but I couldn’t catch her attention. I finally flagged down the hostess and she apologized and said she would take it off the bill. She offered me an ice cream or shake and I declined. My mouth was on fire.
I would have given a better review but when the bill came I saw she hax deleted the sandwich but chargrd me for a full-​priced salad at $ 5.99. Really? I mean, really?
Big Al’s did not live up to the hype. We would have been served faster with sadly better food at the McDonald’s across the street, for cheaper. Now that’s a truly sad statement.