Rucker Johns..Emerald Plantation...Emerald Isle....We find the food here unusually good with most dishes. Their salads are excellent and the honey mustard hot bacon dressing to die for. The crossiant that comes with the salad is out of this world with a buttery taste. The Tuscan Turkey sandwich is excellent as well. Customer service is almost always first rate too. Unfortunately the ribs are below par and we have yet to eat a steak cooked right in two efforts. The beef has yet to live up to the quality we know it to be as our insider tells us they buy top of the line product. We will keep going as we find the atmosphere most pleasant and to our liking and might even try another steak, but right now we will stay with what we know to be good.
Lazzards Pizza...Bell Cove...Emerald Isle...We can not comment on their subs, but the pizza is excellent. We prefer a thinner crispier crust, but in every pizza we have ordered they do not cheat you on ingredients simply covering the entire pie border to border with lots of fresh goodies. Price is right and be careful about ordering the Godfather size as it is truly a monster. Staff is quite nice as well.
Emerald Grill....Emerald Isle....We gave this place a try for breakfast due to a recommendation. Simply put the food was awful and is hard to mess up breakfast food. Canned biscuits too. We will never go back period.
Flippers...Emerald Isle...We have tried this place three times and all three were frankly average in food quality. We did not say bad, just average. We consider Flippers a tourist trap and prefer not to go back. One good point is the atmosphere is very family oriented and comfortable.
T&W Oyster Bar.... Highway 58...Cape Carteret....This is a very nice place to dine and bring a family. Lots of room and good service too. Makes you think you are in a seafood house as it should be. The oysters as opined by my wife are excellent. We find the fish better than average, but not great. Deviled Crab is a one time order for us as it was below par. One point that really bothers me is the regular fish plate offers one average piece of fish for a tourist site price, should be two pieces. T&W is a fun place to go and comfortable place to dine and we will go back.
Nickys...Highway 24...Swansboro...This hole in the wall between the bridges has been updated and looks quite nice inside. Nice comfortable bar area too. We get the fish basket and like the lightly fried flounder of which we get a nice portion of several pieces. The tarter sauce which is homemade is also quite good. Slaw is excellent. The wait staff friendly and helpful. Now we like Nickys, but our son does not as he sells restaurant food and says they buy average quality product. So you decide, but we will return regularly. Final note the owner here has bought Captain Charlies in Downtown Swansboro and plans a more upscale menu.
Ice House...Downtown Swansboro... We liked the location of dining on the sound right over the water and that was as far as it went. Not one single thing we ordered was good and frankly way over priced. We will not be back.
Cox Family Restaurant...Highway 24...Morehead City...We found this place while trying the Golden Corrall in Morehead City, which was frankly awful and we now know it has closed. Good riddance. Cox is a family oriented locally owned eatery that we will return to if for no other reason is the price is right. Two can eat for about $10 or so and get a homestyle meal. We use homestyle and not home cooked as some of the items on the menu are out of canned and jazzed up to be home cooked. However the country steak we had was good and the service very good. If you are looking a amble amount of food at a family friendly budget this is your place.
Carteret Cafe... We have dined here one time and really liked the place. We should have been back earlier for a second run. We had breakfast and it was the real thing, home cooked, and a good portion as well. The service was excellent. We understand from others there other menu items are very good as well. Priced right is a bonus.
Clawsons....Downtown Beaufort....It had been a few years since we had dined at Clawsons and frankly it had changed little. The food was average and the prices touristy. Atmosphere is excellent however and the service first rate as we were a large table that night. Likely will try somewhere else next time in Beaufort.
Clamdiggers Inn...Pine Knoll Shores...There have been times we loved the food here and there have been times it was nothing more than average. The last time during this 6 month period it was nothing more than average. The fish was ok, the deviled crabs ok, and the breakfast food was out of a box. It is not on our list to dine regularly.
Sweet Spot....Emerald Isle....Ok this is a ice cream joint, but we believe it is worth the review. The owner does all she can to make the place people friendly and she has to since there is a Ben and Jerry's across the street and a Dairy Queen a few doors down. Karen gets it done by making sure the portions are more than average and the service frankly as good as it can get anywhere. The rocking chairs out front make it a pleasurable experience to get your ice cream and sit awhile watching the world go by. Hersheys ice cream too. We highly suggest you give this place a try. Maybe we should not and keep the lines down, oh too late now I suppose.
Emerald Isle Market...Emerald Isle....First try was a wow! The potato salad and tuna salad were quite good and homemade. You can get Boars Head meat as well and we did and enjoyed a turkey sandwich back home. They are expanding and adding some seats and we will make this a regular stop for good and healthy food.
Carolina Ale House...Jacksonville....Ok this is not technically Crystal Coast, but we gave it a try while in Jacksonville shopping. Did it on the suggestion of a friend and I wondered what he was thinking while we dined. The place was loud, as in very loud and as one of the older set that was an issue. The flat iron steak was plainly just not good and the mixed vegetables nothing more than lots and lots and lots of green beans. Too much green beans in fact. The Fish and Chips we tried was pretty good, but maybe not good enough to bring us back.
We will continue to try new restaurants in the area over the next few months and will blog on them as we get another batch.
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