We decided to stop here because we were hungry and we didn't want fast food, a decision we would soon regret! I was accompanied by four 14 year old girls. I mention that because after receiving our food, one of them said this is like cafeteria food. Most of the food we got was not fresh. The green beans were out of a can. If I had to guess the mashed potatoes were frozen, same with the clam strips. The clam strips were tiny and mostly little bits batter. My daughters plate had a few large clam strips. I am glad we tried it, but I would never go back! The staff was very friendly. read more

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i am in love with their bbq. but we went here this morning and tried their breakfast. boy was it good. darrels knows how to make good food. i had bacon and eggs and fried apples. this place is like food heaven. ali the hostess, is very nice kind and attentive. i wish we had a darrels in r.i. we didnt see larry and darrels other brother darrell unfortunately. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

We were greeted warmly and quickly upon arriving. We got a nice booth and were quickly brought water and asked for any additional beverages. We were hungry so we ordered. My friend got the fried shrimp platter and I got the ribs. The ribs came with a baked potato, cole slaw and a roll. This was a great amount of food, the ribs were delicious as was the other items. The meals were very reasonable and you could tell they were cooked fresh and served hot. I will certainly return to this restaurant. I would rate it more of a diner type restaurant than a seafood restaurant, because it has both and the non-seafood items are delicious. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Ribs - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

We came to Darrell's for breakfast. We were greeted in such a friendly way when we arrived. The service was so great! You could tell that the staff are all treated well as they all seemed to really enjoy their jobs. My husband ordered the smothered biscuits, I had a Spanish omelette, my son had the hot cakes. Everything was delicious and just perfect! My husband is telling everyone about those smothered biscuits! We will definitely be back!! read more

I love softshell crabs. I look forward to going back "home"(the outer banks). Darrell's has Best SOFTSHELL CRABS ON THE OUTER BANKS!!

Horrible service. Sat for 20 minutes waiting as our server never acknowledged our presence. Finally someone took our drink order but then sat more. Food was good. Had the pork and the flavor was great but presentation made it less than desirable. Hush puppies dry. Sever ignored our table for additional drinks. Ordered beer that was luke warm. Then not offered dessert which my wife was looking forward to having. Overall disappointing at not something we'll try again. Go to Stripers behind Darrell's much better experience. read more

Went for lunch on a Saturday. No wait, very friendly service, and the meals came out lightning fast. Our waitress was very attentive and was patient while I practiced my Spanish on her. Seafood was top notch. Family owned little joint, and the southern hospitality shines. Prices not great, but fair. read more

Nice local spot in Manteo to eat..been there twice, both times for the fried seafood combo, def didn't disappoint, the crowd is def a little older so If you're looking for a fun beach restaurant this isn't the place, but if you're looking for some good cooking check it out read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Fried combination..loaded baked potato and greens - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

We were there for breakfast only so that's all I can really review. The staff was very pleasant and the interior walls were adorned with photos of local fishermen bringing in the catch. The prices were reasonable and the portions more than adequate for a hearty breakfast lover. I was very appreciative of a local place open during breakfast hours in the "off" season. Saved us from having to go to a fast food joint or wasting money at some other corporate, cookie-cutter, franchise. read more

Went for breakfast . I Ordered the cheese omelette with toast and hash browns. My son had the biscuits and gravy. I also ordered the biscuit beignets. The food and service were perfect. Will definitely be back next summer! read more

We ate at Darrells today. My broiled flounder and corn pudding were delicious! Our waitress did a great job! We will definitely be back!

Great local place with a family friendly atmosphere. I have been coming to OBX for decades and somehow missed this place. I came here for lunch with my cousins. The staff were so kind! We got the boiled shrimp to start - changed my mind on shrimp! The hushpuppies were so good too! I got the crab cake sandwich which was so fresh. The next day my uncles and I decided to come back for breakfast. Again we had friendly staff. The breakfast was options were great. I had pancakes and eggs. Highly recommend coming here with your family for a real local meal. read more

I'm not really one to complain. I usually eat any kind of food, but today was probably one of the worst experiences I've had in my life! the service was great, but my wife ordered the broiled and I ordered the fried seafood platter. now the prices were almost $25 a plate... now in my head I'm thinking for the price this is going to be delicious! boy was I wrong, everything taste the same my fried oysters tasted like chlorinated water with flour coating it and everything else was mushy with no flavor. my wife's on the other hand was not as bad but still bad. no flavor, the fish and scallops were mushy, and the shrimp was rubbery. on a positive note the hush puppies were good and a sweet tea was Dank! I'm sorry but I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone. so keep driving there's plenty of other places in the area. read more

I didn't see any pictures of breakfast and after we ate I swore I would post some. I had a Smoothered biscuit, yes I said Smoothered. It's an error on the menu when you dine in so they just go with it. It speaks for itself. An open faced biscuit smothered with scrambled cheese eggs and the best sausage gravy I've ever had. I wanted to slap someone. But not the server, Kieta, she was on point. Great service great food. Breakfast at this place was the bomb. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Smoothered Biscuit with a side of grits. I will dream about this stuff after I go back home! - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

Found this place on accident, glad we did. Delicious Breakfast food, especially the country fried steak and the country ham. Nice quaint place with friendly service. Great prices also! 5 Stars all the way! read more

Everything over cooked McDonald's next door was better then that place.only good thing was mashed potatos, and hush puppy's. The waiter staff was also good. read more

Take about small home town cooking I had the soft shell crab sandwich and the fries Alex had the chicken livers and the potatoes....however the show stopper is their 14 layer chocolate cake which is DIVINE the yellow cake and five icing legit sent me back to my childhood and so many tasty memories read more

Darrell's Restaurant - 14 layer chocolate cake - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

Hummmm.......It was ok. We had dinner. I had the Ceasar salad, more dressing than lettuce. Salad was warm. Chicken wings were good, served with Texas Pete. Flounder was full of bones, most get the bones out. Service was good. read more

This is a great little place that turned out to be a nice little surprise. Don't let my 3 stars deter you, look at it more as fair warning. The food was great, the service was a little slow. The drinking cups are on the smaller side and they fill them with ice which gives you maybe 3 swallows of actual drink so you wind up waiting, and waiting, and waiting for refills. My husband finally asked for a glass of soda with no ice in it to use for refills. That is the bad. The good...........our food was really tasty. Between the 4 of us we had oysters, shrimp, and BBQ. Sides were fries, hushpuppies, green beans, mac and cheese, and chips. Everything was really tasty and fresh. There was no BBQ sauce though. We figured they must have put it in with the BBQ. It's vinegar based so not easy to tell if it has any sauce or not. It did. But let me tell you about the best part. The she crab soup. It was AMAZING! SOOOOOOOOOO good! I didn't get a single shell, the cream base was perfect, and there was a bunch of crab meat in the soup. I wish I had gotten a bowl since my daughter ate half of the cup. I will definitely go back again prepared for slow service but hopeful that the wait staff will be quicker, especially at bringing refills. read more

I'm gonna start by saying that our food was AMAZING! Do NOT skip out on the free popcorn shrimp appetizer you get from checking in on Yelp. Their popcorn shrimp might possibly be the best I've ever had. Fresh, lightly breaded, and not greasy at all. I ordered the crab cakes with mashed potatoes and pickled beets and the hubby got broiled flounder and shrimp with potato salad and green beans. Both of us were pleased with our meals. The crab cakes were tasty as was his seafood plate and their house made cocktail sauce was off the chain. The only reason I didn't give them a 5 was that the service was very slow. Our server was super nice but I think they had her working on some other tasks in the back and may have been short handed. We went at around 3 and they were pretty steady but not crazy busy. However, with it being the weekend after the 4th of July you'd think they would have been anticipating being busy all day. All in all we were pleased with our experience and will definitely be back for more of their amazing fresh fried seafood. We live a short drive from Manteo and have family close by so it's definitely worth the trip. read more

The large dinner salad was fresh. The ribs my husband had were moist but were not flavorful at all. Almost boiled tasting. I didn't like that I had to pick a percent for a tip at checkout with a credit card, the options were 18, 20 and 25 percent I don't like to tip on my card, I prefer cash, so I was stuck picking one of three options. If my service was bad I wouldn't tip 18 percent but would have been stuck with that as the lowest amount. Overall just so-so. Won't go back. read more

This is a family run restaurant where the locals definitely go. The food was very fresh. I had the crab cakes & oysters. I loved the oysters. The hush puppies are very good also. We had a young boy (going into 5th grade) helping our table. Spencer! He was working so hard. Will definitely go back. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Free shrimp app. - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

A decent family restaurant. We go there once a year or so when visiting friends in Manteo off season. Friendly wait staff. Decent food. Family restaurant ambiance from the last century. Enjoyed the rib platter with a tomato based sauce. Pulled NC pork platter was a hit, as was the crab cake platter. Ample portions. read more

Fresh seafood simply prepared and delicious. The place reminds you of the old time diners with nothing fancy. It's the place to grab a bite when you're hungry. Prices are good too. read more

Pros- clean, spacious seating, never really a wait, staff is nice, diverse menu a little something for everyone, reasonable price for what you think you're getting. Cons- I've lived here 5 years and keep giving it a chance for both breakfast and dinner. Disappointed every single time. Consistent with food coming out cold. Very cheap ingredients and quality of food, always leave still hungry. Bland tasting food. And..... literally every time I've had breakfast there I've run to the bathroom within a hour of leaving. There aren't a lot of choices of places in the off season to go eat..I keep thInking maybe I'm wrong , but the actual food experience has let me down every time. Suggestion: they've got the base down and potential. Go ahead and get the quality food/ingredients. Better cooks? People would gladly pay the extra. (Darrells too in the outerbanks mall I've have good and bad experience ...it just depends on the staff that day and if they haven't been partying) read more

I'm allergic to seafood and I couldn't stay away from here. I never did try lunch or dinner, but I can easily say this is the best breakfast on the island. Tried a few different things over a few days, and the 4 other people I was with all had the same impression as me. Every single thing was delicious and staff was very friendly. Cannot wait to go back! read more

Stopped here for lunch on a Saturday. The place was busy but we were seated right away. We all ordered seafood and loved it. PROS: Fried oysters, scallops and shrimp CONS: Far from home read more

This place received some unfair reviews, I think. I'm throwing it five stars to offset the 2.5 overall rating it's garnered. Is this place Morton's? No. But it's a solid place with good food, and friendly staff. I very much enjoyed the seafood platter, my wife had chicken fingers, and my five-year old had a very good looking hamburger. We were immediately greeted by a smiling hostess who showed us to your seats. Our waitress did a great job explai read more

Sorry to say that after 16 years of visits....Darrell's has ... let's say, fallen from grace. What used to be our "go-to" local restaurant, has now become a champion of inconsistency. Their She-Crab Soup used to be the "talk of the town" (and our favorite from all our travel adventures). Now it's hit or miss--somedays very, very good, other days thick as mayonnaise and about as UN-flavorful. Fried local oysters this week (Dec 5, 2013) were undercooked and lacked any distinctive flavor. Hush-Puppies were fine. Crab bite appetizers were pretty much spot-on for flavor (under the crust) but very overdone on outside--(burnt umber is the oil paint tone it reminded us of). Same disaster for their Black and Blue Burger. Should have been seared to blacken the surface seasonings, then served medium rare to rare inside. Instead, it was blackened through and through to the point of being dry, crispy, and tasteless. Overdone is not good for any food but nearly everything we ordered came that way -- except for the French Fries which were limp...please! The fish cakes were so-so, but had a tad too much smoke (salt pork) flavor for one of our lunch-mates. Sadly, the worst review at our table came from a born-here local who had the Hatteras-style boiled drum this week (Dec 2, 2013). For her it simply did not taste "right." Darrell's has gone from 4 and a half stars in our book to one and a half. Sad memories. read more

Do yourself a favor and get in here to eat, it's a off the beaten path , a small divey looking place but the food was wonderful. The service was great we all ordered something different personally I enjoyed the shrimp with homemade mashed potatoes and coleslaw with two extra sides the potato salad and pickled beats. All were great choices, they provide chips with homemade salsa as an appetizer, salsa was awesome, had the Lemon pie for dessert. We can't say enough great things about how wonderful this restaurant and dining experience was tonight that's all for now read more

Decent food. Good service, even though they were busy when we showed up. The breakfast burrito was the best thing we had. read more

One of the best lunches that we have had on our family vacation. This was a suggestion on the limb. Very reasonable priced for the portion of food. I had the fried oysters and the kiddos had popcorn shrimp. My wife had the bbq and we had one of the friendliest waitresses we have ever had at a restaurant. Wish we would have got her name to share with everyone. Fed a family of four under $60. read more

Awful. I'll be very simple about this. Don't go. If you'd like to know why, continue reading. I got the oyster stew which is a "special order". The waiter asked if I wanted milk or regular. I got the regular. It was water with cowering oysters. Literally water and oysters. Sound somehow false? It's not. A family member got the crab soup, which he said was bland. My cousin ordered the "milk" oyster stew which was milk and more pitiful oysters. My "regular order" was sent back as soon as I realized there was a crack in the bowl. Atleast my pants were vandalized by water. I also got a Carolina BBQ platter. I don't have anything to say about it. Please don't go here. read more

This was my father's favorite place when he and my mother lived in Manteo so we had come here many times in the past, but this was our first visit in about 5 years. Still a great place to come for fresh seafood, especially fried. Darrell's really knows how to get fried food crisp - my fried oysters were as good as I remembered from the past, as were the pickled beets and hush puppies. Way to go Darrell! Service delightful, such a nice young man. Not crowded at 5:00 unlike beach restaurants. They are now open for breakfast too, although we didn't get there. read more

Onion rings were okay, but they were dripping with grease which made me nauseous after I ate a few. My dining partner ordered the sauteed crab which he said tasted like frozen imitation crab meat. For lunch I had the grilled cheese (overly buttered wonder bread and velveeta). Could barely stomach any of it. For the "vegetable of the day" you had your choice of: fried apples, apple sauce, potato salad, or cole slaw. Yeah, I don't think I'd go back. read more

Never ever again. My husband and I went here for breakfast, and nothing was good. Seriously, nothing. First of all, the coffee was atrocious. Ick. That is always the first sign of a lousy restaurant. Then we ordered... basic breakfast dishes since it was breakfast and they certainly don't offer anything too complicated... and the food took forever to come out. This was the day of our one year anniversary mind you, and we had things planned. I could not believe how long it took for eggs and toast to arrive; in fact, I should have one into the kitchen and made it myself since it would have been quicker and tasted better. The toast was awful. How do you mess up toast? I suppose using stale, cheap bread and letting it sit forever and get cold before you bring it out might be how they managed to mess up TOAST. Then the blueberry pancakes arrived. And I thought... well these are pretty good (i was pre-rating them in my head, which is kind of lame, but I thought, maybe this will bring Darrell's to 2-stars). So I ate a few bites, and then I bit into the other side, and I hit the most disgusting half of pancakes ever. I don't know what they did, but the other side was a salt mine with some other horrific flavors blended in. I'm assuming they did not stir the batter, which coming from a restaurant that can't handle coffee or toast, seems like a reasonable explanation. Do yourself a favor and avoid Darrell's. read more

This was one bad meal. The food looked awful and some of it tarted awful. I had the flounder and shrimp special. Small and poor. Overcooked fish (dry and skin left on), shrimp small and not tasty. The green beans must have been WW II surplus, the she crab soup tasted like metal. Nothing on the table looked remotely appetizing and the service was OK, but unenthusiastic. I would skip a meal before eating here again. read more

Food was average, price seemed a little high. Service was alright. They were out of a lot of items (crab, clam strips, and lemonade) that we attempted to order. Probably will not return. read more

Wanted something good and Cheap . What did I get..... Something great and cheap . Went here for lunch and was amazed at the food me and my wife got. I had the fried shrimp and she had the fried shrimp sandwich . It was so great we went there for breakfast before we went home to Virginia and I had the biscuits and sausage gravy it was really big portions too and she had eggs and a big. Slice of ham and a big hot cake. When and if I go back I'm only eating here . read more

Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this place after one visit. Half of our party of 8 left with a positive impression of the food, and half did not. The conclusion we came to was that if you go, getting fried food is a must. Fried seafood platters and chicken tenders were a definite hit, but paper thin pork chops were among the items that left much to be desired. Another note is that they weren't able to accommodate our group of 8 at one table, we were forced to sit in two separate booths read more