The fresh seafood at Smacnally's is Ocracoke's dirty little secret. Oh, and getting to eat totally fresh fish, shrimp, crabs, etc.outside with ocean breezes seducing you while you watch the charter boats unload tomorrow's dinner -- that's something I can get used to in about 1.2 milliseconds.
Is this fine dining? Absolutely not. Is it staffed and run professionally like a 4 star big city slicker restaurant. Of course not; like most Ocracoke restaurants it's a season business, and close the other half. Clean? Sure. But it is located on a dock. In fact the other half of Smac's building is the dockmaster's office and store, catering to visiting boats tying up there, and Ocracoke's little game fishing charter fleet.
Do you prefer your restaurants indoors? Ye will not be happy here. Do you prefer your restaurants dogless? Hie ye to another joint. Dogs are absolutely forbidden here by state law of course, but are made totally welcome should they be ones who cannot read the sign. Wanna eat in silence, not befriended by interesting locals and travellers? God help you.
But I LIKE all those things. I love eating outside watching the sunset, gulls, and pelicans. I am fascinated with whatever was caught today, and especially watching how the pro's clean their fish. Hell, that Spanish Mackeral I'm watching get filleted may be my lunch tomorrow.
Which is why I've been coming to Ocracoke a lot for the past 10 years, and eating at Smac's ever since it opened. The menu is small, because the kitchen is small-boat-sized tiny. So choices have to be limited.
The chalkboard at the bar lists what today's seafood specials are.
I got a nice Spanish Mackeral grilled with fries for dinner and it was excellent. All I require on it is a little lemon. Perfection. Totally unadorned, totally fresh fish.
The chalkboard said "fried oysters" and I got them to make me an oyster Po-Boy. Very small, local oysters fried to crunchy perfection, but like little ocean-juice bursts when I bit into them.
In my opinion, there is no better seafood on Ocracoke. Sure, there's plenty of fresh seafood on this little island which has plenty of working watermen to keep all of the eateries supplied. And other places do fish more elegantly, for sure. But I want my fish simple. And Smac's delivers me basic, fresh incredibly good seafood in a outdoor harborside setting that just cain't be beat.
Criticisms: the hours they're open vary. You just never know if they are gonna close early or late. Beyond their control of course is the weather, which can shut the place down completely. And if you need to get there early before they run out of the good stuff. But hey, you're on Ocracoke time here. read more