Bottom line: I liked my first visit to The Cove Restaurant near Holden Beach. Their Fish & Chips…read morewas satisfying and just what I needed that night. Service was good as well. This farm-to-table restaurant supporting local farmers and fishermen is worth a try if in the area with a little something for everyone on their menu. The Deets: A friend of mine drove down from Wilmington while I was vacationing in Holden Beach recently and we decided to get dinner to catch up. Looking at options on the trusty Yelp app, we decided upon trying The Cove Restaurant for dining. It is located just a bit out from Holden Beach, along Hwy 130 going towards Shallotte. It has pretty good parking that was almost full when we arrived. When we went in to place our name on the waiting list, we were told it would be about 30 minutes wait (we were actually seated around 15-20 minutes) and so we used the table and chairs outside the door to relax and talk. When seated at a booth inside, we perused their menu and they have plenty of different selections (not just limited to seafood). The cover of the menu describes The Cove as a restaurant "...featuring all natural ingredients supporting local farmers and fishermen." This farm-to-table format is good to know going in and I'm glad they share that on the menu. We were given bread service to start with (loved the bread!) and my friend got their Homemade Crab Soup to start with, and he liked it a lot. I went for Fish & Chips for my dinner entree while my friend opted for their Chicken Marsala for his meal. I was satisfied with my meal, the beer battered deep fried cod fish tasted great here. I sampled my friend's Chicken Marsala and it was good but was hoping for more flavor to come through on the Marsala sauce. Service was acceptable from the host desk to our server, all went well. I enjoyed the first visit to The Cove Restaurant and would like to revisit them on future trips to the area.

My husband and I are new homeowners on Holden Beach. One of the first things we wanted to discover…read morewas a local place with great seafood. We were thrilled to find this place! My husband ordered the special Trio: grouper (blackened) with shrimp (fried) and scallops (blackened). It was served with mashed potatoes. The portion was huge! He said it was the best mashed potatoes he's ever had. I ordered the seafood linguini, scampi style - it was delicious with a generous amount of mussels, clams, shrimp, and scallops. There was an option to have the dish "fra diavolo" (spicy red sauce) which I may try next time. My husband shared his giant side-salad with me. It was an extra $2 for the salad that could have been a meal for me. Complimentary bread is served with olive oil and freshly cracked pepper and with single serving pats of butter. For dessert, we shared the housemade brownie with ice cream. It was recommended by our wonderful server, Bailey! It was a great first meal for us in Holden Beach as locals and no longer just visitors!

One of my favorites! Great staff and food. Get the peanut butter pie when they have itread more

The food and service has always been amazing every time we have been here. Don't forget to get the…read morechocolate cake, it is awesome.

Gracious!!! So good and easy to do! We had 15 people and got 2 Traditional Pots. It has…read moreeverything you need in the pot, including instructions. Shrimp, corn, potatoes, sausage and the seasoning. You also get butter and the cocktail sauce. Take it home, put the pots on the stove, add your beer or water (we did a shandy), steam that stuff up for about 15ish minutes and then add the shrimp. We added the dry seasoning on top of the shrimp and steamed the pots some more until the shrimp was pink. Boom! It was done. We even had leftovers. The staff is very helpful if you have any questions. Also, for anyone with peanut allergies, this is safe.

Had them cater my son' graduation party. The food was so good! Service top notch! Everyone of our…read moreguest was happy and the best part THEY clean UP

First, I'd like to give a special shoutout to our waitress. She truly made the dining experience…read morememorable. She was funny, a little sassy, and had a great personality that made us feel right at home. Be prepared for a crowd! We visited on a Sunday evening and the restaurant was very busy and quite loud. We had about a 20-minute wait at 5:00 PM, so I can only imagine how packed it gets around 6:00 or 7:00 PM. For dinner, I ordered the flounder platter with Gouda potatoes and sweet plantains. Everything was excellent--5/5. The Gouda potatoes were especially delicious, and the flounder was perfectly crispy without being greasy. My son ordered the crab boil special and cleaned his plate, which says it all. My boyfriend had the fried oyster po' boy, and it was very good as well. Even my little guy ordered the adult portion of fried shrimp and finished every last shrimp and fry. Overall, the prices were reasonable, the service was outstanding, and the food was delicious. We'd definitely come back again!

Delicious food and great service. This is also a very casual, fun place to take kids. They serve…read moretheir meal in a flying disc! There is a bar area with seats on the outside while you wait as well. Great plan on their part!

I have been visiting Oak Island/Southport for many years, so I'm always excited when someone…read morerecommends a restaurant I haven't yet experienced. My friends told me they had a wonderful experience at Fizzy Jane's so my husband and I decided to check it out for a date night during our annual family beach trip. I'll be honest the exterior is not much to look out. While located right by docks and boats, the building itself looks pretty residential and is lacking signage. However, what a transformation once you walk inside. Lots of fun wall paper, neon signs, greenery, painted murals, and more to give trendy Instagram photo worthy vibes. It is a large place with lots of seating, including a separate private room for a larger party gathering. Lots of great cocktails to choose from. My husband got a paper plane (one of his favorites) and I tried the strawberry basil sour. They did not skimp on the alcohol as it was quite strong. I very much enjoyed the boozy fruit at the end. The menu is on the smaller side with only 5-6 options for appetizers and entrees, but they also do a handful of weekly specials. While a smaller list, honestly all of the appetizers and entrees listed sounded delicious. After much discussion, we settled on getting two appetizers, a salad, and one entree to share. The waitress happily said she would space the items out for us and decide which order was best for a progressive meal, I appreciated that! Overall she provided fantastic service all night. The Crispy Tuna (raw poke tuna over crispy rice with kimchi aioli, sesame seeds, jalapeños, and green onion) was a must order according to our friends who recommended the place. They did not steer us wrong! It was a great bite, the crunch from the rice, the soft fresh tuna, little heat from the jalapeños, creaminess from the aioli, and I added a little soy sauce on top for some salt. Yum! I was glad it came 4 to an order so I got to have two! Next to arrive was the Wedge Salad (iceberg, bacon, tomato, crispy onion, blue cheese crumbles, blue cheese salad dressing). Nothing unique here as it was the traditional preparation. You did get a lot of crispy onions which I liked for texture. They also did not skimp on the crumbles. You can add protein to their salads if you want for extra. In my opinion, the salad was overdressed, so a little bit of the crunch from the lettuce was lost. Honestly this is probably my only small gripe of anything I was served at this meal. My favorite dish of the night was the Duck Wings (fried wings with sweet and spicy gochujang sauce). You get 7 wings, all drums, to an order. The skin was perfectly crispy and the meat still tender. The gochujang sauce was divine. Perfect sweet and spicy balance. You will be licking your fingers as you want to enjoy every drop. We found ourselves eating the shredded lettuce/cabbage underneath the wings as why not it was dressed in the sauce. Duck is very similar in taste to chicken. If you like wings, you must order these! Final item of the night was our entree selection- the Shrimp & Grits (grilled shrimp and fish over grits topped with gravy, green onions, and hot sauce served with toasts). The catch of the day was red drum which is a nice white flaky fish. It went great in this dish. The shrimp were a nice size and the seasoning on the proteins was lovely. The grits were super creamy due to the gravy. I liked the extra kick of the hot sauce on top. The toast was buttery and crispy so the perfect vessel to sop up the grits. It's a heavier but satisfying dish, so I'm glad we split it. This amazing meal left us with no room for dessert. I am not gonna lie I went to bed early and slept hard that night as the food was that good. If you are coming to Southport, venture off the main drag a little and come to Fizzy Jane's. I will be back. They also do brunch, which I am excited to try as well next time I visit the island!

Went to check out fizzy Jane's with the wife for date night while we were in Oak Island. What a…read moregreat spot! Awesome cocktails! Awesome food! Awesome service. For cocktails I got the paper plane which is which is a classic favorite of mine. My wife got the strawberry basil. For food, we started with the crispy tuna on the recommendation of a good friend. This was this delicious. Crispy rice topped with tuna and a kimchi salad served with a little bit of soy sauce, sriracha, and wasabi. Absolutely amazing app. We also got the duck wings with the gochujang sauce. This was actually better than the tuna. Not sure how but this was one of the tastiest things I've had in a long time. Crispy skin, delicious meat, amazing sauce. We also got the shrimp and grits which also came with some red drum. Grits were soft and perfect. The sauce that accompanied it was savory and delicious. The shrimp were plump. The red drum was tasty, served some toasted bread to sop up the sauce. Really can't wait to come back to Fizzy Jane's next time I'm in Oak Island.

After waiting over an hour at another local seafood restaurant only to leave following a rude…read moreinteraction with the owner/manager, our crew of 19 found ourselves unexpectedly looking for dinner at 8:15 p.m.--just 15 minutes before closing. I don't know many restaurants that would happily take a call saying, "Our night just went sideways and we have 19 people to feed." Honestly, I probably would have been a little annoyed myself. But from the moment we arrived at Mermaids Island Grill, we were met with nothing but kindness and hospitality. The young ladies taking our order were friendly and welcoming, the bartenders kept the drinks flowing, and the servers delivered piping hot food with smiles on their faces. Every single person in our group loved their meal. With 19 people ordering from all over the menu--calamari, fried pickles, crab legs, grouper, fried shrimp, hushpuppies, and more--that's no small feat. What stood out most wasn't just the food (which was excellent), but the service. We were never rushed, despite arriving so close to closing, and the staff continued chatting and smiling with us as we left. Mermaids Island Grill completely turned our evening around. 10/10 for both the food and the hospitality. We'll definitely be back.

Let's start 1 New England chowder 6 out of 10…read more Could have had a little bit more meat in it 2 Grouper bites 10 out of 10 Just perfect in every way 3 popcorn shrimp in firecracker sauce 10 out of 10 Fried just right and the right amount of sauce 4 cheeseburger 7 out of 10 Just a med burger but the fries 9 out of 10 Oysters Rockefeller 0 out of 10 They went bad look so good but from the moment they were put on the table we smelled like I took one for the team but had to spit it out right away they did refund me and were very apologetic, I know it's off season and the season is not as fresh as it can be but as a cook you should be able to tell when something is not right but either way we did enjoy everything else

The food is great, and the view is even better. The weight staff is friendly, fast, and accurate..read more

May sound crazy ordering wings at a seafood restaurant, but we got them to try and they did not…read moredisappoint. Some of the best wings we've had!!!

Located inside the Lockwood Folly Country Club club house (open to the public) and the first thing…read morethat blows you away are the spectacular views of the Lockwood Folly river. I had the fish and chips. The beer-battered cod was crispy on the outside and moist and flavorful inside. The fries (chips) were crunchy and delicious. Reasonable pricing makes the entree that much better! The full-service bar offers whatever alcoholic drink suits your fancy at a very reasonable price. Service was good (not exemplary). All in all, I can recommend this establishment as a great lunch destination with an awesome view.

Not impressed at the Saturday Prime Rib night. 4 of us got the prime rib. We found it chewy. One…read moreperson wanted it medium-well done. It came out seared, like it was broiled or pan fried. Uh-uh...you don't do that to prime rib...wrong. And... We were told that the dinners came with a "green and yellow squash medley". When I asked if I could get only green squash, no yellow, I was told, No. We asked if there were any other veggies that we could have; we were told, No. Then the meals came out with a yellow squash, bean & broccoli medley...no green squash. We were then told that they DIDN'T have any green squash, but it miraculously came out with some beans and broccoli. HUH??? The draft beer was good, but we felt that we did not have to go back for any reason. Maybe, breakfast or lunch? Could they screw that up?

I came in first thing of the morning after working night shift and was greeted by a very friendly…read morewoman who talked to me majority of the time I was there, always checking to see if I needed anything. Got a steak soon as they opened and it was delicious! Loved the fries also. Nice place here in Shallotte. Will visit again!

Food was out quick and I really loved the sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on the sweet potato fries!read more

We called ahead and order was ready. The food was delicious and very enjoyable. Large quantities…read moreof melt in your mouth BBQ. This is a must for every beach vacation.

I tried the brisket today and it was fantastic!! Very tender and flavorful and seemed to have a…read morebrown sugar type of flavor that I absolutely loved. Brisket didn't need any sauce! The customer service was also really good. I'm happy I found a good bbq spot near by while I'm on vacation at Holden Beach!!