Report Card: Nick’s Fresh Seafood & Steaks

The very imaginatively named Nick’s Restaurant

 

Overall GrubGrade B

 

The Breakdown:

 

Atmosphere: Grade C-: We decided to hit Nick’s Fresh Seafood & Steaks on our first night in Virginia Beach. We were pretty tapped out from the drive in, so we were not real happy when we realized we misjudged the distance Nick’s was from our hotel. It was quite a trek, and we were heartbroken when we arrived. From the outside, Nick’s looked a little on the dumpy side. Nick’s could have just as easily been a dry cleaner judging by the exterior of the place. Upon entering, there wasn’t much about the look of the place to put our minds at ease. Nick’s Fresh Seafood and Steaks looked more like a dive bar than a restaurant. There was enough crap on the tables and walls to be overwhelming, and it doesn’t look like the place has had a facelift since the Brady Bunch was still filming. There was no hostess, so it was seat yourself. Plus there were no menus on the table, so when I took it upon myself to grab a couple from a nearby bin, I was rudely told they were the wrong menus. Overall, off to a real bad start.

High marks: None

Low marks: Cluttered, old, outdated, dirty…the list goes on and on

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Service: Grade B-: Apparently, old Nick isn’t dropping a fortune in labor costs. There was only one server that we could see, and the place was pretty busy. Despite what appeared to be an overwhelming situation, our server did a really decent job handling all our needs. Our server was fairly attentive, but not really engaging at all. That, however, is probably less her fault than that of the Einstein that decided one server would be adequate to handle 20 or more tables. There were other employees milling around, but we have no idea what their function was. Our order was accurate, and although there was a bit of a wait for the food, the wait wasn’t anything we’d consider to be inappropriate.

High marks: Accurate and attentive

Low marks:   Frenzied and not engaging

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Food/Spirits: Grade B+: Had Nick’s Fresh Seafood and Steak not been a 20 minute pilgrimage from our hotel, I might have made the family turn around and go elsewhere (I can sometimes do that since I usually carry the wallet, but Katina doesn’t let me wield too much power too often). It turns out that fleeing would have been a mistake. Nick’s had some pretty good food. The hush puppies were well prepared and delicious, and our daughter, Morgan, would have been happy making her entire meal out of them. Morgan did decide to go with her traditional plain turkey sandwich, which must have tasted better than it looked because she scarfed it down. But it was just turkey and bread, so that would be pretty hard to screw up. Katina ordered the “all you can eat flounder.” The flounder was lightly battered and according to Katina, perfectly cooked. She thought it was delicious, and we both found the French fries to be really good (although not the absolute best we’ve had). I ordered the bacon cheeseburger, which was advertised on the menu as being the best in Virginia Beach. I believe it. It was a really simple burger that was absolutely perfectly cooked with just the right amount of bacon.

High marks: Good flounder, fries, cheeseburger, and hush puppies      

Low marks: Entrees were overly simplified

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Value: Grade A-: We’ve got to hand it to Nick’s. Most of those who will visit this restaurant will be on vacation and probably working with a budget. Nick’s will be a good choice for you. Despite the poor start, Nick’s Fresh Seafood and Steaks turned it around with good food, generous portions (“all you can eat flounder” for Pete’s sake), and a completely reasonable price. We feasted for a mere $53, and we didn’t even order the least expensive dishes on the menu.

High marks: Portion size, quality, price

Low marks: Tidy up the appearance and increase staffing, and it could be an A+ next time

 

 

 

Report Card: Mr. Fish

http://mrfish.com/

Overall GrubGrade C+

 

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere:  Grade B:  Well, if you look up the word debacle in the dictionary, there just might be a picture of the restaurant known as Mr. Fish.  We visited as a second option (there was an hour long wait to give your name for the wait list, which was probably at least an hour long at our first option).  From the outside, Mr. Fish kind of resembled a warehouse, but we don’t prejudge, right?  Inside, we’re not sure if you could call the decor nautical.  Usually seafood shops like this one will have some oil paintings of oceans scenes or boats, and maybe a spyglass mounted on the wall next to a couple of large fish.  Again, not real sure what theme you’d call the décor at Mr. Fish, but nautical might be stretching it.  Otherwise, the interior was huge and clean, and tables were spaced widely apart, which was good since every one of them was full when we arrived.

High marks:  Large, clean, well-spaced tables

Low marks:   Confusing décor

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Service:  Grade C+:   You all know that we’re pretty picky with respect to service.  Lots of restaurants drop a letter grade because of a perceived fault in this category.  The service at Mr. Fish started bad, and then proceeded to get worse.  If you’re going to be successful in a tourist town like Myrtle Beach, your hostess or host should at least know how to run a semi-accurate wait.  We were told a half hour wair upon arrival, and after 1 hour and 15 minutes we were shown to a table.  No apologies offered for the delay.  With two hungry kids in tow, an inaccurate wait time is inexcusable.  Our server’s name was Lindsay, and it was a dude.  I’m sure the fact that he was a dude named Lindsay just added to a frustrating evening of being super busy with an inaccurate kitchen, but Lindsay had a bit of an attitude (but I really don’t think it was directed at us).  The wait for our first drinks was two days short of forever.  Once drinks did arrive, we should have paced ourselves, because it was quite a while before our server arrived again to take our order.  The food took an eternity, and my beard had a hell of a lot more gray in it when I left than when I arrived.  All in all, this was very close to an utter disaster.  We did give credit because our server did make an effort to correct the mistakes made with our order, and we do appreciate that.

High marks:  Mistakes corrected in a somewhat timely fashion

Low marks:  Ummm—everything else!

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Food/Spirits:  Grade C+:  Because of the delay with our seating, we had to get something in our kids quickly before the rioting started, so we asked for a basket of hush puppies to start out.  Our daughter usually digs hush puppies, but these did not impress her–nor Katina or me, for that matter.  The hush puppies weren’t terrible, they just weren’t anything special, either.  By this time, Katina and I both needed a drink.  She ordered a cocktail called “Tasty Tentacle” and I ordered a beer called New South White Ale.  Unfortunately, the drinks were the highlight of the meal.  Our daughter ordered the Asian stir fry (at a seafood restaurant?) and our son sat and stared at some chicken tenders.  Neither entrée is really worthy of comment.  Katina and I both ordered seafood combos for our entrees.  Hers included flounder, tilapia, and crab balls (think miniature crab cakes) and mine consisted of shrimp, haddock, and calamari.  I think Katina got the better deal.  While her food did not knock her socks off, it was average, and she found the crab balls tasty.  My combo, on the other hand, initially came out cold (probably because it sat for an hour while the other food cooked.  The calamari was too thick and rubbery, the shrimp were bland, but the haddock was a decent piece of fish.  On the second attempt at it, my food came out nice and warm with huge pieces of haddock, but the other selections were still flawed.  I actually wished we’d have waited the two hours at the other place.

High marks:   Drinks, crab balls, and haddock all pretty good

Low marks:   Rest of offering below what we’d expect from a restaurant located near the OCEAN!

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Value:  Grade C-:  Honestly, if you are a seafood restaurant on the coast and cannot impress some average food critics from Ohio (go Bucks!), then you have a lot of work to do.  Maybe it was a bad night because they were so busy and a return visit would yield different results.  We’ll never know, since we have absolutely no plans on revisiting.  After tip, we spent a little over $100 for mediocre (that might be generous) seafood.  We got much better food and service at Margaritas and spent half of that.  We advise you to sail past this one.

High marks:   They didn’t lock us in, so at least we were able to escape

Low marks:  Way too expensive for level of service and quality of food.  Long John Silver’s is a better option.