Sometimes the best place to eat at Nags Head is in the kitchen of your rental cottage if you have had a little luck in the fishing or crabbing department.
Last year, with some fresh trout and red drum filets caught aboard Capt. Stecher’s boat, Nancy and I enjoyed some of the best home-cooked Catch of The Day Fish Sandwiches I’ve ever had. But we also like to eat out and there are so many great restaurants at OBX, it’s hard to decide just where.
Our personal favorite is Basnight’s on the causeway to Manteo but we ate there last weekend and were a little disappointed. Nancy’s flounder was not fried crispy brown like normal and they didn’t offer us their usual wide choice of sides. It wasn’t a terrible experience and we’ll be back, but it was not as good as expected.
We also went to another old favorite, Sugar Creek (formerly RV’s), and the food was incredibly good while the service was incredibly bad. The waitress was apparently having a bad hair day and took our order with the same enthusiasm as a dog that has just been ordered not to chase squirrels. When the dinner came, Nancy asked for some butter for her baked potato and it never came. When we were about through, someone passed by and asked how everything was.
But, damn, the food was phenomenal – probably the best fried oysters I’ve ever put in my mouth, plus beautifully fried Carolina Shrimp right off the docks at Wanchese. The cole slaw was excellent, the fries were perfect and my collard greens were outstanding. We’ll be back, though. Until this trip, the service in the past was very good.
The third place we ate was new to us, yet a pleasant surprise – Darrell’s 2. Darrell’s at Manteo has been around forever. Blackbeard ate there, or so they say. It’s a rock solid seafood establishment, and recently they opened another location in the Outer Banks Mall at Nags Head. Since we were nearby at 7 PM, we decided to give it a try. The special of the day was a whole, fried flounder for two for just $25. We ordered that, plus some oysters and both were sensational. The flounder must have weighed five pounds before it was dressed. We couldn’t finish it. We’ll definitely be back.
Other proven restaurants are Owen’s, Miller’s, The Black Pelican, Fish Head’s Bar & Grill, Chili Peppers, and – for lunch – Capt. Franks!
I’m sure there are many more, but you can hardly go wrong with the ones mentioned above.