Caribsea Restaurant

Best meal I’ve had in my life… and I don’t say that lightly. Everything was spot on. The food, the service, the whole experience. Our server Melissa was amazing, super friendly and really knew her stuff (including local recommendations for other things to do in town). The crab cakes were the best I’ve ever had. We started with the crab dip, which was served cold (on purpose)… and it was also incredible. I split the burger with my brother-in-law just to try it… and that was also the best burger I’ve had in recent history. We finished with key lime pie, crème brûlée, and espresso gelato… and each was amazing. After many years of coming to Emerald Isle I’m sad we didn’t discover this place sooner!

This was an excellent last moment find for a upscale dinner out. Let me say this was almost 5 stars for me and I will certainly go back to Caribsea, but a couple minor details and issues kept me from the max rating. Generally agree with the 4.5 star rating it gets here on google maps. The cocktails were good. I tried the Nautical Reserve followed by old fashioned. They muddled a cherry in the old fashion, presenting a beach vacation vibe. Those that got them enjoyed their seasonal martinis. The oysters were fresh and delicious, and the cold crab dip (they swap from hot during the summer apparently) was a solid app, though some was left at the end, so perhaps our group would have preferred the hot version. They do serve nice dinner rolls and butter, so consider that as well. The issue with service: The sides are presented on menu as a la carte, and we asked if it was family style - to which we were told yes. However all the specials (“features”) came with sides as did a steak a group member ordered. We ended up with an unnecessary amount of food, one of which was- the Mac n Cheese - was mediocre. This was billed by our waitress as nice a creamy and it came bland and heavy. On the flip side the collard greens were exceptional and every team member raved about them. Creamed spinach was also on point, but again collards stole the show. The clam chowder is good, and filling, though very clam forward so you better love clam! The issue with the food: Every member of the group found it slightly under seasoned/under salted. Granted too little can be self corrected and too much cannot so best to err on this side of that fence. Two of us got the wahoo feature and it and the risotto were excellent! Except just another pinch of salt would’ve been desirable. 3 of our group members asked for them to bring it out. While I didn’t feel it was egregious enough for me to salt my risotto, everyone else added salt to their dish. Since this was confirmed across our party I had to mention it. Other than that the filet was well executed and the burger is a home run. I stole a bite when one group member couldn’t finish and wow! We went early around 6pm so no wait. It really did fill up fast! The atmosphere was nice, modern and clean and we got the story behind the theming which was really neat. As the restaurant is on the 3rd floor of a commercial building you can get views to the ocean and sound depending on table location. Overall, a delightful experience, and would highly recommend!

I hosted my company’s employee appreciation dinner at Caribsea. My employees have not stopped talking about how amazing the food and atmosphere was. The rooftop bar, pre dinner hang was amazing. The management was a pleasure to communicate with while choosing the menu. An absolute professional experience from start to finish.

The single best meal I’ve ever had. I’ve dined at fine restaurants all over the world, but this one… wow. Maybe it was the drinks. Maybe the company. But dang… this meal was next level! I split the crab cake dinner with my brother-in-law, who ordered the burger. As soon as we saw the menu mention “multiple cuts of meat” in the burger, we knew the chef meant business. And oh man, he delivered. No crab cake I’ve had in Boston, Baltimore, or Charleston even comes close. These were in a league of their own. Funny enough, I’m typing this after just finishing a burger at Fleming’s… and it reminded me I never left a review. Friend… the burger at Caribsea? On. Another. Level. I genuinely felt the need to fist-bump the chef and tell the crew they were on fire. So good.

Caribsea was a solid place the moment we arrived. They took good care of us and were kind to our kids. It’s always nice when a place can manage to be fine dining and not look down on kids joining in on the experience. The filet was cooked well and tasted great, and the sides were amazing as well. Their Mac n’ Cheese tasted authentic, which was very nice! Parking is easy, finding it is a little strange if you’re new to the area. If we revisit we will most certainly be back.

CaribSea is fantastic! Have eaten there several times and everything is always top notch. Some favorite items are crab cakes, sushi roll, cheeseburger. Steaks and seafood are incredible. If you’re lucky, you will get Melissa W. as a server. Great service, wonderful personality and makes the whole experience better. I highly recommend CaribSea.

We went here for dinner while on vacation because some of us wanted seafood and some steaks. Caribsea did not disappoint! The crab cake was amazing as well as the shrimp and grits. The steak was like cutting butter and our friend said it was the best burger he has ever had. We finished up with an ice cream sandwich and the creme brulle. Everything was fantastic including the service.

Highly recommended! The food portion was great, not the “American” size. We ordered the clam chowder, raw oyster, and my husband ordered grouper (the fish dish from the menu). Our dessert was candy bacon crème brûlée. It was delicious!

Prime rib special Was delish! We ordered the special which included a salad, prime rib and dessert. I was so happy that this place stays open during the fall months! Have already recommended the Tuesday Night special

Clean and welcoming environment. The whiskey tango foxtrot drink is amazing and so are the crab cakes!

We were there in early November with excellent weather. We went there early in the evening for drinks and appetizers. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed this respite before we went to an outdoor outing nearby with music.

Food was really good during our last three visits, especially the crab cakes! I really like their spicy drinks too! Pricing is a bit high so it's not an everyday choice, more for special occasions, and the cost is worth it in my opinion.

Over hyped and over priced. One example, ordered drinks then order some appetizers. The appetizers came first and the drinks didn't show up until we were almost done with the appetizers. Then immediately she wanted our dinner order. Seemed like hurry up and get out. Next table!! Food was good, that's all.

We went here several years ago and it was the best meal. This time..... not so much. Both steaks were ordered medium and came well done. Seriously? The dishes were $60 & $80! They offered to make it again which I didn't want to wait after waiting already and then offered 25% off those two meals. Fries and asparagus were lukewarm. REALLY disappointed. Not what I remembered. I really expected more for the price.

Excellent food and excellent service! Highly recommend for a nice dinner on the Isle.

We sat on the rooftop deck as you didn't need reservations for that (which is awesome) there was live music and full menu service. We shared an app that was honestly the best part. Our meals were good but nothing special, per se and the dessert was also pretty good!

On Emerald Isle in an office building looking type place is where you'll find this incredible restaurant. Take the elevator to the 3rd floor where you will meet the friendly staff. One part is a little more casual and the other area was a little more elegant. The food was soooo good. We started with the simple salad that had fried goat cheese cake on it. That goat cheese cake was excellent and made the salad. We also had the shrimp and grits (try not to lick the plate) and the mahi mahi with red curry curry & lemongrass-coconut milk, zucchini & yellow squash, creamy polenta. It's a must try when in Morehead City area.

The restaurant has great ambiance with a rooftop bar and balcony views. Our server was attentive and the food was amazing.

The food was amazing, the service was fantastic and the ambiance was lovely. We were a party of 13 and we had 2 under 2 with us and the wait staff was great. Our waitress was very attentive as well as really anyone who was working. Highly recommend for a family wanting a nice night out with delicious food and drinks. We come here every time we are in town. It's a must visit restaurant at Emerald Isle.

Wow Caribsea was great! We had the best steaks ever! Our server was excellent! A little pricy, but you get what you pay for. We went for the first time over the weekend for our anniversary. It did not disappoint! We can't wait to go again. Best food ever!

Prices too high now cheapest veal 52 it cost me almost 200 where I use to eat 100 bone in ribeye they jacked from 58 to 78 enough for _1 not 2 oz very disssatisfied I use to enjoy the place children taken over gouging for Use to be good not now children have take it jacked all prices food not away over Proced

We were excited. Liked the look of the menu. The wine list was limited and they did not have the wine we asked for. The service and food were very average. It's massively over priced. Disappointing.

Amazing! Highly recommended. Higher end everything! Espresso martini best ever! Service was amazing!

There are quite a few different ambiance's you can experience at this restaurant. Both indoor options match the price point of the menu. The decks, however, are entirely too informal for a high end menu. There is so much that the rooftop space could offer and it's absolutely underwhelming. Cheap furniture stacked on top of each other. The food. Overall, everything was "fine". But again, just doesn't live up to the price point. I would come back here again with different expectations. It's more of an "appetizers at the bar" situation...the dinner experience fell flat.

Dined here for the second year in a row on vacation and we were not disappointed! First of all, the server Trina was amazing! She was attentive and corrected any issue we had. The food was delicious, the desserts were to die for!

Great service! Amazing food! Waitstaff was very helpful and our kids had a great experience.

Great food, but most of all, great service by all. Enjoyed meeting the chef and thought the weight staff was attentive and helpful throughout our entire entire meal.

We had dinner there yesterday and were very disappointed. Firstly, the chairs were hard as a rock very uncomfortable. The wine list was good and we had a nice German with dinner. My wife ordered the crab cake appetizer for her entrée the presentation was nice however the crab cake was very mushy with little flavor. I had the Keith salad with grilled chicken. The lettuce was chopped very fine like it was from a pre-made bag. The chicken was over cooked and tough however it was seasoned well. After the meal we ordered dessert. he had the bread pudding I ordered the Godiva cheese cake. The bread pudding was overcooked (burnt) the cheese cake was okay for a food distributor box cake.. This restaurant is okay if you are looking for a pretend upscale place however if you have visited other upscale establishments which actually make high quality upscale entrees you will be disappointed.

The food, staff, and service are top notch! Not from EI and will come back just to eat here!

We stopped by to have a drink on the rooftop bar. They had a fantastic musician, he was funny and we really enjoyed ourselves. The service was great, the views were beautiful. You can take the stairs or an elevator to the top. I will definitely be back!

I am so glad that Yelp recommended this to me. I am staying right up the road and the reviews sounded great. On the outside it looks like a fancy office building, then you go up the elevator to a beautiful restaurant. I loved the decor and the view. The staff were all very friendly and our server, Rhett was fantastic. It was his first night and he did great. The manager came over and he was also fabulous. We started with a crab dip and beef tartare. I loved the chickpeas on the tartare. It was excellent. The crab dip was delicious. It was not overly creamy and it was full of crab. We each ordered one of their famous crab cakes with the simple salad. It was pure crab. Absolutely wonderful!! The salad was also wonderful. I loved everything about this meal. I look forward to dining here several times. They also have a bar on the 4th floor that's open Wednesday-Saturday.

Food was amazing! Best crab cake I ever ate, delicious burger, and creamed spinach to die for - best ever. Split it all with a friend and it was amazing. Even their cocktails were great. Service was awesome, everyone took great care of our party of 9. Highly recommended.

Food and service was top notch at the Torpedo Rooftop Bar. Our bartender Cass was AWESOME! We had the best time and he made out night with friends special! We have named him CashOut!

One star for the bread. It was truly amazing My chicken tasted like Tyson's frozen microwaved chicken breast (which i LOVE at my home), and somehow at a commercial kitchen, it arrived cold and dry. The chicken was added to my salad for $8 but wasn't even worth $2. The price ($21) of the jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce suggests at minimum 6 pieces, but in reality only THREE pieces. One of the people in my party spilled a cup of water on the table and herself. The waitress looked at us and did not offer any napkins to help clean it up. We fully understand that it was not her mess to clean up but at the least she could have offered some extra napkins. I want my money back.

Ate here twice in one week. Still thinking about those crab cakes. The first time was dinner with friends. Nothing to complain about, but overall we were underwhelmed. My friend had been there before and her favorite entree was no longer available but the server was able to recommend an alternative entree that was altered to be similar to my friends choice. That was a definite plus and very appreciated. If, when they brought the food, they would have know which steak was well done and which was med rare that would have been nice as well. Instead we ended up having to trade at the table. Overall our table of 4 had 4 nice entrees and we were fine, but no one was overly impressed with their meal for the price. Where we were impressed was the crab cakes and the desserts. Honestly, I'd go just for either of those and skip the entrees. The second go round was a company cocktail and appetizer hour (or 4!). Water only for me, but give me those crab cakes. Not every appetizer was amazing but there was plenty of good stuff to try. Give me a piece of key lime pie or cheesecake and it would have been perfection.

This one's tough. Serious disagreement among the crowd. Most of us liked it a lot. I thought it was kinda boring "new american" nonsense. The rooftop bar was lovely, however, and everyone was sweet. Just the food was nothing terribly special - not interesting in any way, just highbrow generic. Good drinks, though, and good view of the bridge?

Food was good but portions weren't very big for the price. The crab cakes are very good but they come with a bed of greens that is basically a salad and the waitress let me order a $12 salad for before the entree. Would've been nice to have been asked if I wanted to substitute the bed of greens. Service was good. Very clean and not crowded.

Yummy yum yum! We all had an awesome experience. Drinks, appetizers, entrees, salads and sides - everything was delicious and our server was wonderful. Manager checked on us multiple times too! Great place to visit in EI!

Sadly, what was a favorite restaurant of locals and tourists alike for MANY years is barely recognizable. The menu changed, eliminating affordable favorites and replaced them with ridiculously high priced entrees, sides and drinks. The wine by the glass is now very limited and not worth the price. I'm not sure who they are trying to appeal to now. They once had a great local following and now I don't know anyone from the area that chooses to go there on a regular basis as we and many friends did In the past. Our go to place is gone. Very sad. Can only hope someone with the vision of the previous management will come in to that space and open a restaurant that is fun, affordable and delicious like the original Caribsea.

We enjoyed a delicious prime rib dinner served with garlic potatoes and green beans. The crab cake appetizer was the best ever. Excellent service and excellent food! Made it a great dinner!

Sat at the bar and received wonderful service from Cass. The food was amazing. We had the oysters rock, clam chowder and simple salad to start and all three dishes were perfect! The special was salmon with slaw and jasmine rice. It was perfectly cooked and tasted amazing. My husband had the scallops and grits, and again it was perfectly cooked. The only down side was that it was four and not six

Reservations last night (June 8) Disappointed in food and service. Upon arrival, the hostess was quite upset with another customer. Perhaps it was an off night for the staff and kitchen. Waited 45 minutes after ordering for food to be served. Ordered the flounder with lobster-lukewarm at best. Temperature and flavor. Wait staff never checked on how food tasted. To pay $50 per entree, just not worth it.

My family and I had a reservation for 7:30 yet we were not sat down till 8:00. Our waiter did not come till 8:15 and she did not even ask to take our order. The prices have skyrocketed and the quality has gone down. It's such a shame how great the service and prices used to be and what it is now. There must be new ownership I would think. I would not reccomend dining in at carab sea.

Loved this establishment. Our server, Jonathan, was fantastic! The drinks were amazing, the food was delicious and it is beautiful inside. I highly recommend this place and will most definitely be returning!

Delicious food and very helpful, friendly staff. Limited menu options but everything on the menu was absolutely delicious. Do expect to spend a lot of time here as it took quite a long time for us to get our food but everything came out freshly made so it was worth the wait. Although there are kid options, not the most kid friendly of environments - mostly parties or other couples appeared to be out on nice dates. A great experience overall and recommend making a reservation.

AMAZING!!! Last night we had a party of 12 to celebrate a birthday. The service was great, food was great. The staff were all very friendly and attentive, they went out of their way to make sure everything was perfect. There was not one complaint about any of the appetizers or meals.

CARIBSEA'S. So... we have a group of friends that get together Friday nights for dinner at various restaurants. We like the occasional fine dining experience every now and then. We have gone to Caribsea's in the past & thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Fast forward to this past Friday evening. Several of us had already checked out the menu on line before arriving. Well throw that out the window because they had practically changed the entire menu, & had not only increased their prices by 30-40% but now every side item is ala carte. 2 of their specials were pan seared Scallops (3 of them) $27 no sides or a 14 oz. New York strip $95 you guessed it, no sides. Would you like a salad with your $95 NY strip a mere $15 for friggin lettuce & 2 cherry tomatoes. I guess they are trying to liken themselves to Ruth's Chris. My idea of fine dining is a great atmosphere with top dollar food that will fill you up & not have to stop at DQ on the way home bc your $120 meal left you hungry. If you're Hunter Biden & got plenty of money you'll enjoy Caribsea's if you're a blue collar kinda guy like me, go to Long Horn steak house load up on a big ass steak, bake potato & a salad, then buy your wife a dozen roses then go to ColdStone for some ice cream & still save yourself $40 bucks. Like Forest Gump says... & that's all I got to say about that!

Food was mediocre. Had risotto with beef medallions and the risotto tasted like rice pudding. No savory flavor at all. Hubby's fish was served to another table but they served up his potatoes au gratin while we waited for his dinner to be cooked. Waitress was very good and accommodating. No manager ever came to the table. $200 bill per Couple.

First and foremost, the service was terrific. My server explained they offer specific fish every week, and apparently they had left overs from last week and weren't selling the red snapper until the catch of last week ran out. My server fought tooth and nail to get me this piece of fish, and she was a great, great server. My gripe was with the food. The simple salad's dressing did not compliment the bitterness of the goat cheese. The salad itself was too tangy for my taste. The snapper was well cooked, but was completely overpowered as it rested on a bed of... creamed corn. I don't know who's idea that was.. but it just didn't work. Dessert was good-- I had the berry thing that had a crust similar to a torte (ground nuts). Apparently the menu has recently been overhauled... but 42 dollars for a piece of fish the kitchen didn't want to serve on a bed of creamed corn isn't it. My family loves this place so I might be back in the future... but this was a miss for me.

This is a nice fancy restaurant where fancy means you just should wear a collared shit and nice shorts for a guy and a nice beach dress for a girl. Great selection of small and large plates, a special sushi item etc. I had the sushi special, the small size, a great sushi roll. It was plenty for an entree for one. We also had the baked oyster appetizer, three oysters each. My wife loved it! It was just OK to me. We also each had their small dinner salad, which was good but I felt it was missing something. It needed something small and sweet, perhaps craisins to offset the tartness of the baked goat cheese. My wife had the shrimp and scallops fish entree but it is appetizer size, 3 shrimp and 2 scallop. Very nice atmosphere with a rooftop bar (Torpedos) and an indoor bar with a big TV for rainy or sports days.

Wow!!! The food was SO amazing! The crab cakes are everything they are said to be. The scallop dinner was outstanding, and so creative! My husband said his filet was incredible, and he ate the whole thing! He alas I had a SUPER cocktail- the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot... it was so good, that if I had tasted it before ordering my wine I would have gotten that instead. They also have a nice kids selection (that isn't printed, that our server happily told us about). Our daughter's fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken was quite good, and came with a beautiful piece of garlic bread. All our desserts were out of this world, but the pecan pie was perfect!

Quick Review: Food is fine, service stinks, and I don't know when you add those two together its worth the $$$$$$. My friends and I dined at Caribsea on Saturday 3/26 and made a reservation for 10. The building and restaurant itself are beautiful. It definitely starts things out on the right foot. We were seated by a very nice hostess and provided menus. We met our server which I will not name because this evening became a comedy of errors and she is not solely to blame. My friends and I are kind women, mothers on a fun weekend trip. We were in no rush and were celebrating a birthday while there. We all have manners and patience and this entire experience was jaw dropping to us. Our server came to our table and seemed stressed and overwhelmed from the start... though there were only small tables and we appeared to be her only table. She was rude, and short tempered and talked to us like we were stupid. We laughed it off when drinks never came, doubles and refills not ordered came for others and appetizers were never even entered and came randomly once pointed out. Our salads came without dressing and upon receiving dressing it was 1/4 teaspoon at the most. Please keep in mind that the "Simple Salad" is $9 and is exactly as described (lettuce, friend goat cheese ball, 4 halves of cherry tomatoes and if you're lucky, dressing). This restaurant has fine dining prices with the service of an Applebees, though I have had better service at Applebees. One mistake after another led to our server leaving the restaurant in the middle of our service. Please know we never fussed or yelled or asked for a manager... we honestly tried laughing it off and just fixing the issues at hand. Upon being assigned a new server we politely asked what happened to our previous one... she blamed us for being difficult!!! In no way had we been difficult other than kindly asking for what we ordered because everything was wrong up to that point. That may have been the old servers "story" or excuse but it wasn't the truth. The new server was on the ball and got us all the things we were missing. Then our entrees were served and it was rather interesting what we received. The menu alludes what the item will be but the actuality is rather different. (example: Prime Steak Sandwich has tomato relish, its pico and there is hardly any "cheese sauce" at all, let alone steak.) Several ladies at our table didn't even try to customize their meals because by the time we ordered we could see that any change was going to cause the server and maybe the restaurant a nervous breakdown. The Birthday girls shrimp scampi was never put in and sushi and a salad for two other friends that were entrees were brought with appetizer salads. IT WAS A MESS needless to say. The servers here need a valuable lesson in fine dinning service. (which I have done) because again if you are going to have fine dinning pricing you should have fine dinning service. Though I think we would have all been happy with any small amount of customer service. At the very end of our meal my sweet friend did finally ask to speak to the manager. She explained to me that her heart hurt and she had never been made to feel like that in a restaurant in her entire life. That she didn't want anything other than to explain to the manager her feelings. Upon speaking to the person who said he was the manager, he did say "what can I do to make this right" but I don't know that there was anything they could do at that point other than to do better for other guests moving forward. Afterwards we received our bill(s) and they had 20% auto-grated the table, after all that mess. We kindly paid our bill and left. Never to return! If you choose this restaurant...good luck!

I have been coming to EI for many years and never tried this place because it looked super fancy and my partner is not a fancy person. Well he let me pick the other night so we finally went. I got the buratta cheese salad with chicken! Soooooo delicious! The French onion dip appetizer was my favorite thing on the menu. He go the filet, it was a little pricy but worth the money to me. Will be back!

I live in NC and first time we tried Caribsea. Based on reviews and their menu we have to go. Ambience is a little proper than most by the shore restaurants in this area but still has the easy going vibe. Our server was fabulous. I think young servers in my opinion has this fresh vibrant respectful energy that should be the case in most restaurants. We had the crab dip which was good. It has a strong crabby fishy smell to it that my other folks didn't care for. We ordered the entrees then. I had the rack of lamb which is my favorite and it was superb. The mediterranean garnish that went with it was an excellent pair. We also had a large generous chunk of steak and the scallops was just divine. The drinks were wonderful. The collins drink was refreshing. I ended up having two. Highly recommend.

By far the best food and service on the Crystal Coast! We're from Raleigh and I wish they were there.

Very good food and lots of staff. I had small order of scallops and the house salad which made for a delicious dinner. The odd thing is that the web site is misleading. According to one of the waitstaff, they no longer own that domain so the information on the website does not have the current menu. I had tried and tried to call and get a reservation but there was no-one to answer the phone until 4:30 and no way to make an online reservation. There was staff galore and a lot of empty tables, both on the third floor usual dining room and a large room to the left but few clients. It would be a very good business idea to update the web page or get a new web page and Las to make it easy for would-be diners to get a reservation on line. I really hope that this restaurant makes it because the food is delicious and the staff is friendly and efficient.

Disappointing changes. This used to be a lovely place for locals and tourists alike...sort of "island fine dining." Sadly, the menu has changed, the prices have greatly increased, and the food quality has declined. Very sad to say we probably will not go back.