Darrell's Restaurant - a Manteo staple? Its a restaurant that's been here for 60 years, so they must be doing something right... we tried this local staple for breakfast. We got seated right away and greeted by our attentive waitress, Casie. Both of us ordered coffees, they came out fast, but not hot. The mr. ordered a egg platter- 2 eggs, bacon, home fries, and a biscuit. The Mrs Ordered the smothered biscuit and gravy special. Both meals were good, not great. The coffee refills continued to be frequent, but not even warm. Not sure if the warmer is broken, or what, but coffee shouldn't be room temperature. Overall, it was a nice breakfast, would we return? Yes, but with dozens of other options in the OBX, it won't be right away, for breakfast at least, dinner we will be trying soon. read more

If you're in the Outer Banks, Manteo area, you do not want to miss this restaurant, the most consistent and best home-cooked meals you will find in this area, the staff is absolutely charming and amazing and the service is lightning fast. The food quality is from lightning fast it is absolutely delicious. Can't get enough of this place and amazing history on the walls. Don't pass this up. read more

Went for lunch and was seated immediately. Friendly service and our food arrived in record time. Everything we had was delicious. They even have homemade key lime pie that you absolutely must try! Bathroom was a tight squeeze but clean. Whole restaurant seemed very clean and tidy. The friendly service made the experience most notable- love that! read more

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All I can say is WOW! Never have I ever been served so fast with such perfection. My husband and I ate breakfast (twice) and dinner (once) while on vacation and it was on point! Food was delicious, reasonably priced and I don't even know how we got seated and served so quick for each meal. Staff was super friendly. Will definitely be back!! read more

Great service and a great breakfast. Had the fishcake special with eggs and hash browns. Fishcakes were delicious!

Super friendly. Nice ambiance inside, a lot of beautiful art, and very clean. Limited parking outside but it's paved and handicapped accessible. Soups are house made and very good. It is open year round. We had scallops they were great cooked perfectly! Had a hamburger steak with mash potatoes and gravey! They have home made mash potatoes here; it was so good! Highly recommend this place!! I would drive just to come here!! read more

Nice restaurant. Great service. First time here at Darrell's. The food was very delicious. We were in the mood for seafood. We started with shrimp chowder. I have never had shrimp chowder before and found it to be delicious. It was very filling. We also ordered the Buffalo shrimp. This was tasty as well. I had the Broiled combo with baked potato and pickled Beets. The combo came with broiled flounder, broiled scallops, and broiled shrimp. Everything was delicious. We also had two orders of choice of two seafood. One came with fried flounder and fried scallops. The other came with fried flounder and fried shrimp. Our server was amazing and very nice. We arrived early to get a table. The place filled quickly by the time when we left. read more

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Normally Darrell's is my go to place! We went three times last year on vacation. This time the whole situation was a struggle. We got there at 10:50 and was asked if we wanted lunch or breakfast. We said lunch. They sat us (we were only ones there) and was told she would come get our order at lunch time. So apparently lunch time was at 11. No worries I guess. The waitress then pointed to my service dog and yelled "look at the service dog" to the coworkers. That's incredibly rude. His vest says ignore me. I don't want to be pointed at or yelled at. I should have left then. But we waited because the food has always been really good. We ordered a little after 11 am. The hush puppies were brought out a little dark and really dry. I had to wait until our food came out to ask for ketchup or ranch. The flounder fish I ordered as my meal was tough to get down. I also only got one piece. My boyfriend's shrimp was pretty good, but he got fries instead of the side of green beans he ordered but because we waited so long for her to come back multiple times we didn't even bother telling the server. read more

I dined here once for breakfast and once for dinner. Breakfast service was iffy. We waited longer than you would expect to receive a menu, then it was a longer wait for the waitress to come to take the order. While the food was very good, we once again felt ignored when it was time for the check. Dinner service was better. The quality of the food was about average: no real complaints but nothing spectacular, either. read more

We ordered the shrimp tacos with beans and rice. Not impressed. Staff We're pretty unfriendly and not very hospital. Tacos were Soso. Admittedly we are spoiled we are from the south west and expected quite different food. The beans and rice came in a tiny little bowl with minute rice mixed with black beans... So if you're expecting regular beans and rice. This isn't going to be your thing read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Cool map! - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

Great place for any mealtime. Fried whole Flounder! Blueberry pancakes! Chicken fried steak and eggs! Biscuits biscuits biscuits! Friendly servers will have your back. And the place is packed! read more

Have not been to Darrells restaurant in a very long time. Our family stopped here for dinner prior to going to alligator river refuge to look for the Bears. Which we only saw one by the way but it was very late. Anyway back to the food it was all very very good. I got the ribs which I was a little hesitant about getting but they were amazing! Everything was absolutely delicious it was one of the best meals I had the whole week I will definitely be going back! Also our waitress was off the chain good I didn't get her name but she had two large tables that both sat down at the exact same time and she was rocking it! read more

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Picked up lunch here after a visit to the aquarium. Customer service was great! Ordered pick two -fried shrimp and crab cake with mash potatoes/gravy and green beans and my mom ordered fried flounder with spiced apples and mac-n-cheese. Overall good was just ok. Shrimp could use seasoning and mac-n-cheese was was the non baked kind. However, my mom really enjoyed the apples and fried flounder. Portion size were small but enough for lunch. read more

Great place for lunch. Servers are very friendly. They always have good lunch specials. Love love the garden salad with grilled chicken. Very fresh. read more

Best fried chicken on the beach, Wednesday is the day, service is great and a great local atmosphere, and a really good taco salad.

For all of the time we have spent on the Outer Banks we somehow had never made it over to Manteo to Darrell's. I wanted to try it first (before Darrell's II) so early in our visit we drove over for lunch. Darrell's is a very nice place in a great small North Carolina town with plenty of history. The restaurant just has the right hometown feel with friendly people and very good service. I somehow had only thought of Darrell's as a barbecue place, but it is really Darrell's Seafood. Ms T not being an Eastern NC barbecue fan (what is wrong with this picture) ordered the fried shrimp lunch. She received nine large shrimp fried just right, with a perfect light coating. These were excellent and she recommended them about a week later when Aunt Annie and Andrew T joined us on a return visit. She wished for a little salt in the coating, but otherwise nearly perfect. I am a devout lover of Eastern NC barbecue and had to sample their chopped pork. It was very good as well. It is a medium chop with a good vinegar sauce applied in ample quantity. I did not feel the need to add more. The pork flavor was rich. I really enjoyed this and I too repeated it when Annie and Andrew went with us later. I had previously thought there was not much on the Outer Banks to satisfy my barbecue craving. Now I have to choose between High Cotton and Darrell's (and as it turned out later, Darrell's II). Forget Sooey's and Pigman's. Cole slaw is a solid effort of the creamy sweet style. It was not totally fresh that day, but OK. That may depend on the day, but it gets a little limp if not fresh. I used a little lemon and Texas Pete to add some backbone and it was wonderful with the barbecue. They make good hushpuppies that are not loaded with onion. Ms T had a large serving of good pickled beets as her side. I had green beans that were pretty much unadorned, but seemed to be better than average quality. I just like green beans, I guess. As I said, we liked it well enough to head back with guests about a week later. That time Ms T ordered fried flounder as a sandwich without the bun. We love flounder and this was good. Aunt Annie and Andrew shared a plate each of broiled scallops and fried shrimp. Again, they did a great job with the seafood. It is clearly fresh and is not hidden in heavy coatings. To sum it up we like Darrell's, a lot. Great atmosphere, excellent fresh seafood and very good barbecue. It has a solid place on our favorites list for the Outer Banks. It's not a question of if we will be back, just when and how often. Now we have to try Darrell's II because it is closer, but I don't mind the drive from KDH for this food. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Good solid Eastern NC BBQ lunch plate. - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

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Mexicans literally charged me $20 for chicken tenders AND put the tip on THEMSELVES. I paid $20 and asked for my change back. Never come here read more

Our first seafood lunch in OBX and what a disappointment. The bright spots were my son's broiled scallops and my husband broiled shrimp. The crab balls seemed OK but I have nothing to compare them to so I'll put that in the good category. Also points for their cocktail and Tartar sauces - both were really on point. The not so great part: I had fried clams that were inedibly chewy and fried oysters that seemed to be all breading. Everyone's fries had definitely been sitting around for a while. My husband commented that both his scallops and shrimp was overcooked. Hush puppies a good flavor but were swimming in grease. Look, I know we're in a tourist town but the quality of this food was definitely not worth the nearly hundred dollar cost. Our hopes for yummy seafood were dashed and I hope our luck in OBX gets better. read more

Went here for breakfast and it didn't disappoint! I had an open face chicken biscuit with sausage gravy. It sounded good but I was skeptical of the combination. The flavors worked really well!! read more

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Went for lunch during the off season. Our party of two was quickly greeted and seated. The menu had attached a smaller menu with the specials of the day. Our server mentioned the additional vegetables of the day, and I selected the corn pudding with my order of country fried steak. Meal was quickly ready. Really liked the corn pudding. Country fried steak was good. As is normal for a lot of businesses on an island, the parking lot is small and tight - and usually fills up quickly for lunch. Nice place, good but not great food. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Lunch menu - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

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This is solid old-fashioned fried seafood. Fast, easy, and slightly overpriced, which is to be expected near the beach. It's good food. read more

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This is an okay restaurant. Not the best but not the worst either. We tried lots of different food at this visit, the fried chicken, Fried Scallops, onion rings, and other appetizers. For anything fried on our plates (which was mostly everything) we could tell that it was frozen and then reheated or refried. This made the food bland and some parts of the meal taste terrible, like the hush puppies. Overall, not a terrible meal, but I won't be going back. read more

restaurant was clean and well decorated. The fried crab cakes were over cooked and dry. The fried shrimp had this weird taste, but were fried really good. Service was great! I would still eat here again and give them another shot. read more

We had breakfast at Darrell's. My husband had the western omelette with hash browns and I had the cheesy eggs on a biscuit with sausage gravy with spiced apples. Everything was good. Coffee was good service was excellent and the restaurant was very clean. Best of all no wait. read more

I used to frequent this place when I was a teenager living on Hatteras Island. Years later now I'm visiting with my wife and two year old daughter. Same great food and low-key atmosphere. My wife and I split the seafood combo with broiled flounder and scallops and fried shrimp and oysters. Everything was fresh and cooked to perfection and was brought to us very speedily. Our waitress was lovely and pleasant and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Topped things off with a double fudge brownie and ice cream. Everything was just as delicious as I remembered! read more

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Disappointed in the decline in Darell's quality, staff, pricing for portions and menu changes. Sadly, I believe we made our last trip this weekend - just not worth it or what it used to be. We've been avid lovers of the restaurant for 30 years (for many years we bought T-shirts and hats every to every other year) and went back this trip even after our last pre-Covid trip was a disaster with our very dear friends who we promised they would love the place - Darrell's got much of the food wrong, bill was incorrect and we practically had to beg for drink refills, all after waiting at least 15 minutes before we were even acknowledged at the table. I guess we are done as this trip was such a disappointment! read more

Stopped for lunch on our way back from the Outer Banks - really great seafood! I had the shrimp basket and my husband had the blackened mahi special - both were actually better than what we ate at a seafood restaurant on Hatteras! The shrimp was very lightly breaded, not heavy, and not overcooked, which was a pleasant surprise. Great service, just a nice family restaurant. read more

Food always good. Friendly fast service. Atmosphere is friendly. I order online and eat at restaurant.

Ended up eating at Darrell's THREE times in one week. Call me crazy or call me a glutton but their food was fantastic! I like to consider myself both a cat and dog person and this was only further solidified in my enjoyment of their fried catfish and hush puppies. Absolutely delicious! The second time there I had the buffalo shrimp (spicy but not too spicy) and the third time I had the fried fish sandwich. Also we love the silly fish on the logo who looks like he has had one too many! Too funny. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Fried catfish with fries and slaw with a basket of hush puppies - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

This was the best food we ate on our stay in the Outer Banks. I had fried oysters with potato salad and green beans- perfect. My husband had the boiled drum special. He agrees that this was the best meal of our trip. It's not a fancy place but you can tell it's good by all the local people enjoying a meal. read more

Shrimp chowder was actually Corn chowder and flavorless. Crabcake sandwich only tasted like Dill pickle because the crab cake had zero flavor. And it was full of shell. read more

Delicious. Service was quick and staff is awesome. The food was cooked right. Hush puppies were some of the best. Would highly recommend if in the area. We will definitely return. read more

Darrell's Restaurant - Shrimp basket and oyster/shrimp combo - Seafood Near Me - Manteo, North Carolina

Ordered the fish tacos. Was given fried fish nuggets on a tortilla. I wish I were exaggerating. Was told it didn't come with sides, but it came with a corn and bean mix. Couldn't eat that due to a food allergy. read more

This place was recommended by the cashiers in the aquarium gift shop so we thought we'd give it a try. We had family visiting from the mid-west that really wanted seafood. Our waitress was very friendly, attentive and helpful with all of our questions. The place was clean and the younger members of our group were fascinated with the huge mounted fish hanging on the wall. Our food was delivered as ordered, hush puppies were enjoyed by all. Fried shrimp was cooked well, the mahi bowl was enjoyable. The boiled drum plate was not a favorite, can't comment on the cooking since we had never had boiled fish before but overall the plate seemed bland. Also one of our group had the crab cake sandwich and she thought it was tasty and well prepared. This water we were served tasted unpleasant and the place felt a tad dated in decor and menu otherwise it would have been 4 stars. read more

Outstanding grilled mahi with mango salsa and blackbeans and rice... for lunch! Highly recommended!

Seated immediately, service was spot on, never had to ask for refills, food was delicious, and the Oreo Cheesecake was the ending to a perfect meal. read more

Best breakfast in OBX! Classic, consistent, delicious food and a super friendly staff. Their tea is always on point too. I love their omelets! read more

This place is a waste of money and time.. I ordered shrimp and as my main course and they brought me 5 shrimp and my side of fries was larger then the main course. read more

Staff were less than welcoming from the beginning, and even though a waitress passed by us to bus the table that had just left, she did not interact with us at all. We were seated for at least 20 minutes and no one came to check on us, even though the restaurant was less than half capacity. Wished for better, but unfortunately it was not. read more

Wonderful food and Casey was best waitress ever! We had a large group 13 including kids she never got annoyed during the order process or when a drink was spilled. Very family friendly. read more