Without a doubt in our view, the best restaurant in its class on the Grand Strand. They fry the seafood just right, they serve it quickly, the portions are generous--and don't tell them, but they could charge more and it would still be a great value. They must have a secret family for their unmatched tartar and cocktail sauces. Bypass the "Calabash-style" buffets on Rte 17 and get yourself some genuine Calabash seafood at the Dockside. We've eaten here at least once during every visit to North Myrtle Beach in the past 27 years--three dozen times or more--and the Dockside is a constant. It's always great. Owned by one family since it opened in 1955. read more

Great food and wonderful service. We went there on a Friday night and found it to be excellent with a great view. Reasonable prices and superb quality of food. read more

Dockside Seafood House - a dock in the distance - Seafood Near Me - Calabash, North Carolina

The food was good! Nothing especially amazing but definitely good. And they give a good amount of food which is always appreciated. The waitress was very nice, it was obvious she was a little stretched thin and not the most attentive which wasn't great. However, the worst part came at the end surprisingly enough. The checkout person, an older lady, held up the line by talking to her friends. To get through two checks it took over 5 minutes. And then when it finally came to be our turn to pay I was continuously ignored until she was done talking to her other friends. To me that made it clear that it isn't so much about serving the business so much as serving the people they like. Which is too bad. Hopefully they can fix that. read more

I would not recommend this place. First off they were not busy at all and food took forever. Then we were brought cold fried seafood and cold potatoes. The waitress was not friendly. However, the lady working the checkout counter was super friendly which is why they are getting a star, the second is for the view. read more

Have dined here as far back as the mid 80s. Went for the first time in three or four years. Beyond awful. In years past, families were lined up in throngs waiting. It was a ghost town at 7:30 PM tonight. Should have taken it as an omen. Food came out in 3 minutes. Had very obviously been pre-cooked and warmed up a second time to be served. Waitress didn't know anything about the menu and didn't care. I'm not looking for much at a fried seafood joint but the level of 'give a crap' here now is clearly less than zero. read more

I have only been here twice. It was slow service both times, and there where not many people in the restaurant at the time. The oysters do not come on the half shell which is very surprising to me, and they where not satisfying. The only two good things about this place is the view of the water and there merchandise. read more

Long waits, no call ahead reservations, indifferent wait staff, fried food, to add insult in injury there is a long wait to pay your check as the cashier may be the slowest on the coast. Stay away read more

I'm giving 3 stars because the food wasn't great but the service was. The hush puppies were a disappointment and it just wasn't what I was expecting. read more

The hush puppies were great, as was the service. The food came out extremely fast...but that did not help the taste of it. I was disappointed by my stuffed flounder that was mushy and bland. The new deck was very nice, but wear plenty of bug spray!!! We got eaten alive! read more

My Beverage refill came out after the meal was through same with our baked potatoes and green beans. the shrimp did not taste fresh and was very fatty. i dont think its as much as the servers fault as the back of the house. most appealing thing about this place is the fact its dock side read more

I went there labor day weekend. My boyfriend and I had went on the all day fishing g trip n decided to eat there when we were finished, and our service n food was Terrible my bf got the flounder n deviled crab they didn't bring the crab n the waitress asked him to take one of his pieces of fish n put it on a napkin because they gave him one to many she said you can use ur fingers bc I'm just going to throw it away. I said then why can't he just keep it n not worry about the crab she made a big ordeal about it and I said when u come back just bring us the bill. When I received it, it was doubled in price of 68$ I went to the lady up front who I'm guessing is the manager n said can u add these up bc I don't think our bill should b this much n she said oh we must have hit the + sign to many times our bill was only 36$... Won't b back read more

Nice location, and that is where it ends. Broiled Scallops, Broiled Shrimp, and oysters all terrible. Hush Puppies awful. I fear all places down at the water are not great. Also, took 15 minutes in line to pay when we left. read more

Food was bad. Service was worse. Appetizer was served without plates or napkins. Clam chowder was lukewarm and one of our party didn't get their sandwich until we were almost done eating and our server didn't clear one plate from our table the entire time we were there. Awful. read more

"Meh" about sums it up. The draw of this place is that its on the water...obviously. Unfortunately we waited more than an hour and a half to get a table...which took the only redeeming quality of this place away with the sunset. We should have stuck with Ella's of Calabash. Our server was nice, but that's about it. Decor was waaaaay outdated. Not much crab in the deviled crab and scallops were overcooked. Overpriced and underwhelming. read more

Food was good. However if you are looking for a dining experience....this is not it. Bar is lacking Ambience is lacking. It feels like something out of the 80's If you are looking for a "cattle car" mentality where they move you in and out quick...this is your place read more

Horrible food!!! No seasoning what so ever. Had stuffed crab with no visable crab,scallops,fish,shrimp,oysters all deep fried all tasted the same. Had me running to the bathroom a half hour after we left. read more

Not worth it! Slow service, baked potato tasted odd. Shrimp didn't taste fresh. Slow service

Calabash Style seafood is lightly breaded and deep fried. Most of the restaurants in Calabash will offer a similar selection of seafood prepared accordingly. Dockside, however, really gets it right! Shrimp, oysters, scallops and fish are ever so lightly breaded and flash fried to allow items to stay tender & tasty. We have dined at nearly every seafood establishment in Calabash over the years and we rate Dockside best in seafood and service. If you want to try Calabash style at its best, this is the place. read more

I recently went to the Dockside with 8 other family members. We had one of the worst meals that I have ever had. The shrimp cocktail consisted of a small bowl of tiny shrimp that looked like they came from a can. When I tried to order a seafood platter with a light fry, I was told that all seafood was cooked together, and thus no special orders were allowed. When the seafood arrived the shrimp on the platter consisted of a very small quantity of popcorn shrimp, oysters the size of the end of my thumb with no flavor, and scallops that were overcooked. This was a total waste of eighteen dollars. This restaurant is nothing but a tourist trap. Do not even consider dining there read more

Great prime rib and steak place. Nice look on the harbor. Really liked it. 4 adults and 2 kids ran about 120.00.

Atomosphere and food quality matched a tyipical fish house. Very good servive. Sauce for syrimp appertizer is spicey.

Very yummy shrimp and fried clams. Onion rings a bit heavier batter but ok. Cole slaw good. Hush puppies passable. Definitely would come back for the seafood! read more

Just your old fashioned southern seafood restaurant. The platters are fried and fresh. I believe it is family owned and run which you don't see a lot these days thanks to those damn Canadians crossing the border and taking our jobs. The hush puppies were extra quiet! read more

Wonderful food every time and wonderful service every time. Whenever we have family come visit we always bring them here!

I'm almost sad to give them 2 stars b/c the service was really good! But then I think about how the food (which is the main purpose for the restaurant) was SO SUBPAR at best ESPECIALLY considering this is CALABASH! Ok, so calabash, nc is supposedly known for fresh, local, tasty seafood. This place is actually on the water. Problem is that the food is so bland! Our table of 6 ordered the combo platters which were between $16-19. You could get any combo , and the highest price item designated the price of platter-good, that was fine. The table all ordered flounder, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, broiled shrimp, and catfish. All of it had NO flavor. Not one speck of salt or pepper was used! The flounder was big bland tough fillets! Yuck. The shrimp were popcorn and fried well. They were the best part. The boiled and broiled shrimp tasted pretty much the same...they were tiny , undeveined, salad shrimp. The boiled shrimp was overcooked and mushy-Yuck. The broiled they replaced it with was cooked correctly, but still no flavor...and the dirty poop vein was suuuch a turn-off. Ew. read more

We haven't been to Calabash in four years, but we remembered Dockside being good, so we were excited to return there for dinner on this trip. It was NOTHING like we'd remembered. We chose to sit outside overlooking the waterway, and the bugs and mosquitos ate usj read more

We love this restaurant and try to come every year. This year our visit wasn't as stellar. There was no wait, which was surprising, but good for us. A bewildered acting waitress eventually seated us, I assume because the hostess had disappeared. Our waitress came promptly to take drink orders, then went on a hiatus. Another waitress even stopped by to see if someone had taken out drink order. Maybe 10 minutes later our server reappeared and talked to us like we'd complained to someone. "You probably thought I forgot about you but I believe in getting the food out when it's fresh". Honestly, it had been so long since our first meeting, we were clueless as to who our waitress was. She delivered our drinks and said she'd be back. She went to another table to take their meal order, then came to our table for our order. She said, "I'll get this order right in". Then proceeded to an adjacent table for a 5 minute chat, knowing she had 2 meal orders not submitted to the kitchen. Eventually we got our food and it was good, but I felt put off by the service. When I order, I'm ready to eat. But when a waitress chooses to gab with patrons instead of submitting an order, it doesn't say much for a restaurant. The most telling moment was when a fellow waitress checked on us. read more

This is a delicious seafood restaurant in Calabash with nice views of the water. Calabash style seafood is fresh with a light crispy batter. There can be long waits during peak season so its best to get there early especially if you have a big group. Servers are always super friendly and the seafood is amazing. read more

Love this place. We have been going here with the whole family for dinner every year that we come to Sunset Beach. It is so delicious to have that lightly breaded fried heaven of Calabash. The wait was only 20 minutes and we went out to look at the boats and take pictures. Service was good and food was prepared quickly. The crab stuffed flounder, flounder, shrimp and fried oysters were the best seafood. My son raves over his NY strip too. They have good specials for kids and seniors. read more

Went here 7-8-14. Waitress was OK. We asked her how long the oysters are typically fried, she said she didn't know how any of the food was prepared. The flounder was horribly overcooked, dry and tasteless. About equal parts fish and breading. The oysters were low quality and dirty tasting, also had chemical taste to them. We were afraid to eat them. Fries and hush puppies were bland. Shrimp had very little taste like low quality frozen, and were very small. The only thing crab in the deviled crab was the crab shell. What was in the shell tasted like a Stove Top type stuffing. read more

Holy snap! My wife and I were hankering for some seafood and before I talk about the food I've got to talk about the service! We arrived with about 30 people ahead of us, the staff were able to work through them and get to us in less than 5 minutes! When we were seated the hostess make sure we had our menus. Our server, Annika, was very prompt and brought a fresh hushpuppy basket and took our order immediately. My wife and I sat and had some pleasant dinner conversation eating those very tasty hushpuppies and before we knew it our meal was right in front of us. Our server was very attentive towards our needs during dinner, always stopping by at the right time to check in on us, she was wonderful. Now for the food my wife and I ordered Seafood platters that were heaped on good sized dinnerware. I had the fried shrimp and fried grouper both were hot and fresh, very tasty! My wife had fried shrimp, scallops and oysters, her's too were fresh hot and exceptionally scrumptious ! If you're in Calabash, I strongly recommend that you stop by for dinner, you will not be disappointed! read more

Dockside, like all of the restaurants in Calabash, is what it is. None are much better than average but my experience, for my taste, is that more are really not very good than those which are average. The menu is limited ad they do not tell you anywhere that I saw that you can get anything but "fried" seafood. Sitting on the water, we "thought" the seafood was fresh and local. The waitress told us that none of it was fresh and none was local. I'm not sure she got that exactly right but it all appeared to be frozen. The shrimp, even in cocktail, was very tiny and very much old/frozen shrimp. Taste was off according to both of us but you could cover it up with a decent cocktail sauce. The flounder was decent for frozen flounder. I don't get why it isn't fresh as we're catching lots of flounder right around here but....it is what it is. Very average food. read more

We loved this restaurant! We were staying in Cherry Grove Beach and looked online for a waterfront restaurant that was family friendly. We arrived at this riverfront location - and found several restaurants to choose from. We ended up at the Dockside and will definitely return. The hostess and the man at the door (host? GM? Owner?) were friendly and welcoming. Our server, Stephen was fantastic! Made great recommendations, brought everything exactly as ordered and was so friendly and professional! The food was great - my husband had the seafood deluxe platter, my daughter had the clams/scallop combo and I had the steak/scallop combo. My steak was a large NY strip and the scallops were perfect! Everything was delicious. We all had cocktails which were also wonderful - highly recommend the mango Cosmo! We also had a toddler (almost 3 years old) who loved the food and the attention she got. read more

The best hushpuppies I've ever had. It's a nothing fancy kinda seafood house, no better than any of the rest but the prices are fair and it's clean and the people are friendly. read more

The flounder was amazing. And the hush puppies were the best I've ever had. I had the flounder the day before at another restaurant that couldn't hold a candle compared to Dockside. read more

Good food, but almost everything was fried. The hush puppies were delicious though! The decor was a little out dated but we sat outside on the deck which was nice in the late evening. Probably will not return read more

It was a good meal. Fried everything but little bread on the fish and not greasy. But where is the mint? You know everyone wants that butter cream mint at the end of a fried seafood meal. They only have them available for sale. Great service, clean facility and ample parking but add a mint and you move to 3.5 stars. read more

This establishment is a gem in the Calabash area. I have been to several different restaurants in this are in the last several years and this is one of the best I have been to. Our server Davine was amazing and attentive. She has great people skills and very pleasant de miner. If you are ever in this area of NC, stop by here and check it out. read more

First the good. Our server was very nice and friendly, and the food got to the table pretty fast. But the bad part is the food. Both the stuffed flounder my wife got and the lemon pepper broiled salmon I got were over cooked, crunchy on the top. All food we had was bland. Was like summer camp food at best. Probably would be ok for callabash shrimp but we were looking for something not fried. read more

Best place we have eaten at in a long time! Steak and fish were so delicious!! Great service as well!!! Next time we are in Calabash, NC, we will definitely eat here again!! Can't say enough good things about this place!!! read more