The Shack at Dockside

Went to the The Shack at Dockside, Carolina Beach with my dad and his friends last night. This is the same building where they had that horrific buffet with the previous owners. Well, the buffet is gone and the place has been bought out and renamed.
One of my dad’s friends ordered the nachos. The nachos are a pretty good pile of lots of good stuff. I tried the nachos and thought they were really tasty. The ground beef had a good, flavorful «taco» seasoning, without being too salty; the lettuce and tomato were fresh, and the cheese held it together nicely. Nachos could ALWAYS use more cheese, but what was there was sufficient. Bonus points for FRESH jalapeños that were HOT!
My stepmom and I shared the ribeye steak dinner. We asked for medium rare and it was cooked perfectly. The ribeye was long and flat, rather than thick and short, so they could have very easily overcooked it, but did not; they did a great job. It was topped with mushrooms and there was an optional blue cheese butter, which we did request, but didn’t see or really taste. I don’t know if it melted away, or if they forgot it, but everything was so good, I decided to let it go and not worry about it. The asparagus was a tender, yet crisp, and very fresh portion of about 10 – 12 stalks… plenty to share. The red skinned potatoes were roasted with olive oil and rosemary, rendering them slightly crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, and beautifully flavored. There was plenty for the two of us to share. $ 20
Another friend got a salad with seared tuna. The salad fixings were crisp and fresh and the portion of tuna was generous and seared just right. I didn’t try it, but I know she ate it all, so it must have been pretty daggone good.
My dad had the Mahi Soft Tacos, which I believe were grilled, and then served with nacho chips and salsa. He said that the fish was very tasty and the fixings fresh and crisp. He liked them and said that yes, he’d order them again. $ 11
Our servers were Danise and Lionel and they were on top of things. All of the food came out quickly and ACCURATELY. Both were friendly and efficient. They were quick to service another drink before each person finished the one in front of them, and before walking away when serving our food, they made sure we had everything we needed prior to leaving. They came back to check on us periodically, and were socially friendly without being intrusive. We sat in the bar area since there was live music; the music was a nice volume, allowing us to chat, while being a volume that made us want to sing along.
The servers graciously accepted our Attractions Book coupon for BOGO Entrees, even though my stepmom and I shared an entrée, and between the three of us (my dad, my stepmom, and I) only ordered two entrees. There was no split plate charge either.
While this isn’t fine dining, which I typically reserve 5 stars for, for casual dining, they hit the mark on everything. The Shack at Dockside is a solid casual dining experience at the beach with great food. They have a terrific deck where you can dine when the weather is nice. The music was scheduled for outside last night and we were looking forward to music and dinner on the deck, but the weather put a damper on that. Overall, we had a great meal and a fun time at a reasonable price. Give them a try!

My family and I had a great experience here. We ended up here on a Saturday night because it didn’t have a wait. If we weren’t all so hungry that might have been a bad sign but as it turns out, it wasn’t. They apparently do a buffet in the middle of the day but it was closed. I’m glad it was because I’d rather have my fish and seafood ordered from a menu.
We ordered the fried calamari as an appetizer, blackened Mahi, fish and chips, ½ lb crab legs and clam chowder.
The fried calamari was indeed flash fried as stated on the menu and so was very good! Not chewy. My 3.5 yr old tried it for the first time and liked it too.
The Mahi was grilled to perfection. It came with two sides, I chose broccoli and asparagus. I would’ve liked my broccoli in smaller chunks (it came in two big chunks) but not a deal breaker. Guess that’s also indicative that it was fresh.
I’ve had better fish and chips but the battered fish was still very good. My husband really enjoyed it. The fries were good too.
The crab was very great! I usually avoid the piece the legs are attached to as it’s usually very fishy tasting but tonight it was not! It tasted very much like the leg meat.
My husband wanted a bit more so he ordered the clam chowder and it was also great! Very, very creamy and had nice chunks of bacon.
Our service was also great! Our server was attentive and got our entire order correct. It did all come out together, but that’s not a big concern for me.
I would eat here again!

Great food. Great service. Great atmosphere. All we had was seafood. Crab legs. Broiled shrimp and scallops. Fried oysters. Grilled asparagus. And crab dip. Nothing was short of delicious! We will be back every time we come to Carolina Beach! So happy to see this place finally as a keeper compared to previous businesses.

What a terrible experience! Four of us and a baby in a car seat went in for dinner around 6:30 tonight… The hostess walked us past the all you can eat seafood bar (which was turned off… Must be used for lunch?) and set us at a booth. The hostess gave the four of us three menus and one specials menu (a piece of computer paper right out of the printer).
The server came by and suggestive sold us on mixed drinks and liquor. Way to read a family of four with a baby… Wine might have been a better choice had she read her guests. She quickly wrote down our soda and water order.
The unused seafood bar was shaped like a sail boat and covered in extremely bright white LED rope lights. The rest of the dining room was rather dark causing the vacant seafood bar seem like a Las Vegas nightclub. When the server returned with our beverages we asked if we could move to a table outside on their deck/​porch since the lights were glaring so bright we couldn’t see the people on the other side of the table. The server smiled through her gritted teeth and said there might be a wait to be seated outside (understandable… Even though there were quite a few clean tables they likely didn’t have enough servers to wait on them all.). We said we would wait. After a few moments the server returned with a huff to let us know our request would be honored. We asked if we should take our menus with us to the new table and she said, «I can take them» with a snotty attitude. Once she seated us at the new table with our beverages but without our three menus, we sat for about 25 minutes without being greeted again.
While we waited we could smell cigarette smoke from some of the other employees smoking on the deck around the corner. After our extended wait we got up and left.
Stay away from this place!

Everything that we ordered was DELICIOUS!!! We ordered fried pickles and they were crispy and we loved the tangy dill flavor. The seafood stew was very tasty and had lots of seafood that included calamri rings (not rubbery… even my 82 year old mom could chew), fish, shrimp, scallops, clams and mussels. Hubby ordered the soft-​shelled crab sandwich and he kept having to fight me back from stealing bites… but he also kept dipping bread and sweet potato fries into my tomato stew sauce! We ordered the carrot cake for dessert. Large piece that was dense but moist with squirts of whipped crème surrounding it. Will definitely be coming back.

Service. Service. Service.
Appetizers, 25+ minutes.
But they were tasty, the crab wontons had a fantastic filling, a tasty sauce. Their nachos weren’t so covered in crap that you couldn’t get to a chip with ease.
It felt like the guy bringing out the food was guessing *every* time he brought out a course. So he’d go to the table before us, announce what he had, inevitably they’d look confused and he’d come to our table.
Main Courses.
They completely missed one of our orders, so someone got to watch us eat while he waited 5 minutes. They didn’t substitute out baked potatoes for mashed (as requested), lobster course, didn’t come with butter, unless you added the 1 $ extra blue cheese butter, which was great, although they also forgot to bring that out!
The highlight was the dessert (chocolate mouse). It was three layer, white, chocolate, cake; chilled, and brought to the table within a a minute of ordering.
The shack needs to double down on getting their order straight if they hope to get scores beyond «Just fine».

Great food and great service, very pleased with the kid menu would definitely come again :-)

We tried the shack at dockside two Friday night’s ina row. Both night’s food was good! However, we came to the conclusion it depends on what staff is working. First Friday gentlemen named Daniel waited on my fiancé and I at the bar. He was punctual very funny and provided great service. We came back the following Friday to enjoy another great experience at this beach restaurant. Unfortunately this did not happen. Food was good however we had a horrible experience with a man named Lionel I believe was his name. He was unable to handle a busy night. period. People have bad days however this man appeared to be so stressed out he was unable to perform what so ever. Very slow sloppy service.

Ok so I Unilocal a lot. I was very skeptical of eating here from all the Unilocal reviews. But they are always busy and looked fun so we have it a try. From the start it was great. We sat outside in their covered patio. It was very nice. The waitress Jamie was freaking amazing. Margaritas came very fast and I must say they were very very good and strong :-). The food was hands down amazing. Funny story is our table beside us could not figure out why Unilocaled reviews were not all stars. This place is amazing and you must try it because like us it’s a for sure revisit.

The fish taco and crab leg specials were delicious. The outdoor dining is next to a gas station. Our waitress was great and I loved that they had separate fryers for shellfish, which was great for my food allergies.

Excellent server. Very friendly. Fast service. They took time to show my son the «trick» to cracking crab legs. Nicely touch. Food was better than average. My kids enjoyed the crab legs and black and blue burger. Not bad choice when all the other restaurants are full.

We were seated quickly and hot freat service. This is a seafood restaurant so you would think they would know how to cook it. We ordered 2lbs of crab legs that took forever to get and they were so over cooked we couldn’t get the meat out. The cole slaw was great, the problem was it was warm. They did however have good french fries. I wouldn’t recommend this Place.

Grilled grouper with asparagus was fresh & very good. Service was great. Bluegrass band & good bartender I was hesitant to dine here after reading the negative reviews. From Lexington & 57 yrs & will return

I am starting to think this location is doomed. Every year a different owner and same result.
4 of us came in to sample some food and beers for the NFL Draft. They had some newer looking TV’s above the bar so we decided to sit at the bar and order.
The place looks very clean and new, the staff were friendly and they had plenty of choices for beer on tap & of course full liquor bar.
Ordered calamari and it took almost 30 minutes to get it, portion was a little small but it was nice and crispy, but a HUGE long hair in it. I do not have hair nor would it be brown and 14″ long.
We all then proceeded to order entrees, I went with the fish and chips, a pet peeve of mine is to order it when I see «hand battered» on the menu and see if it truly is hand battered. Well I will never know as the bartender never put my order in, but the 3 people after my order got there food. Mental note if you have trouble remembering things then you should write it down.
My companion got a house salad, she said she enjoyed it except for the fact there was… wait for it… wait for it… a 14″ long brown hair in the salad. So I am pretty sure they have shedding issues in the kitchen. I think I just puked in my mouth telling this.
The other couple I was with, I don’t recall what they had, I do know they were not impressed.
I seriously doubt I will ever return to this place for food. They do have a awesome deck overlooking the marina that looks tempting for happy hour or drinks but that is it.
I will say the bartender did apologize for not putting my order in, but too little too late. (I didn’t even notice my food didn’t come out till everyone was done eating and waiting on me, that is when I asked).
Good luck to the current management trying to change the tides of attitude on this place, maybe you might sucker enough tourists to actually stay open longer then 1 season.
If you ask me, they should just give up on the restaurant idea and go back to a «club» atmosphere, seems Tangerines (4 places ago) was the only successful business in this location.

The service was nice but not very attentive. My broiled seafood wasn’t well seasoned or cooked. Usually it is overcooked and/​or overseasoned but mine was both undercooked, though not in a huge way, and under seasoned.