Mac’s Place on the Bay

The view can not be beat! Right on the sand, low foot traffic and cone at sunset and you won’t be disappointed!!! I had the seafood platter, fried, and it was great! Just a great place to enjoy the water, beers, and food!

The only reason I’m giving this place one star is because the view is amazing and I’m not sure it even deserves that!!!
First concern… when you walk in the place smells like dirty mop water combined with a nasty fraternity house. The inside is extremely dark and dingy. The outside area was also filthy. There was food all over the floor and the tables outside are completely rotted and falling apart, I’m assuming due to leaving them out all winter long.
When I first got there I stood in the middle of the place. No acknowledged me, or helped me. I had to go to the bar to ask if they were still seating people. He said «have a seat anywhere outside and the waitress will be right with you.» Yeah, that was a lie… after 10 minutes of just standing in the middle of the patio, and still unnoticed, I had to confront her because there was nowhere to sit, since all the usable tables were empty covered with dirty dishes and the other two tables were falling apart and in a puddle of water! Awesome note… the waitress cleared the dishes but never wiped off the table which was disgusting. She clearly hates her job. She was not cordial, attentive, or informative. The menu was EXACTLY the same from the previous restaurant, I believe it was the Ship’s Cabin. I cannot say how the food was nor will I be back to try it. After waiting about 15 minutes for our drinks, we left! The health department needs to shut this place down until they can get their act together.
It’s such a shame because this place could be a real gold mine with such a beautiful view right on the beach.

I would give 0 stars if I could! I have never had that bad of Service! There was a handful of people in the
«bar Area» and maybe 3 other couples on the deck. We had to sit at a table with other people’s dirty dishes on it, then after about 10 min the lady comes to the table starts clearing the dirty dishes and then asks «what can I get you»
(she never given us any menus) but we ordered drinks. (Since we knew what
Drinks we wanted) Then we sat at a table with OTHER PEOPLES nasty crumbs and drink condensation puddles for 20 min still without having our table cleaned and without drinks! Finally we gave up and left! I hope you don’t have to see this for yourself and that you don’t believe the crap in all the other comments!

I think their back patio is a cute place to catch some live music and happy hour while playing back and forth from the nearby «beach.» I’m not too big of a fan of their indoor area or their food but the atmosphere is pretty cool.

I gave a 3 star rating for the view only. There were 2 of us and quickly greeted when walked in. DRINKS: Placed drink order of 2 sangria’s, as they were good last summer. The fruit in the drink looked ‘bad’ and tasted weak. Ordered another round of them with a shot to add. This time, less fruit. Ordered last round with extra shot again, no fruit. FOOD: Had Traditional hamburger and it was good. Only issue, took an hour to get a medium well burger. STAFF: Very friendly but waitress walked passed me 3 times with an empty glass sitting in front of me, before I finally had to stop her to get another. TIP: Order EVERYTHING AT ONCE … They were not that busy and everything took forever and I understand about short staffed but «really». I will return as it is close to home. As summer approaches, I hope (for the owners sake) that there will be experienced staff on hand.

A beach bar. In all its glory. A very friendly place to put your toes in the sand, have a drink and a bite. The owners, Shawn and Amanda bought Mac’s a year ago and are working to improve the ambiance.
I am not sure what Mac’s once looked like — it seems a daunting task but they have brightened it up to a beach shabby chic. The staff is very attentive and the owners came by to ensure we were having a good experience.
The food was very good and we would definitely return!
Direct TV with the NFL ticket is a real plus!

Amazing food all the time. I don’t know where they come up with their special, but they are great. I’ve yet to eaten anything that wasn’t short of amazing. Service has gotten on track. Great place to watch the games, and hang out.

Our waitress was nice, but only partially attentive. It didn’t look that busy, but then again, they looked to be short staffed. My salad dressing for the wedge salad had a chemically-​soapy taste. My husband’s fish tacos were supposed to have mango slaw, and he said there was nothing «mango» about it. The sweet tea wasn’t very good at all. When we asked for the check, the man bussing the table asked who our waitress was by referring to her breast size… like, really, dude?
The view was nice, and the french fries were decent.

Really bad experience.
I went w/​family and friends just today for lunch. A party of 8 and a baby total, so we ordered some drinks and food but we waited about an hour and our food was not coming out. We started to feel uncomfortable because there were some others table who came long time after us and they had their food already. We tried to talk to our waitress but she just said our food was in the way. so we waited for few more minutes and finally decided to pay our drinks and leave.

This is a hidden gem!
They’ve been through their fair share of changes, but always kept their beachside décor. Great food, drinks, and Johnny on the spot service!
I hadn’t sat down for 5 minutes and was immediately served by my waitress Summer. She is great and pays attention to you. Each waitress I’ve seen here does.
Great place to come, if just for the view of the beach!

I’m only giving this place two stars, because the view is amazing and the waitress was awesome!
When you first walk in you are hit with a horrible odor (major turn off). Their tables outside are weathered and in need of serious repair. A few of the tables couldn’t even be used and had to be pushed to the side by the customers.
The food is absolutely horrible! My babe ordered the seafood platter and hated it! I ordered the crab cakes! Yuck yuck yuck! Frozen seafood?! We live in the Tidewater area known for their seafood! If you can’t sell fresh seafood you shouldn’t be in business. Not to mention the crab cakes tasted old and looked gray! One bite and I was afraid my stomach was going to suffer later if I attempted to suffer through another bite so I returned it. Now we know why most people weren’t eating, but were here to mingle and drink.
We did not complete our meal and we will not be back!

Great food. Slowest service on the planet… I wish there was a separate tip jar for the wait staff and the kitchen.
Get the half-​rack of ribs. Best fall-​apart ribs on the planet. It is a LOT of food. I don’t know how anyone could eat a whole rack. It was delicious!
Venue is right on the beach. On a nice day I can imagine it would be great to grab some drinks on the ocean bar and go back and forth from the beach. They also have live music some nights inside. It is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside.

Read some pretty good reviews here so my family and I thought we would give it a try.
Turns out it was a very unpleasant experience. Food took forever to come out, and on top of that, 5 people in my group got the stomach flu!!! The only thing I think that was good at this place was the view.

Came here with a group of 4 on Friday night around 750 for some dinner and drinks.
The view is absolutely amazing. If you go here, you gotta sit outside and hopefully at one of the tables right on the sand. Watching the subset of the best part of the meal.
Food was good. We got the crab cake sandwhich and the OV burger. It was all good. Nothing out of this world, but still good. The crab cake needed some different texture as it was mushy. I really liked the fires though but the give you a squirt of ketchup for dipping. Menu is limited and I get it is a dive bar but please invest in laminated menus. They were old crinkled from water damage and just not appealing to touch.
Service is seriously lacking. We got sat immediately but it took 20 minutes to get a drink order in and 2 in the group ordered a pitcher and my boyfriend and I wanted a specail drink menu before we ordered so she went and got one and by the time she returned the 1^st pitcher was about gone. Food took about 40 minutes to come once ordered and then more waiting time for checks and things needed like ketchup etc
I would definitely come back because of the view but I’ll be expecting to spend 2 plus hours for dinner and drinks.

A Gem on the beach, a rustic restaurant/​bar with outside patio covered and open seating. Listen to the waves while you eat and watch a gorgeous sunset. There is live music in the bar Thurs-​Sat. There are 2 pool tables off the bar. The crab legs were great. The She crab soup was loaded with crab meat. The fish tacos were in corn tortillas with spicy purple slaw.

A wonderful «on the beach» restaurant. Dining inside with live music or outside on the patio. We enjoyed the Lobster Bake and delicious ribs dinners. Food was tasty and prices reasonable. Fabulous service by Keith. The house special drink, The Breakwater, completed the beach experience.

Hidden gem. It’s in plain view however you will drive right past it because you don’t know what’s inside. I am about to tell you why you must spend your money and eat here.
The hostess, the waiter (Keith), the food, the prices and the view were spot on perfect. Just look at my pictures! I was there as part of a CHKD fund raiser. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughter’s. We raise money for the Children’s Hospital. Mac’s Place donated 10% of their revenues from the day to The Children’s Hospital. That certainly speaks volumes.
The two of us ordered the special appetizer which was a bowl full of steamed clams in a beautifully seasoned sauce. Then he got the surf and turf, perfectly grilled strip steak cooked med. rare as ordered with an 8 oz lobster tailed with two sides, loaded baked potato and cole slaw. I got the full rack of ribs (delicious and falling off the bones) with two sides. The potato salad is my second favorite ever. I make my first favorite. The cole slaw was crisp, tangy and colorful.
Oh, I can’t forget to tell you about happy hour. From 4 — 7 tap beer is $ 1.50 (he had 3), well drinks are $ 2.25 (I had 3) and wine is $ 5.00 all day.
Great view, great service, great food… you see what we ordered… drum roll please… with tax, not tip $ 64.21. Ribs, potato salad and cole slaw are in the frig for lunch tomorrow.
You must go here, eat, and support Mac’s Place.

This might be our new favorite spot to eat in the hood! It’s definitely a step up or trhee from the previous business. This past winter we came in a couple times a month to have dinner in the bar area. It’s a little dark but the food is good. The real treat for us is to eat on the patio and people watch the beach goers, or watch the sun set in the evenings. This brings us in once a week or so. As previously stated, their burgers are awesome and service usually pretty good. Check it out!

Went here for Mothers Day lunch. The food was great! I had a lb of steamed shrimp. They were HUGE and cooked perfectly. My family had the burger, crab cake dinner and sandwich. All said it was just as good if not better than other top restaurants in the area.
The service was good. They were short staffed a bit, I think they are still working out the kinks. But the staff were all friendly and nice and that will go a long way in my book.
This place has great potential and I am glad that they reopened. I am local in OV and am looking forward to many more meals at Macs and the awesome view of the beach.

had some great ribs tonight.
it was open mic night also — some nice music.
will try and get my friday nite gang in for a visit
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