The Captains Table - Buxton

What an interesting place... We arrived just after The Captain's Table opened for lunch. I'd read reviews here on yelp and was skeptical, but my friend wanted to give it a try. I was a bit nervous when the average age of the folks that arrived just before us was probably around 75. I would have pulled away at this point (I know, I sound absolutely horrible here, but I've eaten at restaurants that seem to cater to the older generation and I'm one to talk; I'm almost 50, but the food at places that cater to the older generation do not typically offer top notch cuisine), but again, my friend wanted to give it a try. The decor was lackluster. It reminded me of a Red Lobster from 1970. It was not crowded and we were seated promptly. Service was slow. And as mentioned in a previous review the waitress did not share with us the specials of the day, but another waiter did at another table. I ordered the soft shell crab, which I had just eaten a few days earlier so I expected (and hoped) it was still in season. No luck they were out. No problem, there were still many great options from which to choose. We both ordered the special soup (we saw it on the board when we walked in, otherwise we would not have known it was an option), crab bisque. It sounded much too good to pass up. I ordered the Spanish Mackerel, which was a popular option at this time of the year. It seemed most restaurants were serving up Spanish Mackerel as their fresh catch. Our meals came out first. My mackerel was really very good. The fries were tasty. The hush puppies were okay, but where was our bisque? A guy, not our waitress, stopped by to ask how everything was. Well, it's good, but we're missing our soup, was the answer. Time passed and our waitress stopped by. Same question... same answer. She was genuinely sorry and ran to the kitchen. I received my soup minutes later. My friend was told his soup would be out shortly. Hmm... odd. My soup was CHOCK FULL of crab. YUM, I think and I dig in. As another reviewer mentioned, the soup had crab shells in it. It was tasty, but it was not fun checking for shells with each bite and extracting them when they were found. My friend's soup was brought out maybe five minutes later. It was a bowl of broth. So I have a bowl of THICK, crab filled soup and he has a bowl of broth. I had eaten about half of mine, so we poured some of the broth into my bowl and switched. I finished the broth, which I believe was actually the soup that I was served blended together; I expect a bisque to be smooth, so my soup was pre blend and his was post, but I think my bowl has ALL the crab for the entire pot of bisque. Inconsistent and riddled with crab shell... it was a bit of a disappointment. Mid meal music starts to play... it's Credence Clearwater Revival! I love me some CCR, but it seemed SO out of place in a seafood restaurant where the median age was easily 65. Finally, and this is no fault of the restaurant, there was a woman a few tables away that was louder than .... hmm, she was loud! I did not complain (how do you complain about something like that... if someone has an idea, please let me know), but it was extraordinarily distracting. So much so that someone should have asked her to keep it down. So the entire experience was a bit surreal. Will I ever go back? Absolutely not.

Wow I've been coming to hatteras for years and never ate Here As I Thought it was fancy and not real seafood What a treat it was I give it five stars. The waitress was great also Will be my new go to place

What tha....this is a huge bowl of greasy, tasteless crab. The rest of the food sucks as well. Gag.

4.5 stars. I was very satisfied with our seafood dinners. Started with hush puppies, which were slightly smaller than a golf ball and perfectly fried. The crab bisque was very good. They nailed the consistency and taste of the base. It was a little light on crab, and a few pieces of shell which didn't bother me as it means they're likely using domestic crabmeat, but might turn others off. We did the fried combination platters. Between the two of us, we did oysters, scallops, flounder and shrimp. All were perfectly fried with no excess oil in a very light crust. All of the items were obviously very fresh. As is often the case, the flounder was fried with the skin on one side, but the meat easily flaked away if you prefer not to eat the skin. If there was a weak link, it was our sides. My baked potato was fine, but like many restaurants, the side selections included many canned items such as green beans and baked apples. I know why restaurant managers prefer to use canned items, and perhaps its a regional thing, but even frozen green beans are better than canned if fresh beans are not available. Last but not least was the service, which was great. Our waitress was on the ball with drinks, soda refills, and anything else you could image. We'll definitely be back.

Fresh seafood, house made condiments, clean restaurant and super friendly staff. We had the fried oyster basket and fried cobia sandwich. Both were yummy and prepared well with crispy fries and slaw. Open 11-9 which is nice as it's hard to find anywhere open in this area during mid afternoon hours. Our server, Nancy and the hostess, Jada were wonderful. We'll return!