Gibby’s Dock and Dine

Wish this place could be cleaner! That is the main theme of the experience… just needs a deep clean. Like take everything out of the building, clean it, put it back. Food has been mediocre each time I try (3x over 3 years). I’m still willing to try again though!

We have now been coming here on a regular basis and have always been satisfied. Raising my rating from four stars to five. As for the negative reviews on here, here is my take: this restaurant is extremely popular, and especially at night; of course the kitchen is going to get backed up. People want to get Ruth’s Chris food quality but at Gibbys pricing; Chill out, complainers, and enjoy being at the beach!

We have taken our boat to Gibbeys several times. Most of the meals are fair to midland. Today we stopped in for lunch and were very disappointed. The peel and eat shrimp arrived with the heads on, yuk! We sent it back. Not to mention they serve a half pound and with the heads on we received half of the 8 oz. I ordered the French onion soup it came ½ hour later thick and tasteless. That went back. My husbands prime rib sandwich was ¾ fat, gross! We spoke to the general manager who argued with me, nice!
Hopefully they will get their act together by spring so we can dock there and have a half way descent meal.

Bloody Mary was good. Fish and chips were very good, big portions. Onion rings on the side were solid.

Not worth wasting your time on.

One of my favorites! Their scallops are great and their bang bang shrimp! View is great its fun to see all the boats!

Waiter was friendly and kind enough, but it took 1.5 hrs for our order to arrive. The place was about 20% filled, so not over crowded. They did comp us some hush puppies. After I finished my beer I asked for a water. It never came. So, I ordered a second beer about 5 minutes before our order arrived… The beer came after I was done eating. Ahhh frustrating!
Food was fine; the waiting sorta tainted everything. :-(.

Good food and nice atmosphere. Try the sampler plate for appetizers. The bang n shrimp are really good and also the crab dip with pita chips. Pita chips are kinda greasy, it’s definitely a cheat meal. Not the cleanest place but nice. Reminds me of that hole in the wall back home with good food and run by an average joe with all their buddies working for them.

Horrible service, horrible food and I find it appalling that people are allowed to smoke on the back patio while people are eating. I’m sure this isn’t legal.

Quite possibly the worst restaurant experience I have had in 25 years. Sheer wall-​to-​wall incompetence and utter stupidity at every single step of the process.
Short Version: Arrived @ 9:23 am on Sunday morning for breakfast with a party of 3. Ordered at 9:28 (had call for someone to come over and take our order). At 10:08, after promising us twice our 2 breakfast orders will arrive «shortly» … we were told it would take «another 15 minutes»!!. After 40 minutes … 40 MINUTES! — they still needed another 15 minutes for eggs that take 6 minutes to cook!!! All we ordered was 2 breakfasts between the 3 of us, one 2-​egg special and the eggs benedict.
LONG VERSION with the detail:
Took 5 minutes for anyone to acknowledge me and I had to shout to a waitress who passed me 3 times ignoring me in front of the back door leading to the deck.
At 9:28 we put our order in for our party of 3. Only 2 were eating, Eggs benedict and 2-​egg and bacon special. Should have taken all of 15 minutes maximum (since 1 was the special).
I asked for coffee at 9:35. Finally got a cup. But no utensils.
Several trips back and forth from the back deck to inside and completely ignoring our table by several waitresses. I finally raised my hand and asked one waitress «could you please get us a set of utensils?»
I was told «Sorry. We are out of utensils. It was so busy last night we are still trying to catch up?
WHAT? NO UTENSILS? I can’t even get a spoon to stir splenda in my coffee???
So I got up — went inside — and guess what? Right on the BAR counter was a BIG BASKET of pre-​wrapped utensils. At least 2 dozen of them sitting right there wrapped in napkins.
I came out with the utensils I was told didn’t exist.
I asked around 9:50 «How much longer for our breakfast» and was told «should be here shortly… there’s only 1 cook in the kitchen». Ok fine there’s one cook, but only 8 tables were occupied inside and a competent cook should be able to keep up as it wan’t that crowded.
We tried being cheerful — and enjoyed the view of paddle-​boarders and a sea turtle that came by. But my daughter has serious health issues (kidney related — won’t go into details) and needed FOOD NOW so she can take her pills. I asked for anything, a muffin, toast, etc — and again, nothing came.
At 10:08 (now 40 minutes later) I asked «HOW MUCH LONGER FOR OUR FOOD?» and was told «Another 15 minutes» !!!
Meanwhile people that got seated AFTER us were getting their meals. This had NOTHING to do about being short a cook in the kitchen, this was about dysfunctional, mismanagement and a lack of competency and order.
At 10:08 we all got up and walked out. Astoundingly incompetent. They Lied. They were incompetent. They were stupid for not checking the basket of utensils sitting on the counter … and very, very poorly organized. I don’t blame the teenagers I blame the owners who clearly are not training or supervising.
NEVER EVER AGAIN.

What a great little gem with awesome atmosphere at Carolina Beach.
My wife and I are budget Vacationers and we go to Gibby’s on Fri or Sat nights for a late dinner before I go fishing. I always get the fish and chips which is a heaping plate of fries and perfectly fried cod. They take their fish and chips very serious and I’m never disappointed. Don’t forget the malt vinegar.
My wife gets the sampler appetizer and is always full and she really enjoys the bangin shrimp.
Wait staff is always running around like mad men but the seriously hold it down and make it work. Say hi to Adam who remembers your name even if weeks have gone by.

33.00 crab legs!!! Yes! But cold??? Shrimp and grits had a stick of butter on top floating. The chicken sandwich my nephew got appeared the best dish on our table. I love visits here but a good dinner is hard to come by in this town. Not to mention a good but very loud band started after we ordered at 8. ??? Little early. So no conversation was had. No IPA beers. I’m not sure why I gave 2 stars but the sandwich I guess. They also had a guy who apparently lives there he was so drunk and was certain he knew us. Ty. We don’t know you!!! Cut him off he was way to drunk.

The food was great. Our server was great. We had a great experience. The iced tea was overbrewed and the Diet Pepsi nozzle was broken. Other guests that had a different server had a much different experience and seemed very unhappy. I have a feeling that our server was friends with the guys in the kitchen. We got our food before others that ordered before us and our drinks were delivered immediately.
Overall, it was very nice.

Absolutely awful! We were looking forward to a great dock up and dine. If it wasn’t for the awesome bus boy, Justin, I’m not sure if we would of ever received our food. First the place is nasty inside– food on the floor, just kinda grimy.
There were not many people in the restaurant however, there were tons of wait staff floating around. The Waitress came and took our order two times and appeared to be toasted! Actually everyone in the restaurant seemed a little high– it was like some kind of twilight zone! We asked for tea and hush puppies and saw her 30 mins later to ask again. She said, oh we ran out of hushpuppy mix. When she brought the tea– she brought sweet and we ordered unsweet. We placed our order and Unfortunately, we waited an hour before we were Notified by the manager that the waitress never entered our order. She never checked on us or refilled our beverages rather she disappeared and we noted her chilling several times, fixing her own self a drink.
The manager finally came over and got our order straight after an hour and a ½, we got our food which was wrong and the silverware was dirty with dried food on it. The waitress never came to our table again until she brought the bill. She brought us the wrong bill and asked– who’s going to be paying. Never did she apologize or even acknowledge any mistakes. My husband went straight to the manager, yet again.
As a local this is probably the worst service I have received anywhere in the area. The food was YUCK, especially for the price! Thanks Justin for at least keeping a check on us– you need to run the place or at least be promoted to wait staff! It’s really a shame that the few area dock and dines we have are not that great– we tried Gibby’s with an open mind and unfortunately, we will not return by land or sea! I would not recommend this joint to anyone– spend your money elsewhere!

One star is being generous. Although I shouldn’t be surprised considering Carolina Beach is apparently the armpit of NC beaches.
The good — we walked in and were seated immediately. The restaurant has a nice view of the water and was within walking distance to our hotel.
The bad — the place is overwhelmingly dirty. The tables were sticky, there was trash under the tables and there was even a huge hole in the wall the corner booth. Our silverware was visibly dirty. My husband ordered wings as an appetizer and it took at least 30 mins to come out. We shared the pick three plate with shrimp, ahi tuna and scallops. It came with a side of green beans and mashed potatoes. The potatoes were the best thing on the plate. Everything else lacked even a hint of flavor.
Total waste of time and money!

We had a great experience down here for our vacation. We were looking for somewhere quick to stop for lunch, and most places are over priced and touristy.
We stopped in to Gibby’s, and were treated to quick service, and the freshest fish I’ve probably ever had. We had the crab cake burger, the grilled tilapia sandwich, and fresh fries and homemade onion rings. The price was no more than we would find back home at a neighborhood restaurant.
I also liked that the place seemed to be full of locals.
For a quick, easy, and delicious Sunday lunch, we were pretty pleased with this place.

Nothing here was out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, our fish stuffed with Maryland crab was probably one of the worst seafood dishes I’ve ever had. And the clam chowder (which boasted a winning prize medal) was much too salty for my taste. The waiter for our table was very sweet and attentive, but after taking over 45 minutes for our food to arrive and then proceeding to serve them in 10 minute intervals, I think that was the last straw. We even had to send a dish back because it came so late.

Food is great. Great atmosphere. Food is a little bit on the pricey side but it’s still worth the price. The burgers are really good and the crib and spinach artichoke dip is so good. I love their pita bread chips that come with it. Sit outside it makes the atmosphere 10 times better.

This was a disappointing meal and worse service.
The service ignored us for the first five minutes after we sat down, including the one walking past is as we entered.
A gal finally approached our table but did not acknowledge us. Instead she stopped and gestured to another waitress telling her to «take these ones.» The younger waitress reluctantly accepted, but did not come to take our drink order for another few minutes after that.
Finally she came over, but with half as many menus as we needed. Service did not improve from there. Our waitresses diapered for ten minutes at a time. I assumed the other half of the building was busy.
I eventually walked over to the other side to see how many tables were full, and the only person I found was our waitress, hanging out in the empty half of the building.
As for the food, The fries were still half raw and grossly over salt and peppered. Even the fries they gave to the kids. My fish tacos tasted only of strong fish. Seems only the fries get seasoning, or I couldn’t taste anything else after trying the fries.
I would have asked for some real salsa or hot sauce (if they have any?) but the waitress only checked on us after we had finished eating. Thankfully a table on the other end of the room had a nearly-​empty pepper sauce bottle! The «mango salsa» that came with the tacos had a liquid the consistency of runny eggs, and the mangos were not ripe.
We had high hopes, as this was within walking distance of our beach rental. I would advise driving somewhere else to anyone who is considering a nice walk to Gibby’s.

Great food and a beautiful view being dockside. I had the bison burger and sweet potato fries. The staff was nice and service was fast. If your in CB this is a must try place! Come hungry and you’ll leave happy!