The Dive Food & Spirits

this is a surprisingly good restaurant. be clear, it is drinks and sandwiches with
some mexican added. big on burgers, but veggie burgers are here, too. the chef
really cares what he does. the service is typically southern friendly and welcoming.
hand cut fries. big strong drinks. drink specials every day. it attracts a very mixed
crowd. this is a real jewel in carolina beach.

The food and service here is off the wall. No matter how jam packed they are on the 4^th of July or how slow at the end of a midweek lunch rush the service is impeccable. The tuna, the shrimp po boy, the chicken Sammy, the grilled cheese (ask for tomato and bacon) so good! The drinks are always ice cold and the atmosphere awesome.

DON’T go here unless you want to be robbed!!! I went here with friends and ordered 2 pineapple bombs and a cranberry vodka, all of which were on special and totaled around $ 10. I had to leave abruptly due to someone in our group being too drunk and being asked to leave, so I forgot to close out my tab (and since they don’t keep your card when you start a tab there, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal). Well, apparently the bar staff thought that since I didn’t close out my tab, that it meant I wanted to leave them a $ 37 tip on a $ 10 tab!!! I looked at my account balance a few days later and I was charged $ 47!!! I called the bar several times to get a refund and find out what happened, and I was able to talk to a bartender who told me that when you forget to close out your tab, the bar staff automatically charges you a 30% gratuity, which is absurd in itself, but still doesn’t account for me being charged a 370% gratuity… I was told that the manager was on vacation but I should call back when she was returning. I called back a few days later, she still wasn’t there, and was told to call back on this date during this hour. You don’t have the option to leave a voicemail on their phone system, and no one ever offered to take a message for me, they just kept telling me to call back at a different time. I am done calling that bar only to be jerked around and told to call back later. They stole from me and I will now be calling my bank to dispute the charges on my card. Unless you want the same to happen to you, stay away from this place.

Just stopped by for a couple of beers and love the place. Good atmosphere. Bartenders are super friendly. The food looks great, however we did not eat here. Looking forward to coming back and trying some of the food.

Man, oh man! This is truly a dive bar, but the food is outstanding! They have a small kitchen and the three or four guys I watched cooking were turning out some great food. Now, this is pub food in a beach town, so go in with that expectation. It’s the way they prepare the sandwiches and sides that make all the difference. For instance, I had the cheese steak sandwich and onion rings. I watched the cooks as they chopped the generous amount of steak on the grill and added the cheese. They placed it in a toasted hoagie bun with grilled green peppers. What a sandwich! The onion rings are real onions, dredged in a batter and deep fried. This is rare, as most places would just use pre-​frozen chopped and portion-​control uniformly sized rings. Try this place! Have a brew and a sandwich!

Loud, divey but good.
The customers here ranged from families with children to drunk beach goers; this threw me for a loop. There’s a jukebox in the back corner and that’s nice if you want to choose the music but risky if others are in charge — we had an interesting music selection that evening, not in the best way.
The service was a bit slow — one of the bartenders came out to service the tables. She was friendly and did a great job though. The pimento cheese burger is great — they make their own pimento cheese and WOW! I also really enjoyed the french fries!

Long Wait, Poor Food
Extremely long wait after ordering food. The worst fish and chips I have ever had. They were like McDonalds chicken nuggets, except fish… I think… it was hard to tell since they were so dry and somewhat tasteless. I had a bite of the chicken tenders and they were rubbery. The fries were also not very good. Aside from the roll, which my wife said was stale, the hamburger was pretty good. She also liked the chips, but I did not care for them.

Well this place lives up to its name. It also boasts crappy food and rude wait staff with no managers on duty. Do yourself a big favor and drive by and go some where else.

After a long walk on Carolina Beach, my husband and I were hungry. We stumbled upon The Dive and sat at the bar. We were immediately approached by a friendly, blonde bartender with pretty blue eyes. She took our drink orders, beer for him and unsweetened ice tea for me. I must say, that tea was pretty good. Our bartender kept offering to refill my glass, but I have to keep caffeine at a minimal. Darn sensitive system!
My man ordered a mahi fish wrap with French fries. I kept hearing him say, «umm,» which means that he was enjoying his meal so much that he was incapable of conversation. I ordered a salad with blue cheese dressing. They had several vegetarian options on the menu, but I had been eating high on the tofu hog during my vacation and was craving raw vegetables. The salad came with crispy croutons and cheese. Yum.
Beachy music, the likes of Jack Johnson and Jimmy Buffet, was playing in the background. Not a huge fan of this style, but it was appropriate for this setting.
Personable bartender, good food, tea and beer. This place is a winner.

We walked in because the place we originally planned was too expensive. Best decision ever! Our lunch here will be definitely remembered as one of the best meals we’ve had. We ordered the spicy crab balls, house special– shrimp and grits, and mahi mahi tacos. Everything was superb. The balls were so delicious, basically an orgasm in your mouth! The shrimp were swimming in the most mouth– watering sauce I have had in a while. Cheap, friendly service, amazing food. Super recommended!

Looking for a place to eat on a busy Thursday, at the beach, we wandered into
The Dive. It had a unique ambience with a mixture of people. The décor was beach based with several sets of shark jaws, surf boards and nets hanging around. We were served our beverages very quickly as we perused the menu. We ordered boneless chicken wings, a hamburger and Mahi Mahi fish sticks. We waited for quite a long time for our food to be delivered but it arrived piping hot. But, wait, a trio of young men wandered into the bar and used the bathroom. Coming out, they decided to help themselves to our son’s chicken wings! He had left the table, to go outside, and his basket was sitting there I guess inviting strangers with presumably dirty bathroom hands to rifle through it picking out an irresistible celery stick. My husband immediately told the waitress to take the food away. She playfully scolded the offenders which was off putting. Who actually puts their hands in someone else’s food? Needless to say, although the food was good, we won’t be taking this «dive» anytime soon.

The buffalo chicken sandwich is quite good
So are the onion rings
Ice tea is a little weak but lemons are fresh
Burgers are great
Food quality is excellent overall
Staff is always friendly
Some times the flies are a bit of a nuisance otherwise I would give 5 stars

Couldn’t get into Shuck n shack so decided to give this place a shot. Was very well surprised, the food was pretty good and the staff was very accommodating. Nothing fancy but overall we were pleasantly surprised.

Had the pickle chips and they were pretty good, but didn’t want to venture for anything else after reading some of the reviews on here. Cheap beer and drinks, but isn’t the best spot on the island.

I can’t review the food because I never got that far. I walk in and the waiter/​bartender never even acknowledge my presence. So, I walked out. In addition it was lunch time and the place was empty which is a pretty good sign to move on.

Had lunch here on a Friday. The bartender is responsible for the entire restaurant with no servers; she tries hard but she is overwhelmed.
The food is frozen.
They did warm it up for us, though.
This place is well named.

Good enough. Came here based on recommendation for best burger at Carolina Beach. I had a Spartan Burger and it was good. The rest of the family enjoyed their food, but some of the homemade chips were soggy. Seating is very limited: 3 booths on the family-​friendly side, and 4 tables on the bar side.
Service was friendly.

We had lunch here today as first-​time visitors. Won’t be going back for food. Our sandwiches (burger for him, wrap for me) were so incredibly coated in grease that both me & my husband could only eat half of what we ordered. On top of that, our fries were full of grease AND very undercooked… couldn’t eat more than a handful. We are no strangers to grease (c’mon, we are both from NC!) & I’ve never had such disguusting food before… it was truly on the border of being inedible. This was by far the worst $ 26 lunch I have ever had in my life. Would not recommend for food… possibly a beer or two or three later in the evening (if you don’t mind a lot of smoke…)

Fun, local crowd with cheap drinks. They also have food– fish tacos came strongly recommended. Our brother in law got the crab balls (lol) and said they were awesome.

Went here on a Monday evening to finish off a day trip to the beach. Food was pretty good… I got the loaded fries as an appetizer (the ranch dipping sauce was awesome) and the fish tacos for an entrée. The tacos were actually really good… they had fresh avocado and salsa with the fried mahi-​mahi… came with homemade chips which were also really good. I deducted a star because the service wasn’t too great… I mean the poor waitress was doing the best she could, but she was a bit of a ditz… i would def go back though!