Darrell’s Restaurant

I would say its a hit or miss place by the reviews. Our visit was around 1:30 or 2 after lunch crowd. I would call it local or family kind of place. Casual style but comfy. Our waitress was friendly, short on conversation but not rude. We could see other staff cleaning up tables probably from lunch rush. Fried scallops (sea, not bay kind, market price was $ 15.99 or $ 16.99,can’t remember) side of fries and coleslaw. Cousin had the fried soft crabs, green beans and fries. My scallops were the BEST I’ve had in years. Perfectly cooked, sweet and huge. Slaw was a bit off tasting. Would deff order them each and every time I go back. Soft crabs were fine, a bit on the tiny side, beans were good and peppery but maybe from a can, and that’s fine. Hush puppies were tasty too. We are not talking gourmet restaurant here. I wish they had fountain soda, but can soda did come with a cup of ice and I was put off by the extra .50 cents charged for a hamburger roll. Maybe because it already comes with hush puppies. We will be back and know what to expect. Good meal and not so big you have to get a doggy bag, which is fine with me. One of the waiters was a very nice young man who stopped from cleaning up and took our picture. All in all a good meal and experience.

The service was slow but the food was delish! They have some of the best hush puppies you will ever eat. We must have ate 4 or 5 baskets of them! Go for the fried shrimp, you’ll thank yourself for it.

Wanted to try this place out. Had good reviews and locals told us to give it a try. Ate for breakfast. Country fried steak was really good but a bit small. Biscuits were a bit dry and flat but it was a 9 a.m. breakfast so they could have been made awhile earlier. Grits were good, eggs over hard though ordered over easy. Tater tots were very tasty. Sweet potatoe pancakes were very good also. Regular hot cakes were flat and chewy but tasty also. The best part of the meal for me was the carolina hot sauce on the table. That stuff was awesome! Overall it was a 3 star place so farm will review again after trying lunch or dinner in near future. Oh, service was friendly :)

For all of the time we have spent on the Outer Banks we somehow had never made it over to Manteo to Darrell’s. I wanted to try it first (before Darrell’s II) so early in our visit we drove over for lunch. Darrell’s is a very nice place in a great small North Carolina town with plenty of history. The restaurant just has the right hometown feel with friendly people and very good service.
I somehow had only thought of Darrell’s as a barbecue place, but it is really Darrell’s Seafood. Ms T not being an Eastern NC barbecue fan (what is wrong with this picture) ordered the fried shrimp lunch. She received nine large shrimp fried just right, with a perfect light coating. These were excellent and she recommended them about a week later when Aunt Annie and Andrew T joined us on a return visit. She wished for a little salt in the coating, but otherwise nearly perfect.
I am a devout lover of Eastern NC barbecue and had to sample their chopped pork. It was very good as well. It is a medium chop with a good vinegar sauce applied in ample quantity. I did not feel the need to add more. The pork flavor was rich. I really enjoyed this and I too repeated it when Annie and Andrew went with us later. I had previously thought there was not much on the Outer Banks to satisfy my barbecue craving. Now I have to choose between High Cotton and Darrell’s (and as it turned out later, Darrell’s II). Forget Sooey’s and Pigman’s. We also need to get to Sammie’s.
Cole slaw is a solid effort of the creamy sweet style. It was not totally fresh that day, but OK. That may depend on the day, but it gets a little limp if not fresh. I used a little lemon and Texas Pete to add some backbone and it was wonderful with the barbecue.
They make good hushpuppies that are not loaded with onion. Ms T had a large serving of good pickled beets as her side. I had green beans that were pretty much unadorned, but seemed to be better than average quality. I just like green beans, I guess.
As I said, we liked it well enough to head back with guests about a week later. That time Ms T ordered fried flounder as a sandwich without the bun. We love flounder and this was good. Aunt Annie and Andrew shared a plate each of broiled scallops and fried shrimp. Again, they did a great job with the seafood. It is clearly fresh and is not hidden in heavy coatings.
To sum it up we like Darrell’s, a lot. Great atmosphere, excellent fresh seafood and very good barbecue. It has a solid place on our favorites list for the Outer Banks. It’s not a question of if we will be back, just when and how often. Now we have to try Darrell’s II because it is closer, but I don’t mind the drive from KDH for this food.

Heard good things about breakfast here, but they missed the mark when we were here. Service was friendly, but food wasn’t up to par. We got the French Toast special with spiced apples. French Toast was soggy and the apples were straight out of a can. Home fries were burnt and biscuit was dry. We may give this place another try for dinner, but breakfast is out for us.

I will call this 3 star for what I had, but maybe pushing 4 for what others had. However, I’ll let them leave that review.
I went with the fried shrimp plate, and split that with a family member who got the fired scallops plate. The shrimp were good, very tender with good flavor, but they needed a little salt in the batter. The batter was super light, which is what I want on fried shrimp. Also a nice helping of them, I certainly didn’t go hungry. They could *almost* have been cooked a bit longer for my preference, I obviously don’t want shrimp overdone, but I do like a little bit firmer texture on them than this. Still very good though. The scallops were a huge helping — 9 big scallops with the same light breading and fried such that the inside were just a little rare, about perfect for my preference. However, they could use a little crisper outside. They lost a lot of liquid on the plate, which made the light breading get very soggy quickly — I wonder if that was just what was coming out of the scallops, or maybe they were fried from frozen but not all the way? The flavor was great, very sweet. Like I said, I just wish they were crispier.
The hush puppies were good but had no onion, and much as I hate onion, I’m OK with a little sweet cooked onion in hush puppies. Slaw is good but benefits from judicious application of Texas Pete, at which point it becomes very good.
Prices are reasonable, staff is friendly — and it’s kind of a cool place, so I can definitely see coming back here.

Great family style restaurant. Service was good and really enjoyed the Flounder. Desert was best part. 14 layer chocolate cake.

Darrell’s gives solid, mostly fried, southern food for lunch and dinner. For some reason, their tartar sauce comes in small packages but the cocktail sauce must be home made and comes in a ketchup squeeze bottle.
They serve excellent oyster and clam stews. It’s hard to find those that are properly made anymore. They have Hatteras-​style clam chowder that is very good too.
Some years ago they started serving breakfasts and they do a really good job with those. Their pancakes are some of the best I’ve ever had. Nice and thin like crepes not thick and doughy. The only thing that would make them better is if they served the pancakes with little bottles of maple syrup as they do at Cracker Barrel. The syrup they use is probably corn syrup, too sweet and thick.
It’s our inexpensive fall back whenever we are in the Manteo/​OBX area.

Had a great lunch at Darrell’s! I had the clam strips (my personal favorite) with fries, along with hush puppies. It was all delicious! As good as any I’ve had on the beach, including at «fancier» spots like Tale of the Whale, another beach favorite. And the meal was only $ 7.99! A fantastic deal for a great seafood plate. The hush puppies were how I prefer them: plain and simple (no chunks of onions, corn, peppers, etc. that other places put in theirs), and not too sweet or too savory. Delicious! Others at the table had the barbecue and loved it; the rib meat was falling off the bones. We’ll definitely be returning to a new favorite restaurant on the Outer Banks!

Ate lunch here with my wife and two little girls, after visiting the aquarium. I had some of everyone’s, so i think i got a good taste of the place.
Hush puppies are golf ball sized and tasty, but not even a hint of onion and is the main reason i didn’t give 5 stars. I’ve never had hush puppies that didn’t taste like onion. Also only plain land o lakes butter, no honey butter.
Sweet tea, lightly sweet, just enough to enjoy. Even better with the lemon slice squeezed in. Small cups, but our waitress was quick on the refills.
My wife had water, pretty sure it was filtered.
I had the chicken tender and BBQ combo, with green beans and mashed potatoes with gravy. The green beans were obviously canned, but good with some added salt and pepper. The mashed potatoes appear to have been peeled and blended and we’re good with just enough salt in the gravy, and was a nice large helping. The chicken tenders were light and thin, really good batter and i could have eaten a couple dozen. My plate came with 4 or 5. The BBQ was shredded pork with a clear vinegar BBQ sauce, light lemon taste.
My wife had the flounder lunch special which was light, perfectly cooked. Not my thing, but i ate some, not at all fishy tasting.
Daughters shared a grilled cheese with fries and apple sauce, lots of apple sauce. The grilled cheese was 2 slices of American cheese, probably Kraft. Heavily buttered and slightly over grilled for a kid. The applesauce was super yummy and slightly sweet, possibly had added sugar. It also had small peel pieces, which might concern some parents, but are pretty tiny. The fries are thick, normal, unseasoned fries.

We were there for breakfast only so that’s all I can really review. The staff was very pleasant and the interior walls were adorned with photos of local fishermen bringing in the catch. The prices were reasonable and the portions more than adequate for a hearty breakfast lover.
I was very appreciative of a local place open during breakfast hours in the «off» season. Saved us from having to go to a fast food joint or wasting money at some other corporate, cookie-​cutter, franchise.

During a three day stay in Manteo we came here often enough for me to become the Duchess of Darrell’s! Which was only twice, but still pretty great. We also only came for breakfast, and I got the same thing twice because it was that good, so I can’t comment on anything other than the country ham and cheese biscuits and pecan pancakes.
I had never tried ‘country ham’ before eating here, and I was told it was saltier and better than that ‘city ham’. I’m glad I tried it, as it went very well with their flaky, buttery biscuits and scrambled egg. I’m sure it blows city ham away! The pecan pancakes I shared with my husband were very nice too. They’re not stingy with the pecans. The price and service at Darrell’s made stopping here for breakfast worth it as well.

I went here for lunch and there were no other guests in the place. I ordered the lunch special with fried fish, oysters, and shrimp with collards, fries, and clam chowder. The fish was bland and i got only 3 small shrimp and oysters. Pretty small portion for the price. The clam chowder is not the normal creamy kind which is fine but the stuff is really not very good you pay $ 4 for a tiny cup of it and its like warm clam juice with 2 small clam pieced in it and some bacon pieced floating around. The décor was nice at least. The staff werent especially friendly or attentive. Wont be back.

About what we expected from the outside. The food wasn’t bad. But nothing stood out to us as extraordinary. It was also peculiar that they don’t offer fountain drinks. If you want a coke, they bring you a 12 ounce can. That’s kind of weird. I’d go back for a quick and easy lunch. But wouldn’t go out of the way to choose it for dinner. I’m still baffled by the whole soda in a can thing. It’s so low-​rent and honestly a turnoff to me.

Stopped into Darrell’s …being just across the street from the Inn we stayed at for a 4day/​3night stay in Manteo.
Not impressed at all. The host had me on White Gravy and my Chicken liver platter was served with Brown gravy Uggg… and soggy French fries.
For a «Local Spot» restaurant I was truly not impressed with the food.sad.
I’ll skip this dive next time I jet to Manteo to get-​a-​way.

DARRELL’S seafood restaurant serves a great breakfast up until 11:00 am. The blueberry pancakes were loaded with blueberries and the sausage links were the size of links served in Nebraska– huge and full of flavor. The special was eggs and country fried steak with gravy and was beautifully prepared and delicious. Above all the price was right in line with my breakfast budget which is on the low side. Highly recommend this place when looking for a good breakfast.

We were greeted warmly and quickly upon arriving. We got a nice booth and were quickly brought water and asked for any additional beverages. We were hungry so we ordered. My friend got the fried shrimp platter and I got the ribs. The ribs came with a baked potato, cole slaw and a roll. This was a great amount of food, the ribs were delicious as was the other items. The meals were very reasonable and you could tell they were cooked fresh and served hot. I will certainly return to this restaurant. I would rate it more of a diner type restaurant than a seafood restaurant, because it has both and the non-​seafood items are delicious.

Stopped here for lunch on a Saturday. The place was busy but we were seated right away. We all ordered seafood and loved it.
PROS: Fried oysters, scallops and shrimp
CONS: Far from home

I wondered why there weren’t so many restaurants in Manteo despite having major attractions there. We visited in the recommendation of a nice older gentleman. Unfortunately, it was not very good. Food was generally overcooked until rubbery. Uninspired sides. Nearly everything on the menu was deep fried. Not a lot of seafood choices. On the plus side, service was pleasant and prompt. I guess now I know why people leave Manteo for dinner…

This is one of those hidden gem family restaurants that is definitely worth a visit at least once on your trip to the Outer Banks. Before you even step foot inside the restaurant, the smell of their barbecue smoking outside starts your mouth watering and stomach growling.
We were seated quickly and had our drinks in about 3 minutes. The service is very friendly– no doubt a result of the family-​oriented management. We ordered the fried platter (gotta have my fried oysters), soft shell crab and broiled scallops, blackened mahi, and of course a dozen of their hushpuppies, which are the absolute best in OBX.
Our food was out in literally 5 minutes. The fried seafood was anything you’d expect from fried seafood– copious amounts of it. What really made that stand out was the bottle of Zing on the table, not tartar or cocktail sauce or ketchup or anything. I’ve breve seen Zing sauce anywhere else, so I make sure to buy a bottle or two to take home. I have no idea why that’s not served elsewhere because it pairs incredibly well with seafood. My brother scored a home run with the blackened mahi though. I was able to snatch a taste of that, and was extremely impressed. Lots of pepper and other Cajun spices really gave it a kick, and the rice and beans paired quite nicely with it.
Maybe I’ve developed high standards for Darrell’s because I’ve been coming here since I still wore a bib, but there are few places at which I must eat while in OBX, and this is one of them. In fact, I’m only here for 3 nights this year, and we went here our first night by unanimous vote.