Restaurants in Surf City

“How did we ever survive in on Topsail Island without Maine Lobstah Shack!!! Having spent years in the New England region, I know good from great when it comes to Lobster! The lobster rolls are to die for and the lobster bisk is the best I've ever had. On top of that, it is a wonderful family owned and family run business. At the end of the day, it is the quality of the food that keeps us coming back! Treat yourself!!! Definately a five star experience!!”

“Always a favorite place to have a beer then in town from Pa! Great staff, good vibes and excellent beer!”

“Great food!! We make it a point to eat there when in Surf City!”

“The best meal of the week. Seasoned perfectly and great portions. We even have leftovers for our last night at the beach. Treat yo’self and get a Topsail Steamer bucket!”

“We dined at Shuckin’ Shack with a group of 10, and a puppy in tow. The waiter was absolutely phenomenal and the attentiveness to the puppy by bringing out a water bowl was top tier. This gave my family a last hoorah with Grandma, Uncle and Aunt! Phenomenal food to fit everyone’s appetite, excellent service and efficiency! Outdoor dining was completely covered and peaceful!”

“Great food, even better people and atmosphere. As locals, we are weekly visitors. (well maybe more like three times a week on occasion.) We have NEVER not been satisfied. Ask my husband- it’s hard for ME to be satisfied. lol. But truthfully this is a gem of a spot, and consider yourself lucky if they get to know you and your order. Because this is “that kinda place””

“The atmosphere is great and beers are cold.”

“Best bar around! If you can't have a good time here, it's probably your fault!”

“Great customer service & always tasty mega teas for everyone on the go or on the beach! I absolutely love the cactus blossom 🌸”

“The burgers and sides we ordered were amazing!”

“Best place to get authentic Mexican food around! Plus the staff are a lot of fun!”

“Sushi was great! Came out fast and with awesome customer service!”

“A great place to hang out and relax. The owners build a great sense of community!”

“The food is authentic and fantastic. Mussels Marinara was piled high with tender mussels in a wonderfully spicy marinara sauce with linguini. I can’t recall the name of the special Florentine dish but it was an incredible pasta with roasted sun dried tomatoes and spinach swimming in the richest, creamiest Parmesan sauce I have ever tasted. The taste just soaks into your taste buds so they linger and beg for more. The frozen Limoncello flute was so good and a perfect end to a truly wonderful dinner. Our waiter was friendly and attentive and the entire atmosphere was like sitting down with family. Very affordable especially with what we got. We’ll definitely be going back.”

“When the owner asked how our food was, our vocal 4yr old said the fries had too much seasoning and made her cough 😂. A few minutes later we see him come back and they made her new fries without us asking and she was so thankful. Great service and food. Great people. 5 stars from Michigan!”

“We ♥️ Sundial! We have been visiting Topsail for years and it’s always a treat to stop into Sundial while we are there. Some of our favorite drinks are the bulletproof, The Sundial, and the Vanilla Rose cold brew… My kids always enjoy a cake pop or two! The fun sugar cookies are always a nice addition! I recently had a raspberry peach muffin that was absolutely divine! The staff is always friendly and efficient. The space is always bright, clean, and welcoming. 10/10! Can’t wait to visit again in a few months!”

“Best Ice Cream on the Island. Family owned and run. Love love love this place. Highly recommended.”

“Just got the best iced caramel coffee, absolutely perfect!! And the owners were so very nice.”

“This place is the best ! They have such a great selection of food and drinks and the outside seating is perfect on a nice day ❤️”

“Such a cute shop and their ice cream and cold brews are incredible!!!!”

“Super cute shop,we were excited to browse and purchase, while enjoying a nice cup of coffee. unfortunately, at 4:40 pm on a Friday, the barista was not making drinks for the rest of the evening. Understandable they close at at 5 pm, but why shutting down 20 minutes before? #disappointed”

“love the atmosphere, friendly service and food items. This place is a gem, kind of hidden.”

“Some of the best brisket we’ve ever had!! Love the food, love the owners and staff! A Surf City staple!”

“Our first time dining here (wish we hadn’t waited so long) and we will definitely be back on a regular basis! Food was great and the service was the best! Our waiter Sam was awesome. We would return just for him! Looking forward to many more of our weekend meals from here.”

“Nice thin pizza, mouth watering.”

“Restaraunt across the street was hour and a half wait so we went in here. Definitely a dive bar with not much on the menu. Our server/bartender Lisa was super friendly and brought our little man some fries to keep him happy while we were figuring things out. Jalapeño poppers was what you'd expect from a dive bar, but cooked well. We all got burgers and they were pretty decent. Lisa can definitely mix up some drinks. Glad we stopped in and would love to come back without the kid to enjoy some live music”

“friendly staff and great smoothies!”

“Just found this place and absolutely loved it. Light and refreshing meal before or after the beach. Service was fast and the people were incredibly nice. The food is great and exactly what I needed after spending time in the beach. Highly recommend!! Loved the outdoor seating and chill music.”

“My husband and son and I went Saturday for dinner and as always, it was delicious. The crab dip always spot on and the best around. A special Thank You to Tanner our server, he was awesome and did such a wonderful job and made sure everything was spot on for us to have a relaxing and enjoyable dinner. Tanner you were awesome and your personality and how you deal with your customers was great, please keep that up. My heart went out to you and I felt bad after the table next to us ran you and spent $200 if not more and left you such a crap tip, that was so wrong. But don't let people like that discourage you, keep doing you, because you were great!!!”

“We recently utilized The Cove for our annual Client Appreciation party at Breakaway Fitness & Performance. We have 2 locations so the number of people going in and out was pretty large. The event was as smooth as could be! All tables and linens were setup for us witch was very helpful and saved time. We were able to get in roughly 1 hour before to setup our own decorations. The lighting was great! The music and access to music was great! The facility was clean! The bar was great for alcoholic and non-alcoholic options alike! The bar staff was very professional and their drink presentations were impressive! Victoria was helpful all along the way as we planned for the event and helpful after as well. We plan to use The Cove again in the future!”

“Without a doubt the best burger to be had in the county. Great service + quality food + decent prices = repeated visits! If it weren't for the fact we are in Ohio I would be your own Norm from Cheers! Highly recommended.”

“Super cute shop,we were excited to browse and purchase, while enjoying a nice cup of coffee. unfortunately, at 4:40 pm on a Friday, the barista was not making drinks for the rest of the evening. Understandable they close at at 5 pm, but why shutting down 20 minutes before? #disappointed”

“I purchased a large quantity and shared with my community and it was a hit. Everyone including myself enjoyed the texture and taste tremendously. I highly recommend Cafe Frutta Fresca Gelato. It's first class!!!”

“Okay so don't let the fact that it's in a gas station. Turn you away! The pizza places were packed on the island so I decided to give them a chance. The service was quick and the pizza was so good! The kids approved!”

“Always fresh. Great food. Quick service. Food is made to order but is always so good and worth the few minute wait. Love to come here each trip to topsail”

“Pizza made to order. You can watch them make it including the flame fired oven. Flash cooked, ready pretty quick. Toppings generous and sauce was flavorful. Crust soft, chewy and lightly crisp on the bottom. This pizza was actually pretty good cold the next day! I recommend!”

“Most of the time my experience has been awesome! The wait staff, bartenders and kitchen, but today it was no good! It was very obvious that boyfriend, family and friend took priority over any local customer! Took a while to get our drinks, they were good, our food was no where what we have become accustomed to here, our order was very late with less than a total of 10 people in the whole restaurant! Our order was NOT correct, and when I said something about it the reply from the bartender was “ but it’s okay!, no it wasn’t! Took over 7 minutes ( sitting at the bar) to get our bill. Strike one!”

“I come here every year on vacation and this place never disappoints. Best meal I’ve had on my vacation. If you are looking for fresh and flavor seafood in the Surf City area, this is the spot!”

“I get the breakfast sandwich, eggs over easy, cheese and a sausage patty. I’ve ordered this before at other restaurants and NYCD is the only place that gets over easy right. Gooey and runny, just the way a perfect breakfast should be! Of all the places on and off island, this is the one to go to. Highly recommended! 💕”

“Stopped in for a sweet treat. The ice cream selection is amazing, you get big scoops too. The employees were friendly and professional. Will definitely stop back in on our next visit to the Island.”

“Great ice cream and atmosphere. Had the Lion King on for the kiddos. Only note I have is that there is no long list of ice cream flavors close to where we walked in. Had to walk through the line and squeeze between people to see what flavors they had. Not a huge issue at all though. Overall, great place!”

“We just left and I couldn’t wait to recommend sweet alicious. We had an amazing experience from the moment we opened the door. We were greated as soon as we came in, the music was great, the customer service was even better, and the ice cream was amazing. The store was very clean and the prices are more than fair. I had the pleasure of chatting with the manager and her daughter, they were so kind. I would hands down recommend 10 out of 10.”

“Everything!!! We love eating here when we’re on the island 🌭🥰”

“The shrimp po boy, was delicious!! Service is quick!!”

“We had never tried Max's Pizza until today. We arrived about 1145am, we were greeted immediately, seated at a booth as we requested, and we met Jessica our amazing waitress. Kind, courteous, and quick ! We ordered our drinks, and garlic cheese bread as a starter. It was 10/10 hot, fresh and delicious ! Our pies were cheese, and a pepperoni, we asked for light sauce, and a crispier crust. It was done perfectly 👌. Our pies were delicious, excellent sauce ! Jessica made sure we had everything we needed, during our visit, she was awesome. The bill was about $50, which I consider a bargain for good food and a family of four. I read the reviews for the restaurant before we came, and while everyone is entitled to their opinion, some of them are just malicious. A pizza place, at the beach, is going to be super busy, expect some wait time. An overwhelmed restaurant at peak time, might make a mistake, be patient and kind. This pizza parlor is a hit, and we highly recommend you give it a try !”

“Excellent NY-style Pizza! My extended family and I ordered 2 large "classic" style pizzas to-go recently (1 cheese, 1 pepperoni). It was the best NY-style pizza that I have had in NC. The foldable crust was crisp with great chew. The sauce was flavorful and NOT sweet. There was a good amount of cheese. We were born and raised in Manhattan (NYC) and really enjoyed the pizzas from Michaelangelo's - highly recommend! Also, the workers were very nice and friendly.”

“Great place to eat”

“Great food and even better service. We loved the vibe so we didnt mind that the AC was broken inside but felt bad for the poor staff who were drenched in sweat but still managed to take such great care of us esp our bartender Frannie as sweat literally dropped off her. We loved it and highly recommend but to the owner do better, fix your AC to take care of your staff!!”

“Awesome food and good prices”