Sam & Omie’s Restaurant

S & O’s was great. Stopped in for lunch after a beach stroll. First day open for 2016 season and the place was hopping. fresh, quaint and friendly. Jessica waited on us and was so sweet to our family. She brought my granddaughter (2 yrs) her grilled cheese right away. Lovely little beach atmosphere. Food was good and will come back for breakfast and dinner.

I had lunch at Sam & Omie’s with my family. There was a pretty long line to get in, so we assumed the food would be good. Where we wrong… Not only it is waaaay overpriced, even by Manhattan standards, but the food is the kind that gives you cancer, diabetes, and indigestion, and a few deadly illnesses all at once even if you just look at it. It has been a few months since we ate there, and my family and I still can’t even look at fried food.
We all ordered fish and seafood, and everything was deep fried to the point where all you can taste and smell was the bread (or whatever the hell it was before it landed in oil) and oil. That’s one way to ruin seafood or any food for that matter. Our lunch sat like a rock in our stomachs and my mom even got pretty bad indigestion. For some reason they don’t even offer broiled fish during lunch, which we didn’t realize until after we got the order. Fried can be good every now and then, but not when it is a second away from becoming a piece of charcoal and lacking flavor.
All in all, the place offers extremely unhealthy, not tasty, overpriced food. The cleanliness of the premises leaves much to be desired. The bathrooms were quite nasty too. Even McDonald’s would be a healthier and tastier food option. Although, I have to say, clam chowder was pretty good, but that’s it.

We eat here every time we are fortunate enough to visit Nags Head. The food is always delicious… breakfast and dinner. Love their fried shrimp and fried oysters. It here is a wait… it’s worth it!!!

We have always tried to eat at Sam & Omie’s when we are at the Outer Banks, but don’t always make it, sometimes because they are often packed and we are not willing to wait. Last trip we missed eating here, so did not want that to happen again. We have never tried breakfast and still need to that. We were wondering if we have elevated them into something that they did not deserve but did confirm that we still like to have a local seafood dinner here.
These are kind of repeats from previous meals and reviews because as creatures of habit, we come to the Outer Banks for the local style of fried seafood. We were curious to see how the shrimp would be this time, since our Miller’s shrimp let us down a couple of nights previous. It had not been bad, just not very flavorful. We were pleased that S&O had excellent shrimp again as we remembered. It had very good flavor and is lightly coated and fried just right, not over or under done. Ms T had just shrimp and I had a combo with shrimp and flounder. The flounder was also excellent. We both like the simple coating on the seafood, unadorned by any excessive seasoning that it does not need.
As for sides, they are still making a good version of coleslaw. It has no onion and a good sweet and sour balance. I also love the fine grind. This is my kind of slaw. I had the green beans which are canned but seasoned a little with some bacon and onion. Ms T had black beans and rice which I would have liked a lit had they not been so garlicky. She also had fried vegetables, which included zucchini, cauliflower and okra which she liked. It was mostly okra, which she likes the best anyway.
Sam & Omie’s remains a great place with local feel. The food has been pretty consistent over the five years we have been coming. I really think the feel of the place along with the friendly service contribute a lot to its popularity.
Two days later — we finally made our way in for breakfast. This is a good place for a standard American breakfast if you are here early. It get’s busy. We arrived on Friday at 7:30am and it was not full but filling up. We just had eggs, grits, corned beef hash, sausage. You know, standard stuff. It was fine and this time it was not screwed up like Almost Eleven, earlier in the week. I’d rather have Mexican breakfast, but Sam & Omie’s does a fine job on the basics. As always you get their friendly service.
And yet another time — same trip to the Banks — We enjoyed another breakfast. I had an egg sandwich with sausage.

Poor service.
This place seems to be usually crowded for breakfast but we decided to wait.
They told us that the wait time should be 20 minutes. We had to stay outside in the sun for about 50 until we finally got called in.
Once inside, they seem to be rushed but they took our order very quickly. They brought the drinks but then they didn’t serve the food until 30 minutes later. We were about to leave and then they brought it. They didn’t even apologize or checked with us later. Not friendly people at all.
On top of that, the food was just ok and kind of overpriced.

Wait was about 30 minutes or so on a sunday evening which wasnt terrible.
Somehow ended up with the bartender as our waitress and we werent near the bar. Her and another lady took turns helping us which didnt work out.
We ordered burgers which came in about 25 minutes and were so-​so.
We watched 3 tables around us all end up with stuff less than what they ordered. I wanted to like this place with all of the good reviews but it just seemed they were too busy for the staff they had and the only person that worked there with any personality was the teller you pay before you leave.

Sam and Omie’s is our perennial favorite. All the meals are great but the breakfast is the reason to get up early! And you better get there early or you’ll be in for a wait!
Today the fish cake my wife had was sublime and my standard pancakes were light and fluffy. My son gets the biscuits and gravy and there may be no better anywhere! Light, fluffy biscuits with a tasty sausage gravy is the best!
This is a 10 ever time we go. Service and food are excellent. Open year-​round. We’ve been coming for almost 30 years and it is a must-​have on every visit. Give them a try.

Stopped here on a whim. Definitely a locals place and institution. There was a 25 minute wait, and the hostess assumed we would wait and whisked us off to the back porch.
We decided to get local seafood. The clam and she crab soups were great. The clam chowder was not creamy or tomato based. It had lots of potatoes and flavorful crab. The she crab was creamy and also good. We got a half pound of spiced shrimp and it was excellent, large and juicy.
My husband got the tuna and it was very good. My flounder was kind of a flop. The bun was like cheap supermarket white and not toasted. The fries were great.
This restaurant is stubborn and will only fry the fish of the day at lunch time. You can have broiled at 5 pm only. This is not customer centered as we asked and so did someone at the table next to ours. Subtracting a star for that and the bread.
As for service, our waitress was efficient and everything went smoothly.

Fun little place that’s been around since 1934. The service was great — loved our server. I got the shrimp burger, which had fried mini shrimp, coleslaw, and cheese on it. Pretty good, but not amazing. The fried stuff here is good because it’s not too greasy. The French fries are amazing! My husband got a Caesar salad with tuna steak. The tuna was amazing. I wish I could have tried more seafood here, but being pregnant I was limited.
We had to get dessert because our server made it sound too good! The pies there are delicious and homemade. We got a coconut cake and Heath bar cake as well. My favorite was the Heath bar cake special.

Haven’t been back to Nags Head in years and we had to stop at Sam and Omies. Best she crab soup ever. Donna made our meal entertaining. She is fabulous. The calamari is worth the wait. Just eat here, do it. You will not be disappointed. Even the children love it.

If you are looking for a local flavor, this is the place to go. Be prepared to wait 15 – 20 minutes, but it is worth the wait. The staff was friendly, but did get overwhelmed and forgot my country ham, which was a nice portion.

Went here for lunch during our vacation. The clams were very good. The sandwiches were ok. Cheap beer and a local crowd.
A good hangout joint.

Terrible service. Could not accommodate a simple request and was extremely obnoxious about it.

Super friendly wait staff and bartenders.
Excellent breakfast food. Really good dinner/​seafood. They can get very busy, but you can generally get a seat or two at the bar right away.
If you’re staying in Nag’s Head, Sam & Omie’s is a mainstay.

Their menu is pretty limited but what they have they do very well. Their special when we were there was incredible! It was so creative and extremely well executed!
It was their fresh catch with a Mac and cheese grit cake — I had no idea what that was but it tasted like the most heavenly Mac and cheese casserole I’ve ever had. They should really just make it a regular menu item because it would get me to come back every time I’m in OBX!

One of the best breakfast I’ve had! Came back for dinner and had deep fried soft shell crab with steamed mussels, both dishes were absolutely delicious! Staff is very friendly too. Full bar. :)

Best food, good service, great atmosphere-​excellent Bloody Mary’s. It’s a fun place to be.

I guess we should have gone for breakfast, but I am certain we won’t be going back.
The dinner food is typical small restaurant seafood — which is fine… however, anything you can think of frying can be fried. This place is average to below in terms of quality of food.
The issue I have with this place is that we were monitored the entire time to see which plates we were done with and the busboy demanded we give those plates to him immediately. «Give me the plate» is how we were approached several times WHILE WE WERE STILL EATING… to the point that we scraped food from one plate to another just to give the plate to the bus boy. Ridiculous.
I assume it was the manager who came by to ALSO clean off the table as we were eating because she reached OVER my plate to pickup a cracker packet and straw paper that FELL INTO MY FOOD after she intrusively tried to clean it up.
I wish we could have just been left alone to eat this mediocre food.

Okay… just finished breakfast at Sam & Omie’s and there is good history about the establishment itself apparently it was a local spot for fisherman in the area to eat. So the décor reflects that with multiple fishing photos and various beach photos. The place itself isn’t very big and there are booths and tables with small wooden chairs. There is also a bar area.
Our wait was about 15 mins or so not bad for a table of 5(We arrived at 9:30AM or so).The breakfast menu was small. With a good variety of selections ranging from your typical eggs any style with bacon, corned beef hash or sausage links or candied ham. Or hot cakes and omelets or as they call them «Omie-​lettes» lol.
Orders at our table were hotcakes w. bacon, a waffle w. bacon and 2 eggs with bacon and sausage. And an Omit-​latte with cheese, tomato, green peepers and mushrooms. I decided on the Trixie’s Special which was 1 egg any style, bacon, hashbrowns/​grits and Toast/​biscuit.
Review: For $ 5.49 a bit pricey for small amount of food. Partially because I’ve been to other places for breakfast with a bit more portion wise. (This is in regards to my dish only).
But quality wise it was good. I know its hard to screw up eggs, bacon and hashbrowns but still. My egg was over easy. and not over medium. but i’ll let it slide it happens all the time. Bacon was nice and crispy (perfectly cooked)…I strongly dislike soggy bacon. Hashbrowns were little cubes of potatoes. not or your typical shredded hashbrowns with a nice soft texture with a bit of a crunch. Toast… lol its really hard to screw up toast so… its just toast. but a nice surprise was that they had Smuckers Apple Butter and Seedless Blackberry Jam…(Bonus on my toast.) even though it would’ve been better with a biscuit.
My friend ordered the Omi-lette…lets just say that is the largest omlette I have ever seen… except for the Asian ones my mom makes for dinner but anyway… it’s large. Her gripe was that it was it was a bit too cheesy for her. it was oozing out white cheddar? It was almost like a cream sauce with veggies in the stuffed omelet. She also said that the tomatoes could’ve been diced a little finer they were big chunks and she isn’t that big of a fan or large chunks. But overall she said it was a good omelet… veggies still had a bite so that was good.
Overall… it was a good breakfast. other table mates agreed their meals were pretty good. Service. was a bit spotty… here is why. our waitress took our order didn’t even mention that there was a special. Then after she took our orders she asked us what to drink… since I had ordered the Trixie special it comes with coffee… she then asked me what I wanted to drink.(-_____-) its your menu don’t you know it comes with coffee? Which means your question should be did you want anything else but coffee? But anyway… After that coffee incident she came to pour more coffee… now I know most are trying not to be rude by reaching over… and it is a small spot… but still you can ask me to hand you the cup if I am too far… instead of spilling it over the table.,. the hostess did this also. except she had a larger spill in which she had to bring napkins… But no big deal… Just thought I should mention it since it was ironic that the waitress forgot I was getting coffee and yet the coffee kept gravitating towards me.
Any who… our waitress wandered off somewhere so our hostess ended up bring out our dishes. She was far quicker then our waitress and we asked her for more apple butter and jam and she was out before our waitress came back with more butter and jelly.
So yes… service was spotty… food is good and if you come earlier. The wait time is a lot less. Otherwise its going to be a 20 – 30 min wait time.

No better way to get ready to leave the OBX than to load up on breakfast at this Nags Head stalwart. Nothing fancy here, actually kind of worn inside and out. The service is friendly, efficient, if a bit loud — think of Flo.
The Pancakes here are massive and outstanding — you can’t go wrong with them. The Chipped Beef is also nice.
We’ll be back.