There is a particular kind of hunger that sets in after a morning on the sand at Surf City. Salt on your skin, sun on your shoulders, and a whole island of good food waiting just over the dunes. After years of hosting families at our place on Beachwood Drive, we have learned where the locals actually eat, where the shrimp comes off the boat that morning, and where to grab a cone when the afternoon runs long. Here is the guide we wish every guest had on day one.
Where should we go for a family seafood dinner?
When the whole crew wants to sit down to local seafood with their toes practically in the sand, you have a few honest favorites within minutes of the house.
Daddy Mac’s Beach Grille on North Shore Drive is the only oceanfront restaurant in Surf City, run by surfing brothers Mike and Steve. Big windows, big views, and a menu built around fresh fish and shellfish. It serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday plus Sunday brunch and dinner, stays open year-round, and is closed Mondays. It does not take reservations, so read the big-group section below before you show up with eleven people at 7pm.
Sears Landing Grill and Boat Docks sits right on the Intracoastal Waterway at 806 Roland Avenue, where boaters tie up at the dock and walk straight to a table. The waterfront deck is the draw, and the grilled seafood is the move when the sun is dropping behind the marsh. It is first come, first served here too.
For something more lively, Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar on NC Highway 50 is the classic raw-bar-and-cold-beer answer. Oysters, steamed shrimp, and a buzzy room that runs late on weekends. It is casual, loud in the best way, and a fun stop when the older kids and adults want a night out.
Eating out with a big group
Surf City is a small beach town, and many of its casual restaurants, Daddy Mac’s and Sears Landing among them, seat walk-ins only. That is fine for a family of four. For a house of eleven on a July Saturday, it means a long wait if you arrive with everyone else.
Here is what works:
- Eat at the start of dinner service. Daddy Mac’s starts dinner at 5pm. A big group that walks in then usually sits quickly. The same group at 7pm on a summer weekend waits.
- Send one person ahead. Let one adult go put the name in while the rest of the house rinses off at the outdoor shower, and text everyone when the table is close.
- Split into two tables. Two tables of five or six turn over far faster than one table of eleven, and the kids’ table is half the fun anyway.
- Book a place that takes reservations. The Bistro at Topsail on Roland Avenue is a dinner spot that recommends reservations, open Tuesday through Saturday evenings. Its dining room is small and cannot seat a party larger than 10, so it suits a parents’ night out better than the whole house. Call the restaurant directly; it does not book through OpenTable.
- Go in the off season. From October through April the crowds thin out and a big table is easy. Our winter guide covers what stays open.
Or skip the wait entirely and bring the seafood home. The cook-in section below covers how.
A quick lunch between beach trips
Sometimes you do not want a production. You want to eat, regroup, and get back to the water.
Both Daddy Mac’s and Shuckin’ Shack do an easy midday meal, but for a true grab-and-go island lunch, The Daily Grind on North Topsail Drive is a local institution. Coffee, bagels, sandwiches, sweets, and ice cream under one roof, with free wifi and an unhurried, salt-air feel. Order, refuel, and you are back on the beach before anyone gets cranky.
Where do the locals get their morning coffee?
Slow mornings are the whole point of a beach week, and Surf City does coffee beautifully.
Surf City Coffee on Roland Avenue pours espresso drinks and smoothies using beans from Java Estate Roastery, a Wilmington-born roaster now working out of nearby Holly Ridge. They open early and tend to close by early afternoon, so this is your sunrise stop on the way to a quiet stretch of sand.
Sea Blue Coffee and Ice Cream over on South Shore Drive is a family-owned favorite that has racked up local top-choice awards for both its coffee and its ice cream. Open from morning straight through to evening, it pulls double duty: a latte and a nitro cold brew to start the day, an award-winning scoop to end it. The little gift shop inside is worth a browse, too.
The Daily Grind, mentioned above, rounds out the breakfast lineup if you want coffee and a bite in the same trip.
Treats, cones, and after-dinner walks
Beach weeks run on ice cream. Celtic Creamery on North New River Drive scoops a rotating lineup of around fourteen flavors made with fresh cream and natural ingredients, plus sundaes, shakes, and pints to take back to the house. It runs on a seasonal, afternoon-into-evening schedule, which makes it the perfect cap to a beach dinner or a post-sunset stroll.
Sea Blue, again, is your other strong sweet stop, with award-winning ice cream alongside the coffee. Two great cones, two easy walks from the heart of town.
Stocking the house for a crew of eleven
Here is the not-so-secret truth of a big beach house: some of the best meals happen right in the kitchen. With a full kitchen, a dining table for eight, and counter seating for four more, cooking in is half the fun, and the local seafood makes it easy to eat like royalty for a fraction of the cost of feeding eleven people out every night.
Start at a seafood market. Surf City Crab and Seafood Market on Roland Avenue cuts fish to order and carries fresh shrimp, crabs, oysters, mussels, and scallops, open seven days a week in season. Thomas Tackle and Seafood is the other longtime local source, the kind of place families have bought shrimp from for decades. Buy a few pounds of shrimp and let someone become the designated low-country-boil hero for the night.
If you would rather skip the prep, Topsail Steamer at 302 South Topsail Drive sells ready-to-cook seafood steam pots, their Bay Buckets, packed with local seafood, veggies, and house spices. It is pickup only: you take the pot back to the house, steam it, dump it on a newspaper-lined table, and let the crowd dig in. On a summer Saturday, order ahead by phone at 910-328-2645 or online, and call to confirm hours outside peak season, since the posted hours differ from site to site. It is the single easiest way to feed a big group a memorable dinner without a sink full of dishes. For a full week of reunion meal planning, see our family reunion guide.
For the everyday provisioning run, you have good options close by. Surf City IGA on South Topsail Drive is the on-island grocery, with quality meats and produce and extended summer hours. Food Lion on NC Highway 50 in Surf City and the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Fun Center Drive cover the big stock-up trips, beach snacks, drinks, sunscreen, and breakfast for a houseful.
Stock the kitchen, fire up the grill, and you have the makings of a week you will be talking about long after the tan fades.
Ready to plan your own table by the sea? Book your stay direct and settle into a sleeps-eleven home with a full kitchen, just minutes from every spot on this list.