My relatives came into town and with them visiting from up North, they requested that we venture to a seafood restaurant. I recommended any of the restaurants along the marsh walk in Murrells Inlet. My grandfather ended up choosing Nance’s over the numerous other choice and I am so unhappy that he did; as are the rest of my family.

Nance’s Restaurant is nice enough looking from the outside. The parking lot is a bit hazardous without any distinctive parking spots, but luckily for us we are currently in the slow season of the year, so we could park wherever we wanted. As soon as we entered the restaurant I was disappointed in the atmosphere. There was a strong  fish odor in the air (to be expected somewhat, but it was more of a sour scent), the lights were very dim and everything looked very old fashioned and in need of a renovation.

We were seated at a back table next to a large area with no lights at all. It made it very difficult for us to read the menu. The menu itself is very limited, especially if you have family members that do not enjoy fish. The prices range from approx. $10 for hamburger to $40 for a seafood mix of oysters, clams, shrimp, etc. Our table of 7 ordered an array of wings, oysters, clams, hamburgers, scallops, fish and steak; we essentially tried everything on the menu. The complimentary hush puppies were very tasty, however they do not provide you with any plates to eat them on! Not to mention, although you are paying upwards of $20 per person to eat there, the restaurant does not provide you with fabric napkins. In fact, they don’t provide you with napkins at all but rather loose rolls of paper towels scattered on the table.  In addition to not providing plates or napkins, there are holes in the tables that are set to hold buckets for oyster shells; we never had buckets put into place for us until we had finished eating the oysters! Our waitress Stephanie A. was friendly enough I suppose, however we didn’t appreciate her casual tossing of silverware in our direction when she approached our table; there were knives in those little paper wrapped pockets!

The oysters were pretty good quality and got the job done, however our other appetizer of hot wings were terrible. The wings had little to no flavor and were cold in the center. They had a horrible texture as if they had been sitting in a freezer for far too long. Each one of our party members received their meals at separate times and it was a good five minutes before I was able to begin enjoying my food with the rest of the family. The New York Strip that my sister ordered was cold and I quote “tasted as if it had been dropped in a barrel of soot and charcoal”. My mother ordered scallops which were ice cold in the center and she had to send the dish back to the kitchen to finish sauteing them. She received her new hot scallops a few minutes later, however they had simply been microwaved! A few of our orders had been wrong (example: we ordered baked potatoes and received french fries. This isn’t a big deal, but its just the fact that they got the orders WRONG). The hamburgers were extremely small, overcooked and bland. My father specifically asked the waitress if his burger could be cooked “rare” and she said that it was against the law in SC; which after a little research on my iPhone, I’ve found that this law hasn’t been in effect years. I thought it was interesting how we were able to consume as many raw oysters as we requested, even though one in however many is fatal, but we couldn’t have our burgers cooked medium rare. Our person conclusion? Based on taste, texture and temperature, the burgers are precooked and pattied and therefore cannot be cooked to order.  In addition to our uncooperative waitress, we had a clear view of the food preparation area, which luckily for us we had just finished eating, when we witnessed an employee wipe his nose and start arranging a customer’s food on a plate. Its extremely unsanitary and uncalled for!!!

In regards to the senior discount that is offered at most if not ALL restaurants in the area, Nance’s has found a way to almost get out of it. It specifically says in the menu (which I’m glad they pointed out) that you will only be offered the discount on the cost of your entree rather than the entire bill like at most other restaurants. I understand that it was pointed out in the menu, but that doesn’t mean that it is right. I can think of plenty of other restaurants that aren’t classified as “fine dining” that offer greater benefits than that as well as a much better experience!

Our bill came to be about $200 which wouldn’t have been too bad if we had enjoyed our meal. I’ve been to most of the restaurants along the marsh walk in Murrells Inlet and this by far is the worst restaurant I’ve been to! There were 7 of us in the party so of course we got stuck with the 18% gratuity rate which upset us all because our service and food was especially horrible. I wanted to make a few comments prior to paying the bill, but my relatives tried to be polite and I decided that I was going to use technology to my advantage when I returned home. The dinner at Nance’s restaurant ruined the experience with my family tonight because we were all so focused on how horrible of a time we were having. I  have every intention of posting this review not only on my blog, but on google review, twitter and any other location that will allow it. I am also planning on sending a copy of this to the owner of the restaurant in hopes that he/she can correct the flaws and keep his customers happy year round. I will never recommend this restaurant to any local or visitor alike and I will NEVER return to try the food again.

Here is the contact information for Nance’s :

Nance’s Creek Front Restaurant
PO  BOX 44
Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
(843) 651-2696
Adam Lane, Assistant Manager