Red Sky Cafe

This place is amazing. I really don’t see why everyone isn’t giving 5 stars. We had originally planned to go the Coastal Cravings because it was a Diners Drive in and Dives review but the wait was too long so we headed here. We were thoroughly pleased! In fact, the next night we did go to Coastal Cravings and no one enjoyed it as much as we did Red Sky! We started off with the crab dip app. I order this every where and this was definitely the best I’ve ever had! The bread comes out with an artichoke dip which was really good! I had the tuna steak and my friend had the crab cakes. Both were amazing! The kids both got the pasta with the Alfredo sauce. That Alfredo sauce is the best I’ve ever tasted!!! Way better than any Italian place we’ve ever visited and we travel a lot! This place is a must! Oh, and the service was great!

We had dinner here with a group of friends on a recent trip to Duck. I was really bummed they no longer had the pimento cheese burger for dinner! Still loved the crab dip and bread and my husband was really loving the bacon wrapped scallops with jalapeño cheese grits. I had the fried shrimp and fries as my main. It was honestly just okay and pretty standard fried seafood. I was hoping for something a little more for the price we paid. The wine list was quite good and there are several local beers available. They do have a kids menu available and high chairs. The bathrooms are outside the restaurant in the shopping complex, but they’re not too far away!

This place has excellent food. My wife ordered the duck and I ordered the salmon. Both were cooked to perfection and were delicious. I can’t remember the last time I had such a great meal! I highly recommend it — I’ll definitely be returning to try other menu items.

My fiancé and I recently ate lunch here during our visit to Duck. We absolutely loved the food here. The she crab soup was awesome. She had a fried seafood platter and I had shrimp and grits and we were both satisfied. The service was good, too. We will be back next time we’re in the area.

First visit, Chef Wes, was cooking. Food was great and service was good. Second visit was disappointing. Shouldn’t have to pay extra for cheese on a $ 9 lunch hamburger. Male server was slow and inattentive. He wouldn’t switch out potato salad for fries for us, but accommodated another diner sitting next to us who wanted slaw instead of potato salad. Can’t find anything positive to say about the unappetizing mound of white stuff they were passing off for potato salad. I noticed there were a few plates returned with it not eaten. Server brought my husband a drink refill and ignored my empty glass. They say it’s the little things that lose repeat customers. How true! We won’t be back and we visit OBX several times per year.

Extremely happy with the service and the food. Staci was very attentive and helpful from the moment we sat down, right up until we left. The food was wonderful. We had Scallops Casino and Buffalo Fish Bites for apps, both delicious!
My wife had the Seafood Pasta and I had the special, Mahi and Shrimp. Both meals were exceptionally well prepared. We will be back as often as possible!

Stopped in for dinner our first night after a long drive. Great food, good service, and our 3.5 year hellian ate his food and behaved. Win for all.

We went to the Red Sky Café for dinner last night everything was delicious! I had the ribs and they were wonderful! My mom ordered the shrimp and grits and thought they were great she especially like the sauce they were in. My father ordered the crab cakes and enjoyed them. Waitresses were very friendly and food was excellent. Would highly recommend.

We came here for dinner knowing absolutely know thing about the place and would definitely return! The service was great– very prompt and polite. The complimentary bread with Asiago artichoke dip was amazing. I really appreciate the chef dialing back the Cajun spice in the shrimp and grits for my stepdaughter. Everyone loved their entrees. I would definitely recommend Red Sky Café for a great dinner, and will return on my next vacay to Duck!

Let start with Sanitation score…
In this area anything under 97 is generally a pretty good indicator that the operations are poor… the score here 94.x. A score that low in this area is kind of scary.
The food was good but overall not remarkable.
The bread and dip served when you sit down was excellent.
Caesar salad good… the signature sweet potato sticks and corn bread croutons were oddly soft and oily.
3 cheese oyster stew had good taste until I got a mouthful of shell… unacceptable at this price point.
Shrimp and grits was good but it was a $ 30 dish… yet felt like something I would get in a NJ diner for 20.
Twice cooked prime rib good… but also reminiscent of something at a NJ diner… it had so much sauce sloshed on it and then served on top of mashed potatoes that the potatoes became a soup due to the excess sauce.
Service…non existent. No bartender yet a simple bourbon on the rocks was $ 14…had to double check that I wasn’t in Manhattan. The fact that we had a reservation was meaningless… we were simply added to the waiting list and told we could sit at the bar with no bartender. Server took our order, someone else brought our food, server showed up to give us a check. Never once did anyone come by to ask if everything was ok, do you want another drink from the bar nada zip no service period… an experience on par with your local fast food joint. On top of that the food was pushed to the table as fast as they could get it out. There was not attempt to coordinate the timing to match the consumption of previous courses. We sat down at 7:15, done eating by 8 easy. Entrees hit the table before appetizers were even ¾ done.
Environment…it was ok… nothing special.
3 stars is a bit generous and is largely the result of a couple things that were great… the bread and the taste of the food. Everything else was just average at best.
If you want fine dining this isn’t the place. Expect McDonald’s service, fancy sounding dishes that they attempt to plate extravagantly that taste good but aren’t a good value.
There are much better meals to be had locally in a similar price range with service and atmosphere that is a million times better.

Very pleased with the service and food. Not a great family place but the did well with the families we observed.
We had the chicken bacon wrap and shrimp pasta for lunch. The service was very professional and kept our water glasses filled the whole time. Be prepared to take home ½ of any sandwich ordered. The shrimp pasta was «slightly» spicy but not to much for my wife who is super sentative to spices. Suggest ordering for two… split a sandwich and soup.

Best meal & service in the OBX. A local recommended this place, & we weren’t disappointed. The complimentary bread & artichoke dip topped with pico was delicious and impressive. I had the seafood trio-​flounder, crab cake, & shrimp beautifully prepared and seasoned over a bed of grits with vegetables. My husband had the shrimp and grits, which he said was the best he ever had. The wine & craft beer selection was also really good. My husband enjoyed the Duck Rabbit amber ale. We finished our meal with a piece of delectable orange mandarin cake with vanilla icing. It was amazing. Our waiter, Dwayne, provided excellent service & recommendations. We couldn’t have asked for a better dinner our last night in Duck.

Came here for dinner last night and was terribly disappointed. My bf picked this place based on the stellar reviews.
We didn’t have any issues with service. Our server was nice, polite, and engaging enough. The hostess was fine too.
The food… which is why I’m taking off three stars. We started off with the crab bisque and gazpacho. My gazpacho was just ok, I’ve had better. I also prefer to dip my crab meat in my gazpacho and not have it immersed in my soup as I got here. My bfs crab bisque was delicious, it was the best part of our meal. Ha ha that’s laughable.
Anyway, I should have gotten the shrimp and grits (all the rave reviews) but instead I got the catch of the day. Ordered the wahoo but it was sold out so I opted for yellowfin tuna served medium over grits. My bf got the trio.
So…everything we ate was heavily salted. I mean it was drenched in seasoning. I couldn’t believe how salty our food was. The only thing that wasn’t was the grits and obviously our appetizers.
We thought the food was mediocre and will not be coming back. Maybe because of the heavy hand at salt? My tuna was cooked perfectly but was masked with the heavy seasoning. We could actually taste the salt crystals sitting on top of our food. The crab cakes weren’t anything worthy to speak of. Runny and over salted. The flounder wasn’t bad (super salty too) and the shrimp was also heavily salted! Even my tomato steak was heavily salted. Ha ha. Maybe the food wasn’t as fresh as they claimed and they heavily seasoned it to mask it? Smh

The atmosphere is cozy and inviting, but the food is very elegant. All 6 of us, from our 5 yr old to a teenaged picky eater to a 40-​something yr old needing a special diet, enjoyed our meals immensely. Great kids meals. My husband thoroughly enjoyed the beef tips. My favorite was the crab dip. It was even better than their crab cakes. We also enjoyed the shrimp, the flounder, house salad, the grits…
Presentation was flawless. The desserts were delicious.

I was unsure what to think before going here based on other reviews. We had an awesome experience though. We (party of two) were seated immediately without calling ahead for priority seating (no reservations). Our server was friendly and knowledgable. We started off with drinks and appetizers. Our entrees, tuna and wood fired trio, were prepared quickly and tasted great. The flounder was perfect. The crab cake was not much to speak about and I wouldn’t order it again. Overall very good food, relaxed atmosphere.

Tastefully Fit Blackened Mahi Mahi was truly divine & their Crab Cake sandwich was light and tasty; but their Tollhouse Chocolate Pie stole the show!

I was told to check this place out from a local who said this was the best bang for your buck in Duck. The food itself was very good. I had the shrimp and grits which was good not great and others in our group got different specials including the tuna and scallops. These entrees were all very good. We also tried the she crab bisque and it was delicious.
If this review was based solely on the food it would have been an easy 4 stars but the service we had was nothing to write home about. The waiter forgot simple things like water and silverware for everyone at the table and it took getting up and going to the hostess to get either of these things. He also must have heard that I was disappointed in the service because he added a 20% gratuity to our checks even though we were a party of six. Now usually I don’t care if they do that for a big group but we only had 6 people and usually they only add the tip when it is 8 or more in a group.
I’d like to think our waiter had an off night and I’ll probably try Red Sky again but my first experience was very lackluster.

Stopped off for lunch while shopping in Duck.
I had a cup of gazpacho with crab. It was a good way to cool off on a hot day and the crab was nice, sweet, big chunks of crab.
For lunch I had some fish tacos. In contrast to the fish tacos I had everywhere else in the OBX these were more the «DIY» type with the ingredients separated on the plate.
The slaw and the fish complemented each other well and made for a good taco.
The service was polite and attentive. Great place to stop off in Duck!

Outstanding service and food!
We chose this restaurant based upon the favorable reviews and high rating and we were NOT disappointed. The menu is inspired and the dishes are cooked to perfection. Cocktails are varied and mixed very well. Have the she crab soup and don’t miss the raw tuna appetizer. The ribs pack a little smoky heat but are tender and falling off the bone. No one in our party of 13 was disappointed.

Hadn’t been here in a while, but always seem to like it. Service is good, drinks are nice and it’s good for lunch and dinner.
Started with the Buffalo Bites (breaded fish with buffalo sauce) which were a nice alternative to chicken.
I had the NC Coast which is a seafood stew with very fresh seafood. It was a little bland for me, but was an awesome healthy filling meal. If that makes sense? I didn’t leave with a «wow that was amazing,» feeling but I think I knew what I was getting.
The crab cake platter was very good. The redneck risotto is a nice alternative to whatever typical starch you’d get. It had flavor, went well with the veggies.
My wife got the chocolate desert (some cake/​pie looking thing) which she said was excellent. I got what I think was Tiramisu in a mason jar. It tasted like Tiramisu in a mason jar. Nothing special. Next time I’ll get another cocktail and skip the desert. :)
They had a few fresh fish options and I think you can request the type of fish you want based on what is available that day. It’s a good place.
If the dinner prices scare you off, go at lunch! Everything is around $ 10 and you can try a lot of different options.