flying fish public market & grill

i've eaten here a few times and the food has always been wonderful! the guys in the market area who throw the fish are always a joy and so good with the kids! some of the wait staff need to go back through training or pick a different career/job though. this last time we went, it was crowded, as to be expected durning the season. the waitress brought out our kids drinks, then the apps came, 5 minutes later she comes back and says "oh did they not bring your drinks?" another bit passes and we finally get our drinks. we had ordered sushi as an app and the same thing happened with that. "oh they didn't bring it?" we were like, ummm.. we thought you were our waitress and you haven't brought it. food came out a little while later and everything was fantastic! i highly recommend theshrimpand grits. it was fantastic!!! i would nearly sell a kidney for the recipe! haha! the only downside to a couple of our visits have been some of the wait staff. most are very friendly and nice, just some seem forgetful and in their own little worlds. i mean, at one point my mom was ready to throw her cup at the girl to get a refill. haha! but yes, other than that, this place is excellent!

i went for happy hour on a monday night. this has always been my favorite happy hour place at the beach. they recently changed the happy hour menu a bit but still have some of the favorites on it. i had 6 steamed oysters which were good and the poblanoshrimpdip which was okay. they have a decent beer selection including a few locals on tap. got out for $29 with tip and was completely stuffed. the bartenders were super friendly too. highly recommended. 4 1/2 stars.

awesome food and service! melissa the bartender was very attentive and sweet. we started out with fried pickles (which were the chips that i prefer, not the spears). very good. i had the large caesar salad with fried shrimp. hubby had buffaloshrimptaco and blackened mahi tacos. portions were large and food was delicious. great views of water and we sat inside at the bar.

excellent food, average service. for food, i had the southern fried chicken sandwich, which came topped with pickles - a good choice. my 5-year-old had the mac-n-cheese ("1 sideways thumb" - basically kraft mac n cheese from a box). my wife had the buffaloshrimptacos ("tacos were good, but the rice, dirty rice, was bland.") we also ordered the hush puppies as an appetizer - perfectly round and delicious, but arrived less than a minute before our meal.

server was confused why i wanted ketchup for my fries, and didn't offer to refill my drink until we asked for the check. the table next to us had an issue with their check.

view was nice. i'd order take-out from them, but probably wouldn't eat in again.

after all the positive reviews we were pretty excited to try the flying fish. my father is a seafood lover and i can't eat it so i was happy to find somewhere that offered other options as well. we had about a 20 minute wait it wasn't too crowded, when we got to our seats the server came over and took our drink order and told us all the fresh catches of the day. my dad wanted salmon and asked what comes with it, the waiter asked how he wanted it and my dad was confused because the waiter did tell us they had the fresh catch he didn't explain that there were different ways to have it prepared, he again said how do you want your salmon prepared i also had no idea what he was talking about as this was our first time in the restaurant. then he pointed to the menu and said again how do you want it. after my dad figured out what he meant, he ordered it and again asked what comes with it and the waiter said rice and green beans. my dad wanted the extrashrimpon top and the waiter was getting very short with my dad at this point as if him actually having to take his order was annoying. i ordered the honey apple bbq chicken with rice,  gouda smashed potatoes,  and a salad. we also ordered a basket of hushpuppies for the table. when the salad came it had little goldfish in it which was cute and it was delicious it was the best part of my meal. the table in back of us had the same waiter and they also had trouble ordering with him, he did not want to explain anything or answer any questions, i guess after they got done with their salad plates they stacked them up and he picked them up and dropped plates everywhere and he very rudely said i'm so glad you stacked them for me. we got our dinner and they looked really good and my dad did enjoy his fish, however we both didn't like the rice it had some season in it that just made it taste funky. and my apple bbq chicken… apple nothing there was zero taste of apple and the chicken was so dry i couldn't cut it with a steak knife. the potatoes were good, i did order the chocolate cake it was absolutely scrumptious it was so good it would be the only reason i went back. $70 for sub-par meal and a server with attitude no thank you.  

i've been to flying fish multiple times and this is a must go place when in myrtle beach! flying fish has great food (seafood or not), lively atmosphere, awesome location right on the lake in barefoot landing. coconutshrimpare one of the best we have had! make sure you are prepared to wait for a table.. if not, just hang around the bar for a bit... read the full review at munchingtheglobe.com/flying-fish-myrtle-beach

heavenly experience

the entire experience here was wonderful for us.  diners are brought a complimentary smoked mahi mahi dip with crackers.  that dip is absolutely magical.  we got the fried oyster appetizer and my wife said it was the best oysters she's ever had.  they were definitely in my top three, if not the best.  i've always used sri racha sauce for my oysters, but the goat cheese to me was a brilliant touch.  the mahi mahi was incredible with the asian sesame sauce.  the swordfish was perfectly delectable with the habanero orange chutney, but after trying the asian sesame sauce, i wished i had chosen that for my dish.  the vegetables tasted garden fresh and were perfectly steamed.  theshrimpand grits are one of the best you will find--just absolutely perfectly comforting, with split grape tomatoes, chives, & country ham.

the service was perfect and friendly with a beautiful smile.  this has become our family's new favorite and must-go-to place during every visit to the beach, ever since they first opened.

edit:  we went back august 2018, and my positive impression was greatly reinforced.  this is a wonderful, hip, and classy place.  they have top notch service, great drinks, and excellent meals.  and they still bring that absolutely wonderful complimentary dip to your table.  the chipotle lime sauce is not run-of-the-mill; it is alarmingly good on the halibut.

in short: very much overrated, but also not bad either. just don't have high expectations, and probably just go somewhere else.

at length: our initial wait time was about 30-40 minutes, which isn't awful for how busy it was. the courtesy of all but one staff wasn't very welcoming. one staff, not our server, was downright rude and the others just seemed disinterested and maybe a little burnt out. maybe they're just tired, probably. our server was simply just average; not bad, not exactly great either.
now to the food: i'm gluten free, and this place was supposedly a great gluten free restaurant. not so much. again, not awful but not wonderful. limited selection and small portions of bland entrees aren't my idea of gluten free friendly. the buffaloshrimpappetizer was actually far tastier than my entree ofshrimpscampi and was only slightly less food. the other two members of my party had better experiences with their entrees, not gluten free, but they also weren't blown away either. again, it's all just average and honestly not worth what you pay. look around for something better and pass on the fairly average fish, because it ain't really flying in my book.

went to this restaurant because of the high ratings and good reviews but once we arrived and received our meals i wasn't impressed. the star dish on the menu theshrimpand grits were not what they were made out to be and over all our meals weren't up to par. although i do recommend the hush puppies as an appetizer and the crackers they give you in the beginning were great.

my husband and i arrived at 7:00 on 4th of july weekend and we had a 15 minute wait. the service was outstanding and the atmosphere was fun. they give a complementary mahi dip and it was very tasty. we had fried clam strips and raw oysters, which both were excellent. my husband had theshrimpand grits, which were some of the best i've ever had. i had the grilled tailfish with mango salsa. i've never had tailfish, but it was really flavorful and made to perfection. the food was fresh and it came out fast, despite how huge this place is. we were done in 45 minutes. i would highly recommend it!

i ate at flying fish last night with family. the complimentary smoked mahi mahi dip at the beginning was good, and we liked the buffalo popcornshrimpappetizer we ordered. everyone else at our table ordered some kind of friedshrimpdish, and their meals were all good. i ordered theshrimpboil, and it was terrible. the potatoes were almost completely raw, so underdone that i couldn't eat them. the sausage was dry, and theshrimpwere overcooked and rubbery. it was all under-seasoned, too. you could tell the old bay was there, but very little salt.

i would probably give the restaurant another try, but i definitely wouldn't order a boil again.

great seafood in north myrtle. after a complete shopping failure for our planned dinner tonight, we decided to try this place based on the good reviews. it was around 6:30 by the time we got there and we were told it was a 45 minute to an hour wait. thanks to "lynn" who apparently chose not to wait for his or her table, we got moved up the queue and were seated in about 25 minutes. i was a little worried about the atmosphere because it seemed really loud while we were waiting but once we were seated upstairs, it was fine.

they start by delivering complimentary mahi mahi dip with saltine-type crackers. it was a bit like whitefish salad and pretty good. my bil ate it with a fork when we ran out of crackers. :)

we ordered the basket of hushpuppies as an appetizer and they got rave reviews around the table but with the qualifications that "deep fried rubber bands" would also be good. they're served with honey butter which made my sister kind of go all homer-y (she did stop just shy of drooling).

mom got theshrimpand grits which was freakin' amazing. i did not pick up her bowl after she finished and lick it out but i considered it. a few people at the table (not me) thought it might be too rich but three of us decided she won the dinner raffle.

sister number 1 got the fire roasted trout and thought it was excellent but the asian glaze she got with it fell a little flat. she asked for the habanero chutney instead and that was delicious - spicy and sweet.

sister number 2 got fire roasted tile fish with herb cream sauce. she found it to be a little rare and would have liked it cooked more. it was also a bit bland but after a couple of shakes of salt and pepper considered it worthy of recommendation.

my bil got the cornmeal sautéed wreckfish. he said it was delicious but did not actually lick the plate. (of course he was helping mom eat hershrimpand grits too so...)

the fish and chips was very good but i ended up spending most of my time envying my mother hershrimpand grits.

the little one got fish sticks which ended up circling the table and were deemed better than my fried fish. they're not your typical frozen formed fish stick things - they're actually real fish.

our server devin was terrific. she was extremely knowledgable about the menu and the various fish they offered. she even noticed that i needed a drink refill before i did which, to me, is the trademark of a good server. she was so good that the little one gave her two of his stickers!

we got two slices of pecan pie for dessert and it was possibly life-altering.

basically, we left here so happy that we've decided that we might have to go back tomorrow...

good food. the hostess was rude and we had to ask for a server, but chris, the manager, was wonderful and absolutely made-up for the rocky start. we all thought the food was delicious. i got theshrimpand grits. there were moreshrimpthan i was expecting, and the sauce was perfect. my husband had habanero chutney on grilled fish. it was fabulous. my son could not finish his friedshrimpbecause there were so many and he enjoyed the fried pickles appetizer as well. we would definitely come back.

bestshrimpand grits i've ever had, surprisingly i loved the fish dip they give you before your meal. skip the calamari and caesar salad.

definitely will go back. peel and eatshrimpwere huge. blackened mahi tacos excellent and even the kids burger and chicken strips were delish