Swain's Seafood and Cut Restaurant

Based on Google ratings and recommendation from a neighbor, I decided to go there Saturday for dinner. After reviewing the entire menu and having a hard time choosing, I decided to go with the “Mermaids Delight”, a seafood pasta dish.
I have eaten quite a few seafood pasta dishes in my life. I might’ve had one as good but I’ve never had anything any better than this dish was phenomenal. The scallops and shrimp were so fresh and they didn’t skimp on the seafood or the mushrooms. There was so much pasta after I got through eating the complementary homemade potato chips and a side salad, I could only eat about a third of the pasta. I took the rest home and demolished it for lunch the next day. This dish was so big two hungry adults could easily split it and be completely full. The complementary homemade potato chips I bring with ranch dip were absolutely delicious. Every employee I was close to spoke to me and was very polite and courteous!
All the desserts are fresh and made in the house, and my neighbor said they’re worth their weight in gold, but I do not eat sweets so I can’t vouch for this, but they do look delicious!
I can’t say enough about Customer Service. I sat at the bar on both visits and bartender was so polite, professional and very attentive!

Swain's was awesome! The food was bang on - we got the grouper with hush puppies and fries, and fried shrimp with the same sides. Everything was cooked just right. They also have Coke Zero, if you’re into that!

Our waitress was super friendly and on the ball, always made sure we were okay. The place itself was cool too, comfy seating and a nice atmosphere. We did try the mudslide cake for a chocolate fix, but it was a bit too heavy on the liquor for us. When we mentioned this to the waitress, she took it right off our check, which was really cool of her. If you're in the area, definitely hit up Swain's, you won't regret it.

Came here for wife's bday. Great service. The food is amazing. Even the salad with dinner was impressive. Took home alot of leftovers. Try the slap ya mama shrimp app. Delish ! Will be back next weekend. Great specials too !

Highly recommend this place
We drove down from OIB to dine here. Our food was absolutely delicious. We indulged on their homemade chips for our appetizer, house salad prior to our meal and the Mermaid Delight is absolutely delicious. It's enough for 2 people to share. Totally wortg the money and the drive down. Reservations recommended*

Really good and great wait staff!!!
Absolutely love this place the portions are always enough for 2 meals!! Waitstaff are friendly I like to ask what they like the best and they always gives good advice!! One of my faves on Oak Island and it's not loud so you can actually have conversation while your there.

Crowded usually and early. Great steak with one of the better baked potatoes around. You get 3 sides with a steak, and that makes a lot of food. They have homemade chips for the table start off. They were nice crisp and brown like i like them. Had a long list of dessert, and we took 2 home they also were top of their class. Its alittle pricey but a lot of good food. Give it a try
06/15/22 update. I guess I've been 4 or 5 times since this revie, andit'ss still great. I got the Mahi Mahi blackened with clam chowder and a Swains salad. All were grea, the Mah, as seasoned perfect and cooke, correct?. Clam chowder was outstanding. Wife got peel and eat shrimp and said they were prefect. Had to being some coconut cake home. One pc will feed 2 easy. I wanted Heath bar cake but it was the wifes brithday and she got to pick. The heath bar cake is great also. Didnt get a pic of the salads but did the rest
02/20/24
Tried to write a new review, but it wouldn't let me...
Well, as normal .. It's a great place
Lisa took very good care of us, and we didn't have to ask for anything. She kept our tea full, and that meant a lot. The chips for the table were great. I just put some pepper and salt on them. Next was clam chowder for soup of the day. And it was top-notch.
I didn't know if I wanted steak or grouper because both are great here. Then, the early bird spaghetti with meatballs caught my eye. It was great. Of course we got coconut cake and pie. Each is 2 servings. If you haven't been you need to go

Great spot for a low key dinner. Had the ribeye and the fried scallops and both were excellent. The service was good, friendly and helpful. The atmosphere was quiet but laid back. I would definitely go back for another steak 👌

Good food and the service was excellent! Blackened fish tacos were so tasty and the portion size was impressive. My wife had oysters and they were really good. The hush puppies and fries were crisp and not oily whatsoever.

It was quiet, which we like, and the decor is very nice. I can strongly recommend.

We were on business trip ordered take out, friendly staff great service food was delicious. Carry out containers sealed no spillage. Order was correct. Honorable mention side salad was packed with sauce separate. That's important to me as some businesses put sauce/salad dressing in same container on /with salad. Only mistake was, each time didn't include utensils. Our go to when we are visiting area. Would recommend to anyone visiting area looking for a great dinning experience.

Food is amazing. The staff are wonderful. I can’t wait to try more items on their menu!!

Highly recommend making a reservation here for any celebration! We were in town for a bachelorette weekend and they accommodated 6 of us with ease. Drinks, food, and customer service were fantastic! We even had a modern day Disney Princess theme for the night, showed up dressed as such, and it was accepted with no issue as nuts as we felt! We got desserts to go, and couldn’t believe how delicious they were after a day of being in our fridge. The seafood is FANTASTIC. If you’re in the area - GO!

Very good food for dinner. Portion sizes very large. Started with crab dip appetizer. Very good, toasted almonds on top of crab added a unique texture / almost crunch to the crab which came with homemade pita chips. Definitely order again.
Each of us had salads, very fresh. Their homemade thousand island dressing had a bit too much dill for my taste, your taste could be different (I am not a big fan of dill).

Server said the Mermaid pasta (shrimp, scallops,...) was enough for three meals. She was telling us the truth. Hardly made a dent in that dish. Two of us got the salt rubbed tomahawk pork chop (medium temperature). Cooked perfectly, excellent taste (warning, probably not acceptable to those on a low salt diet). Both of us brought half the chop home. Veggies were grilled squash and zucchini, another was large serving of steamed broccoli. Garlic mashed potatoes were good. We also brought home veggies

Had three of their specialty mixed drinks. Large servings size , stiff drinks.

While we would all order our meals again, we forecast that we will be eating the menu down over the next year to try their other dishes

Fine dining food in a very relaxed casual environment. Go here for the food.

You must go to this place, be sure to make your reservations early. The food was amazing. We had the Mahi Mahi, which was the catch of the day. Another great thing was the "southern chips and dip"(fresh fried potato chips and ranch). Oh, sooo good! Marissa was our server, and she was spectacular!
Extra Tip- Get the dessert! You will not regret the choice!

Really great dinner and experience here! To start I just make a note that service is a little slow, but they are clearly understaffed so it’s understandable. However, even tho service is lacking the food quality certainly isn’t. Everything that was ordered (lobster ravioli, beginner oyster platter, pro oyster platter, and blackened chicken) was absolutely delicious. The prices are also a little expensive at first glance, but are made up for by the insanely large portion sizes. You can very easily get 2 meals out of anything you order. My lobster ravioli had lots of flavor and the ravioli noodles were obviously homemade! The cream sauce was to die for! I’m sensitive to rich sauces, but this was perfectly balanced and paired with the lobster filling perfectly. ALSO THIS IS LITERALLY THE ONLY RESTAURANT IVE EVER VISITED THAT ACTUALLY PUT THE PERFECT AMOUNT OF GRATED CHEESE ON TOP. Mostly seafood, hence the name, but I’m not complaining because it’s easily some of the best seafood around🙌.

Well, where do we begin with this place? First, we would like to say thank you to our waitress, Marissa. She was everything a waitress should be and more. She was very attentive, a wonderful personality and couldn't do enough for us. Next, the food was amazing!! Hats off to the chef. The salmon was absolutely delicious as well as my husband's pork chop tenderloin. The other main dishes at our table were just as yummy! The portions are a really nice size. The desserts sounded awesome, but by the time we got done eating the homemade chips they put in front of you, soup, salad and then the meal, you're stuffed!! (In a good way!) But, we will be back again to try some of those yummy desserts. Don't miss this place on the island. Nice beachy decor and a nice casual place to eat scrumptious food. Thank you Swain's for our first experience here tonight! We will be back. 😊

This place is amazing!! We were greeted by the owner at the front who was as sweet as could be. We sat at the bar to eat. Our waiter/bartender was super friendly. The food was so good! We had mozzarella sticks which are homemade and also the Thai shrimp. I had the peel & eat shrimp, my BF had the seafood combo (scallops & fried shrimp) Both dishes were so tasty. Then we HAD to get the Heath Bar Cake to go as we were stuffed.. Well that was delicious as well. Everything is fresh and the cakes are homemade. Definitely will be back for sure!!!

House made chips were excellent! Shrimp and salmon both fresh tasting. Must come when in OKI! Waitress noted seafood allergy (to the kitchen when ordering) which made me feel at ease!

Very friendly staff. When we first approached host, it was going to be a 30 minute wait. We didn't want to wait. So as we were getting back into our car, the hostess, came out of the restaurant and flags us down. A table came open.
Who does that? To go beyond to accommodate total strangers. So, of course, we went in.
It was Friday night, and it was busy. It did take a while for our order to come. But it was worth the wait.
Fresh ingredients, flavorful food.
We were visiting for the weekend.we only had seafood, but the other dinners we saw served, looked delicious.
If you are, this place is a great restaurant to feed your seafood cravings.

Wife & I heard that Swains was a good place to eat. Gave it a try and discovered it was outstanding. Our food was great. I had a shrimp dinner and the wife had fried scallops which she raved about the entire dinner. Our plates were served with homemade chips & ranch dip. They have a small salad bar which was very good. Service was perfect and very friendly. I'm a stickler for good ice tea and Swains has some of the best sweet iced tea I've had in a while. This place is your basic no frills fish camp type place and they use plastic ware etc. It's not fancy. it's friendly and inviting with really good food. Oh yea, awesome hush puppies.

Portions are ridiculous. First time in since it’s changed ownership, the food was great and is our must hit everytime we are on the island from now on!