Back Porch on Ocracoke

The Back Porch has a great history. But as this reviewer has seen many times, it is not enough to justify a check average this high without the entire picture. The Ambience is the same as it has been since my first visit over 12 years ago. You can see that the influence of the original owner has long since hit the shoals. Even the cookbook offered for sale keeps the original forward by the first owner, but without her signature or photo. An obvious attempt to borrow original greatness without individual effort toward new goals. The service is not on par with the menu. It is national chain style service with high end dining; it keeps clashing with the dinner. Daphne Bennink claims that she maintains a "high level of quality from the moment patron’s step into the restaurant, until their plates are cleared at the end of dinner." We beg to differ. We were not greeted warmly upon entering and the restaurant was relatively quiet. Our party of five was seated at a table too small for comfortable dining with larger tables empty nearby. The table had something green encrusted in one area of the glass top and some of the silverware was dirty. Dishes were either removed too late or too soon by static assistance from other service personnel. An empty wine bottle and cooler remained on the table until we departed, taking up valuable space on a cramped table. Their claim that all desserts are made on the premises should be questioned. The same for the bread offered. There was a time that The Back Porch offered delicious and interesting bread baskets. If you like "take & bake", this is what is offered now. The dinner salad was hilariously small and the side dishes of rice and vegetables were so sparse they put them together on one tiny side plate so small it was actually difficult to use a standard table fork to remove the food from the plate.

I would like to agree with Ms. Bennink that "The Back Porch has always been that special place that people go for their one dinner out while they are on vacation." Maybe at one time but there are many more choices on the island for a better experience. There are many places I go for special occasions, some expensive and some down right cheap. It is not the price but the total experience that matches the occasion that make a difference in a perfect place to go on any given day. It has to be fun, you should want to tell your friends to go and it should be worth it. The Back Porch wasn’t fun, I would not recommend it to others, and it was not worth the time and money. As it was, the dining room or porch was never full on a Saturday in July on an island in a tourist town. Something is fading here.