Sonny's Waterfront Restaurant

Sonny's Waterfront Restaurant sits on NC-12 in Hatteras village, at the far southern end of Hatteras Island where the highway runs out at the harbor and the free ferry to Ocracoke. It's a casual, moderately priced ($$) dining room with water views — the kind of unpretentious, harbor-adjacent restaurant that fits the working character of a village built around charter and commercial fishing, rather than a resort strip.

Good to Know

• 57947 NC Highway 12, Hatteras, NC 27943
• (252) 986-2922
• Closed Sundays
• Price range: $$ (moderate)

Hatteras village is the last village on the island before NC-12 ends at the ferry terminal, and it runs at a different pace than the villages to the north — more charter boats and working watermen, fewer big rental houses. A meal here works well timed around an Ocracoke ferry run, or on a quiet shoulder-season evening (April-May, September-October) once the summer crowds have thinned. As with everywhere on Hatteras Island, this stretch of NC-12 is vulnerable to storm flooding and closures, so during hurricane season (June-November) it's worth calling ahead before making the drive down.