Hopsewee Plantation — Attraction in South Carolina

I arrived early for my 12:30 reservation time. The place was packed with women on a bus tour and the staff was clearly overwhelmed and underprepared. Even though I was there well before my reservation time, I was made to stand in a line for 45 minutes before being seated. This wasn’t easy because I’m disabled and didn’t have my walker with me, as I assumed I’d be seated at the time the restaurant told me to be there. After those 45 minutes, I said to the greeter, “I’m getting a very strong feeling that you don’t want me here.” She just stared at me, not replying! So I guess I was right. A single person can be an annoyance to a restaurant staff, one customer taking up a whole table. When the greeter finally got around to seating me (after taking several groups before me who had arrived after I did), she said, “We have a party coming in a half hour who will need your table, so we hope you’ll be finished by then.” I couldn’t believe my ears! This was a bad joke! She’d seated me 45 minutes after my reservation time and now she was rushing me! I decided to stay, anyway, asking her to give me a different table than the one reserved for the party coming in a half hour. I don't know why she didn't think of that solution herself, as she was able to comply with my request. Once seated, I waited and waited for a server to approach. When she finally did, she was abrupt and even rude. She, too, made me feel like an imposition. She took my order and brought my pot of tea fairly quickly, but a FULL HOUR went by and she never brought my food. At that point, of course, I’d finished the tea and just had to decide how much longer I’d be willing to wait for the food. I finally realized my patience was gone. I got up and walked out without paying for the tea. I think this crazy place owed me those two cups of tea for what they’d put me through. I don’t think anyone on the staff even noticed...

Really looked forward to our visit here. Came with a group of 15. Made reservations weeks in advance. Pre-ordered lunches off the menu ahead of time.

The tour was okay. Tour guide Bambi was entertaining and informative. Worth $20? No. Our lunch reservation was 12:30 but at 12:20 we were told a bus had shown up 2 hours early and they were being seated ahead of us. We waited until 1:30 to be seated, then waited for drinks and some of us another hour for food. I got the sampler. I give it a try and/10.

As we were eating, the staff were trying to get us to check out - even though most had pre-ordered dessert. The waitress who brought out desserts literally tossed them onto the table. Wow!

I brought a friend from out of town and she got the worst of the day. First, they tried to say they didn't have her order. They tried to give her something else. She's a diabetic and by this time her blood sugar was dangerously low. They finally brought her a cup of soup. When she was finally brought her order - shrimp and grits - it wasn't really shrimp and grits! I've lived in the south forever and this was some concoction they threw together in the kitchen.

I'm so disappointed and embarrassed! I'll never be back. And I'll share my experience with my friends who were awaiting my review before making arrangements to visit themselves. Beautiful setting. Food was okay but nothing to write home about. Service was bad ☹️ If I could give it 0 stars I would. Quite frankly, we have too many wonderful historic places with friendly, informative volunteers and staff, and delicious food - to waste your time here just...

I would give Hopsewee Plantation a 5-star, but the tour plantation guide made the experience less enjoyable. Today I visited Hopsewee Plantation with my two sisters. We planned for a pleasant day, not a controversial day. We did a house tour and had lunch in the tea room. The tea room, the food, the grounds, and the people working there were fantastic. What was not fantastic was the way our tour guide adamantly gave her opinion throughout the tour. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, however, this was not the place, especially when she had nothing nice to say about our first president, George Washington (she actually mocked him), and she told a very different story about the Declaration of Independence. She thought highly enough of herself (as the expert) and said she was telling us the true history, and the history we learned in school was all a lie. I understand there are many sides to history, but mockery and calling people liars is not how a tour guide should present the story. If something must be said, then say it with class. How about another version, what I researched, it has been said, and so on would be more presentable. My personal feeling is this was not the place for the tour guide's opinion. If the Hopsewee Plantation wants to tell their version of history that they believe to be true, it should be clearly stated that this is their version not the...