Okan Bluffton — Restaurant in Bluffton

JANUARY 2025 (1/9/2025) We made our return visit with our kids (early 20s) before they went back to Minnesota. Our daughter is a bit of a foodie and wanted to return for one more meal before she went home. As a group, we all had something different than we had ever had before. And, as expected, it was all incredible and everything is a flavor explosion.

DRINKS We ordered a variety and all delicious.

BREAD Coco Bread: Our only repeat since it had a different marmalade, which was mango. Delicious. Tapalapa: Dairy-free, and also tasty.

APPETIZERS Jamestown Shrimp Muhammara

ENTREES Pork Shank Pastelon Local fish special Shrimp & Oyster Gumbo

DESSERT Strawberry Carlotta

This is one of our favorite restaurants we've ever been to. Menu items you rarely see. Unique, but thoughtfully prepared. The whole experience is a flavor explosion.

We'll be back at least one more time before we make our way back to Minnesota at the end of January. Again, thanks Okan!

JANUARY 2025 (1/2/2025) We've been waiting all year to return to Okan after first dining with them in January 2024. I must say it was worth the wait! This time we brought our kids, who also loved it! We were pleasantly surprised to see several new items on the menu since our last visit, which was fun and creative. We all shared a little bit of everything. The entrees we had were: Jerk Goat, Jerk Chicken, Cashew Curry, and Braised Oxtail. All amazing! The appetizers we shared were: Crispy Shrooms and Berebere Octopus. Again, unreal! We got the Coco Bread with a spicy jam...something we remembered from the year before (when we had a cinnamon butter spread). And for dessert we shared the Apple Butter Cheesecake Jar (really interesting) and Sweet Yuca (also super interesting).

Our bar drinks were Babalas, Howzit (like and Old Fashioned), Guanabana Sip (x2), and Sky Juice (sweet).

I'm sure everything on the menu is amazing, but I can confirm that every single thing we had was very flavorful and not something you readily find elsewhere.

JANUARY 2024 At the recommendation from another restaurant on Hilton Head Island, we visited Okan for dinner and were beyond impressed. It ended up being our favorite restaurant during our three week stay in Hilton Head.

My wife, who is picky when it comes to her cocktails, ordered the "Let's Start," which came in a bowl with a straw. It was a creative way to serve a drink and added to the experience. She loved it and had two (which she rarely does). I also enjoyed my cocktail, the International Thief Thief. I also had two (which isn't uncommon!).

We are tartare fans, but had never had Lamb Tartare. We loved it and will order it on any future visits.

We had read that the Coco Bread was a "must have," and we'd agree. One of the servers added what she called "The Game-changer" by bringing a side of apple butter. She was right! Get these and ask for a side of apple butter and thank me later.

I had a difficult time choosing my entree, but ended up going with the Jerk Goat, which is served like pulled pork. It was an incredibly flavorful dish, as I'd imagine most are. I'd get this again without any hesitation.

My wife went with their best seller, the Cashew Curry, which came with two Caribbean Lobster tails. It was off the charts and she even took the leftover sauce home to mix with rice for another light meal.

We finished the dinner off with the candied pistachio sponge cake, which was also new to us. It was amazing.

We dined here on a chilly January Wednesday night. The space is quite large and felt a little empty. Like us, it sounded like many of the people were there for the first time and had likely heard that Bernard Bennett was a James Beard semi-finalist and braved the cold weather to enjoy his restaurant. At only seven months old, I'm going to guess people are still discovering this place and it will eventually be hard to get into, especially during the busy season. Get there before it's too...

Before we get started I do not often do this. As a former chef and someone who worked in this industry for a long time I try to look past things and give the benefit of the doubt to a lot of places. The things that happens even after sleeping on it made me feel I need to express myself. First off I do want to say I did enjoy our waitress. Definitely things she could have done much different but overall she was about the only thing enjoyable about the experience. First off I paid for a valentine day five course meal with the chef at the bar explaining his creations. It was about fifty more dollars per ticket than the in house seating. Well that appeared oversold and we did not get that experience. Then the amount of disorganization was amazing. The food runners messed up the order of the meal, gave food to the wrong people, and most of the staff seemed utterly clueless. Our meal was well unappealing to say the least and left me excited I had dominos at home left over from my kids dinner. Not only that but because of the incompetence we were left between course for a minimum of 25 min per course. It would have been okay if the portions were adequate in size for the 150+ dollar price tag, and had more flavor. As an example one dish was supposed to have a truffle cream sauce and well it was either so sudtle but more likely not present, but absolutely no truffle present. It was a non sweet whipped cream like substance that added nothing. In addition after two hours and three of five courses just finished we ended up getting our fourth which was supposed to be the first. Then the zealous owner I assume came. I wanted to discuss the frustrating and poorly executed event but instead of actually trying to see how the experience was all he talked about was how wonderful the wait staff was. When he saw I was agitated and about to discuss the meal (I said my waitress she was wonderful and the only thing that was) he turned and walked away. We asked for dessert to go and probably should have read the clues by the countless desserts left over that we should have just ran. We got to the car and my wife tried the parsnip cake (supposed to be similar to carrot cake). The cake was worse than a bran muffin and the icing was a soured butter/sour cream whip that I am wondering is salt replaced the sugar because it was actually not edible. It was thrown away immediately. My daughter before we tossed it tried it and said “gross, what the hell is this” spit it out and was done. This was an unbelievably frustrating and disappointing experience. I have had this planned for my wife and I for like a month and as a James beard finalist chef I was so excited. The cold Dominoes pizza was a better experience that what we had and (not a knock to dominoes) but I freaking hate dominoes. I want to conclude, I have for many years of my life, worked as a chef and with chefs in fine dining restaurants in my home town in NC and I know how this things are supposed to run. Had I ever been a part of the disastrous event that was last night and sent out food that late and that poor I would have been fired. This was truthfully one of the worse dining experiences my wife and I have had in a very long time. As a final thought, the owner when he conversed with us before e leaving he asked where we came from and we told him Savannah, he said “Savannah is cool I guess, but we hope to bring more people from Savannah here to experience our food,” well sir I can tell you I will never be recommending your restaurant to anyone here so it may be a good while before that...

Our first and last visit to this establishment was nothing short of terrible. From service to food quality, this experience was a major disappointment.

We started with the Crispy Shrooms (6/10) and Muhamara (4/10) both were mediocre at best. However, the real issues began with our main entrees. After waiting 40 minutes following our appetizers, we finally received our meals: Oxtail (5/10) and Jerk Leg Chicken Quarters(0/10).

The chicken was raw, not just slightly undercooked, but visibly pink, bloody, and completely unsafe to eat. We could have made it known to everyone around us why we were sending our dish back, but we chose to be discreet out of respect for the restaurant and other diners. All we wanted was to have the dish we originally ordered, properly cooked.

Our waiter, Rodrick, asked if we wanted the same dish remade, and we agreed. However, when the food returned, instead of the Jerk Leg Chicken Quarters we ordered, we were served a small chicken breast, about half the size of the Jerk Leg Chicken Quarters, clearly not the same dish. No one informed us of the substitution, yet we were charged the same price. When we questioned this, Rodrick became defensive and dismissive, gaslighting us into thinking we were in the wrong.

At no point did he say, “It will take 18-22 minutes to properly prepare another quarter leg, would you like to wait or order something else?” Instead, the Chef rushed out a different dish without telling us, just to move things along. To be given an attitude, as if this was our fault, when the restaurant clearly wronged us twice, is completely unacceptable, especially for a business that just opened in the Bluffton area.

To make matters worse, this place is far too expensive for what is served. For a restaurant that charges fine dining prices, the portion sizes, food quality, and service do not justify the cost. You are essentially paying premium prices for subpar food and unprofessional treatment.

There are far better dining options in Bluffton and Hilton Head that serve better cuisine without compromising food safety, customer respect, or value for money. Do yourself a favor and...