Southern Barrel Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Bluffton

My wife and I were in Port Royal visiting Shellring Ale Works (excellent!) and we decided to detour over to Bluffton and visit Southern Barrel because my wife is a big fan of their Wild Bramble sour. I’m trying to be a little sympathetic in my review because clearly something was amiss with the staff. My wife is allergic to strawberries and when she asked our waiter if two of the fruited beers had strawberry he responded, “I don’t know, and I doubt anyone else here knows either.” Then we overheard the bartender tell another patron in response to their question, “I don’t know. I don’t really drink beer.” Both of these responses fail for a response when you are a local brewery. Also we were sitting close enough to the kitchen to see that they were on the verge of a mutiny. Two kitchen staff walked out while we were there. I get that restaurants have bad days. I just couldn’t tell if our waiter was moving around with frantic understaffed energy, if scattered energy is just his vibe, or if he was disinterested. At one point I needed more napkins and when he brought them over he never even broke stride as he dropped them on our table.

My biggest hurdle with this visit is that the location lacked any of the atmosphere you would expect from a local brewery. It felt like an Applebee’s or TGIFridays or BJs or any other generic chain restaurant that happens to have their own beer on tap. My fried chicken sandwich lacked flavor and had so much sodium that it could have eradicated all the slugs in a 10 mile radius. My wife’s sandwich was missing ingredients, but with everything we could see going on in the kitchen and our waiter fluctuating between rushing around the restaurant and checking his phone, there was no way we were going to risk sending it back to get it fixed.

At the end of the day, I’m just disappointed that I spent $60 on such a lackluster lunch. We were trying to show some love to a local brewery that makes a beer we like, but it just felt very corporate. We’ll still enjoy Wild Bramble when we see it out but there’s no draw for us to...

Went to their tent today at the Wing Festival @ Shelter Cove. Husband was given a wing that was raw on one side. We immediately brought it to their attention. We told the female employee that was passing out the food. She turned to the employee that was at the grill for the chicken and informed her. She then takes the wing, plate from my husband, asks if it was the pork or chicken that he had (the wing with the exposed raw meat was on the plate she took) and then immediately walked back to the grill and that was it. We thought, at first, she was about to give him a replacement to comp for the uncooked one or something , but after she asked which one he got, she didn't say anything else and kept her back to us the rest of the time despite us standing 3 feet away next to the tent, cooking area . She took his plate with the chicken wing, asked that one question, and then ignored us. No apology that my spouse just ingested raw chicken. No asking if he felt alright, or offer to replace the raw food. I completely understand it was busy. I get that, but you are cooking a HUGE amount of food for alot of people--kids included--...and while you're trying to hurry the food out , should be more.mindful about the amount of time dedicated to making sure they are properly prepared. In a crowd like that, everyone was asking what food was a must to try and which to avoid. I wasn't going to lie. We went to almost every single tent and , while I can possibly understand an "oops" moment--I don't understand not offering a simple "I'm so sorry that happened, I'm going to make sure the others are properly checked " or, "I'm so sorry! Let me get you another one!". Dont know of we would've taken it, but A simple gesture like that Just acknowledging the mistake makes all the difference in the world. So, I couldn't recommend your tent going off that experience and it makes me hesitate considering visiting your restaurant. I hope everyone else that visited the tent though did have a...

Two visits and they are out! The first visit they had no gluten free items, didn't care to understand, and had poor/slow staff. This was a few years ago. Tried them again today. Different set of problems. They now have gluten free items... sort of. They list fries as gluten free. Not so. They are breaded! Beware! My hamburg was extremely salty and my Brussel sprouts were burned. My husband ordered nachos with meat and queso ONLY. They had jalapeños and chili drizzle. Not edible for him. The waitress brought more gueso, wouldn't/couldn't (?) do anything else. So, for about $50, (one beer) we had a very disappointing meal. Wait staff was ok, except she didn't convey meat and queso only. It is such a shame they cannot ever care about their patrons enough to get it right, or fix it!!! Do not recommend! UPDATE... UPDATE We were given a gift certificate covering our expense so we went back and tried again. Everything tasted great! Their fries are still battered (BOO!!!) And their tots aren't gluten free. However, the classic hamburger was delicious. A little redder than medium, but juicy and good. The gluten-free bun should be toasted, so it doesn't crumble apart. I had chips and queso which was fine, as my side. My husband had a well-done hamburger and fries that he enjoyed. He finished with strawberry churros... he loved them. Overall, the meal was enjoyable and I feel they redeemed themselves. I wish they would skip the breading on the fries... and keep the menu correct for gluten-free (or not) items. We...