Charleston Grill — Restaurant in Charleston

There are better options in Charleston (indeed!). Sad to say that this restaurant did not live up to its standard (not by a long shot...) I don't know about other 5 stars review, and even the #3 place in top 25 fine-dining restaurants on TripAdvisor, but we were not impressed at all. Possibly that the restaurant is going downhill... Tips: when looking at reviews, try to not only look at the overall reviews, but also how many reviews are there. Fewer reviews might signal less-than-desirable quality.

Settings & decoration: The "fancy" pictures you saw on the Internet are OBSOLETE. Sadly we didn't have any picture of the inside, but they changed the decoration and it looked nothing like "high-end" restaurant. I personally didn't like the bar. Kind of distracting from so-called high-end settings. Music: Well, live music is not always good. But will always be loud, so be prepared. Service: Pretty decent, but not impressive. Quite friendly, but not professional enough to serve in a high-end restaurant. The waitress kind of tried to lure us into ordering more, and it was definitely a bad image to the professionalism. Other waiter was okay, but trust me - no way he was trained to do things properly. Maybe they're new, and will need time to get better. Understandable, and not the main reason for 2 stars review.

• Food: Well - definitely NOT recommended. We've been dining in many other fine restaurants and this is probably the lower (very lower) end. Bread was rather dry, and butter was nothing special - I meant, just like the one you can easily get from the Shelf of any Grocery Store (no kidding!!) Starter - Chef Special (the one in the spoon - picture) was actually the only one plus for the WHOLE night. Appetizer: We had Ahi Tuna Aguachile & Foie Gras & Smoked Duck: Pretty good; Tuna was good & fresh. Smoked Duck was rather dry & mediocre. Entree: We had Prime Beef Tenderloin & Sturgeon. Boy - I have to say that this is the most important part of the meal, but also the most disappointing one! Sturgeon was really oily - the butter was overcooked so it was harder for our throat (kind of stuck in the throat), Fish was mediocre, nothing special to be claimed as top-notched, the ingredients were not balanced as well. Beef itself was really good, but the technique is terrible. Like buying a prime beef and self-cook, you know... I meant it. Look at the picture (the one with Asparagus), doesn't it look like a home meal-kits they have these days? (HelloFresh, Munchery, Blue Apron, anyone?) Dessert: Disappointed! You can easily find better dessert at any corner in Charleston. The dessert menu was poor as well.

In general, we were charged prime, but received just mediocre foods. DON'T WASTE TIME CONSIDERING THIS RESTAURANT. My personal advice. There are MANY other good options in Charleston....

I cannot recommend the Charleston Grill enough.

My partner and I are vegetarian. Seeing that the menu already offered a few items that would work for us, I reached out by email a few weeks in advance asking if the kitchen could accommodate an extra off-menu main and appetizer. Just the next day, I was contacted by Lizzie, who was fantastic to work with; our preferences were noted enthusiastically. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the hostess and Lizzie, who came out to welcome us, and shown to a beautiful table. Over the course of the next few hours, we were served by multiple people who all took the time to assure us our preferences had been prepared for and had the pleasure of having many delicious dishes both on and off-menu.

The food was of course very good. And the kitchen team was kind enough to put together enough vegetarian items for us to be able to have a fully veg tasting menu each, if we wanted to opt for that. We went with two apps and mains to share among ourselves, and I was especially fond of an off-menu stuffed summer tomato served in the bakeware it was cooked in. Multiple dishes included a table side finish, which was fun to watch.

The single best part of the evening was the service. We must have interacted with a half dozen people, and every single person was excited to have us there and created an atmosphere that made us want to keep ordering more and stay as long as we could. We were impressed by our waiters’ eagerness to join us in putting vegetables at the center of our meal for the night. The aforementioned stuffed tomato, for example, was brought to the table and introduced with the same flair as an aged ribeye, and we were checked on multiple times to see if we were enjoying the off-menu creations. Other highlights included a man with a warm bread basket giving us the slightest wink and side eye when we declined extra bread (we had to take more after that) and the many conversations with each person who came by our table. Overall, everyone was warm, knowledgeable, and damn good at their job.

As a student, opportunities to go someplace this nice are infrequent; furthermore, fine dining can be a challenging experience as a vegetarian. But, when celebrating an occasion with your partner, one must deliver. Overall, I’m proud that the place I saved up, planned, and drove for was this one. These two young herbivores will be looking for reasons to go back to the Grill soon. Give this place...

The atmosphere of our favorite celebratory restaurant was excellent. Quiet, well organized, accommodating. Lizzie accomodated a table change closer to the musical duo. Our servers, Delia, Sasha, Shalton, and another lady, were very warm and professional. We had extra requests because of food allergies. These were taken care of carefully and very appreciated. We found the menu selections of the entrees limited. We started with a Jumbo lump crab cake. We opted to split one and were surprised it was one bite each. I would recommend removing the word jumbo to prevent confusion. However, that one bite was delicious. We ordered the lamb loin. After quite a few dinners there before under the supervision of Michelle Weaver, we were excited to have their lamb again. We understand the Chef has changed. While the lamb was good, we were disappointed in the serving size and acutraments. My husband made a request to change from the original recipe because of allergies. This was accommodated.However, these entrees were small and unexciting. One thumbsize of what I think was a bite of cauliflower. The dessert Cigar was the winner of the night! An unusual dish that looked exactly like a cigar with ashes on an ashtray! Even had a cigar band. It was delightfully fun and very delicious. Definitely try this! The sorbet was good. We appreciated the lemon custard small birthday cakes and birthday chocolate given at the end. Also, the rolls were delicious. The evening was an overall success, and we enjoyed it. As loyal customers, however, the diversity of the menu was interesting, but left a bit to be desired. Especially with food allergies and faced with more ecclectic menu items. The previous rack of lamb is not easily replaced. Our menu did not offer scallops which was disappointing.

Also, be aware, the menu postings on Google are not really accurate and some pictures and reviews were several years old. One menu listed pigeon breast and no lamb. After reading that one, I almost cancelled our reservation. Glad we went anyway.

Thank you all again for making our evening...