CudaCo. Seafood House — Restaurant in Charleston

Edit: I appreciate the restaurant’s reply to my message and I believe they deserve a four star rating now.

Original: While the food is excellent, I think the service along with the undisclosed credit card surcharge bring this review to three stars.

To start with the good stuff, the food is an easy, five out of five. I highly recommend the coconut sticky rice bowl with tuna as well as the fried oyster po’boy.

The coconut sticky rice bowl is topped with avocado and spicy, mayo, and on the side you get an absolutely delicious, seaweed salad, a refreshing slaw, and a generous amount of your protein (tuna in my case).

The oyster po’boy is also delicious. Giant, juicy fried oysters are generously stuffed in the sandwich on top of a remoulade and slaw on the bottom. The oysters are super crispy and have a really tasty, briny flavor. The roll is also really soft and toasted well with butter.

Also make sure to check out their specials as they can vary from time to time. Sometimes on Tuesdays, they will do 50% off any oyster dishes, which can include the sandwich.

Now, for the things that I believe, if they change, could easily shoot them up to five stars.

First, the service is very inconsistent. My friends and I placed orders right after each other, and our dishes overlapped as the same dishes, however, their order came out over 20 minutes before my order was ready. While we had identical orders, it definitely was not great to have to wait 20 minutes. Obviously we ate the food as it came out so that it didn’t get cold.

The next issue is that you will not realize they are charging you a credit card surcharge. This surcharge is not disclosed anywhere on their website, menu, or even the POS they use. The only time you know you were charged to surcharge for using a credit card is on your receipt. This should definitely be disclosed both on their website as well as on all of their printed menus.

Lastly, it would be nice if their outdoor seating had some space heaters and bug repellants available. The indoor seating at the restaurant is quite small, and so they have a separate area outside with benches.

In the end, definitely come here if you want some incredible seafood, but just know that they are going to be some issues in...

Cuda co. has been at the top of our list of places to try in Charleston based on both grassroots marketing and resonate social media. We had an experience tonight that did not meet the expectations set by the aforementioned influences. We spent $200. If we went to 167 Raw, $200 would have afforded much better food along with complimentary top tier service. For a $200 price tag for two guests I expect to walk away with a great story to tell about our experience.

A potentially delicious crudo dish served on a reactive aluminum tray was probably the biggest let down. It tasted like metal, and the seemingly bored counter service attendant forgot that we ordered it so the fish was cut on fly and was sliced in large chunks and placed on awkwardly thick slices of unseasoned radish.

Another thing we were really enthused about was supporting a purveyor and restaurant that is focused on sustainability and conscientious sourcing in the name of supporting native fish conservation. The plastic cups and silverware were dissonant to say the least for an ocean-centric business.

We had the premium oysters, delicious, but we were told there would be three varieties, and after finishing the oysters noticed that 8 of the shells were the same. After asking we were informed that there were in fact only two varieties. If it’s me, I am going to let the guest know upon dropping off the thing that it is different than the thing promised when it was ordered.

From at 30,000 ft view, I think Cuda Co. is after the right things, but I believe that is super important to walk the walk if you’re going to talk the talk. Too many companies are greenwashing their image, and I am not going to accuse Cuda Co. of doing that, but from the humble vantage point of a young 24 year-old from the cost who is aggressively burping watermelon radish at this very moment I believe Cuda Co. could be perceived as a business that is not delivering what it promises. All the love. I know it’s hard out here, but authenticity and transparency are free. Invest in the that and you...

Here we go again…another NOT EXPECTED OUTSTANDING CHALLENGE! I’m texting while I eat…Emphatically a PASS, WIN, TREASURE, JEWELL! In reading the other reviews I was suspected there was a scam going on and that the locals had all agreed to say the same positive buzz-words. Simply put, my experience here was nothing less than Superior! The usual fish market smell is minimal and the appearance (see photos) of all of the fresh fish, scallops, and largest variety of oysters I’ve ever seen chilling on ice got me the moment I walked in.

I ordered oysters on the half-shell “Fat Bellies” were the tastiest to me. I like em a lil salty-perfect, and these were just that (Perfect). I always tend to dash the salt/pepper/crystls/lemon/horseradish/and cocktail-WHICH I know you’re thinking “you don’t even taste the oyster with all that crap on them”. Today, I ate them straight off the shell (naked) and they were the best ever. I also ordered a basket of fried oysters. The basket for $9 had 12 nice sized, lightly-battered morsels that were as tasty as the raw ones (perfect). Then, I went back for more. I ordered a pound of shrimp, off the ice, I asked for them to be steamed or boiled (I mentioned Old Bay) for my peel-n-eat style Shrimp (probably 28-30) and (IN MY Opinion) they missed the mark here. I like my shrimp crisp and snappy when I bite them. These were flavorless and less than snappy and almost had the texture of all-day on the Chinese buffet… I personally saw them come off the ice in the raw. I’m not saying anything more-Dangitall…GET HERE for the Oyster variety and Fresh Fish! You will be happy if you like it FRESH! (You had me writing a 5-Star review until the shrimp came...