Fuel Charleston — Restaurant in Charleston

We had a group of 18 in Charleston for a bachelor/bachelorette party staying off Cannon St and wanted to book a reservation for a dinner and drinks nearby one night. We all work in the service industry and acknowledge that holiday weekends can be busy and that a party of our size can take a toll on staff. Knowing this, I reached out to Fuel over a month in advance to discuss setting up a private event for our group as we did not want to surprise them with an 18 party walk in the Saturday evening of Labor Day weekend. Whoever I spoke with to coordinate this event was incredibly friendly and was very appreciative that we wanted to choose Fuel for our event. We discussed having our party sit outside near the bar along a few picnic tables and everyone in the group could just go up to the bar and start their own tabs, rather than have a single server provide full service. This is exactly the sort of setup we were looking for that evening. Everything sounded great and this was something our entire group was really looking forward to during the trip. Unfortunately, it ended up being my largest regret of the trip and everyone in our party was utterly disappointed following our night at Fuel.

The moment we walked in the girl who met us at the door seemed agitated that we were even there and acted as if we were a surprise walk in, despite having explained that we had booked an event in advance. She then (rudely) explained what our options were for service for our dinner, which, is something that was already discussed and planned well in advance of the night. We were then directed to go sit at a group of picnic tables outside. Every single picnic table we were told to sit at was absurdly filthy. Each table was covered in food that had fallen off plates from the previous party. Every dish from before our arrival was still on the table and nothing had been wiped down. Not a single employee acknowledged this and we ended up wiping down and bussing the tables ourselves. We then went to order our food/drinks at the bar. The bar was crowded from every angle, the only exception being a small corner near the entrance to the bar for employees to go in and out of the bar, we stayed as far as we could out of the way of that entrance/exit as we could out of respect for the employees. We even asked the bartender if he was OK with us ordering from where we were before standing there and he said that was fine. A couple people in our group order without any qualm from the bartender from right there, then, the same rude girl who met us at the door when we arrived snootily told us we had to get out of the way and order outside because we were blocking the bar entrance for employees, which we were not, and again had already asked if we could stand where we were and had been told we could. So, we went outside, and ordered there instead. Cool, no problem, but don’t tell us one thing and then get snappy with us for doing something we were told we could do by another employee. Everyone has off nights but that kind of behavior is not acceptable in the service industry, especially not somewhere like Charleston which thrives off tourism.

We order all of our food/drinks. Some of the drinks are correct, some are not. Some of our orders come out in a timely manner, some took up to an hour or more. Most of the food was awful, especially anything that had “chorizo” in it. The “chorizo” was much more akin to unseasoned ground beef from the grocery store that sat in a pan under a warmer for hours, also burnt, and was unironically some of the worst meat I have ever had.

TL;DR I could go on a much longer rant but this entire experience from arrival to the end was nothing short of a massive failure on Fuel’s part, the restaurant should be embarrassed. We had such a high hopes based on other reviews and from initial discussions planning this event but will never again return due to how abysmal this whole experience was...

New transplants to CHS but have been here long enough to know the good from the bad. Live close to this place, so dropped in to check it in out for a family dinner.

Got seated quickly and its a lively scene. The tables and outdoor space have aged a little, and could use some remodeling. There are flies everywhere, and it doesn't give off the cleanest vibe. It took 15min for any server to approach us.

We ordered the cheeseburger for our son, the fried goat cheese salad and salsa and chips for appetizer, and I got the shrimp tacos, while my partner got the fish.

The burger came out quickly, but looked pre-made, not fresh. Its a kids meal, so who cares right? But it was a sign of things to come.

The salad was ok. Some of the strawberries were overripe on the way to rotted, and the whole thing was soaking in dressing. The chips were on the stale side, and the salsas were fine, nothing to write home about.

The main entrees where horrible. The mahi mahi was bland, flavorless, and a little fishy. Not the freshest fish I have seen. It was covered in a huge mound of pickled cabbage, so that if you took a bite without removing the cabbage, it was all you tasted. Underneath was a wet salsa that was bland and made the whole tortilla soggy. The shrimp was not any better. They did not taste fresh, were not seasoned, and were drowned in a tomatillo sauce that could have been called "green mush". Again, had to remove the tomatillo to taste anything else, and made everything soggy.

This would all would be ok if it wasn't for the end of the meal. I mean, what do you expect when you go to a tourist trap restaurant that is slowly fading from its glory days? But the final punch to the gonads was the bill. Way too overpriced for food I wouldn't serve my worst enemy's dog.

Overall, would...

Went here on Cinco de Mayo with a group of friends. We all work in the food and beverage industry, so we understand the pressure of working during busy holidays. That said, we’ve never experienced worse service.

After being seated, we were told a server would be with us shortly. Twenty minutes passed, and no one showed up. I eventually went to the bar to order a drink myself. The bartender, while wiping down the counter, looked up at me mid-task and said, “So what do you want?”—in a tone that made me feel like I was an inconvenience. When I asked if I could pay with Apple Pay, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

Back at our table, my friends were still waiting on the drinks they had ordered earlier. Two more people had joined our group, and we planned to ask our server if we could move to one of the nearby larger tables that had been sitting empty. Before we had the chance, the same hostess/SA who originally seated us (blonde with bangs in a ponytail, wearing a pink tank top) came over and said, “Are you guys almost done? I’m not going to straight up ask you to get up, but you can’t just drag chairs to the table.” At this point, we still hadn’t received the drinks we ordered 30 minutes ago.

We were so frustrated with the slow and rude service that we asked for the bill and left. This is an unacceptable way to treat paying customers. If the issue was with extra chairs, it could have been handled with kindness—offering to move us to a larger table or simply bringing our drinks would have gone a long way so we could finish and give up our table to the next guests.

Hoping that this review pushes management to have a conversation with the staff regarding customer service. Our server herself was lovely, the bartender and sa/hostess were one of the rudest people i have ever come across in...