High Cotton Charleston Restaurant — Restaurant in Charleston

WITHIN MY TOP 10 IN 52 YRS! First time in Charleston, got off highway from hotel in N.Charleston, slowly drove by MANY of the eateries, however my friend & I both turned to each other w/wide eyes as we passed High Cotton and within a few yards a paid parking lot (Under $10) conveniently appeared! Upon entering... The essence of fresh, exotic food mixed w/high end parfums left to atomize from those lucky enough to reside in the surrounding colonial mansions or visiting the finest B&Bs the Olde South has to offer filled the air. Visually, the rooms glowed deep and dark, the intimate lighting that comes from blackened lamp shades lined with real gold leaf. Intricately placed art covered the walls from embossed copper to one of my favorite works, "The Singing Butler", perfectly placed behind the live southern speakeasy saxophonist in the lounge which is where we found ourselves since the other rooms were at capacity. Once seated we started w/a great craft beer that was surprisingly clean and left a tinge of floral. We had the choice to order from both main menus and bar menu, which shared some offerings and both had the Bone In Filet Mignon ($18 !.. The best deal in any town) W/ puried potatoes, drizzled with a Burgundy Reduction and topped with Onion Straws. Was some of the best and most tender cut of beef I've had. For a starter I chose the Colossal Shrimp Cocktail. (4 or 5 of the largest I have ever seen offered and was cooked the way prawns are meant to be cooked. $18). My companion had the Caviar Deviled Eggs (Amazing, Unique and personally know was served on many of the White Star Line ships in first class, including the Titanic $22). Jeremy (?) our bartender was great & didn't realize he handled the bottles in the tradition perfected by The Savoy Hotel in London and creator of The Original Ritz Paris. My only critiques are... The wish that Jeremy could converse more w/the customers instead of having to bartend for servers as well (It would be nice for a venue this large to have a separate service bar) Also, the bar itself is beautiful but is visually polluted with the placement of #1) The two TV screens which would fit better in the corner of the bar, left and right, placing them directly to the fine wood takes away from the richness, plus are too close to each other. #2) The large Espresso machine and all its hard/dish-ware is too utilitarian for being placed on the bar where people face. #3) The servers POS screens should also be placed to the right of the bar in the corner, again, too utilitarian and close to patrons, especially the bright lights and the inner narrative "drama" we overheard between the managers and servers. Other than those few things, this place is deserving of Michelin or James Beard caliber. (But then again, it was just one night). So far, in 52 yrs, it's among my favs* like, The Mews (P-Town), La-Te-Da Key West (Fla Keys), Louis' Backyard (Key West), The Cartwheel (New Hope-Bucks County), Lux (Beverly Hills), Bridge St. Bistro (Charleston, WV), Road House (Hyannisport - Cape Cod), JJ Stars (NYC), Jimmy January's (Ft. Lauderdale) *Sadly, these may have closed or experienced when under different mgt/owner and may not be current, so don't expect...

I lived in Charleston, (Summerville), for 5 years 2008 - 2013. I had the opportunity to eat at High Cotton once. I went to some sister restaurants, SNOB, Post House, Post House was great, SNOB, not so much... I moved. Live in Fort Walton Beach now, Florida. The food here, for lack of a better term, sucks. Restaurants around here are no bueno!! If you consider yourself privileged, and think you're smarter than everyone else you can probably tell by my speech patterns that I am not... I had the best steak of my life at High Cotton!!! The atmosphere was like restaurants I'd seen in movies, a light jazz band playing in the front room, and higher class people than me all sitting at the table together not talking but rather texting on their phones... The person paying for my meal had rabbit, and wasn't nearly as impressed as I was with his meal. He had never had rabbit. Neither have I... I went back to Charleston last July. Yes, it's taken me this long to write this review, anyway, I went back to Charleston last July. I convinced my friends who still live there that we had to go to High Cotton!!! It was July, I wore my best Tommy Bahama shorts and a T-shirt, and some tennis shoes, Sketchers!! Lol I feel like we got put in the no no section because of it. Maybe my fault, but I wasn't about to wear slacks in July! The server talked faster than I do, and most of time people like that are meth heads or have issues and believe me, I'm not far off and I get it! The appetizers were ok, and honestly the calamari was pretty tasty, I don't usually eat calamari. The Ahi tuna was just ok, the salad was try hard and suffered because of it. I ordered Wagu steak, and yes, I know I ordered it wrong when I ordered it medium rare, well, it was served medium raw, and it was all sliced up already so you couldn't send it back if you wanted to. Once again, I know that's how it's traditionally served, when someone orders it that way, but I just wanted an excellent steak, and I didn't get what I paid $270.00 for!!!!!!!!! Their restaurant down the street, SNOB, ( Slightly North of Broad), is the same. I wasn't impressed. What I was impressed with was the different experiences I got at each restaurant back in 2011. SNOB, no bueno, Post House, great almost every time. I took my parents there when they visited. High Cotton, best steak I ever had NY Strip. They offered 1 of 4 sauces complimentary, I don't remember them all, but I got bourbon sauce. It was a light Aujus. I can't quite explain what it did but it was so light and complimented the steak in a way I once again can't explain. My second experience, assembly line... Seemed like getting the food out was the primary concern, food quality, not so much. Hey look, these guys are wearing shorts in July, they don't belong here... Our entire meal took maybe an hour, please slow it down a little, I'd like to think part of what I'm paying for is the experience. I'm no slob, even if I am wearing shorts and a T-shirt, I work hard for my money and I'm willing to pay for a great experience. I didn't have it, and that was only my second experience. That's a 50/50 ratio. Something I'm not willing to buy...

My wife and I made a trip to Charleston this past July and we visited High Cotton to celebrate our anniversary. While this review is a few months late, I still think about this experience fairly regularly!

Starting with the appearance of the restaurant itself, it’s just about what you would expect from a nicer, southern restaurant. We had dinner for our experience so the restaurant was dimly lit. The interior consist of beautiful hardwoods, exposed brick and nice linens. When you walk in, you are greeted by the host table. From there you can go left and go into the bar which was playing live music. The other option is to go right into the dining room. We ate in the dining room and was sat in a semi round booth. It was the perfect setting for a nice romantic, anniversary dinner!

This was our first time to Charleston so we had to try all the local food that Charleston is known for. We started with She Crab Soup. It was great! We split the bowl and I think we both agreed we could have had a bowl to ourselves with how good it was! For our entrees, my wife got the Antarctic Salmon. She said it was one of the best salmon she’s had and the “forbidden black rice” was not only good, but it’s look really set off the plate. After all the the tours we had and everyone telling us how Charleston is know for Shrimp & Grits, I had to try it and it was the best design I made! This meal for me is easily one of the best meals I’ve ever had! Everything about it was perfect! I’ve been trying to chase a meal like this ever since but living in Ohio limits my options!

Finally, the service is what you expect out of a nice restaurant! Everyone was nice, friendly and very knowledgeable about the restaurant and the menu. The manager came around at the end of our meal and congratulated us on our anniversary and presented us with two glasses of champagne to toast and celebrate with!

From top to bottom, High Cotton is a great experience! If you find yourself in Charleston you owe it to yourself to try it! We loved our meals and I couldn’t recommend them enough but honestly, I don’t think you could go wrong with anything...