Marina Variety Store Restaurant — Restaurant in Charleston

So, the parking will be validated so bring your ticket. We walked in at 3 on a Saturday (an hour before the kitchen swaps to dinner only) and were greeted by.... we weren't. There were three servers counting their cash and cutting up with each other talking about the money they made and two hostesses behind the counter. ALL 5 said nothing for a good few mins. Then one girl finally asked and led us to a table. The ceiling tile is warped and falling, the outside of the restaurant is rusted, but it's natural since they have salty water around. Our table had a view 8 out of 10 of the Marina. Just beautiful. Then our server, an older woman with blonde hair and a raspy voice greeted us. We didn't know what to get and she stopped by about every 3 mins asking if we were ready (not offering help, as she was more preoccupied playing around with employees) after already approaching us initially with an irritated attitude. My wife asked, "How is your clam chowder?" And the lady looked at her and just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, it's a cream based chowder. Soooooo." I wanted to say, "WHAT IS IT?! CAMPBELLS?!?!" That was the service we were getting. Nothing answered, irritated employee. Anyway, I got the veggie wrap and my wife for the pan seared oysters with the beans, collards, and fries. About 10 mins or so later, the lady approaches with the food. The veggie wrap (mostly full of lettuce, but okay) and her "pan seared" oysters were just battered for the fryer and put in a pan. Not really seared... should have just gotten them grilled. Asked the server if they were fried or pan seared because they looked fried and the server just looked and said ,"Pan seared", and walked off in a huff. No exaggeration. (I was a 5 star server for 7 years so I accept sub par service. I understand it. But terrible service I have no patience for) The sides and food were fine... just fine.... the "pan seared" oysters were slimy and covered in a ton of batter, the wrap had mostly lettuce and very little other vegetables, and the service was terrible. Maybe you'll have a different experience, but...

Please do not waste your time or hard earned money!! This is the worst restaurant I have been in in all my years. Ee had a party of six that came in and sat with no wait on a Saturday night in August. I now know why!! The only item that was remotely good was the fried shrimp, but let me start from the beginning. Our server greeted us and got our drink order to which none of it was correct. After multiple times, 4, she finely got them all to us after about 15 minutes. We had to remind her 3 times of the missing drinks. Once we ordered and the so called food came out, I was at a loss for words. My wife ordered the mega-platter that was anything but mega. My daughter ordered the most basic thing on the menu, a turkey sandwich, that also came out wrong. All of our side orders, mac-n-cheese butter beans red rice and fries, all came out cold. We would have said something but at this point what dis it matter nothing was going to be correct or good. I had also ordered a mixed alcoholic beverage that after drinking half of it I noticed an old piece of someone else's straw wrapper in. No one was wearing their masks properly and our server even left her dirty latex glove on the table when she took our order in the beginning. I do not for the life of me know how this place has a Class A food rating. Please beware and spend your money on somewhere better with better food and service. I'm not even going to get into the over all conditions of the place because that would take even more of my time that I wish I had not wasted with this establishment. I wish I could rate it lower than a 1!

Glad to see that after 3 weeks there is no response from management or owners. They apparently know that there quality and service is beyond sub-par. Once again, another reason not to spend your money here, you're better off going to...

All I can go by is what I experienced. I don't consider myself a restaurant critic by any stretch. My wife and I went here for breakfast with good expectations. As soon as my meal arrived it was easy to see we made a mistake coming here for breakfast. I ordered the gator island which was $15.00. I don't paying a little extra for food as long as it's worth it. My waitress set my meal down and the only thing I could focus on was the dirty nasty plate that my food was on. I would be surprised if this plate actually seen a dishwasher. A $15.00 meal sitting on a dirty disgusting plate. Dried food and and God knows what else was on this thing. This just tells me one thing, the so called cook has no pride at all! If this is how he serves his food I could imagine how his kitchen and cooking surface looks like. I notified the waitress of this plate and they brought me another meal on a somewhat cleaner plate. I was hesitant to even eat one bite since I couldn't get the picture out of my head of what the kitchen might look like. They did not charge me for my meal which I would not have paid for anyway. I don't care if they said I can eat free for a year, I would not allow my dog to eat here. Sorry folks, I tell it how it is. Dirty plates equal dirty kitchen and dirty cooking areas. If you don't mind eating sub standard food served on nasty plates... be my guest. But if you care about your health... ...