Queen Street Grocery — Restaurant in Charleston

Being a pseudo resident of Charleston (own property and visit at least 1/month) I am always looking for new places to eat. Given the previous reviews I thought I’d stop by for a quick bite.

The young lady who took my order was friendly. I ordered a breakfast sandwich (no bread though) so what I got was 1 egg scrambled with a slice of cheese folded into it and a slice of cooked ham and a very thin slice of orange. I had wanted an unsweet tea but they only sell bottled drinks (that aren’t coffee or smoothies). I picked out an 11.5 Oz Bai bubbles. (See pic below).

After I paid and sat down I was looking at my change and saw that all I had left was $6 from a $20. (I tipped a single and whatever loose change I was given). After eating a nicely cooked but nothing special egg cheese and ham I went back to counter to question my bill. I was charged $8 for the egg “sandwich” and $3.75 for the Bai bubbles. My total was $12.72 after tax. I was shocked. After looking at the board for prices, the egg sandwich should have been $7 (which is high with no bread) but they have increased the price of their meat and the young lady behind the counter seemed flustered and said this is how it rings up and the board must be wrong. I questioned the price of the Bai, she agreed that it seemed like a lot as well but once again seemed at a loss as to why. No prices on the case that I saw. I know you can purchase a case of those Bai drinks for $17-$18 at Costco. So that’s one heck of a mark up.

I will gladly pay higher prices for food if there is something special about the food or service or ambience (actually no A/C and it smelled like burnt toast inside). Sadly none of those applied to make a 1 egg and cheese plate with a slice of ham and small drink worth $13. I could have fed at least 4 people for that.

I will not be returning. I’d recommend Cafe Framboise right...

We give this tiny, quaint, "interesting" place three stars mostly for the nice staff. The food was not really much to speak about. The breakfast (BYO) sandwich had about the driest toast, without butter or any smooth addition to make it more palatable. There was no jelly, jam, preserves or honey offered or mentioned when ordering, and none delivered with the food. The omelette was the thinnest I have ever experienced, and that's not a compliment. Whip up those eggs, ladies; and make that omelette fluffier! How about delivering a knife with the toast and butter? I had to use my fork to spread the soft butter. We sat outside at one of the tiny sidewalk tables, which was a real wobbler. Don't put your elbows on the table and expect your food to stay on top. In my book, with the exception of the quaint neighborhood, this place was a thumbs-down joint. Oh, and don't even think about using the "restroom." You have to walk through one of the dirtiest, dingiest storerooms I have seen in a restaurant in order to get to what qualifies as a true water closet. As my dad used to say about tight spaces, "There wasn't even room to change your mind." The light over the sink was an uncovered bulb and it was out of order. How the city's health department could give this place a passing grade...

Searching for a new brunch/breakfast place we saw this and hopped in the car heading downtown - once we found parking, (still not sure we parked legally) we ventured in, first impression was good, quaint corner store with tables set up for cafe dining inside. No real clear direction as to what the process was but got over that quickly. Once we ordered and got seated things looked up....the iced coffee was good, not worth the price but that is an individual choice, the crepes were fantastic - my real issue was with the smoothie and the service, the smoothie was brought to the table and my daughter mentioned it was watery, I was busy with my crepe so didn't get around to her smoothie until after I was done, I tasted it AWFUL - should have been a Huger, mango banana, coconut lime, when the server/cashier/cook ask how things were I told him about the smoothie, which sat mostly untouched - his response "oh yea, were out of mango" - NO offer to replace the smoothie, NO offer of a refund for the $6 smoothie, NO "hey, we're out of mango would you like to try a different flavor today?" REALLY PEOPLE!!!!

Sadly I doubt we will go back - who knows what they will serve you if they are running low on a key...