Ruby Sunshine — Restaurant in Charleston

I am a frequent guest at the market Pavilion hotel on East Bay Street two blocks from this restaurant the hotel no longer serves early breakfast so they suggested I go here for an excellent breakfast when I arrived I sat at the bar and a very sweet woman gave me a menu and took my order. The menu described the item I ordered as classic brioche French toast. When it arrived I discovered two pieces of Wonder bread on a plate with a dollop of some indiscernible goo on top.

I ate what I could have it it was not anything special not anything to write home about at all I make far better French toast at home.

So I told the sweet waitress I'm sorry but that is not making me happy. How about this do you cook eggs back there. Do you have sausage and bacon back there. She said yes we most certainly do. So I said great why don't you ask the chef or cook to make me four eggs over easy with sausage and bacon I figured there's no way anyone could mes that up. When my plate arrived it was super overcooked eggs cooked far beyond over easy and well into the incredibly hard boiled egg category. So I push the plate away back to the waitress across the bar from me and told her please ring up my French toast get rid of this I'll pay my bill and be gone I am greatly disappointed. About 5 minutes later a manager approached me and I told him what the problem was I showed him the plate I was delivered and told him how I ordered it four eggs over easy he immediately agreed they were not over easy they were over destroyed. And offered to take them off my bill. I told him the market Pavilion hotel where I am a regular gas told me to come here for breakfast and that I would make sure to tell them how terrible the breakfast is in this supposedly great breakfast joint. Rather than telling me don't worry about paying for the shity French toast and apologizing to me he acted like he was doing me a favor by removing the terrible destroyed eggs I was given. I didn't return to the hotel and told the woman at the front desk who sent me there why did you send me to that restaurant she told me well they have excellent reviews. I asked her then have you eaten there? No I haven't I told her never recommend a guest to a place you have not tried yourself please. It is obvious to me that this place is depending upon its past cache has a great brunch place but it has obviously fallen into the totally mediocre category now. Strongly suggested you find another place to...

We went here based on a recommendation from the host at our hotel. We were excited once we saw the menu - it looked promising. Mom ordered the French toast bites, and I ordered the classic French toast with bacon and a side of cheesy grits.

Her food came out in about five minutes. The French toast bites were fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, white a cream cheese sauce and a caramel syrup to dip - absolutely delicious. Meanwhile, I waited. And waited. After 35 minutes, my food still hadn’t arrived.

During that time, I watched three couples who came in after us get their food. One even finished eating and left. There was another couple, separate from those three, who never even saw a server before we decided it was time to raise the alarm.

To be clear, our waitress Vicky was lovely. She kept checking on us and genuinely believed the food was on its way. Eventually, she had a conversation with the manager but apparently that went no where. Yet, she remained hopeful about my food. She was sincerely apologetic and ended up comping the meal, which we appreciated, especially since we were now pressed for time and - honestly - I was done.

Before leaving, I asked to speak with the manager. Her response felt dismissive. She offered a discount but completely missed the point that we were leaving due to lack of service, not the bill. She told us Vicky had already informed her about the issue with our food BUT she claimed the delay was caused by an internet glitch. That explanation didn’t hold up - not when three other tables that arrived after us were served without a hitch. So the glitch only impacted our order! Come”on!

I don’t go out of my way to leave bad reviews. I believe in sharing both the good and the bad. But this experience? It needed to be addressed. Great food means nothing if the service breaks down - and that’s exactly what happened here.

Thank you Vicky for...

I don't normally write negative reviews, and maybe I came on an off day, or maybe I didn't order the right menu items, but I was incredibly disappointed with my breakfast. So much so that after 2 bites of each item I decided it was best just to leave and go elsewhere. It was Waffle House quality at downtown Charleston prices. I still paid and tipped, but I won't be returning.

Pros: The service and staff were awesome. That's why I gave 2 stars. Seemed like everyone helped eachother and dispositions were warm and friendly. Relaxed, jovial, quick.

Cons: I got the French Toast bites to start, and the breakfast platter (eggs, biscuit, Applewood smoked bacon, fried green tomato, grits). The French toast bites were pretty flavorless and overcooked, the presentation sorely lacking. I've seen pictures of others' French toast bites that looked completely different, so maybe mine were made by a new person in the kitchen? Either way, even the icing was sparsely dropped randomly throughout, no powdered sugar, tasted no cinnamon. It was literally just almost burned toast (some pieces WERE burnt) and some syrup with a dollop of icing randomly dropped here and there.

The eggs were slimy and bland, the grits were cold and bland.

The biscuit wasn't even thoroughly cooked; the entire middle was cold and uncooked.

The fried green tomato was more fried than green tomato BUT once you got past the THICK layer of breading the tomato itself was actually quite pleasant.

The apple wood smoked bacon was not that. It was thin thin strips of sheet baked bacon. Exactly like you would get from a Waffle or Huddle house.

Again, I've seen the pictures that others have posted so maybe it was an incredibly off day or something, but man was I...