SHIKI — Restaurant in Charleston

I went to Shiki for the first time a few weeks ago and was absolutely obsessed with it! We did the Omakase and the experience was incredible. Amazing service and the food was unreal with over 10 courses. We had a serious obsession with Shiki in the weeks following, ordering takeout multiple times a week and fantasizing about the next time we could go for another round of Omakase. When my mom scheduled a visit to town, it was the first reservation I made. Over 20 times we talked about how excited we were for this meal again. Immediately when when we arrived we were told that we would have to leave within an hour and 45 minutes. A lot of restaurants do this when they have back to back reservations especially in small spaces like shiki but it automatically kinda set an off mood. Especially couple with our server then greeting us with an attitude and condescending disposition. We explained what our experience was before and she was extremely nasty with snarky responses. From the get go, her demeanor put a damper on our highly anticipated evening. As the dinner continued, she became slightly more pleasant, but felt the need to continuously remind us that “this isn’t really what omakase is”— as if we don’t understand the concept of omakase— and essentially that we shouldn’t have done it this way. Keep in mind we just ordered a very expensive bottle of wine, and were spending multiples of what we would have if we had simply ordered off the menu as she suggested. I wish I could do it justice with my description, but her behavior and attitude is honestly so shocking it’s indescribable. I have never been treated so rudely by a server. She finally told us that it was our last dish at course 4…. Drastically less than what we received before and with less quality of fish. While everything we ate was amazing, we were unbelievably disappointed with the service, quantity of food, and overall experience especially considering how excited we were after the standard set at our last experience there. We asked for the manager to come over and talk to us and shortly after the chef and owner, James, spoke with us at length. He was so great— super patient, respectful, understanding, and friendly. He ultimately gave us a discount and was very apologetic which we really appreciated. Although we were disappointed overall with our experience, James was so great and handled it most perfectly and efficiently that I would continue to give my business to Shiki because of him. However, I will never return with the intention of dropping that amount of money again and will most likely opt to only get takeout instead of eating in to avoid...

I'm really sad to not give five stars for this place, as my boyfriend and I chose to stop here for quick sushi eats this evening based on the overall rating of this place (4.5 rating with 48 reviews at the moment I'm writing this).

We had eaten a pretty late lunch (which was very filling), so we were looking for something light to end the evening. Sushi, soup, and salad sounded like a perfect fit. We looked up their menu online and the selection + prices were very reasonable.

First: We arrived to the restaurant and I immediately noticed that their in-person menu prices were ever-so-slightly higher than what they state online. Not super significant - about 50 cents more per sushi, soup, and salad item we ordered (ie. miso soup was $1.99 online but $2.50 in-person - screenshot attached of the comparison). Not trying to be nit-picky here, but I feel like they should update their pricing to be accurate. They also reused the sushi ordering sheet. Past selections were erased from previous customers' orders. (I thought this to be a little weird, but I do support recycling.)

Second: Our waitress did not seem thrilled that we did not order more for our meal (we ordered 6 pieces of sushi, one soup, and one salad). She asked us three separate times, "This is all?" and she never refilled our water glasses when we were only one of three tables. I kindly said "Thank you" after I paid and departed from our table, but no response was given.

However, I will say that the quality of their sushi was delicious and fresh (no fishy taste and certainly good quality!). Also, parking is very convenient at their location - which is nice.

I am unsure if I would dine here again. I did not leave feeling particularly valued and (as someone who also owns a business) I believe that, regardless of your order amount, you should be treated well. I spent just a little over $21 which is standard for the small meal that we ate, but also not completely insignificant to be ignored on the way out. Overall, a mediocre visit. Good eats with a service experience that...

I usually order Shiki on UberEATS and it is always so great. My dad was visiting and wanted sushi, and I knew that downtown had better sushi than West Ashley so I finally braved going downtown to eat it in person. It was so nice that Shiki had parking. Downtown is usually a nightmare and expensive to park at, and we didn't have to struggle with any of those things. Reservations were all full online, but on their website they say the accept walk-ins. We were able to get in right away at the bar. The chefs were very friendly, as well as the hostess, and all the waiters. Everyone made sure we okay throughout the night. They had the best sashimi I've had my whole life and I've lived in Seattle and DC (both great places for sushi, which Charleston isn't really known for. I had a friend warn me that Charleston didn't have good sushi and Shiki proved them wrong--there's at least one good sushi place). The sashimi literally melted in your mouth. I don't know how to describe it. It was so good. It tasted like heaven and I wanted it to never end. And they gave you a good amount for a decent price. All the rolls we got were amazing, especially the Cucumber Breeze. We also got the Sweet Potato roll--which should not be as good as it is. I dream about it sometimes. When I'm on UberEATS I like to add cream cheese to it. The Lemon Roll was very fresh. We accidently got the cucumber roll, but it was good too. A lot of sushi restaurants hide behind their rice or stuff their rolls with crab to hide the fact that they don't have good fish, but Shiki doesn't. For the appetizer we got the Hamachi Jalapeño, and they should sell their ponzu sauce in bottles. It was just a great experience and if you are looking for sushi,...