The Establishment — Restaurant in Charleston

Edited to respond to owner’s response.

Dear Sir/Madame - Happy New Year to you as well. Perhaps you should check your facts with your server and determine whether your marketing is representative of the experience are providing to your consumers.

UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO A FULL RESTAURANT AND A LATER RESERVATION AND YOUR UNWILLINGNESS TO WAIT FOR AN OPEN TABLE WE SAT YOU AT THE NEXT BEST TABLE AVAILABLE. WE ALSO DO NOT MOVE TABLES IN THE MIDST OF THEIR DINING EXPERIENCE, ESPECIALLY WHEN FOOD AND DRINKS ARE ALREADY ON THE TABLE. - *This is actually NOT true and inaccurate. We were not offered a chance to wait for a better table. We would have gladly waited. We asked twice and were told there was no possibility of moving. Both alternative tables were empty when we got there and remained empty until we left after midnight. *

Live music - THERE WAS. IT WAS PLAYING THROUGHOUT THE RESTARANT ON OUR SOUNDSYSTEM ALL NIGHT. - That is correct. There was a gentleman playing in the front room and the music was piped into the bar through a sound system. Due to the noise at the bar, it was challenging to hear.

YOU DID. YOU RECEIVED 2 GLASSES OF SPARKLING AND A KIR ROYALE. - That is NOT factual and I have 3 witnesses at our table who can attest to that. I had a Kir Royale, a glass of sparkling and NO third drink that was supposed to be included with dessert. We were served a complimentary glass of champagne - as was the whole restaurant- at midnight that was supposed to be in addition to that third drink.

My best friend got sick from their shrimp dish within an hour of eating it. She kept asking if it was cooked properly because it tasted off. WE DID NOT HEAR OF ANYONE ELSE HAVING ISSUES WITH THE SHRIMP THAT NIGHT. AND MANAGERS DID NOT HEAR OF THAT SPECIFIC SITUATION FOR YOUR TABLE THAT NIGHT. WE DID CALL OUR PURVEYOR AND THEY HAVENT HAD ANY ISSUES ON THEIR END EITHER. - Ask your server. He brought many rounds of ginger ale to my friend and asked if there was anything he could do to help her feel better

*Please check your facts on food poisoning… Shellfish food poisoning can take 30-60 minutes to show symptoms in a person. *

• I understand you are a small business and given your positive ratings, I assume that on a normal business day your service and food quality is great. But your NYE service and offerings really did not live up to your reputation. **

ORIGINAL POST- Went to the Establishment for NYE for dinner and what they called “live music” for $200/person. We checked out the restaurant beforehand and front room was so cozy and cute (which is where we thought we would be seated). We were seated at the bar right near the kitchen. Asked to be moved and they said they had no available tables for 4. Although there were 2 open tables all night that could have seated us. One further from the kitchen and a booth. Still in the bar but at least better ambiance. We were there until after midnight and had a 9:30 resi. So, there WERE available tables. Live music was in the front room. No live music where we were. Food was average at best and we didn’t get our 3 alcoholic drinks that were supposed to be included with the food pairings. On top of which they charged us for sparking water - at a $200/person dinner. Best part of the dinner was the bread. My best friend got sick from their shrimp dish within an hour of eating it. She kept asking if it was cooked properly because it tasted off. She didn’t eat anything else after that just sat there drinking ginger ale. They didn’t even offer her a partial refund. We changed our dinner reservations and NYE plans to eat at the Establishment after reading the great reviews. What a let down. Very disappointing experience. Would not recommend. Our dinner at 167 Raw was way better two nights before and a lot...

Great menu, wine list was ok, service 8/10.

I had the scallops as an appetizer. Delicious! And duck agnolotti as entree. It was a little bland. Nice flavors but there wasn't much bringing it together. Very savory. The agnolottis by themselves didn't have much going on in the flavor department. I just wish there was more. Maybe some orange or juniper or cherry or something. She had the butter poached grouper. I was jealous of her dish. Very flavorful and beautiful texture.

The wine: There just wasn't a lot of wine to pick from north of $150. They did have a Cannubi Barolo which was nice to see but it was Damilano so eh. No vineyard specific or limited releases. Not a whole lot of Italian representation. One 1er cru Burgundy, but no high end Bordeaux. For having so much seafood, there weren't a lot of old world whites. Nice to see the Assyrtiko but only maybe one Alsace white. I'm wondering if the restaurant is very new as the nicer wine selections they do have are VERY YOUNG. The Amarone is 2019. I saw another group of gentlemen were decanting a bottle of red while drinking their white, but the container was a carafe. We ordered the Spanish Grenache, from Priorat. We did receive a decanter (vs carafe) but it seemed only because we requested it. For your wine to open quickly you want the most surface area of your wine exposed to oxygen. The carafe looks sharp but is not very practical for the intended use. If the wine is drinkable out of the bottle, a carafe could be used to extract the wine from the sediment, but given the youthfulness of all their wine I doubt this was the case.

Server gets a 9/10 because I don't think it's really his fault but accountability is something to be shared when what's lacking comes from the top. Service was friendly and professional. We got a walk through of the menu. He did a lot of talking but it was mostly a reading rather than an elaboration. I felt like I was in school and the teacher was reading aloud from the textbook. The best elaboration we heard was the "St. Angel Brie is from France." Unfortunately, it seems the education from the top is lacking. I wish I had heard more about why the chef has chosen these ingredients on the plate rather than they are just there. Talking about the chef, the drive, the direction, the philosophy, the passion. That speaks volumes over menu dictation. I ordered the Macabeo dessert wine from Roussillon. Excited because I had never heard of the French using Spanish grapes unless they have their own name like Monastrell vs Mourvedre. After taking a few sips I had asked our server what he would liken it to, to see if what I was thinking was on par with the somm's. It reminded me very much of Vin Santo. His reply was that he never had it but he would ask the bartender because she's more educated about those. I think it's a shame that employees aren't educated on wines that are poured by the glass, that they are expected to sell. You're sending them into Wimbledon with a badminton racket. It's the little things that separate a business from the competition and given the amount of competition in downtown Charleston, I'm surprised these little things aren't taken more seriously. We had a nice night but I'd probably give someone else a try next time. We didn't leave salivating...

We had a great dinner at The Establishment. This was our first time dining at the Establishment and we pretty impressed with their food.

The ambience of the restaurant was excellent and our waiter was very knowledgeable with the menu and also the drink suggestions and I was pretty happy with the suggested cocktail that he recommended, although I cant remember the name of it.

For the appetizer, we had wagyu beef carpaccio ( my new favorite from this restaurant) and riccota gnocchi with lump crab, basil pistou, breadcrumb (which is now my husband new

For the main course we had wreck fish butter poached, corn velouté, snow peas, shaved onion salad And it tasted amazing. I love the flavor of the fish, the sweet taste of the corn veloute, and the overall taste. Such a great summer dish. The Golden Tilefish was serve on top of popcorn rice, late spring vegetable, romesco sauce. The texture of golden tile fish kinda similar with grouper and the romesco sauce (tomato base) really compliment the whole dish. We also had the buttered rolls and it was so good! I also want to point out that the dish were not big portion but we ordered couple appetizers and rolls we had pretty good amount of food to enjoy. For the dessert we had this refreshing orange custard and a good cup of cappuccino.

Overall, we like this restaurant and we’ll be back.

Update : We had our anniversary dinner at the Establishment since we had a great date night at this place couple months ago. We had tiradito (ahi tuna ) with a nice sauce to it and it was the only thing we think so good from our meal. We got the SD brown court rolls, whole fish snapper that in need some serious sauce to make it tasteful. They are out of Macallan 12 each (again) so my husband ordered Macallan 15th. We probably wont be coming back to...