The Restaurant at Zero George — Restaurant in Charleston

Zero = the number of stars I would give this establishment if it were possible. I had heard much hype about this restaurant and checked out their website before our dinner which under the title “menu options” states that you have a choice of the chefs tasting menu $135 or a 4-course menu for $65. As we were having dinner quite late after the theater I was satisfied that we would have this choice. When we arrived we were only given the $135 chefs tasting menu. I asked “for the other 4-course menu” and was told that it was only a pretheater menu for the Gaillard center and that “no one asks for that”. We informed our server that we were not interested in the chefs tasting menu as some in our party were allergic to fish and others did not eat meat and we had looked at the menus in advance and it was quite clear that there was another option. We would have left at this point and I wish we had. A manager finally arrived and grudgingly offered us the 4-course tasting menu. One member of our party was allergic to oysters so the restaurant was willing to substitute a deviled egg; only after telling us they were out of them, as another member of our party had requested them for his appetizer. When he commented about this, our extremely rude server said and I quote “you can have them for $sixteen cash”. We were all taken aback by her comment and the way in which it was said. Our first course was fine but then our main course arrived. Three of us had chosen red snapper, which had been substituted with something called tile fish; aptly named as it had all the taste of floor tile. None of us ate more than a bite of this awful dish. The server came over and asked how everything was and we told her the fish was absolutely tasteless and that we thought we were getting red snapper. The manager showed up again and told us that they had the right to make substitutions. I would think substituting the main component of the main dish for three out of four guests might warrant some clarification. It was truly inedible and tasted like it was poached in bath water. The cheese plate for dessert was excellent but could not help to make this awful dining...

First of all, I would not trust any of these positive reviews from anyone that actually ate at the restaurant. If I could give less than one star, I would. Especially for the price tag. Take note none of the locals or restaurant people we met had ever been here, so should of been a clue to know this is a serious tourist trap (which we heard from everyone after our terrible experience). My friend and I after going to some much more delicious restaurants, like Husk and Fig, decided to try this place out. We were greeted with lovely service at the bar and had a great cocktail before being escorted to our seats. That is where the pleasantries ended.

Coming from New York, my friend from LA, we were excited for this food experience and no stranger to great food and culinary tastings. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be farther from the case. The food was at some points was inedible. One dish that specifically haunts my mind is a little plant looking pot. Cute presentation, but all it was was two tiny radishes in a butter soil. It was taking a spoonful of butter with edible dirt on top. Both myself and my friend almost gagged. Her gag-inducing, taste-stopper was a fish dish that tasted so incredibly fishy, we thought it might of gone bad. It’s sad but the best dish was the appetizer of cigar egg rolls that was something you could get at in any Trader Joe’s frozen section…. But you know, with a 500% mark up.

To top it off, prior to the horrible meal, we were debating on doing the wine pairing, as it had some sweet wines that neither of us were interested in. When asked for the wine sommelier, an extremely young gentleman came around and when given our taste preferences (red, dry, possibly Bordeaux/Cabernet, etc.) he proceeded to only offer the most expensive bottle on the menu. When asked why? He could not even answer and could not offer ANY other recommendations. What a sham! Clearly not a sommelier at all. We couldn’t help but laugh. In looking back, we should of walked out at that moment and saved ourselves 500$.

Whatever you do, don’t fall for the tourist trap! Save your money and go to any and I mean ANY other restaurant and you will have a...

We are coming from Switzerland, so our expectations and standards are quite high. In general, I would give it 4 out of five stars (European standards), or 5 out of 5 (USA standards).

We know this is not a Michelin star restaurant and Charleston is not really known for “fine” dining (European standards), but the food was still delicious.

The elevated wine pairings were a bit questionable - I do not recommend the orange wine and opted for a rose instead. The Sicilian red wine paired with the halibut was also questionable, but it worked ok.

In general, the dining experience in USA is fast paced. We asked for the service to slow down, as were used to savoring our meals for longer periods of time (2+ hours for dinner). They would already come out with the first course as we were still drinking our aperitifs; or come out with the next wine even if I didn’t finish the last. They often took the plates away separately (if one person was finished, but the other was not). Again, Charleston is not known for fine dining. This experience was more about fine food versus fine dining.

The service is very friendly and always there to help.

I wish they would have mentioned the parking lot across the street in the reservation, as we parked at the Gaillard parking Garage.

Three things that kind of put me off: no gloves were worn when people were setting the cutlery on the table. No gloves were also worn when the black truffle was being shaved onto the cheese plates. There is still a pandemic happening, so it would be greatly appreciated if it is obvious that staff hands are disinfected before placing items on the dining table where guests place these items in their mouth… Also, normally if you sousvide a big piece of meat and cut part off for a steak, it is customary to grill the outside of the steak before serving it to customers. It was like they cut a piece of meat directly from the sousvide bag and placed it on a plate. I prefer cutting into my steak to see it is medium, rather than the pink of the meat be faced upward. The elevated option of Wagyu is definitely a better choice than the...