Bantam Chef in Chesnee South Carolina — Restaurant in Chesnee

Current Review - 6 days ago.... Although they have gotten a new menu sign, it seems Bantam Chef has went down hill drastically over the last year. I am really a huge B.C. fan, have literally went there my WHOLE LIFE. My Mom knows the original owners & their children ( who I "think" currently run it, although I've not saw lil' David or Travis in there in YEARS ) Drive thru seems to take E V E N longer than in recent years. I absolutely hate that once I get in the drive thru line I'm LITERALLY stuck..... I never know if it's going to take 5 minutes or 45 minutes & I just don't have that kind of time to waste. They need to move that curb that stops us without trucks from being able to pull out 😑 It's a real bummer to wait in that longggggg line, for suppose to be hot & fresh food, to be old & cold because my order was probably prepared when I ordered it ...... but had to sit and wait in line 30+ minutes to get to the window. Don't get me wrong, on a "Bantam Chef good day" there's nothing better than a fresh, hot chili cheese burger all the way add pickles with a chili cheese fry , large Sprite or a Peanut Butter Banana shake.......... Definitely needs a good deep cleaning inside too. It is a staple of Chesnee, no doubt. Just needs.... something done. Hopefully they kick it up some instead of basically just saying "I don't need to clean / improve anything, they'll still come. " I wished the next 2 or 3 times I go, my opinion changes. I'll note it either way tho! I have always loved the 50s style decor.... It used to be tastefully decorated. Now it seems items were just placed in there without much purpose except to fill a space vs "fitting in".... The place needs pressure washed outside drastically also. & whoever decided to put that yellow paint outside with the white and red, needs to be reevaluated.... Not a good look Bantam Chef...... Happy Eating everyone!

Previous Review - Year ago : Always great. Might take a minute to get my food but its definitely worth the wait because it is made...

Wife and I travel full time in our F-450 and Grand Design 380-FLR 42Ft. 5th wheel RV. I'm a retired veteran, currently work as a VOIP IT Tech and remote work full time. We stay in the local areas for 30 days and visit local establishments, parks and scenery and move on. We don't give 5 stars to most places unless we've had an extremely awesome experience.

We read the roller coaster reviews of this place and decided since we're in the area to give it a try since the drive through was packed and encouraged us to go inside.

Initially we we awed by all the nostalgic memorabilia EVERYWHERE... The menu on the wall above the area where you place your order was a little small to read while standing in line.

The smells of food was pretty nice but the establishment has a REALLY dusty feel to it. The closer to ordering we got, the more hesitant we got to actually place an order. The unorganized staff in the back were yelling at each other, and YELLING through all the people standing to pick up their orders, ORDER NUMBER 45.. LOL.. Really? You can't invest into a small little overhead speaker system? Wow.. Anyway, we ordered a couple of burgers and Fries/Onion rings and some tea. Price was reasonable I guess.

DO NOT get the onion Rings.. If it wasn't so crowded and difficult to make it back to the front to the counter I would have taken them Soggy, cold and pepper tasting things back.. HORRIBLE.. Burgers were a tad on the OK side.. Tasty and not much too them. For us the tea was great..

One another note, reading the items on the walls and a dedicated nostalgic fenced off area that had a LOT of very cool and rare items to ogle over made us stay longer than we wanted.

OK, we been there and done that, and will not be going back under any...

We are finally giving up on this place. I've loved Bantam Chef since I was a child and have fond memories of what it was. But we'r have had so many bad experiences over the past few years with no good experiences that we are finally throwing in the towel.

I'm not sure what has happened and I'm not mad or writing this because I'm mad or offended. Honestly, I'm just disappointed that an old favorite is no more for us. Between getting food that is clearly old and practically rotten, waiting 50 minutes for an order of only 3 milkshakes, not getting the food that we ordered, receiving food that smelled rancid and I wouldn't even give to our dogs, and other stories that fall way below what I consider reasonable -- and a staff that is always visibly distracted, busy and never friendly at all -- I'm closing the post of my life where my family goes to Bantam Chef anymore.

It could be that we were just unlucky and always got what was bad and everyone else is getting the awesome goid and service that I remember from days gone by -- so you don't have to assume that our experience will be yours too. But it's been bad enough so many times in a row for us that I felt it was worth mentioning. In case they might read it and consider ways to get back to quality food and an enjoyable dining experience -- or that I might save some other family from wasting their hard earned money on food their family can't (or shouldn't) eat.

I don't normally write negative reviews, so I'm hoping this only serves as positive criticism for change, not as a crushing blow or accusation against a restaurant that I loved...