The Collective Offshore — Restaurant in Columbia

We were part of a party of seven on Saturday, Dec. 9. at 4:45 pm- 6:59 pm. Our experience was very poor; the food was poor to mediocre. Our table was configured and set nicely. The maitre d’ was very accommodating.

Most of our party members felt the food seasoning was off; my husband and I found ours way too salty. The waitress was inattentive, and we seemed to be only 1 of 2 tables in our section. Asked for extra salad dressing, and she didn’t bring it until the second request— after I had to get up and ask someone else.

Husband’s beer was warm. Again, took a long time for her to get a new one, and that was off, too. My husband had to get up and go to the bar to work with the bartender to get a cold one.

My husband ordered his burger medium-rare, and it came well-done. By the time the waitress had checked back, I was halfway through my dinner. The waitress DID readily acknowledge my husband’s burger was overcooked, and got him a new one, which was better temperature-wise.

There was music overhead that was very distracting, and instead of trying to work with us on it, the waitress gave us a debate on why it would be hard to lower it. Meanwhile, with that music going on overhead, the restaurant ALLOWED an outside group to come into the restaurant— about 4 members of a local high school choir— and go table to table to sing Holiday songs. The expectation was a donation would be made by the diners! They were very talented, yet they were competing with the overhead piped in music! Moreover, this amounted to panhandling, while we’re eating dinner & trying to converse and catch up with out-of-town relatives.

On the one had, we felt this was a worthy activity that these students were engaged in, and so several of us generously tipped in cash. However, there was no accountability, and really there would be no gracious way of declining their singing and a gift.

The restaurant NEEDS TO HAVE boundaries. Which groups would they and would they not let in to solicit? I have never encountered such a dynamic while in a fine-dining experience. If the restaurant corporation wanted to make a donation to the public high school choir by check and host these singers, that is appropriate. But to put diners in the position of agreeing for them to sing at their table and paying them out of pocket in cash is awkward and inappropriate.

For seven diners, 4 of whom ordered one drink each, no dessert, one shared brie appetizer, 7 entrees, the bill came to $426.93 with tip and tax. The 20% tip was billed automatically for a “large party.” I would think a large party would be more than 8 people, but we accepted it. The waitress did not deserve a tip of $67.40 given her sour demeanor and poor service.

We would never...

This was our first visit to this restaurant and the experience was horrible. After we were seated, my wife ordered a shot of Apple Crown Royal and I ordered the "In The Jungle" which per the menu, consisted of coconut rum, lime juice, papaya and Vermont maple syrup. Asked for a kids menu. They don't have printed kids menus, our waitress pulled out a piece of paper and read off several items. After a little more than 25 minutes, our waitress informs us the bar is out of Apple Crown Royal. She then comes back to our table and delivers my drink. I inform her that my drink tastes extremely sour and it also tastes as if it contains grapefruit juice. She takes it back to the bar in exchange for another one. She comes back a few minutes later and instead of her bringing me a re-made drink, she says she nor the bartender can figure out why the drink is sour. She then recommends another drink. I ask what ingredients were in it, and she couldn't answer. How can you recommend something that you don't know what's in it? We then order our food. My kids got the Carolina Bacon Jam Wings. The wings were bland with a sweet sauce poured on top. No seasoning or flavor at all. We then ordered the "Surf and Turf for 2" ($110.00) and the chicken fingers kids meal. After waiting for 55 minutes, our waitress comes over and says "I'm sorry, the kitchen just informed me that we ran out of lobster tails but we can substitute shrimp". I inquired as why she was just informing us of this after sitting there for 55 minutes and the restaurant is mostly empty? She had no answer. I told her we were not going to pay $110 for a substitution of shrimp. She then leaves and comes back and says "our kitchen just found some lobster and we can cook it for you". At this point I asked for the manager. The manager comes over and says "I understand there has been some confusion, what seems to be the problem?" I told him as the manager he should be explaining to me what the problem is. He proceeded to tell me they thought they ran out of lobster but then they found some and were going to thaw it out. I told him we had already waited 55 minutes and now we have to wait longer to have two lobster tails thawed out as well as get the steak cooked. He offered to comp our meal and said it as if he was doing us a favor. My wife and I decided to just leave and go to another restaurant. The staff here is inexperienced, the food leaves a lot to be desired and the management has no clue what's going on in the restaurant. How can a manager not know there is a problem when a customer has been sitting there for almost an hour waiting for food in a mostly empty restaurant? Save yourself a headache and eat...

The Collective Offshore atmosphere is great, the decor is very inviting, and it appears to be a great restaurant to celebrate a special occasion based on the decor. The food, on the other hand, is questionable, though we visited once and explored two different 3-course meals based on their restaurant week promotion. We attempted to order the Calamari and Caesar salad for appetizers. We were told the fryer was working, and there were no substitutes, so we went with two Caesars, There was nothing to write home about. It was very basic. For the entre, we went with the Fish and grits and the Shrimp Butternut Stuff Ravioli in a cream sauce; we asked if the Fryer would affect the fish, so we could pivot and move away from the set menu, and we were told no. Unfortunately, that was not true the fish burned to sight and taste, in my opinion, the chef should not have let that leave the kitchen, but again I'm not a chef, I just love food and eat with my eyes first as far as the Ravioli dish, it was okay, not bad, but the I wouldn't recommend based on the flavor paring this kind of sweet and salt is not my preference. For dessert, we ordered the carrot cake and the pumpkin pie. They tasted like store-bought desserts, so nothing I would go back for or recommend. Our server/waiter recognized that we were not satisfied without us expressing it and offered us a 2nd Ravioli dish. There was never praise for the Ravioli dish, and he never sought to find out if it was liked. My opinion is it appears no effort was put into the Restaurant Week menu. Usually, this is when a restaurant puts out its best courses/ dishes in small portions to get new patrons interested in returning. Based on my experience, I didn't get that impression from The Collective Offshore. The goal should be to offer your best or most popular or new dish, and if something fails, be ready to pivot and give the best even in the pivot, meaning plan a substitute in the event something goes wrong on the side of the restaurant, not the patron. If Offshore doesn't plan to give customers their best, my suggestion is to NOT participate in this promotion because it will hurt more than it would help you gain new customers. My family's saying is "How you any is how you do everything"

I won't say I will or will not return because everyone has bad days, and that...