Between The Antlers — Restaurant in Georgetown

Today, my daughter and I took a trip to Georgetown, SC, to visit "Between the Antlers", a decision motivated by a desire for a light meal in a new locale. The journey from our home outside of Charleston (114 miles) took us around an hour-and-a-half, but the adventure began when we arrived at the restaurant with confusion at the hostess station. When we walked up to the sign, it stated that the restaurant was closing at 1:30 (it was 1:25). I asked the hostess if they were really closing in 5 minutes as there were several people seated and eating within view. She seemed confused, and I thought we were going to be turned away, until another woman stepped in and told us that “today, we are staying open until 2:30” (confusing). We were then seated on the back deck with a view of the water.

Upon being seated, our waiter brought both of us "plastic" glasses of lukewarm water with no ice or lemon, a small detail that set the tone for the rest of our visit. We soon realized the only menu available was for Sunday brunch, not the hamburgers we had anticipated on the drive up. Adjusting our expectations, we ordered from the brunch offerings: Eggs Benedict for my daughter and a BLT sandwich for myself. We also each had a bowl of she-crab soup. Each plate also came with one side item; we each chose home fries.

Unfortunately, the meal did not meet our expectations. The she-crab soup was disappointingly milky and overly salty with scarcely any crab meat to be found (I’ve had much better from a can). The home fries accompanying our dishes were burnt, and the Eggs Benedict suffered from both an undercooked piece of pork belly and a lackluster flavor, according to my daughter. While my BLT was decent despite the bacon being overcooked, the overall experience was underwhelming and very disappointing.

The waiter was polite; he did take and deliver both of our orders, but neither of us received a refill of our drinks (a Coke and sweet tea) throughout the entire meal. Even though my glass was almost empty, he brought me more ice but no additional tea. Even with all of this, we blame the kitchen and the management for the food issues, not the waiter. The total for food and drinks was $52, and we left a $12 tip, totaling $64.

Reflecting on our dining experience, and the alomost three hours on-the-road, I regret to say the journey and expense were not justified. While I rarely offer such blunt criticism, my advice to others would be to consider any different dining option available. Our experience at "Between the Antlers" was disappointing enough that we will not be returning, nor will we recommend this...

The burger was awesome. The atmosphere was the best. I fell in love with this place. My only complaint is the same problem that I have with most of the restaurants on Front Street in Georgetown, SC, they don’t serve fresh local shrimp. That night I spoke to them about buying a box of fresh shrimp & they were all for it but when I returned the next day with a box of shrimp they didn’t buy it. Said they don’t use shrimp with the peeling on them very much. I was absolutely shocked that a chef would say this. All you have to do is throw them shrimp in a pan, sprinkle lemon juice, peel them, and take a sharp knife & split them down the middle to the tail. Bam you are done. I’m going back down their this week to talk to them some more because I really love the restaurant & I don’t want to give up on them. It is shocking to me that the restaurants on Front Street don’t support the local shrimpers. Those restaurants depend on the Harbor to draw tourists to Front Street. Due to the Harbor closing In because of Erosion Control the only thing keeping it open is the shrimp boats coming in and out of harbor. Once they have all gone (which will be very soon) the Harbor will close in. No one wants to go to a Harbor town that has no Harbor. I bet you at that point the restaurants will be kicking themselves for not supporting the local fisherman. Georgetown can’t afford to Dredge & since our port no longer has a working need the Army Corps of Engineers is not going to dredge. They have Charleston & dont need our port anymore. 10 years ago you could run a shrimp boat all the way around the island. You can’t even run a small boat around it now. It is sad because when you think of Georgetown town you think of shrimp boats. Soon there will be no shrimp boats. If everyone would have done their part to support the local fisherman things could have...

Wow. Where to begin. Perspective is everything and having dined in some the top restaurants in the US keep my review in mind.

First and foremost…if you plan to dine at Between the Antlers, do not expect great service or even good service or even mediocre service. Expect horrible service and then think one level below that.

The bartender was rude. He would not make the drink special of the day advertised on their FB page. Furthermore he said the “Washington Punch” on the drink menu was too complicated and discontinued. The guy was a real smart a$$ and seemed bothered that we were at the bar trying to order wine, beer, bourbon and rum based drinks… Thursday at six pm it was not busy.

Dinner service was a disaster. Morgan was not happy about our reservation for a party of twelve and oh how it showed! From the water service, drink service, food service and beyond. We had to serve ourselves for drink refills by going to the bar. We never got water refills although we asked. We ordered appetizers…some came out…others did not despite reminding our server. The same with dinner…entrees were served before salads, some salads did not even arrive, some arrived after dinner. I ordered an appetizer, salad and entree…of those three things, I received zero, even after reminding Morgan. After the third request, I canceled my order. Only then my dinner arrived with the manager…I said no thank you.

Of those that did receive food, their reviews were mixed from “fair” to “good”. Not one person said they would return though.

The restaurant sounds like a great concept with good location. However there is a lot missing between the concept...