A Lowcountry Backyard Restaurant — Restaurant in Hilton Head Island

This may be a pretty lengthy review, but I feel it’s necessary. We are on vacation in Hilton Head and decided to try local restaurants for our dining experiences on this trip. When we first arrived to the restaurant we were only the second guests there. The hostess was very welcoming and accommodating and that is where the nice experience stopped. When our waitress, Cookie, arrived she greeted us and asked what we would like to drink. Now this interaction seems acceptable until we started to notice little things later on.

Since this is our first time visiting, we took our time to read the menu to decide what to order, so she did have to come back 2-3 times to see if we’d made our choices. Each time she came back she just asked a simple “Have we decided on what we want or do we need more time?” and then would walk away when we asked for more time. Again, seems like a normal interaction, until other patrons started rolling in.

When the 3rd table came in the attitude of our waitress seemed to shift. She approached their table and was upbeat. She welcomed them to the restaurant, asked if they were local or visiting, and began to rattle off the fish of the day and started to try to have a decent conversation with them about different events that were going on on the island while getting their orders(She also had this same interaction with a 4th table that was seated sometime later after we were served). When she returned to our table she only asked if we were ready to order. There wasn’t any inquiry about if we were local or what our plans were while we were here, she simply did not treat us the same as her other tables. It wasn’t until my mother began to ask about the prices of the Market Priced menu items that she told us about the fish of the day.

Once we were ready to order Cookie was having a hard time understanding my mother because she said that she was hard of hearing and my mother was wearing a mask so it took a moment for her to get the order down. My mom wanted to get the veggie plate and was asking Cookie which veggies/sides she thought were the best. Cookie then began to explain several times, each time talking slower as if we didn’t understand, about how you can choose 3 sides(as if the menu didn’t already explain that). I interjected and explained that she’s not asking about how the veggie plate works, she’s asking which sides are the best. She finally got my mothers order down and when she saw that my mother was visibly frustrated, her tone of voice changed to being irritated and she shrugged and said rather loudly “I’m sorry ma’am I couldn’t understand you”.

I ordered the Shrimp and Wild mushroom cobbler with mashed potatoes for the side. My mom ordered the veggie plate with Lima beans, collard greens, and Apple N Raisin slaw. I could tell right off that the mashed potatoes had just been microwaved because there was the all too familiar hard crust of mashed potatoes around the perimeter of the bowl that you get when you reheat and overcook leftover food. My mother also didn’t care for the Lima beans.

I asked to trade my potatoes for grits and my mom traded her Lima beans for macaroni and cheese. The grits weren’t good and the macaroni and cheese was basically noodles in cheese water(I’ll attach a picture). We were apprehensive about sending the food back a second time, so we didn’t.

Once it was time to pay Cookie came out with the portable POS machine. When she asked my mom to sign the screen, my mother went to grab the machine and Cookie wouldn’t let it go. It’s pretty difficult to sign your name on a small touchscreen with only your finger, no stylus, that is being held by another person mid-air. If they’re unable to allow patrons to hold the machine, then that is something that should have been explained. Instead, nothing was said as she just looked at my mother as she basically had to pull it out of Cookie’s grip.

When we were done paying and leaving the tip she just says, without even looking at us, “Try to have a nice day” and walks off. We...

TL;DR: Great food, fair service, loooooooong wait times.

I visited Lowcountry Backyard on Tuesday, June 25, 2024 with a party of 13 (11 adults, 2 children). A few things I'd like to make specific mention of, and I'm sharing this so you can be as prepared as possible should you choose to visit.

We arrived at 4:37pm. There were four parties ahead of us: one party of 10, and a handful of 2 or 3. We did not speak with the host until 5:07pm, and a long line developed behind us over that 30 minute period. We were told the wait would be 25 minutes, so we left our phone number with the host and sat in our vehicles. FYI: the parking lot is small, and is shared with other businesses. After 40 minutes, I went back tot he host and asked how much longer we should expect the wait to be, and we were told it would be five minutes (it ended up being 10). We were seated 1 hour and 20 minutes after we had arrived. This restaurant does NOT take reservations, and you do NOT put your name in... they seat each party as they come to the front of the line, and the host/hostess might disappear for 6 or 7 minutes at a time. Numerous customers in line questioned the wisdom of this approach, but it is what it is... again, simply sharing for you to be informed.

Once inside, we were seated at a table that would've been a good fit for 9, not 13. However, the staff quickly accommodated us by pulling over an extra table. Our server was Mary, and she was excellent. We quickly received cups of ice cold water, and then waited about 10 minutes to place our order. The food started to come after a 25 minute wait. We ordered four of the lowcountry boils for two (being split by 8 people), four separate entrees, and two kids meals. The first item to come out was one of the lowcountry boils, followed by everything else a few minutes later. It wasn't until after all of the food came out that all of the necessary utensils for the lowcountry boil was brought out (crab cracker, little fork, bowls for scraps, etc.). With the lowcountry boil, you have to work for some of the food: cracking the crab claws and peeling the shrimps. I also placed an order for the shrimp and grits. It was phenomenal, but I think would be better priced at $19.99.

Food is being judged as 4.5 stars. There were good options for kids, and people that don't like seafood. Overall, the food was delicious.

We gave the service three stars because of the wait, the lack of communication to guests as they arrive, and they seemed a bit behind on servicing the table.

Regarding the atmosphere, we enjoyed sitting indoors. There were a few TVs hanging inside, and two of them were ON with the "Signal Not Found" message bumping around the screen for the duration of our visit. There was more seating outdoors, with a number of fans running to keep guests cool. There was also live music. There is also a number of umbrellas to keep the sun off of guests.

One more note about the service: it was hard to tell if this establishment was understaffed. I would guess that they were consistently at 70% capacity with seating... there were always open tables, even with the long line. Some employees seemed to have multiple jobs: host, food runner, etc. I was concerned that our long wait for a table would be matched by a long wait for our food, but was pleased that it came out after 25 minutes. By the time we left at 7:30pm, there were only about 15 people in line.

I would eat here again, but would go with different expectations for...

Casual, homey atmosphere. Exceptional service. Most importantly, DELICIOUS food.

Italian New Yorker foodie here. I was visiting family in SC and feeling deeply saddened for them on account that there’s just not good food down here. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Everything so far has been lackluster and poorly executed. My husband is a Louisianan, and between the both of us and all the places we’ve lived, as well as my rich cooking heritage from my Sicilian immigrant family, we know food. This place is LEGIT. Great portion sizes fyi.

We had the fried green tomato stack, shrimp bisque, a side of limas, shrimp and grits, seafood perloo, banana pudding, key lime pie, and two moonshine drinks, the moonarita and the blackberry lemonade.

Drinks: Dangerous. Not overly sweet. Delicious and refreshing, albeit simple and straightforward.

Fried green tomatoes: served with a light and flavorful, tangy and herbaceous homemade ranch, and sweet pickles. Piping hot, incredibly crunchy exterior, bursting juicy and tangy tomato. Best we’ve had since Prejean’s in Cajun country. 10/10

Limas: unassuming in appearance, but take one bite and you’ll get perfectly seasoned, creamy, with just the right amount of bite. Not mushy, but velvety, and still totally intact. Seasoned, but I appreciated the lack of pork or bacon flavor. They tasted sweet, nutty, and vegetal like limas should. 10/10

Bisque: incredibly creamy, shrimpy, slightly sweet sherry flavor. Gentlest of kicks, but still present. Absolutely delicious. Only slightly disappointed there was only one shrimp floating on top, but the bisque was full of it, just minced. Clearly made with shrimp stock, because it packed a shrimp flavor. 9.5/10

Shrimp and grits: My husband was obsessed. I was only slightly less than that. They were delicious for sure, but not as good as McGraw’s in Charleston, though I had that ten years ago. I like my shrimp and grits served in a cast iron where the outermost perimeter of the grits gets a little toasted and well done, and I want the shrimp huge, and head on. The ratio of shrimp to grits was 30/70. I very much so appreciated the bacon cream sauce and the amount of green onion. The shrimp were nicely cooked, albeit smaller than I wanted. The grits needed a little salt. 7.5/10 Husband says 9/10. So, still great, just not mind blowing.

Perloo: served with a nice filet of the fish of the day that happened to be Mahi. We did blackened, but you can get grilled. I don’t even love mahi, but this was prepared beautifully. Tender and flavorful. The rice was incredible, the sausage and the shrimp were perfect, the flavor profile and cream texture were all so satisfying. Drizzled with that same ranch, moonshine barbecue, and topped with sprouts. It was fresh, tangy, slightly spicy, smoky, sweet, all at the same time. It was divine. 10/10

Banana pudding: so creamy, so fresh, and most importantly NOT TOO SWEET. Served in an adorable presentation, not that I care about that. I care about taste. Husband’s favorite dessert and has a high bar. Was thrilled. 10/10

Key lime pie: literally tasted like my mom’s. Huge portion. More like two slices. Tangy, sweet, so creamy, nothing fake. Real whipped cream. Delicious crunchy toasty nutty sweet buttery graham crust. 10/10

So far, this restaurant is the best I’ve had in Bluffton. Will go back for lunch with my parents asap. You...