Bowdie's Chophouse — Restaurant in Hilton Head Island

Dear Mr. Bowdish,

I hope this message finds you well. I’m writing to share some feedback about our recent visit to your Hilton Head location on Sunday evening, May 4th, at 6:45 PM.

We were genuinely looking forward to dining at Bowdie’s again, as we had a wonderful experience about a year ago and were excited to return. Unfortunately, this visit did not meet the high expectations set by our previous one, largely due to a series of service missteps and an interaction with your general manager, Mr. Kendall Frazier, that left us disappointed.

We were seated at a high-top in the bar area and greeted by Ken, who took our drink order. My wife asked for a glass of water and a glass of Chardonnay. I specifically asked for a Black Russian made with Ketel One vodka and Kahlúa. A short time later, another staff member, Jordan, introduced himself as our server and asked for our drink preferences again. We let him know Ken had already taken the order, and he mentioned they’d be working together.

When the drinks arrived, I was given a White Russian instead of a Black Russian, which Ken corrected. However, when I tasted the corrected drink, I could tell it wasn’t made with Kahlúa. Out of curiosity, I asked Jordan what was used, and he told me it was Mr. Black. That was surprising, especially since I hadn’t been informed of the substitution. It also made me wonder whether the vodka used was actually Ketel One, as I had requested.

As we moved on to appetizers, my wife requested the Grilled Caesar salad to be chopped, which Jordan said was no problem. I ordered the Cream of Crab Soup. When the dishes arrived, the salad was not chopped, and my soup came without a spoon. After waiting a few minutes, I approached Ken at the bar to ask for one. His body language and tone suggested annoyance, and when I tried to lighten the moment by saying, “You all need to step up your game,” he seemed even more irritated. I attempted to explain that our drink, soup, and salad had all come out incorrectly, but he abruptly told me he would remove them from the check and walked away.

That interaction set a negative tone for the rest of the evening. While the salad was eventually chopped and the soup was delicious, the experience had already been impacted. Later, when our main course arrived, Jordan offered to cut the cowboy steak and noted it was undercooked (rare instead of medium). He took both plates back without issue, and we appreciated his professionalism throughout the evening.

At the end of the meal, I asked Jordan who Ken was and was surprised to learn he was the general manager. I understand that everyone can have an off day, but I was taken aback by the lack of hospitality and the dismissive attitude from someone in a leadership role. It was a stark contrast to the warm, attentive service we experienced during our previous visit.

I’m sharing this feedback not to complain, but in the hope that it can be a teachable moment. Your restaurant has a stellar reputation, and we’ve experienced firsthand the excellence it’s known for. I truly hope our experience was an exception and that future guests continue to receive the high level of service Bowdie’s is celebrated for.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate your attention and wish you continued...

What a disaster of a evening. I would not go to this dog track of a restaurant. It started off just okay. The server was okay, not really friendly to make you feel good. I would say he was cold. The appetizer was good, the salad was good, but not great !! How can you mess up a salad ?? Then the disaster started. We ordered a ribeye steak, there special was cream of spinach and a order of truffle fries. We asked for the steak to be cooked med plus (slight pink no blood) . When the steak came out it was cooked med to the rare side. The cream of spinach came out in a soup dish and looked like cream of spinach soup, and the what they truffle fries came out as if they bought them from 5 guys burger. Truffle fries are thin string fries with truffle seasoning on them. No truffle seasoning and there was a side of ketchup and mayo as if your at 5 guys burger. !! The waiter never came over as soon as are food came out to check is everything is okay. When he finally came over , we asked for the steak to be taken back to cook to are requested temp. It took apporx 10-15 mins for the steak to come back out. Are cream of spinach soup was cold and the 5 guys fries are cold !! The steak was now over cooked to well !! I took one bit of the steak. Worst ever !! The plate was sizzling and extremely hot to touch since they put the whole plate in their broiler to cook more. Instead of putting back onto the grill. This caused a big issue since the plate was extremely hot to touch and sizzling causing grease to splatter all over my wife and her $600.00 outfit she had on!! I had to use my napkins to cover her so her outfit does not get damaged and her skin does not get burnt!! At this point it's time to end this disaster of a romantic dinner. They did charge us for are app , salad and bottle of wine. I feel they should of charged us NOTHING knowing how bad it was. This is what they call a Steak Chophouse is fare from that. It's a high end 5 guys burger shop with high end steak house prices !! I attached a picture of the sides we ordered , but Unfortunately we did not get a picture of how the steak came back out , since we were to busy avoiding the sizzling hot plate with a very over cooked burger at this point. One last thing. One of the waiters who was the nicest out everyone at this time , handed me the general manager business and asked for me to write done my phone number and e mail address so Kendall will reach out to me regarding are diester evening . It has been one week now since this disaster occurred and no call or e mail. We will see what happens now after...

Allow me to preface, based on the reviews written by other guests, I believe our dinner was an anomaly and are planning to return soon.

Upon entering the restaurant, we received a warm, friendly greeting and taken to our table. I have no intentions of trying to penalize Bowdies for the atmosphere since we had a 5:45pm last-minute reservation with a five and a half year old. Just by looking at the place, a person can see that the atmosphere should be pretty good.

The server was fantastic, especially when dealing with someone with Celiac, which is me. Friendly, knowledgeable, and professional. The server provided several options for the five and a half year old, and the item selected made her happy. Chicken, truffle fries, and lobster Mac minus the lobster. Both she and her mother said the sides were very good. Not celiac friendly, so must take their approval.

We split a dozen oysters. Very good, clean, fresh tasting. All good so far, and you are probably curious how this ended with the three star rating. Love buratta, so I selected this with the seasonal fruit, balsamic glaze, minus the baguette. There was a small piece of buratta without the glaze and tasted very good. I enjoy a balsamic glaze, but the remainder of the buratta was covered with the glaze, extremely salty, and was hoping for much better after the first bite without the glaze. I selected the ribeye, and the server informed me that the au gratin potatoes can be prepared gluten-free. Yes sir, I am exactly where I need to be. The rib eye was over salted to the point of leaving half on my plate. I did not have any toppings or butter on the steak, so I am not sure if the amount of salt used is what is needed with one of those selections. Or, I have ventured into steak restaurants where they add additional salt to provide the allure of dry aged beef.

Maria selected mushrooms and a filet. Mushrooms were good. The filet was prepared like my ribeye. An excessive amount of salt and could only eat about half. We split a nice Barolo to ease the pain.

We will return due to the other guests' reviews, and the majority of food and definitely service...