ELA'S on the Water — Restaurant in Hilton Head Island

The location and view is one of the best on the island. The bar is cozy and designed well. The entire restaurant is spacious and classy. Our lobster nachos were fantastic and the special of blackened grouper over mushroom risotto was amazing. Great experience and will definitely be back. Edit: We returned for a second time and it was so bad that I cannot, in good faith, keep this review at anything but a one-star. We were first seated in the worst seat in the house although I reserved a table a month in advance and specifically asked for a window seat. They did move us after 10-15 minutes which was fine. No harm, no foul. Our drinks were OK, appetizer was good (lobster nachos again) but that's where it stops. My wife ordered lobster over risotto - it was average. Not everything will be a homerun. I ordered a surf & turf and I cut into the lobster, take a bite and it is completely raw. Nothing sets you off to not want to eat seafood like inadvertently raw seafood. I figured I would eat the steak and wait for the waitress and just tell her to X the lobster. I cut into the middle of the steak and it is purple (I do order medium rare, but it was black & blue aka pan seared and pulled). The cold, purple center deemed this inedible as well to me. The waitress, Katie, did come up and offer to fix it. I did state multiple times that I did not want the lobster anymore, just please nuke the steak for 30 seconds and we'll call it even. They brought out a full dish 15ish minutes later and the steak was COVERED in sauce (keep in mind, the first time there was either no sauce or very light as this isn't salisbury steak). I cut in and honestly I cannot see if its cooked or not because of the amount of sauce - it really was that much. They halved the steak this time and it was about as thin as a McDonald's patty. The steak must have been left on the grill, intentionally or not, twice as long as it needed. It was not medium rare, it was not even well done, it was a puck. It tasted as if you took the burnt scraps off the ends of a recently smoked meat and just ate that. Inedible. I did not touch it past that single bite. The waitress does come back and sees I did not touch it, again. She asked what she could do and I told her as honest as possible that I just do not want anything and would like to go. The food was too far gone to even eat, unfortunately. The bill comes out and the food was not removed. The manager never came to apologize or even visit us. I was frustrated and went downstairs and asked the hostess to speak to the manager. We talked, he knew of the whole situation and said he told our server to give us a free dessert. We declined the dessert as I did not eat any dinner and was turned off by our experience. The manager showed no remorse for our night. A $50+ dish that was untouched, twice...could never be fixed by a measly dessert. I paid the bill, tipped our server as I normally would and moved on. I will not...

My wife and I are a minority couple. I am sadden to post this, but it needs to be in ELA'S review. I hope no one else has this type of experience.

My wife and I made reservations for 7:30pm but arrived at 7pm and they asked us to wait until a table was available for us. While waiting two separate couples came in and were seated. The second couple said their reservations were for 8pm, but we continued to wait patiently until another couple came in and was seated immediately. I went and looked in the back and there was nice seating available. After I returned and told my wife they told us our table was available, it was the worst table in the area. We asked to be seated in the two nice seating locations and they said they were reserved as another couple was now being seated. Something did not feel right so I asked the gentleman seating there did he reserve that seat, HE SAID NO.

It destoyed our evening. This should not happen in 2018. This is a very poor representation of the Hilton Head Community and no customer should ever experience anything like this. We told them we did not feel comfortable about eating there and went to another restaurant. I had to apologize to my wife for bringing her to such an establishment. I am never one to play the race card or publicly discuss these type of issues, but I must discuss this one. We have been fortunate and traveled to many countries and never has this happen and it should not. I hope ELA'S will do something to prevent issues like this from happening again. We went to Poseidon seafood steak raw bar and my wife told them what happened, they apologized for ELA'S behavior and they were great. Thanks Poseidon and staff.

ELA'S responds, saying this is our fault because I my wife made reservation 15 min before arriving. Also stayed I demanded another table, we made no demands for any seats I only asked. We are not demanding people. The couple had not ordered, I would not nor did not interupt their dinner. My wife made reservations at 5:30 on open table, she only called to verify. Well we made reservations 10 minutes before arriving at Poseidon and when we arrived they were very full, but it was a great experience. The staff went out of there way to ensure we had a nice time. Customer feedback is crucial for business improvement. I hope this helps ELA'S in someway. The restaurant experience is more than a view, but I must admit the view is nice. We believe in moving forward and will dock and eat in the future. Hopefully the experience will not be the same. We will post if it improves everyone should be given the opportunity to improve. We do not seek any discounts we only want to experience life in...

If you want to be accosted and pay top dollar for it...this is the place for you! My husband, mom and myself decided to stop by for dinner this evening and left with a ton of tears and regrets. No literally...left in tears. We ordered several rounds of drinks and appetizers and were having an amazing time. Service was phenomenal and everything was great. We ordered steamed lobster ($40 ish), grouper ($34 ish) and a ribeye ($54) after demolishing our apps and drinks. Dinner was served and unfortunately the expensive (and overpriced ribeye) was overcooked. Begrudgingly, I sent it back to the kitchen. Apologizing to the server along the way because I just hate sending things back. About 2 min later the same steak was returned to my table with a message from the kitchen that it was just the lighting and actually cooked perfectly....even though this was already investigated before being returned. I cut off another piece thinking maybe I just have an unsophisticated pallette. Shared a piece with my mom and both came to the conclusion it was definitely overcooked and tough. Deciding I wasn't going to eat more than the 4 bites already taken, I pushed it aside. The server sees this and removes the steak from the table. Fine with me! No reminisce of the overpriced and overcooked slab of meat. Once everyone is done we receive the bill and realize we're only being credited $20 on the $54 ribeye that wasn't actually eaten. There must be a mistake. We didn't even get the leftovers! We ask our sever to explain because this can't be right...right?!??! Enter pretentious owner He kneels down next to "steak orderer" to carefully explain that (silly us) we aren't being charged for the crusty cut of meat but the beautiful ambiance he provides. He offers to take another $8 bucks off the bill and dig the discarded steak from the trash (who does that?!). Thanks but no thanks! He then asks what I want him to do to which I reply, "remove the steak from the bill." His response is, "I'm not doing that. It costs me $28 dollars." I have never been more humiliated in my entire life. He was completely snide, condescending and unwilling to make the situation better. I've worked in the service industry for over 20 years and have NEVER been spoken to like that nor have I ever seen a manager/owner treat a customer that way. I was mortified and in tears as I walked out after paying $170 before tip! I advise against EVER visiting this establishment. I hate to say this because the service was amazing, but in a time where people are losing jobs and places are shutting down...think twice before...