The Bank — Restaurant in Hilton Head Island

My son and I visited The Bank on Father's Day about 2:00 in the afternoon. We had wanted to try this new place even before they opened based upon "opening soon" articles we had read in the Island Packet. On this particular day we didn't have to deal with large crowds. Quite the opposite. There was plenty of seating both inside and outside and the line to order was short.

We came for the food, not the drinks, so I can't comment on the bar experience. The Bank boasts four indoor restaurants: Bank Heist Burgers, Pizza Co., Mo' Money Tacos, and Benjamin's (seafood). There is also a large indoor bar and a "food truck" outside bar as well as an ice cream truck. The four indoor restaurants use a common kitchen and all food is ordered from a common counter. This is actually a nice idea, as one party can offer a variety of different foods without having to flit from one restaurant counter to another. It's one stop shopping!

We ordered two burgers: the Heat burger (Angus Beef, Pepper Jack Cheese, Pickled Jalapeños, Guacamole Lettuce, Tomato, Chipotle Mayo), the Oceans burger (Blackened Angus Beef, Blue Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion) as well as loaded french fries (bacon, chili, cheese, sour cream & jalapeños). Both burgers were delicious and came with a generous serving of house-made potato chips, which were also good. The prices of the burgers were $18 apiece and all their burgers are priced under $20. The loaded french fries were $10, and given the generous portion of fries and toppings as well as the quality of the food, we felt this was a fair price.

There was much to like about The Bank. It's a very attractive location with a casual vibe. There is ample indoor and outdoor seating. Fire pits and overhead hanging lights make for a nice outdoor evening atmosphere. The quality of the food is quite good. The people working at The Bank were all friendly. The place is clean, including the bathrooms. I also appreciated that when I ordered a water with my meal, it came in a full-size beverage glass. So often, water in counter-service restaurants come in cups that are tiny and flimsy.

As for things I think they might consider improving allow me to suggest two. First, a beverage bar for customer use would be good. The Bank does serve refills on beverages, but it requires the customer to revisit the counter and wait for a staff member to become available. Second, I would like to be able to upscale the fries served with burgers to a loaded variety at an additional charge. Since that is not an option, I opted for chips instead of fries, but we still ordered the loaded fries to share. The chips were left largely uneaten.

But I think the positives far outweigh the negatives at The Bank and we plan to visit again. I think in a short time the kinks will be worked out and it will be a solid place to go for casual dining. We very much enjoyed our...

Let me start with the good. The venue is very very nice! A bar on the inside with food on the other with tables in the middle. Outside is full of tables, Adirondack chairs, another walk up bar, a few “food truck” carts, a large tv screen, and multiple fire pits.

Ok, on to the bad. The food is pretty subpar and overpriced. The system to order food seems broken and even the employees are confused. There are QR codes to order straight from your tables. Except it doesn’t work. There are supposed to be servers that walk around and take your orders but they are few and far between. And when you try to order food from the bar, they tell you to order from a server. Luckily, or unluckily, our bartender put an order in for us, even though she stated she wasn’t supposed to, but then the order got lost in the shuffle and didn’t make it to our table until we went back to the bar and asked about it.

When we first arrived, since we hadn’t been there before, we asked if we could try a beer before getting a full pour. A pretty standard ask at most breweries. However, we found out later that they charge $2 for each taster you get. I have NEVER had that happen at a brewery before. Just pour a smaller pour. Two sips worth. Don’t give me a 4oz pour and charge me for it?

The real kicker for me was the entertainment. There was a band outside with an ice cream truck and an alcohol cart. We ate inside first and then went outside when the sun went down. But all the food trucks were closed down and the band stopped playing at 9:30 despite the venue being open until 11?? It made no sense.

All in all, I think this place has a lot of potential. If they can sort out all of the little quirks, it can be a really fun spot. But right now, they are clearly working through how to be...

Context matters here. This is probably a great place to go if you have a large group of people that want different things and may or may not show up at different times, and of course - split checks.

In my case, I am a geriatric millennial that was on our last day of vacation on HHI with my wife, baby son and a good friend.

In this context, The Bank can be pretty annoying. This is not a traditional "sit down and eat" restaurant. You basically have to order all of your own food and drinks from various "Stations" peppered all over the place depending on the type of food you want (Seafood, pub grub, pizza, beer, etc).

When you have a very young child with you, that means one parent has to sit and watch the child, while the other goes and orders what they want, and then you switch out. The food comes out at random times and different members of your party will be eating at different times.

They text you when your food is ready, then you go and pick it up from wherever you ordered it from yourself.

You have the option of ordering off of a QR code menu. Normally, when a restaurant tries to play the QR code game I will just up and leave. In this case we were hungry and had a fussy kid with us.

It wanted me to pay through Google play, which I wasn't really feeling. They also only accept cards and no cash, which is annoying because I prefer to pay for food and entertainment with cash money.

Oh, and when you pay - they do the old (new?) flip the screen trick. Bro, I literally did everything here except cooked the food. I've no problem tipping for actual full service, but the "flip the screen" joints get...