Long Island Cafe — Restaurant in Isle of Palms

After nobody acknowledged my wife and I for 8 minutes after we walked into The Refuge in Isle of Palms, a place I had visited a few years earlier when my band played this city, we decided to eat at the place next door, The Long Island Cafe. We ate there today, 04/02/2021. We came in from Raleigh NC. My wife ordered the special of the day,and I didn't due to my seafood allergies , so I tried out the Turkey Club sandwich. The hostess was very sweet. We sat for 10 minutes before we got any drink order taken. While we're eating, we couldn't help but notice that the manager in the green sweater with argyle print making his way around the restaurant asking everybody if their food was okay. I say that because I anticipated he would do the same thing for us. Our server Corry, while pleasant enough, also failed to ask about our dining experience My wife had a fresh fried seafood crab sandwich that ended up not being exactly what she'd hoped, so I stopped our waiter, Corry, to ask if we could order a side dish of shrimp. You would think he would ask was everything okay with her lunch, but he did not, and I had to call him twice to get him to stop as he too never asked us how our meal was going. He came back with the shrimp and we finished our meal. For a $60 lunch for two people both eating a sandwich and no alcoholic beverages, you would think the manager might come over to also ask how our meal was, he did every other table in our vicinity. Every OTHER TABLE. My wife and I are a mixed race couple visiting in the city Isle of Palms South Carolina. As a musician for 20 years my band had played this very city 10 times. We ourselves noticed how hard it must be for people of color in this city where no one sees you and when they do see you, they go out of their way not to acknowledge you. I almost stood up and caused a scene but I thought we're here to take a few days to relax and no need for me to get put in handcuffs for scaring a bunch of old white people. I'm not here for you to hold my hand, but when I eat in your establishment and spend money there you need to acknowledge me and my wife. It isn't 1950. There were no laws broken today because this is a morality issue. I know in my heart if they didn't have to serve people who look like me they wouldn't. The hostess I should mention, was very sweet and sat us very quickly and was the only one to tell us "thank you and have a a nice day!" I paid our bill I left the waiter a tip and we won't be going back. Maybe this will be a way to address the issue that no one wants to talk about in the small Southern towns and while they're at it maybe add some diversity training with help them and their staff. We will be intently searching out minority owned businesses here for the rest of our stay and future stays to try and help them in this racially...

TAKE CAUTION with the staff especially when seating you.This restaurant was recommended to us for their great food.

We were looking forward to dining there and were quickly disappointed by their shady work ethics. We made reservations for 6. We were running slightly late and called ahead to inform the staff we were on our way. We were 5 min away. The employee thanked us for letting them know. When we arrived, a table was vacant. We gave two woman our name. The one girl looked at the other with an indecisive stare; as if she was wondering if she should give the table to another group or let us take the table. With hesitation, they gave the table to the other group and reassured us the table next to it was almost done eating and it should be just another ten minutes. They directed us to have a drink at the bar. Well, this was bothersome, but we all agreed we were running late and the restaurant was busy and needed to keep operating. The girl said it would be ten minutes and she would come get us at the bar when the table was ready. A group with a similar amount of people came in after us and sat at the bar to wait for a table as well.

More than ten minutes had lapsed and we were getting concerned about when we would be seated when suddenly the other group walked by us to be seated first. My brother in-law was at the check in area and watched the group of people being seated at our table. He observed two woman being paid off with 5$(easy to be paid off) from a guy in the other group for seating them sooner. One woman realized he was watching this happen and went quickly to the back room and she wasn’t seen for the rest of our time there. My brother in-law asked to speak with the manager and the manager informed him she didn’t care for his attitude. We were going to leave but there was no way we would get in another restaurant so late on a Friday with a larger group. Soon after We ended up getting seated in a corner table.

My food was good but no matter how good the food is customer service says a lot about a company and they exemplified poor work ethics at least this evening . It had an effect on our dinner out. I can’t say all the staff is not trustworthy but your staff is a representation of your business even if there are just a few bad apples.

Kudos to our waitress that I’m sure had to know what occurred and she held her head up high and took on a difficult situation. And remained courteous. She got a pretty decent tip too. Will I try again.. not anytime soon and if I choose to go back I will be more observant...

We found the Long Island Cafe while searching for an organic place to eat near the beach where we were at. We made a reservation an hour and a half out, and we were visually delighted upon entering the space by its decor. This is not what we had expected so close to the beach. It was nice to see that they source many ingredients locally, not just the seafood, but other things as well.

We were seated quickly, and we were provided a gluten-free menu at our request. Usually, eating out is a challenge for us (gluten, dairy, and egg allergies), but fleshing out our dietary needs with our server, she was delighted to help us -- going back to the kitchen a handful of times to check with the chef to see if something met our restrictions, or if it could be modified to do so.

The soup and salads were delicious, and the entrees were truly great. The salads and seafood all tastes very bright and fresh. We had decided in advance that we would not be getting dessert, but their homemade dessert list did a stellar job calling to us. If we hadn't already committed to other plans, the few of us without restrictions inevitably would have partaken in at least one of their desserts, if not more.

Everyone was kind and cheerful, despite being a very busy night for them. We're staying about an hour from the restaurant for a few nights as we visit the area, but we will likely return at least once before our...