Jasmine Porch at The Sanctuary — Restaurant in Kiawah Island

The Good: Exceptional Service Good portion sizes Dishes were very tasty Great scenery

The Bad: Pricey – Shrimp and Grits were $24 Might be too “fancy” for some

My wife and I visited the Jasmine Porch for restaurant week yesterday. We had reservations for 6 which were nearly the perfect time. Upon arriving we were greeted warmly and they asked where we were coming from. We told them we were local and were there for restaurant week. They produced the menu for that as well as their normal menus. Later in the dining we noticed that most people DID NOT have those menus, so I feel that was a little off, but I will not let that affect my review. For the week there were 3 courses for $30 per person. So we would receive an appetizer, an entrée, and desert for $30. At normal prices this would have approached $40 - $50 depending on what you got so this was a good deal. Also keep in mind that since they knew we were there for restaurant they could have put on a good show just because. With that being said onward with the review.

For our appetizers I selected the fried green tomatoes, and my wife chose the she crab bisque. We both felt that the tomatoes were the better of the two entrees. The tomatoes were battered nicely, had some chives, some bacon, and a Chile remoulade. They were excellent. The she crab bisque to me tasted like any she crab soup locally, however my wife said the crab chunks in it was excellent. It was slightly peppery but was nice.

For our entrees I selected the shrimp and grits, and my wife selected the Atlantic salmon. I felt that this time around she selected the better entrée. It was a nice sized portion of fish, with some horseradish hollandaise on the side. It had seasonable vegetables on the side with a lobster hash. This was all very excellent in my opinion. I believe they were great parings for this dish. My wife didn’t like the sauce all that much but I felt it went nice with it. My entrée was shrimp and grits. It was garnished nicely and presented well. If you were to have blindfolded me and asked me to eat, I would not have been able to identify that I was eating shrimp and grits, and that is not a knock on it. It felt a whole lot more sophisticated of a dish than a shrimp and grits were. However keep that in mind that normally that would be a $24 dish. It was very good and filling.

Lastly for desert I ordered the vanilla bean crème Brule and my wife ordered coconut butter crème cake. We both felt that we had the best dish this time around. They were both very excellent. They were presented well and were finished both of us.

For the meal we sat outside on the porch so we had a nice view of the ocean in the distance, although it is partially blocked by the pool and such. There was a nice breeze and it was a beautiful day so a great setting for the meal. The service was excellent and among the best I have had in a long time. The server was friendly and assisted us well. This was our first trip to Kiawah Island as well as the sanctuary so it was different for us. Knowing we were going into a high dollar restaurant I feel it earned 5 out of 5 stars. However, with that being said I would only go back for a special occasion. Its simply too far out of the way and too expensive for a common restaurant. But do you have a special occasion that you need to make a good impression, this would be a...

My friends and I made a trip from Mount Pleasant to Kiawah to reconnect with some old friends who were on vacation. We decided to dine here and overall, we had a wonderful experience with the food and atmosphere.

Our group was larger, and we started our meal with drinks and a variety of appetizers. Our waiter didn't take our main order until we were nearly done with the appetizers, about an hour after we sat down. This wasn't a problem for us, as it gave us plenty of time to chat and enjoy the starters. After finishing our main courses, we wrapped up with dessert and coffee.

Throughout the meal, there were periods where we didn't see our waiter for a while, but this wasn't an issue for us either. We were enjoying our time together and appreciated the relaxed pace.

However, our evening took a disappointing turn towards the end. As we were finishing up, a manager approached us around 8:50 PM and informed us that we needed to give up our table for another party that had a reservation at 8:45 PM. It would have been much more considerate to receive a heads-up about this situation 15 minutes earlier so we could have prepared to leave in a timely manner. Adding to our frustration, the restaurant was not full at the time, and it seemed that other tables could have been made available for the waiting party.

To add to the disappointment, as we were leaving, we overheard a hostess apologizing to the waiting party and mentioning that we had overstayed our table by 30 minutes. This was disheartening to hear, especially after we had spent over $1000 on our dinner.

Despite this unfortunate end to our evening, we genuinely enjoyed the food and the overall atmosphere of the restaurant. With a bit more communication and consideration regarding table management, it would have been a...

Beautiful place inside the resort with great views of the grounds and the ocean, is a big place and the service is phenomenal. We visited for lunch one day and breakfast the next one, during our lunch the food was excellent with all the choices ....our recommendation is the Lunch on the Porch, with the selections on it...all of them were great, with a lot of flavor, nicely done and presented, the burger is a good choice for lunch and is a good portion with the special condiments, a delicious Bloody Mary and for my taste the Mexican style beer was the correct choice.... On the other side due to being a busy time there was a long wait for the breakfast, our wait was 45 min, time that we used to walk around the place admiring all the art and a quick trip to the beach.....the selections on the buffet were nothing special, with scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, sausages, pancakes French toast etc, etc.... we were expecting something totally different from a place like this, we were not offered any kind of juice and the selections a la carte were not very tantalizing, offering just a few different options from what the buffet has... Might be our taste, but the buffet is...