Bricco Bracco — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

I've never heard an owner of a restaurant badmouth his wait staff and his cooks. But the owner of this place did that tonight to try to explain all the ridiculous things that ruined our dinner. I should have known something would go wrong when the woman I spoke to when I made our reservation said she had no reservation when we arrived. Luckily they had a table for us.

We sat down and our waiter arrived. My daughter, who cannot eat dairy at all explained that to the waiter. He told us not to worry that anything on the menu could be tailored to her needs to avoid butter, milk, and cheese (aka dairy). He then said that all their sauces were dairy free but that cheese was added to all of them to "form it" or "tighten them up". We asked how they could be dairy free if cheese was added. He said again, "they don't have dairy, just some added cheese." We were perplexed. Next he advised my daughter that the only thing on the menu that she could safely eat was a pasta with broccoli and garlic, and that she would love it (without knowing anything about her tastes). He told us the bread on the table contained milk. So we ordered a pizza with just olive oil and garlic so she had something to eat before the food arrived. Half an hour later we still had no food or pizza. The waiter said, "your pizza, well, actually it's just a crusty thing, got burned and we are making a new one." We saw the pizza chef get mad and walk to the kitchen and kick the doors open.

The waiter returned and said the food would arrive soon. The dish they brought for my daughter had zero flavor. We told the waiter, who said, "cheese adds the flavor and you didn't want that." I wish he would have just thrown us out when we asked if anything could be made without cheese.

The owner then came over and informed us that the waiter was an idiot and that their red sauce has no dairy in it. So, he brought my daughter a spaghetti with red sauce. I believe he might have had a few drinks himself, because he had asked her about seven times what type of pasta she'd like. He told us he was from NJ and he likes NJ people better (yet he finds himself in SC).

He shared that he was lactose intolerant and I really didn't need to know that, as I'm just a customer. Then, he told us how his stomach gets when he eats dairy. Again, why did we need to know his issues? So you'd think he would know which foods in his own place had dairy and teach his staff. Instead, he continued saying that the waiter didn't know what he was talking about and that he was surprised the chef couldn't "transfer the flavor in the dish". I'm unsure what that term means. Not only did he say that the chef was unable to properly cook a dish, but he also told us about how when a cook begins at his restaurant, the first thing they are told to cook is the dish with broccoli and garlic and olive oil. He included that if the cook failed, they would not get the job- yet it seems a cook failed and still has his job. Again, I think the manager was inebriated. He wouldn't leave our table. He was nice enough to offer a free dessert. We just wanted to get away from his droning on about his staff and how much he missed New Jersey.

We would never go back to this restaurant and I suggest that the owner train his staff on food ingredients. What a lousy experience. Also, alcohol is...

I visited this restaurant with my family on Tuesday night while visiting Charleston. The food was great, but the kitchen messed up my wife's order-- this happens, but when we mentioned the wrong sauce was used, the waiter didn't say a word and just walked away to stare at a tablet-- and then came back a couple minutes later to talk about it. He took a while to get it to the kitchen to fix it, and then that took a long time to be made(20+ min). Another waiter actually took the replacement meal for one of his own customers, and we had to personally intercept it(our waiter wasn't paying attention) to keep from waiting an extra 20-30 minutes. All the while, the waiter had 2-3 tables, at most. After my wife had to stare at the rest of us eating our entire meals before she could even start, she ate hers and the waiter wanted to give us a free dessert instead of comping the meal. We asked that they comp the meal instead, which was eventually done, but was also quite the delay while he figured out how. Overall, the service was the worst I've had at a restaurant in many years, possibly ever. I normally leave 20-30% tips at all restaurants, but this experience had me incredibly soured, and left a $0 tip for the first time in my life.

Overall, this is really sad-- this would have been a 5-star review with a personable waiter or waitress that we felt was attentive to our needs-- even when a mix-up occurred in the kitchen... I'm giving 2 stars, just because the food itself was quite good. I hope management here can do something here to prevent another patron from having such a bad service experience.

UPDATE: Edited review to 1 star from the previous 2 stars, due to a snarky reply from the OWNER claiming I am OBLIGATED to tip "at least 20%" no matter what. Absolutely pathetic customer service.

AVOID...

Don't go for brunch!

We have been to Bricco Bracco many times before for both lunch and dinner. We had enjoyed the food, atmosphere and service at every meal. So were excited to take a dozen out-of-town friends and family to brunch Sunday. To day the least, we were disappointed and will never return for brunch!

First, the price was steep $14 for just a few offerings. It was even more expensive than that because we found out the price did not include coffee or juice which were an additional $2.50 each. The buffet was pleasantly arranged on a table near the bar. But napkins and silver were splayed a the bar waiting to be rolled while an employee was eating at the bar next to the serving line. The food was very inconsistent and it appeared that the cooks were not on their "A" game. The fruit and salads were fresh and tasty but the cooked food ranged from under cooked on the french toast casserole which was soft mushy to over done on the egg casserole and about half the bacon. The pasta dishes were nicely prepared and pleasant. Finally, the deserts, which were unattractively placed at the front of the buffet, looked and tasted like they were not made fresh. The fruit cake looked store bought and the tiramisu was cut in odd shapes and splayed on a platter so that the topping drooped all over the platter and ran together.

This was definitely not the food we had come to expect from Bricco Bracoo and we were embarrassed that we talked it up so highly to our friends and family. We cannot recommend the brunch there and will not...