Crave Kitchen & Cocktails — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

Firstly, I just want to acknowledge that it’s been hard for restaurants since the pandemic, which is why it’s important to note the hard work restaurant staffs have been doing, but what I had at Crave today made me upset and hungry when I left that restaurant. When we got to the restaurant, it took us three different servers to seat us and 15 minutes in an nearly empty restaurant.

Once seated, we looked over the lunch menu and when we didn’t like what we saw on the lunch menu but like what we saw on the dinner menu and wanted to order from that menu, we couldn’t because we were told by our server that it’s lunchtime and we could only order from the lunch menu. So we waited to order from the dinner menu an hour and a half to order from that menu. Our server didn’t know the menu and didn’t let us know when she was leaving, unacceptable.

The only reason I gave this place 2 stars was because of Jesse, the bartender and the soup we ordered. I ordered the Hot Buttered Britches and Small Batch Manhattan, while my wife had the Dark and Stormy and the Blackberry & Basil Margarita. Our friend had the Spiced Cranberry Mule and Coquito. The drinks were top notch and worth the money spent in them. Also, the She Crab Soup and Tomato Bisque were also on point.

Unfortunately, the rest of the meal and some of the service made me angry. First, I understand this place has numerous awards for their Mac and Cheese, but it was not good, not in the least. The children with us all had the mac and cheese and they all did not eat all the food. The sauce was grainy and had no flavor. The chicken had come with one of the pasta dishes was dry and flavorless. The pasta was cooked well, but nothing else was good. The Mussels were cooked well, tender, but the broth was weak, under flavored and under seasoned.

My wife had the ribeye, but because the mac and cheese was not good, she opted for the mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus, our friend had the crab cake app and the hangar steak with chimichurri. I had the crispy calamari, which was not crispy at all. It was too greasy, the breading was falling off the calamari and there was a taste of cinnamon in breading. My wife’s mashed potatoes were cold, and while the steak was cooked well, it was under seasoned and they didn’t have steak sauce. Our friend’s crab cake was delicious, but with both steaks, the fat wasn’t trimmed very well at all.

Lastly, the dessert order was not taken properly and was mixed upon two different occasions. The cookie was not well received by those who had it and it seemed that the chocolate and vanilla ice cream was the best things that came out of the kitchen for...

We had heard such good things about this place, maybe we came on an off day? The service was awesome (server wise), and the restaurant itself had a very nice "Old Tavern" like feel to it... but where this establishment lost me was in the amount of food vs the price we were charged.

While our children received a huge amount of food with their kids meals, the wife and I felt a little short changed when it came down to the amount of what we had been served to eat.

I had a 10 dollar "bowl" of She Crab soup that, although it did taste yummy, it was nowhere near a healthy portion for what I paid. The crackers that came with it, only two very small ones, were already floating in the soup for me. I guess someone had already decided for me that I was going to dip them in my soup...? The soup "bowl" was actuality in a wide shallow soup plate, with about 2 1/2 quarters of an inch deep of soup. Yeah!

The wife had fried green tomatoes that were nowhere near as good as other "less talked about" places we've had dinner at. And the portion of food she received was also very small.

We got here at about 3pm, and somehow we were limited to the BRUNCH MENU ONLY..... AT 3PM! SERIOUSLY GUYS?

Our food took forever to come out, too. I had to ask our waitress to please check in on it for us after about 35 mins of not seeing our kids meals... which we specifically had requested it to be brought out first, so that our kids would not throw fits. I'm not sure what the hold up was, as the place was mostly empty at the time...?

I don't know what to make of this place. It was such a mixed bag of good, bad, and mediocre. Whatever all the buzz was about in this restaurant, it surely skipped us.

I will say this, as to not sound too negative in my review about this restaurant, the Mac and Cheese here really was the best I've ever tried, T I'm hoping that our experience here was just an isolated incident. We may give it a second chance, I'm not sure yet.

My wife and I eat at fancy places often, and we really don't mind spending the extra $$$ for really good food and decent portions. But I seriously feel like the prices here are a little too inflated for the quality, and portions, of food being served.

A huge disappointment this place was. Spend you...

This was my first time visiting Crave and they did not disappoint. I received Exceptional Service from my bartender Matthew and dined at the bar. I ordered the special local char grilled peach salad that tasted extremely fresh and had such a lovely balance of flavors and texture throughout with the sliced almonds that paired perfectly with the contrast of the goat cheese with the peaches and berries with their homemade ginger honey vinaigrette. I also ordered their award winning macaroni and cheese on the side. I ordered it with the truffle mushrooms but these photos don’t include them, Matthew my server at the bar had a slight mistake and brought them over to the side which i appreciated. I must say that the Mac n cheese didn’t disappoint and I’m glad I tried it without the truffle mushrooms as it tasted delicious as is, the truffled mushrooms did enhance the flavor but next time I will order it as is. For dessert I ordered the dessert sampler which I was able to customize to my liking and select 2 key lime pie and one Red Velvet mini pies. I honestly preferred the red velvet as it was decadent and had a nice balance with the ice cream layer with the whipped cream on top. And while I enjoyed the key lime pie as well, it tasted more like a key lime mousse rather than the usual southern pie with the custard. Parking was very easy to find and the staff in general were very friendly and helpful with providing information about the dishes. Highly recommend and I will definitely come back to try some other dishes off...