The Junction Kitchen & Provisions — Restaurant in North Charleston

1 star is for the food 2 star is partially for the manager

I would say the Junction Kitchen was a bit disappointing. I had been planning my best friend’s bachelorette trip to charleston/north charleston area. 3 of 8 in our group had dietary restrictions (one GF, one gluten allergy, and a severe allergy to onions) - keep in mind.

I called 2 weeks ago to make the reservation for our large party of 8. What was not communicated to me verbally was that we were not guaranteed one table that could be together. To be fair, their website explains this and it was on my part for not seeing that, however I do wish it was again communicated over the phone. We were a bit frustrated when arriving, especially since they had just sat another large party right before with a reservation. In those cases, I’m not sure why taking 2 large parties with reservations so close to each other in the first place is a good idea. Either way, we decided to make the best of it.

However, the seating ended up not being the real issue. Three months prior to the trip I made the call to ask if they were able to make accommodations for those allergies earlier mentioned and they were very informative that yes, that wouldn’t be a problem. Now - no one died, but our server gave us quite a few scares throughout the rest of the dining experience. When he greeted our tables, we communicated the allergy restrictions and he said he couldn’t guarantee no cross contamination in the meal. The party panicked a bit, I got up to speak with the manager who was very nice. She listened to our concerns and reinforced us that no, that was not the case they have very strict measures when it comes to accommodating allergies and such. She also said she would go ahead and give our party a discount for the inconvenience.

She stopped by the table to talk with the rest of the party and apologized. (However one person in the party felt the manager worded it in a way that made it seem on our fault for misunderstanding what was told to us by our server, when that wasn’t really the case) either way - we were fine until our server returned. I guess there wasn’t much communication between the manager and him because he seemed to not notice she even came by.

Our gluten allergy bridesmaid ordered one of their 8 GF options on the menu and he recommended the only real “gluten free” option to have would be the salad. Again - causing some confusion. We explained to him what his manager explained to us and he said to go with what she said, he simply just “didn’t want anything bad to come back on him.” Which felt very… lazy and mis-informative. So we trusted the managers word in the end and went ahead with our meal.

Now, the food was delicious! Everything did come out great for everyone and they enjoyed the meal. Some of the most unique and interesting brunch dishes I have seen in a long time and, again, very good! The food itself is what I would recommend to any foodie out there.

Last issue with our time here - mentioned earlier the manager was accommodating and mentioned a discount (not to be money-grabby, but hear me out). When our checks came, it was told to us that only our bride’s food was covered, which is a nice sentiment but she wasn’t the one affected earlier. It felt unfair to the bride and everyone that only she was compensated. Thankfully the manager came back and did in the end give everyone a discount. So we are grateful for that, do not get me wrong, but after the other moments and such that built up until that moment, it just really put a bad cherry on top of everything. (Also, just saying… the manager smelt a bit like weed)

Honestly, if you’re a local and/or you’re going with 4 or less people, it would be a great time or spot. If you’re planning for anything larger than, I would look elsewhere. Again, the manager herself was very nice and we as a party appreciate her help with everything - thank you! But we still felt the other issues need...

Updated: 3 stars- Very late on this, but I did have the opportunity to retry this restaurant after my original review (the owner had contacted me about my experience and it not being the norm of their establishment). My husband and I returned on a morning that wouldn’t be busy at all in hopes that we could have the best possible experience. I will say having our meals fresh was much better, but I still think overall the restaurant and our experience there wasn’t as great as other places we’ve been to. So I’ve instead changed my review to 3 stars, since the guests who we brought with us the first time were so disappointed with their meal, but I did appreciate the owner reaching out and trying to help make the situation better.

Original review: 1 star- Was really excited to try this place, but left rather disappointed and not expecting to return. First tried visiting yesterday (Saturday) morning, but the wait time and previous reviews of overwaiting discouraged us from staying. Tried again today (Sunday morning) and was sat immediately which was great. We knew what we wanted from the previous morning so we went ahead and ordered once we sat down which was 9:52. Waited for quite some time before we started getting a little antsy on our food- this was at 10:40. Finally at 10:50 half of the table’s order (party of 4) was served. Portions looked a little small, but they were also starving at that point- their food was good. Waited an additional 13 minutes for the other 1 of 2 entrees- by this time the other 2 were finished with their meal. (The meal that did come out was room temperature at best). The food runner then asked which dish was missing (Buzzed Donut)- came back another 4 minutes later with the donut that was burnt to a crisp and hard as a rock. Sat it down and left. Took one look at it and was like this is not right… finally the server came back around to check how everything was- immediately mentioned to him that something looked wrong with the donut, which he agreed with. Was originally going to take the whole plate back, but I figured I could eat the hash browns as I waited… by this time everyone at the table was finished with their meal. Finally another 11 minutes later I am handed another Buzzed Donut that looks properly made. Tasted fine- but again was super hungry at this point. Server apologized, which we understand things happen, but clearly the kitchen was overrun this morning and unfortunately provided a not so great first time experience. Also was not thrilled by the comment that was told to us of “sometimes when the kitchen get busy they have to sacrifice quality for quickness to get orders out”. Not something paying customers like to hear about their less than quality meal. Were not offered any discounts on the messed up order or longer than normal wait times that we had to incur. Overall not impressed and won’t...

My family and I recently visited The Junction Kitchen & Provisions while on vacation and I wish my experience went as well as the others that posted a review but it didn't. The wait was around 45 minutes long which was not bad because we expected this. Things took a turn for the worse once we were seated. The waitress took our order and it took another 45 minutes to an hour for our food to come. During the wait the manager stopped by to see how we were doing, he asked if we needed anything and we asked for a refill on our sweet teas; he proceeded to bring only one sweet tea and when asked for another one he said he would bring it by which he never did. Our food finally came, minus one chicken and french toast plate and a side of scrambled eggs. I noticed my family were halfway through eating and my food still hadn't arrived. I got up to let our waitress know that she could cancel my order and she then told me that she was sorry for the delay but they ran out of chicken and asked if I wanted to have just french toast, I declined and reminded her that we were still waiting on the scrambled eggs. When our bill came they did give us a 25% discount to make up for the inconvenience. My biggest issue is the lack of communication. We could see when we came in how busy the restaurant was; however, not once did our waitress mention any kitchen delays or even notify us when bringing our food that there was no more chicken. Customer service is key when you are in the restaurant business and our waitress lacked these and communication skills. Throughout this entire experience we remained respectful and decided that this would be our first and last visit to this establishment. On our way out, I was pleased to here a waiter tell his customers of the delay in the kitchen and it would be a longer than normal. Had we been informed of this in the beginning we would have been more understanding. Please...