Relish Craft Kitchen & Bourbon Bar — Restaurant in Raleigh

There was a piece of metal in my food. Yes metal not tin foil- about 1/2 inch of twisted metal wires. I bit down and realized there was something hard and when I spit it out found it was metal.

If you search for a cast iron scrubber you can see a reference of what it was- it was 2 interwoven pieces of it in an X shape about 1/2” in size.

I’m extremely disappointed because I was telling everyone we had to eat here while we were in town because I loved it so much last time I was here.

I’m still so caught off guard by this I’m not sure exactly how to feel. I know mistakes happen but this is one that can’t happen i was just so so lucky it wasn’t worse because it could have been A LOT worse. Hospital emergency room level worse.

As I said above I found the metal through chewing not just by seeing it in the food. I sat there for a couple minutes in panic trying to see if I had hurt myself in any way. I was busy doing that and Before I could take pictures of it we had already flagged a waitress. When it was explained she said just “oh no” and took the piece of it and walked away I’m trying to reason that she didn’t want to make a scene or was as in shock as I was but that was such a nonchalant reaction I was also surprised by it and commented to the person I was with she didn’t seem as concerned as I felt she probably should. And she also didn’t say anything about going to get a manger or what she was doing next to help. So we were just left sitting there still checking over my gums and mouth and stuff. Then some level of manager or higher came over and explained it was part of their metal scrub brushes and after cleaning the skillets for the macaroni it never got wiped out. She again was nice and I appreciated she was calm and didn’t escalate anything but also very nonchalant. They did comp the meal which I was so concerned about checking my mouth and that I may have swallowed another small piece with out realizing I just wanted to leave. Offered dessert as well which I was very much not interested in considering I didn’t feel safe anymore. And she gave me her card to follow up if anything was found to be wrong. Overall I’m not sure how it could have been handled better so I guess it was handled ok? Maybe?HOWEVER like I said mistakes happen but this one could have sent me or someone else to the hospital. This is just one of those mistakes you can’t make. It was pure luck that it wasn’t worse and that this wasn’t served to a child or someone who may not have known better. My dish had tomato in it so I actually initially thought it was just a stem. I’m still crossing my fingers no other issues arise as I’m not sure if there were any additional small pieces but it was startling and I won’t be eating out anywhere for a while and sadly crossing this place off my list.

Ironically I asked my husband to switch out all of his grill brushes for an alternative after reading horror stories about this about a year ago. I thought I was being overly cautious but...

Our party of 9 came in on a Friday night at around 6. We were originally quoted a wait time of an hour but luckily, they were able to seat us within 10 minutes. For the table, we ordered:

-Fried Green Tomatoes - this came with six slices, some feta cheese sprinkled on top, and a dipping sauce. They were good but it didn't feel that hot, which is something I would expect from a fried food -Southern Mac (pimento cheese & bacon & topped with cheddar & mozzarella cheese) - this is definitely a good sharing dish. I can't imagine eating a whole thing of this by myself because after a few bites, I was already feeling pretty weighed down. I normally don't love pimento cheese, but it wasn't too overpowering here -Parmesan Brussels Sprouts - I enjoyed these. For some reason, I can never make brussels sprouts at home as good as they do in restaurants. Maybe their secret is just a ton of butter -Hot Honey Brussels Sprouts - I liked these even better since the hot honey gave it a bit of a kick, and it came with bacon bits

For my entrée, I had the Shrimp & Grits (lightly spicy shrimp sautéed with bacon & green onion over cheddar cheese grits--served with grilled ciabatta bread). They give you a generous portion of shrimp, which was perfectly cooked, and a heap of bacon. If you need a meal to put you into a food coma, this is it. The grits are cheesy and buttery. It was good but very rich. I was only able to eat half before I had to throw in the towel and get the rest to go. I reheated the leftovers the next day, and it was still pretty good.

We were all stuffed but still wanted to try the Chocolate Chess Pie, so we got one slice of that to share. It reminded me a fudge pie. A little too sweet for me.

As expected with Southern cooking, the food is pretty heavy. Instead of one person ordering an entrée, I would recommend just ordering a bunch of different things to share, so you get more of a variety. And you're not stuck eating a whole thing of mac and cheese...

Everything we ordered looked perfect, I mean mouth-watering appearance. Unfortunately, the food had NO SEASONING!

The reviews of this place are very high. So, of course I had to see for myself.

So disappointing! The sweet potato biscuit had all the visual appearance to be the best sweet potato biscuit in the world. Unfortunately, the sweet potato biscuit had no sweetness, not savory, no flavor... only tasted flour. Also, was not served with a flavored or spiced butter (odd). only ate 2 bites

French Toast Bread Pudding: Again So disappointed! Beautiful dish but flavor was none! Could not taste cinnamon or nutmeg. Generally, french toast bread pudding has a lil crispness to outside but soft on inside. Unfortunately, the bottom of this dish was mushy. Most likely the portion became soggy from being served on top of their version of maple syrup. Therefore, if there was any caramelizing during the baking process, its now gone. Plus, the syrup at the bottom of dish appeared to be room temperature. we ate half of the portion.

Heavy Sigh: Mac and Cheese: I was disappointed, needed seasoning and it appeared there was an after thought of adding cheese at the end. The top cheese wasnt melting within the perfectly cooked noodles. But again, the noodles were not seasoned. ate 3 bites

Fried Green Tomatoes: Did not like at all. Did not like the appearance, had no seasoning and the way it was cooked left a limp tastless tomato. ugghhhh 1 bite

Grits: i enjoyed the grits and had a good flavor. Odd appearance but I enjoyed the texture & taste. ate 1/4 of the portion

Egg: interesting how it was cooked & looked. But it was sunny side up. Looked over cooked but it wasnt. 2 bites

Bacon: I didnt taste.

Glad I went to taste the food. Great atmosphere and friendly staff. Very busy place. I will not go back. I think you should try Relish out...