Santee Seafood Bistro — Restaurant in Santee

We were visiting the Santee Cooper area for recreation. We wanted catfish or some sort of seafood for dinner on Saturday night. We went to another place but it was an hour wait. So we searched for something else close and found this place. The star rating was good so we decided to call and see how long the wait would be. They indicated they were not busy and could seat 9 of us immediately. We drove there and were seated immediately as there were not many customers. That should have been our first clue. Let’s see, a small restaurant on a Saturday night at peak dinner hours able to seat a party of nine with no wait. At any rate, we found out why there were few customers.

The service was poor at best. The waitress came and started to take our order. After ordering, our drinks were brought. The glasses were incredibly small and we all ran out of drinks pretty quickly. Refilling the glasses was slow at best. My drink was empty for several minutes before being filled which, given the lack of customers, was surprising.

We ordered fried green tomatoes for an appetizer. Four of us ordered catfish, one ordered a seafood platter, another ordered a hamburger, one ordered flounder, another ordered crab legs and I don’t recall the other order.

When the tomatoes arrived they were hot and tasty with the dressing. However, that’s where the happy story ends. Of the four catfish orders they could only fill two as they didn’t have enough fish. So two of the catfish orders were changed to flounder as a result. Two in our crew volunteered to change their order to flounder. One of the people who changed their order got the catfish instead as the sides he ordered were on the plate with catfish. His fish was decent size but, apparently, not very tasty. My catfish was extremely small and not tasty at all. One of them was tough and the other was just not good. The garlic mashed potatoes were dry. Very dry. The coleslaw was decent. The fried seafood platter was cold. Fried oysters are NOT something you want to try cold. The flounder looked better than it tasted according to those who got it.

When we went to pay I think every bill had errors and had to be recalculated. Some had to be redone more than once. Plus, there were undisclosed up-charges for several items, including a very small cup of ice cream.

Bottom line is, unless you have no other options, do not eat here. I don’t like to leave a review like this as it is hard enough for a small business to survive. Perhaps with a management change or something it can be redeemed. But I know why there was no wait on a Saturday night for a party of nine.

ADDENDUM: The reply from the owner indicated the ticket redo was because of a misunderstanding regarding number of sides associated with an entree. The catfish, according to the menu, comes with 2 sides. So...I ordered 2 sides. My ticket charged for the "extra" side which was supposed to be included. If there was a misunderstanding it was on the part of the restaurant. The reply also indicated a full parking lot and restaurant. Unfortunately, that was not my recollection. The small dining area was about half full. Hopefully things will be corrected so the food and service improve for future customers. There is a lot of...

Food was good. Service was awful, only two people working one bussing tables and running the register and the other waiting tables, bussing tables and trying to run the register. We waited 15 minutes for a bowl of soup, then 35 minutes for food, then we asked for refills of tea that took another 15 minutes and had to ask again. The restaurant wasn't that busy, it's just the two working the front of the restaurant wasn't very proficient in their duties. We watched the man working make 8 trips removing dirty dishes off of a table that sat 4 people, he carried 2 dishes at a time, instead to getting a dish pan and loading it with dishes, he was an older man and even if he couldn't lift a pan of dishes, the restaurant should have a rolling cart, he could use put the dish pan on and load the dishes in there then roll them to the dishwasher. The waitress apologized time we sat down, said it was her first day back that she hadn't worked here for several months, she has us fooled it didn't look like she ever worked there. She was very nice, but she was struggling with her duties and customer's all over the restaurant were getting frustrated. We watched her stand at the register 10 minutes trying to ring up one order in the register and then the gentleman worker had to come help her. He actually ended up bringing us tea after we asked her twice. A group of ladies refused to leave her a tip, because they said she never refilled her tea or came back to ask if they needed anything. Two couples came in about 20 minutes a part, the first couple order food, the second couple came in ordered food, they got there food 15 minutes before the first couple got there food and the second couple ordered more food, the first couple was pretty upset, but refrained from saying anything to the waitress. Also, the little lady from the kitchen, only brought out one person's food at a time. This first couple, one person got their food, it was 10 minutes before the other person got food. If, the other person would have waited to eat together, she would have been eating cold food. My friend that I dined with said, he would love to eat there again, and try something other than their BBQ that he didn't care for, except the chicken he said was good. He said if we came there again and seen the people that was working the front of that restaurant in there we would leave, it's no way I could sit and watch that again. Oh, and the Carafe they were using to refill tea looked so greasy, they were handling it with the same gloves on that they handled dirty dishes. The gentleman next to us said DHEC needs to shut them down, too much going on in here that is a health hazard. It's such a nice little Bistro and good food, and the owner is very nice but it's apparent she is struggling to keep proficient workers that know their job and how to serve customers promptly and keep the front of a restaurant clean and customers enjoying a nice...

I was hoping that the good reviews I read on here would outweigh the bad ones. I was so wrong. Every bad review I read on here was absolutely right. We arrived at 12:00. Got our drinks (no straws available, or to go cups for the kids to use) we were told that they were out of chicken, deviled crab, crab macaroni, peach cobbler, French fries, and a whole list of fish. & then we proceeded to wait on our food. I ordered a kids shrimp meal, a order of mini crab cakes, a tin bin of whatever it was called (supposed to be like low country boil/seafood boil) and my boyfriend got the fried seafood platter. I noticed the tables around us we’re all talking about how long they had been waiting. The guy next to us mentioned that a bigger table behind them had been waiting at least an hour because they had already been waiting a long time. They end up getting their food even before that table does. When they finally get it all I hear is complaints. I should’ve known then to leave, but we stuck it out. An hour and a half later we finally get our food. I love seafood and I eat it regularly. So when I say this food was mediocre at best, that is a compliment. My seafood boil had all of 3 halved red skin potatoes that were not cooked all the way, and my crab legs and shrimp were extremely over cooked. My shrimp were like rubber. Nothing was even seasoned. My boyfriend’s seafood pasta salad was disgusting. I asked them to taste it because it had clearly gone bad or something. It tasted sour. I’m sure it was old. (I would hate to see their walk in freezer) his fish was bland and greasy, his scallops & shrimp were over cooked. Not to mention the fact that for the prices all of these dishes are small portions. The crab cakes were so mushy and salty. So i finally said something about how the few potatoes I had were not cooked. The woman who acted like she was the manager says give them to me, and I did. She then says I will check to see if they are done and I’m going to throw them back in the pit for about 15 -20 minutes. I was like what? So I finally just tell them I only ate two shrimp out of my bucket.. I’ll pay for everything else but I’m leaving & I won’t be paying for that crab tin. It was horrible & they wanted $25 for it. The lady then tells me she’s calling her manager (though we thought she was). I told her to go ahead! I paid for the food that we didn’t even eat just to get out of there! Yuck! I feel horrible for the staff! They are clearly dealing with a nightmare...