The Grey — Restaurant in Savannah

this comes so close to being a good restaurant! and then the food arrives 🌝 the interior is gorgeous, and the staff is so nice! all the waiters are very polite and the hostess was an absolute angel :) the service was so good that I almost felt guilty when I didn’t finish my ‘dish.’ almost. in terms of the food itself, i may just be a picky eater but it was mid 😭 to put it kindly.

as an arab person the hummus is straight up offensive lol. the flavor profiles of the collards and plain ahh hummus are about as compatible as my mom and dad Imao. but hey, at least the sourdough was... fine? like its bread, you know? breads hard to mess up. the ratio of bread to hummus is crazy though 💀 its like eating a barrel of soup with one singular cracker. the bread-to-hummus ratio was so off it felt like I was eating a mega pint of hummus with a few breadcrumbs scattered around, just to remind me that the universe is laughing at me..

on a more positive note i admire the creativity. i love that the food is unique however the downside is you dont really know what youre gonna get when you order, especially since the menu is anything but descriptive, and almost as cryptic as my exes text messages. the "shrimp" (allegedly) is strangely gelatinous in a way that i dont trust… but the playlist? fire. idk whos on aux but all the song choices were top tier. the only thing distracting me from whether I had just consumed a bad edible or entered an inescapable nightmare was the soothing sound of someones twink sons spotify wrapped, the saving grace distracting me from the plate of glorified cat treats in front of me cosplaying as “food” 💔

the mystery of what was actually on my plate was somehow more concerning than my future. and less definitive than a live action ‘choose your own adventure novel. it felt like watching human centipede all over again 😔 the only thing that was almost edible was the chicken. the mashed potatoes on the other hand were runnier than my eye sockets after receiving my entrée 🦦 i would recommend this place to someone who’s just there for the vibes and doesn’t care if they’re consuming food or abstract art. if the art was made by the german mustache man pre-art school rejection. this reminds me of a 7th grade science fair project displaying a self proclaimed molecular gastronomy experiment that tastes more like existential despair than an actual meal. its not every day you see a restaurant shoot itself in the foot to this degree, where every menu item past a certain point is a total head scratcher. at least the chef is having fun?

while I stared at the sad arrangement of hot steaming pile of orangutan shit in front of me, silently praying for my edible to kick in, I began to wonder if i was in some kind of social experiment testing the pretentiousness of the human race. while my stomach tried to find a way to will itself out of its misery by escaping my body via my throat, i began to look around for a hidden camera somewhere recording my reactions to see how long it takes before I start pretending I “get it” while desperately nodding at the table adjacent to mine like im in some exclusive art gallery, while trying not to choke on the chemically hydrated cardboard forcing itself down my esophagus.

one thing i will say is, that this restaurant was a religious experience that brought me closer to God! I was praying for the end of the meal and/or my life with every bite. the food was so bad, i thought i’d reached nirvana, however the only thing i’d managed to reach was debilitating indigestion that left the restaurant toilet begging for mercy 😰 would i go back? maybe if i was someone who hated themself enough to purposefully self induce torture just to feel something, or perhaps a buddhist monk who believes suffering brings you closer to God. i’d rather snort fentanyl than eat here again.

overall, thats gonna be a...

TLDR Had tasting menu. One standout dish (scallops). No other dishes were impressive or particularly interesting. Some elements were truly bad. Issues with consistency. Amazing building/architecture. I'd look elsewhere.

I was looking forward to this meal. Unfortunately, and like other commenters have expressed, there was little magic to be found on my plate. This review is for the tasting menu.

Issues arose almost immediately. I dined with another who does not eat fish or seafood. I called a week before and spoke with the reservationist about this, and was told it shouldn't be an issue. However, when we sat, this fact was met with surprise.

We are not drinkers, but I did have an iced tea. It tasted spoiled.

Our first course was a delight. Scallops with citrus, perfectly balanced saltiness and bright citrus flavors. Mint completed the package. Excellent dish, no notes.

The second course was foie Gras in a gourd soup, I believe pumpkin. The soup approximated the typical skill and flavor level of a home chef. I did not have specific issues with mine other than the mediocrity. My husband, however, did not want his, so I ate his portion. It was one note, garlic, which was oppressively strong and remained on my palate through most of the dinner.

Third course was beet carpaccio. Not sure what the vision was here. Caviar and pork fat accompanied, along with a sauce. It mostly tasted like beet. No subtlety of flavor or hint at why they called it carpaccio other than the beet was sliced somewhat thinly. The only other major flavor was parsley. Not sure why it was there, but it was added with the level of skill I expect to see at a Dennys. I don't understand what it was doing there at all, but especially in such quantity.

The main was smoked lamb shoulder. It was on grains with a turmeric puree of sorts and coffee roasted carrots. It was the lamb version of pulled pork. Was good, but not great. The grains were completely unseasoned but this worked due to how salty the lamb shoulder was. I finished it, but wouldn't order it again.

Between this course and dessert we had some lovely little Popsicles. Nice touch, it finally helped get the garlic taste out of my mouth.

Our dessert was butterscotch pudding. The pudding was split. It was also topped with whipped cream, which had essentially the same texture as the pudding, but was hyper sweet. My husband and I quickly removed it, and, shortly thereafter, stopped eating the pudding altogether.

Rarely have I been this disappointed in a highly praised restaurant. In hindsight, I wish we would have passed on the tasting menu and instead ordered from the regular menu. At this level of dining, I shouldn't feel that way. With the exception of the scallop dish, there wasn't anything noteworthy. Beyond that, the mistakes and issues (garlic assault, parsley overload, split pudding) should not happen at this price point. Spend your money elsewhere.

UPDATE I had an opportunity to review the restaurant's comment. I'll add some additional context. I had the tasting menu with no alterations. My husband had two alterations. He received turnip cakes instead of the scallop and no caviar was on his beet carpaccio. Otherwise, his meal was identical to mine.

I hope this adds some clarity to the "equally challenging" evening the restaurant experienced here in accommodating us, keeping the advance notice in mind. I did not mention the accuracy of it being our anniversary because that was not germane to the original review, and did not inform my experience.

Perhaps if there was a bit more focus on improving issues with the food, rather than snidely commenting on low starred customer reviews, the Grey could pull that 4.4 star google rating up to match the other higher-end restaurants in Savannah. We had many enjoyable experiences during our visit, and we appreciate the sincere concern in...

I am a chef and work on Private, and Charter Yacht’s out of Fort Lauderdale Florida. “The Grey” has been on my bucket list since seeing it on the “Chef’s Table”. My daughter and I were excited about finally getting to come here. I drove in from Fort Lauderdale and she drove from Tennessee just for “The Grey” experience. I must say that the host, servers, and bartenders were all excellent. The drinks were good as well. We ordered different items so that we could share and taste more of the dishes. The dinner rolls with butter, which were an add-on (2 for $7.00) were good, but nothing out of the normal and should always be served complementary. The Beef Carpaccio, Pate, Crudite, and the Cornbread Dressing with Greens were all nice but the Scallop was seriously overcooked. The Swordfish smelled horribly fishy, and although I really did not want to taste it, I did take one bite. It was extremely overcooked and very fishy, which is normally not the case with good quality and fresh swordfish. I have to say, it was absolutely disgusting, and I wanted to spit it out. If I had had a paper napkin under my drink, I would have but I didn’t want to in a cloth napkin, and out of respect for the other patrons seated so close by, so I swallowed it. My daughter did the same. I was very disappointed that a chef would let something like that leave the kitchen. If I had any fish that smelled that bad, it would’ve gone in the trash immediately. Of course, we sent it back and replaced it with the Chicken Roulade, which was very good. I ordered the Quail, and it was overcooked, and had very little flavor to it at all, other than the flavor of the grease that the bottom one was soaking in. It was served with peppers which looked like bell peppers. However, I bit into a pepper that was extremely hot and I quickly swallowed it down with some water. I actually like spicy food and tolerate it well, but this pepper was beyond hot. Throughout the rest of the experience, my mouth was on fire. We were served a little frozen, amuse bouche, which was greatly appreciated at the time. We did not order dessert and it was not included for our set menu price. I believe the set menu price would have been well worth it, if the main menu items had been good. I do not mind paying high prices for high-quality, well prepared, and delicious food. However, this was sadly not the case. We were a bit disappointed, but did enjoy some parts of the meal, our drinks, and our time together. After dinner, we walked around a bit and sought out restaurants that we might have breakfast, brunch or lunch the next day before we left to go back home. Unfortunately, we were not able to do any of that because I woke up at 3 AM very nauseous, sweating, and experiencing explosive diarrhea! It is 1:30 PM the next day and I am still experiencing this. I am not able to drive back home so I had to extend my hotel stay another night, making this trip even more expensive. Since my daughter and I ate the same things, I must attribute this to the surprisingly hot pepper and the fact that she has an iron stomach, and I do not. It could’ve been a combination of the hot pepper, the greasy quail, and the bite of rotten swordfish. Anytime there are hot peppers in a dish, it should be marked “spicy”, to give the patrons a heads up. I am surely paying the price for that now. Oh well, it’s off of my...