The Public Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Savannah

I don't give out 5 stars often, and this one is based on limited experience, so read on for details.

It began with sweet tea.

We were visiting Savannah for a couple of days, and stopped here for lunch. The menu looked good. Weather was nice, so we sat outside. And I ordered sweet tea to start.

I grew up in Chicago, moved to North Carolina in 1990, so I've been here a while, and this is where I 'discovered' sweet tea. Never been a tea drinker before, and still aren't except for occasional sweet tea. And I think I'm a fair judge. It can be weak or strong, barely sweet or soda-pop sweet, but the most critical factor is how fresh it is. 'Old' tea is skunky.

This sweet tea was awesome. My wife loves sweet tea, but avoids it because there's too much sugar (same reason it's an 'occasional' thing for me). I offered her a taste. She was equally impressed. So impressed we went back the next day, on our way out of town, for lunch again.

And here's where we disagree. I suspected that maybe we just got lucky on a really fresh brew. Would the second day be just as good? I say 'no' - it was good... very good... but not quite up to the first batch. My wife says it was every bit as good. Perhaps I should defer, as she is a native of NC, and I'm just a carpetbagger.

So anyway, they CAN make awesome sweet tea.

How about food? I got the same thing each day - what we in the south call 'barbecue' - a pulled pork sandwich with slaw on top. This was served on sourdough bread, not a bun, and that was unusual but a good choice. And y'know, thinking back, I'm not sure what sauce they used. I like both, and favor tomato-based, but this wasn't overwhelming. The menu calls it 'tangy'. Bottom line: it was excellent. Both days. That's why five stars, even though the tea was 'slightly' less. In my opinion.

The sandwich came with fries, but there were other options. First day, hot and good. Second day, just warm and ok.

Cyndi had salmon and tabbouleh, which she rated five stars. She had the bbq the second day, and wasn't quite as enamoured with it as I was. Good, but her socks were still on. I don't know about her sometimes.

Finally, key lime pie (with whipped coconut topping), also excellent. Normally I get all the whipped cream when we share a dessert. Not this time.

Atmosphere was outdoors - we only passed thru the inside to hit the bathroom, so can't say anything about that. Service was good - staff friendly. If we lived in the area, we would be back regularly, and I'd experience more of the menu.

A note about parking. It's paid, either street or in a nearby lot. The restaurant itself doesn't have parking. Street parking can be hard to find at times. The lot - more expensive - had...

Was recommended by a family member and tried it out on our first evening in Savannah. Mind you after a 10 hour drive, Mrs, 6-yr old and myself were tired and hungry.

Arrived to a wait list that took 20 or so minutes. Gave us a chance to see nearby square. We were seated by the door and the place was loud and drafty. This is November in Savannah so we were chilled.

Lizi(sp) took our appetizer order of beet salad and chicken sausage with roasted potato. While we figured out main course and drinks.

Beet salad was refreshing and full of flavor. Little one loved the goat cheese and pecans that it came with and basically finished the dish.

The chicken sausage was delicious. Grilled onions complemented it so much. The potatoes were undercooked. A couple of pieces almost raw. We mentioned it to our waitress and manager came by and apologized. Asked if we wanted more potatoes or discount. We had more food so we went with discount. They ended up comping it. No discussion, very apologetic, we were relieved.

Main course was lamb burger and shrimp and grits. Apparently, best shrimp in grits in Savannah for 8 years running. Dude, that. Was. Delicious! The sausage or ground beef they used was salty and meaty, the shrimp was cooked to perfection, the grits HAD FLAVOR, The sauce it was swimming in... Might have been a tomato base, but the acidity and the spicyness made your mouth crave more. Not sure if we will have a chance to try other shrimp and grits while here but that was a sky high bar to set. Amazing.

The lamb burger deserves it's paragraph too though. The meat came cooked to medium well, we weren't asked. However it was perfect for Mrs who doesn't like any pink, and for me, it was filled with juices. I swear it tasted like they added bone marrow in the meat it was so tasty and juicy. The goat cheese was not overpowering and that sauce they made... Again perfect balance of acidity with fattiness. The shoestring fries were very well done as well crispy and salty, what more do you want with a burger.

Desert was creme brulee and Oaxaca smore. Nothing store bought there. Very sweet and very enjoyable. We wished we could've tasted more of the spices they mentioned was in the chocolate mouse of the smore, it was predominantly sugar forward. Mix that with the marshmellow, and well it was a bummer, however it was still he'll of good and plate was left clean.

This was a fantastic start to our savannah visit. Would definitely visit. Will need more sweaters and maybe sit outside where...

So, I really had high hopes for this place after reading the reviews. DO NOT USE THE ONLINE WAITLIST ON GOOGLE!!!!!!! Our problems began before we even got there. We checked in on the "wait list and was quoted 80-90 minutes for a party of 4, no big deal. We called to double check that the time was accurate because the tracker hadn't updated after 30 minutes and we were told by the hostess "it looks about one hour and you have 15 minutes once you receive your notice to get here" so we decided to leave in 30 minutes. Not even 5 minutes after he got off the phone we received a text saying our table was ready....we know it's going to take us at least 15 to get the Uber and get up there so now we are scrambling and he calls to let them know the situation and the hostess told us "the online wait list isn't accurate and you have 10 minutes from your notification to get here or you will lose your table." So now we've been told two different things. We get up there and we are told that we do not have a table and we would have to go back on the wait list for another 45 minutes! So yes we are annoyed but whatever we went to the bar and got some drinks. We waited 50 minutes and went and asked what was going on with our table and we were told "oh we thought you wanted an outside table....we specified inside. So we were finally sat after about 55 minutes of waiting. We ordered the truffle fries as an app for myself and my husband and friends ordered the muscles both of which were delicious, so things were beginning to look up only to go back down. I ordered my steak medium plus and it was almost well done, it was super salty, and I almost couldn't cut through it. The potatoes au gratin was pretty good, again salty, and my green beans were cold. My husband's stuffed chicken was "pretty good" and he enjoyed the sweet potato puree. My friends steak was also very salty and tough, hers was supposed to be medium and it seemed more medium plus like what I wanted and her green beans were also cold. Our server was nice and attentive though so that was good and the bartenders...