Island Provisions - Johns Island — Restaurant in South Carolina

Weirdly cold experience, and not because of the weather. I like to buy local when I can and since I have been making an effort to find an alternative to Starbucks, I decided to look at what was close to my home. My favorite shop, Gold Star Coffee, was closed, so with a quick Google search, this place was only 15 minutes away and I decided to try something new. Unfortunately, I won’t be back.

I ordered a chamomile tea & a chocolate croissant, total came to a little over $7. This was the least of my concerns, pretty fair price for local and this is about what I would expect to pay at Gold Star, so I wasn’t concerned. However the quality of what I got (both what I ordered and the customer service) was severely lackluster.

This was my first time at the cafe, so I tried to get a feel for the vibe and I just felt strangely unwelcome. In an effort to not jump to conclusions, after I ordered, I took a seat and waited for tea which ended up being my warm water with a bag of chamomile in it (I only drank half and threw the rest away), I tried to relax but just couldn’t. The water was warm as if it had been sitting there all day and based on the unenthused customer service I’d gotten, I felt that if I would’ve said something, it wouldn’t have been received warmly. The chocolate croissant tasted store bought (wasn’t expecting gourmet or anything, but it tasted like those dollar store box pastries a coworker buys for one of my office’s morning meeting) but the person who took my order didn’t even offer to have it warmed.

The people serving me were generally unenthused and did not seem as if they were interested in being there. I understand having an “I’m in the zone” working face, but I am also in the customer service workspace and I always do my best to have a smile when interacting with customers even if I don’t feel like it. On the positive side, the 3 workers were diligently doing tasks and were genuinely working hard. I guess I just expected more considering the glowing reviews.

The final weird straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was the fact that when I sat at my table, I just watched a tub full of raw chicken sitting (see photo below) on the counter for the entirety of the time I had been there, which was around 20 minutes (didn’t make it to 30), and that was just off-putting. No smiles, no welcoming environment, and it was overall extremely underwhelming and disappointing.

I wish y’all the best and I appreciate the brief reprieve...

I don’t quite understand how this place gets such glowing reviews. My main complaints are regarding service and price. I have been once to the downtown location and twice to the Johns Island location, and each time I was greeted with an absolute curmudgeon working the register. It was a different person each time and yet they were all the same! No smile, no interaction, with a very impatient attitude, as if they were completely annoyed to be doing their job. As a fellow service industry worker, I understand having a bad day, but don’t project it on the customer. Y’all might want to consider having these employees work in positions in which they don’t interact with other human beings, because it’s clearly just too taxing for them. Regarding price, we spent $15 + a tip for two child size drinks. At least they were...

I have repeatedly received poor service at the JI location due to staff not listening to modifications, getting the wrong order, etc. and the staff feels very unreceptive to my modifications, even something as simple drink syrup preferences. I asked for no hot honey on a sandwich and received an excessive amount that pooled on my plate, and in this same order, I asked for my latte to go and instead it was in a mug. The syrup was also not mixed into the espresso and was instead in a pool at the bottom of my cup. I love IP and have been a regular at the downtown location forever but my experiences at the downtown location vs this one is like night and day, which is unfortunate since I live and work around JI now and would love to be a regular, but don’t enjoy this location enough...