Kalahari Ocean Grill — Restaurant in South Carolina

Mother's Day - 5/8/16

Service - Amy was very friendly, kept my water filled, checked on us regularly to see if we needed anything, and engaged in conversation when we asked for more information about the restaurant and food.

Appetizer - Kalahari Shrimp - What else can I say but "Outstanding!" The shrimp was crispy, lying on a small bed of lettuce, topped with a great-tasting white sauce, that had a tinge of spiciness to it, but not overpowering.

Sides:

Baked Beans - had good flavor and was cooked with onions and pork, but not pork fat.

Sugar Snap Peas - were tender and lightly seasoned; very good.

Cole Slaw - We both thought it looked and tasted fresh and good.

Entrees

Grilled Shrimp - My wife had this, which came on a small bed of rice with a white sauce (different from the kalahari shrimp white sauce). It both looked and tasted very good.

Grilled Tilapia - I had this, which was lightly seasoned with a white sauce. I loved it.

Atmosphere - The restaurant is located in a small shopping center. It has a bar that is separated from the restaurant by glass. We are not drinkers, so we did not have any of those beverages. The restaurant has large windows and is simple in its decor, so don't expect a candlelight dinner, romantic-type atmosphere.

Prices - The prices seemed comparable with those of an upscale seafood restaurant, which may be considered too high by some, but we were not disappointed at all because the food was incredible.

There is an open space, so you can see into the cooking area.

We ordered from the dinner menu, but they have a lunch menu. The waitress said that the portions were the same for lunch, and you only choose one side, and that the price was a couple of dollars lower.

We live within 20 minutes of Kalahari, but this was our first time eating there. We definitely plan to eat...

Visited this past Saturday with a party of 5, second time I’ve been here - not many people there when we were there. The waitress was very attentive to the men at the table but she did all she could to even minimally acknowledge the women (one had to ask for a drink refill and wait to receive it; I never was offered nor received one but the drinks of the men at the table were kept full). Four people ordered wings, waitress suggested splitting the flavors but did not mention there would be an up-charge for doing so. Food came out in shifts - one guest got only her wings and had a good portion of them gone before she received her fries but another guest got his wings AND fries after that but before she got her fries. I ordered a blue cheese burger with no tomato or pickles. Came out the first time with both - waitress noticed and took it back for them to “fix it” (almost positive all they did was take the tomato off), brought it back there was a pickle covered in “cheese sauce” (tasted nothing like blue cheese) so I brought it to her attention so she took it back for them to “remake it” and about 5-8 minutes later it came back with the same pickle still dangling in the side - pretty sure they just sat it on the counter for a few minutes before sending it back out. When we mentioned it to the waitress she said she would “talk to them” but there was no compensation or other mention of it after that. There was an employee in her uniform sitting (after her shift I hope) at the bar drinking the whole time we were there. Only reason I didn’t give them a 1 star is the rest of my party said the wings and fries were good, but the service was terrible. Thought about just getting takeout in the future until I saw the sign inside that said there is a 20% charge for takeout orders - So We will...

Had never tried this restaurant before so I decided to pick up a couple of burger plates and the Kalahari Shrimp appetizer. I googled the place and found the menu on their website. The bacon cheeseburger with fries for $9 sounded good, as did the mushroom Swiss burger for the same price. And the shrimp app was named after the place, so I thought we’d give that a try for $7.99. I went in and placed my order at the bar and sat there waiting for a while. There were about 10 people inside, and the bartender/server Kaitlyn was very nice. The inside was decent with many dining tables and two pool tables on the bar n grill side. By the time I got the food I was in a hurry so I added a small tip and signed the bill and left. Afterwards I looked at the bill again and realized that I had been charged more than the prices on the menu… it should’ve been $25.99, and the charge was $34.55. Plus, they added a gratuity charge of $3.46 but no tax. So I ended up paying $40 instead of what should’ve been $26 plus tax. I was never told there was an automatic gratuity added. It’s one thing for them to inform the customer ahead of time, which I’ve experienced in other places, but that wasn’t the case here. We then saw other reviews that stated the same complaint about the added tip. Although the food was pretty good, I feel it ended up being overpriced and that customers are being taken advantage of with the added tip and changed price from the website. We will not be purchasing anything else from this...