Nance's Restaurant — Restaurant in South Carolina

MY ORIGINAL REVIEW 11/11/2023:

Meh. Blackened mahi wasn't blackened (or maybe just minimally blackened. It was very bland.) Same w the potato salad, just really not much flavor at all. Green beans were really good but very salty. They were so salty that I drank my entire water, which I don't think I've ever done during a meal.

Husband's scallops were really big, cooked well, and tasty. Baked potato looked good, cooked to very soft, but there's not really any way to mess up a baked potato that the patron dresses themselves; you literally just make sure it's cooked throughout and hand off some individual butter and sour cream packets, which they accomplished.

Crab dip was just fine, mostly dip and not much crab. Hushpuppies were good (and free).

Overall, just really not impressed. Unlikely we'll return.

UPDATE:

1. So, I had written a review of my opinion of their food on a forum designed to receive opinions on business's products and services, and then they wrote a snarky response. How incredibly unprofessional and immature to reply to an opinion of a product with a defensive response. The only person I can imagine my review offended would be the chef, and if the chef is spending their time responding to google reviews, perhaps this business shouldn't be considered the epitome of logic and reason.

Here's the restaurant's initial response (which was only partially viewable as a preview in the notification email, hence why it cuts off suddenly) on 11/11 at 11:34 pm: "We don’t “blacken” our fish. We have a spice for those that want a “blackened” seasoning. Potato salad and green beans are seasoned lightly. Glad to hear the scallop dinner was to your liking. Crab ..."

2. When I clicked on "see full reply", I found that they actually rewrote their initial snarky response and posted a response that I read with a mocking tone that they'll let their chef know that, "OoOoOh, Kayla Richardson doesn't like your fOoOoOd". Very mature, again.

Here's the restaurant's edited response on 11/12 around 7:00 am: "Overall, sounds like we didn’t cook your dinner to your specifications. I have informed the Chef to correct his mistakes."

Maybe I'm misreading that, but that's the vibe I get from it. I didn't make any specifications; I ordered directly off the menu, so whatever food they served was how it's always served. So, either they're writing in a mocking tone OR they're going to inform the chef to correct something that wasn't a mistake because they prepared the food the way those items are always prepared.

3. They seem to be confused about how cooking works. They said they don't "blacken" their fish, that they use a spice for those who want "blackened" seasoning.......which is literally what "blackened" means. There is no cooking method of "blackening"; it's a seasoning mix. My point was that the fish had barely any seasoning at all and was very plain tasting.

4. I'm not sure if they're getting over COVID or what, but the idea that both the potato salad and green beans were seasoned similarly ("lightly seasoned" is laughable. The green beans were SO salty, I couldn't finish the bowl because of how much brine was covering the remaining pieces at the bottom (and green beans are one of my favorite vegetables). I wouldn't recommend to anyone with high blood pressure that they eat those green beans, lest they find themselves unable to fit into their own shoes. And the potato salad has so little flavor that, if you fed it to me blind folded, the only inkling I'd have that it was potato salad was the consistency of the potato itself. I took one bite and the rest was trashed when the plates were cleared (and potato salad is one of my favorite sides).

5. My husband wanted me to add that it was overpriced. We paid $100 for 2 entrees, 1 appetizer, no upgrades, and no alcohol. He also wanted me to add that the server was very sweet and friendly but not great at her job. We asked for 2 things several times each before we go them, one of which was just more...

Nance’s has been a non-negotiable for my family for as long as I can remember…at least 30 years. We have always stopped at Nance’s every year, and I started bringing my little family to continue that tradition. We came last year and noticed its lost some of its appeal. We decided to try again this year. We didn’t have to wait too long to get seated. It took our waitress about 7 minutes to even greet us. We got our drinks and hush puppies about 7 mins after that. So we waited about 15 mins before we even got drinks. Our waitress, Reese, was dry and never smiled. Took another 20-30 mins for food-not her fault. We were freezing as our table was directly in front of the AC, so our waitress moved us to another table. Food was good. We didn’t get refills unless we asked for them. Got ready to leave and waitress handed us a $270 tab. Had to go find her and let her know half the food on the bill didn’t belong to us. She didn’t even notice she had given us the wrong ticket. Once that was corrected, we paid and left. As a family, we decided Nance’s just isn’t what it used to be and we probably won’t be back.

Edited to respond to owner’s comment: First and foremost, I think it’s incredibly unprofessional to respond to every single review (that isn’t 5 stars) with gaslighting and excuses. Take some accountability. I can tell by the way these responses are written, and the tone of the responses, that the person responding to these reviews is most likely a server or a child. There’s no way a professional adult business owner would respond to customers this way. Take the feedback and do better. It’s also interesting to me that moments after writing my review, I got a friend request on Facebook from our server. Like what is that all about? Some kind of intimidation tactic? Good luck. I can speak on this issue as a patron, but also as a professional with years of serving experience, as well as corporate training in restaurants. There may have been only 3 servers on, but I counted 4, and some random woman pacing back and forth doing absolutely nothing. I could understand if they were busy and running around but it was not busy, there was not a wait, and server didn’t have any hustle or any kind of sense or urgency. Felt very mediocre and cold. It’s not my responsibility as a customer to ask for a particular server or ask for good service. Hire good help, train them, don’t short-staff them, don’t make the customers ask for refills, and maybe just smile and talk to your customers. Your responses are really just proof that whomever is running the show lacks professionalism, diplomacy, or tact, and is exactly why we won’t be back. Whomever is in charge of responses, marketing, etc needs a new job as well as they are clearly a keyboard warrior with zero understanding of how many people see these reviews and how childish and condescending this looks. With so many other options in the Inlet, you should be fixing the issues and asking people to come back instead of making excuses and blaming the customer. Nance’s used to have people waiting and lines out the door. I see why all the other restaurants in the inlet were packed out and Nance’s wasn’t. Save your money and go to...

My parents are locals and love to treat others to seafood at Nance’s. My wife, two adult sons and I are also locals and have patronized Nances 12+ times. Our party of six 78-82 year olds arrived at 4 pm and asked for a table for 10. Four others were enroute including me. When I arrived, my elderly family members told me that the entire party must be present to be seated and asked me to assess the situation. I texted my wife & son and told them not to come, then I informed the hostess that our party size was now eight, the remaining two were no longer coming, and all guests were present. We were seated and the hostess explained that the reason for the policy was that management did not want the server to have to return to the table to take orders, as later guests arrived, which makes sense to me.

The reason for my decision to have my eighty+ year old family members seated and tell my spouse and adult son not to come was because of the capability and state of health of my elderly relatives. My mom had been in bed for 18 hour per day for the previous few weeks and had forced herself to leave the house for the first time in months except to go to medical appointments because her old sister & brother came into town. Because of my mom’s little stamina, I elected to reduce our party size and have my aged family seated.

Judging by the walker, canes, and appearances of the 80 year olds, and considering there were only three other parties dining at 4:15pm, the owner or GM probably would have made a different decision, but the hostess was following policy and did not have the authority to seat my parents, uncle, aunt and aunt’s older brother until the entire party arrived, which I understand.

My wife was fine not to join us for dinner if she couldn’t be seated with our large party. After receiving our drinks, I asked the waitress if my wife and son could join us if I ordered for them at the same time as all other eight orders were placed. The waitress said that would be fine. I hoped I was not putting her on the spot by proposing that solution but it seemed to me to address the stated reason for the policy. I texted my wife & son that they could join us for dinner. I ordered two broiled platters for my my spouse and myself. My son ordered wings for his brother who was coming primarily to be with his grandparents and great uncle & aunt. A couple of them are growing senile and welcome his help.

Evidently the waitress did not inform the hostess that she agreed to allow us to order for my wife and son before they came. When my wife arrived and told the hostess that she would be sitting with the party of eight older folks, she responded “you mean the liars?”.

Out front, the best parking stall in the lot has a sign reserving it for Manager. If this were my restaurant, I would underscore a customer centric approach by leaving that parking space for an older customer and reserving the most distant parking space for the manager. The attitude of the front of house staff at Nances is staff first rather than Customer first.

I liked the shrimp and scallops but my fish was not good. There are several restaurants nearby with better...