The Royal Tern — Restaurant in South Carolina

As 2020 comes to a close it’s time for the yearly top 5 worst meals edition. This year the pandemic has had a significant impact on the restaurant industry offering proprietors the opportunity to shine by putting their best food and service forward during turbulent times to provide great experiences. These are the restaurants who didn’t.

The Royal Tern on Johns Island in South Carolina was the worst meal I had in 2020.

It all started at 7:30 pm on a Friday night. I’m early for my reservation but seated immediately at the bar. As I sit on the stool I immediately slide off. I hop back on and slide off again. I adjust the stool seat so the bent part is forward and if I slide it will be towards the bar. I’m 5’4” and can’t reach the foot rest so I try to use the wall of the bar for leverage to stay on the seat.

7:41 the bartender comes over and asks what I would like to drink. He brings the drink and walks away.

7:48 the bartender takes my order: Hush puppies, chopped salad, ribeye with warm red center and potatoes au gratin.

7:52 I ask the bartender for more grapefruit juice for my drink. He takes it and squirts orange juice into it. He says he’s going to remake it and when he redelivers the tequila and grapefruit elixir It’s exactly like the first one.

8:17 I’m getting impatient and ask the bartender if it usually takes 30 minutes for a salad to come out. He heads to the kitchen and 5 minutes later the salad arrives with the hushpuppies. The bartender apologizes. I’m not sure what for, I assume the tardiness of the salad.

8:34 I slide off the seat again and head to the bathroom to wash my hands and blow off some frustration. I’ve been here an hour, I’m starving, I keep sliding off the seat, my drink is a watered-down shot of tequila and the entree’ is nowhere in sight. I get back to the bar and switch stools with the guy next to me. One problem solved.

8:49 The steak is delivered. I cut into it and its hard. I cut through the center and its light pink better known as well done. I try a bite and it tastes like cardboard. I try to eat around the edges but burnt and crispy. The potatoes will be better…. nope all that delicious cheese and butter are overpowered by the pound of pepper someone put in the sauce. I pushed the plates away and tossed back the rest of the hushpuppies and waited for the rest of my party to finish.

9:00 the bartender came by to check if everything was ok. “You’re not having a good night.” No, I replied it was terrible. He asks if he can get me something else and I say no I don’t want to wait. He wanders away.

The bartender is back “I told my manager” The manager comes over and says this is what happens when you order steak well done. I say I didn’t order well done I ordered warm red center. He asks if he can get me something else. This is when the steam starts coming out of my ears. I waited 90 minutes for a terrible entrée, the rest of my party is finished eating and he wants to know if I want to wait again for another entrée while my party twiddles their thumbs waiting for my new meal and the time it takes for me to eat it? So, based on the experience I just had I’m looking at waiting another 90 minutes?

Um No, the completely disingenuous offer by the “Manager” who strangely looked like executive chef David Pell behind the mask was declined.

I finally walk out at 9:10pm, I’m starving and irritated. I head back to the hotel and order frosted flakes.

I realize the restaurant business is tuff these days but that is the WORST service I've ever had at a "upscale" restaurant. The bartender took 2 full plates back to the kitchen and no one took responsibility for the mistake, apologized or offered to remove it from my bill. The pandemic can't be used an excuse for terrible service. In fact most restaurants have used this time to shine. At the Royal Tern hospitality is dead but if you do decide to try it, don’t sit at the bar you’ll have a long wait and may have to steal a neighbors stool when they go to the bathroom.

Date of visit: Friday November...

Where to start??? Thank you for allowing my wife and I to get in on such short notice. My friend Daniel Pegues made a few calls and set up the reservation for us. That started an absolutely immaculate experience.

Our servers name was Sam and he started us off with some wonderful cocktails. I started with the "right tern" and my wife started with a "Pimms cup". He then and helped narrow down our appetizer selection. Which we chose the "Steak and Eggs" beef tartare that I would have once a week if I lived here. I then asked Sam which other small bite we should think about? His reply changed what was a special dinner into a memory. "Frans yeast rolls" was his reply and instantly I knew this was special. You could feel the generational knowledge as soon as you touched them. With a small crunch I was transported to my Grandmother kitchen in Rockford Illinois. The smell, texture ,temperature and lastly taste brought tears of joyous long unstirred memories back instantly. 6am in the kitchen pulling pulling fresh rolls,bread,biscuits or cornbread out for breakfast with my family. Perfect and unknown flavors to most people now with the dilution of what normalized bread is. Yet still achievable with love and passion for your family's recipe. Beautiful and memorable bite of food thank you for that. We then went into entrees which my wife had the nightly special, Fried Grouper with okra,squash and zucchini in a tomato sauce. While I enjoyed the Blackened Swordfish with etouffee, bluecrab and rice pilaf. Both of these where perfectly executed and impeccable dishes visually and flavored. We ended with a take home of what the regular couple next to us highly recommended the Hazelnut carrot cake with a honey buttercream, lemon sauce. WOW what a breakfast that was just a perfect cherry on top of a blessed weekend. Incredible flavor and a must have as well.

Thank you guys for an amazing end to what I hope is a new beginning. I was down in Charleston to donate bone marrow to my brother who lives on James Island as well. It was a very draining experience but everything has gone wonderfully so far in recovery for him. You guys gave me a chance to disconnect from everything and just focus on my passion. As a Chef/line cook for almost 20 years now these types of meals are precious to me. Please keep up the great job and obvious passion you guys and gals have for our industry. I will be looking forward to many more meals with you everytime I am near James Island.

1,000,000/10 rating for me if I could thank you Sam and all of the staff for a perfect dining experience from...

You are doing yourself a disservice if you do not check out The Royal Tern when visiting John’s Island/ Kiawah. From the ambiance, to the excellent service, to the outstandingly fresh cuisine, we truly had a meal to remember.

The hostess was wonderful and helpful when accommodating us, even when booking a reservation at the last minute.

Herman was our waiter and took such great care of us the second we walked through the door. His knowledge of the menu, along with his suggestions when asking our own personal preferences was impressive. To say we enjoyed every ounce of our drinks and meal is an understatement. Herman took the time with us to explain the dishes and was very attentive during our meal. We never had to ask for a single thing while we ate here.

On top of the excellent service, the drinks and cuisine will definitely have you coming back for more. We started our meal with cocktails and the freshest oysters. Having traveled up the East Coast many times, these oysters were some of the best we have ever had (with a variety to choose from)!! It was almost impossible not to stop there and have oysters for the rest of the meal. Highly suggest adding the Royale oysters in addition to the freshly shucked raw oysters.

We then went to heaven when we dove into the PEI mussels. The mussels were voluptuous, juicy and full of flavor. The white wine, garlic cream sauce was addictive and paired perfectly with bread for dipping. The entire meal was outstanding, but these mussels were our favorite part. By far the best mussels we have ever had!!

We then had the seared scallops with orzo. It was a perfect medley of seafood, vegetables and flavor. The flavors of the lemon cream and basil oil were balanced and not overpowering. It was an excellent dish and one that we will order again. No a single drop of food was left on our plates (and not a single picture was taken of it because we truly could not wait to dive in).

To finish our meal, we had the vanilla bean crème brûlée. It was absolutely delicious and the best ending to an unforgettable meal.

Every time we visit the area, we will without a doubt be dining here again. Both managers were friendly and spent time checking in on our dining experience. We truly felt like we were part of their family here. It was a wonderful experience that we cannot wait...