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Comment Archives: Locations: Restaurants: Seafood: 1 Star
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
The Wreck or poop in my mouth....? hmmm... If I order the poop can i split the check?
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
I went the VERY first week it opened, with a nephew of the owner. I heard the entire story from the dream, the boat and the restaurant vision. I WANTED to like it because he was family to my friend. However, but and despite that, the fried shrimp was way overcooked, the sweet tea, was lifeless nondescript brown water. I have since been back twice once with someone who just had to try it, in July at night. Tepid tea, burnt fish, and marinating in my own juices, and the previous diner at my seat. Another time to see if anything had improved, which during this experience I left after being ignored by the "wait" staff, for 20 minutes despite sitting in their path to the "deck" diners. Along with Hymans, this place is the WORST seafood in Chucktown. Now I have only lived here for 33 years, so I may not know every restaurant in the CHS area, but to get here you have to pass numerous "tourist traps" that server marginally better fare. Anyone supporting this "establishment" on this forum has either ulterior motives, or absolutely no concept of the foodie scene in CHS. They probably frequent the Okra Grill and Cracker Barrel for a good night out. IMHO.
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
I agree with the negative reviews on here. And how this place got a nod from Southern Living is beyond me. I ate there a handful of years ago and will not be back. For one, they would not split the check...a major inconvenience. Additionally, at the time (I assume things have changed), they only accepted CASH. People had to leave and go to the ATM to get cash while the rest of us waited for their return in the parking lot. Additonally, there are no substitutions, no acceptions. You circle what you want on the menu, and that's it. The owner or manager(older man)was as rude as everyone says that he is. I felt from the time that we walked in that it was rule after rule..."no cell phones," "no substitutions," "no split checks," "no credit cards." I love a good dive...this isn't one that I'll be going back to...
Re: “The Crab Pot”
This place has been closed over 2 yrs now. Oct 2012.
Re: “Salty Waters Rawbar and Grill”
They don't know how to shuck an oyster. But then, who in Charleston does?
Re: “Buddy Roe's Shrimp Shack”
I ordered shrimp tacos. Horrible. Boiled tasteless cut up meat. Daughter ordered the grits and they were burnt.
Husband ordered fried shrimp that were supposed to be tossed in barbecue sauce. They were just plain. As a solution the waitress brought out a side container of barbecue. This plate was ok.
My son did like his fried chicken tenders and french fries. But honestly he likes anything fried.
Brother-in law had chicken wings that were cold.
Service was bad. Food took way too long. Had to find her for another beer or water and again for napkins.
Won't go back.
Re: “Amen Street Fish and Raw Bar”
Recent lunch. Softshell crab sandwich. Not good. Crab, bacon and bread difficult to chew. Could not finish. So much for the special!
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
Came to this restaurant with my BF and 5 other people. Food was ok. Then it came time to pay the bill and a grey haired old man who claimed to be the manager handed us one ticket and pointed at a sign that says the bill could not be split. I ended up putting 200$ on my credit card and then proceeded to get yelled at by this man who claimed to be the manager. I asked why the waitress didnt ask if we wanted split checks and he scolded me again for not reading a tiny sign no where near where we sat. I attempted t defend myself but after throwing my credit card and my receipt at me, I realized it was useless. We left there feeling almost cheated. Very disappointing.
Re: “Folly Beach Shrimp Company”
Watch your card...witness the vanishing waiter!....We waited with our empty plates and glasses for over 45 minutes. Finally we walked up to the bar where four employees gathered to talk instead of noticing we no longer had a waiter. I asked them where our waiter was...their response "ugh I dunno I just got here"....I left a crappy tip...I should not have left one at all. Three days later they put a larger tip on my credit card!....tis a shame the food was good..perhaps one day they will find people who want to work.
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
Inspired by today's article, I thought I should add my 2 cents. I couldn't care any less about the paper plates, the lack of AC, or the difficulty in finding the joint. In fact, I love a good dive! The problem here is that the food is terrible and way overpriced for what you are getting. I went two weeks ago with a party of 10 and not a single person enjoyed their meal. The fried seafood was soggy and tasted like old grease. Not appealing at all. The "grilled" seafood was even worse. Covered in something that I couldn't identify, it had a harsh, burnt taste. I hate to be so brutal, but this was probably the worst meal I've ever eaten in Charleston.
Re: “Crab Shack”
You might want to go there for the beer, not the food. Soggy is a fitting description of the crab clusters. First thing to remember is they are already cooked when the joint gets them frozen. All you have to do is heat them up. But, in good old fashion southern style this place seems to have boiled the s--t out of the poor things. Same goes for the the fried shrimp. I'll describe them as mushy.
Now for the well chilled and tasty oysters on the half shell from Bulls Bay. Let's just say they were opened but not shucked. And, based on my experience, this goes for every oyster on the half shell serving reastaurant in Charleston. They all forget the final step in shucking, which is: Cut the oyster free from the shell. It is connected by a tough knob on the underside; slide your knife under and sever it.
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
Are they serious? Overpriced, mediocre food. That says it all...but I'll get specific.
So the place is hard to find? Who cares about that...I don't. So it's a dive? Who cares about that either...I don't. What I do care about is good food, for a comparatively reasonable price, and good service. We did not receive this.
We got a shrimp platter and the shrimp/scallop/oyster/fish combination.
Most important, the seafood was just ho hum. I'm from eastern North Carolina where we will fry ANYTHING...so fried food is my forte. This was not great fried food. The seafood itself wasn't that flavorful, and the fish was downright flavorless (not to mention mushy).
One of the worst parts was that they placed the side of white lima beans right next to the seafood. The limas had so much juice with them that it soaked the fried items and made them all soggy. That is not smart plating. The limas were the best side on the plate and only needed a little extra salt to be pretty good. The red rice was the worst I've (we've) ever had...anywhere. The cole slaw isn't very simple, made with lots of ingredients, and way too much celery seed. The grit cake ends up being a 1" cube. The menu says the dish comes with hush puppies..."ies" meaning plural. In reality it only comes with a single hush pupp"y" that isn't special at all.
The prices at the Wreck are extremely expensive...representative of what you might expect downtown Charleston. This is a shock considering they don't have to pay for air conditioning during the summer and they serve you on paper plates and plastic cups. I don't mind any of that stuff, but I would expect a discount because of it.
Our waitress came to ask how we were doing about 3 minutes before our meal was complete. Excellent service, eh? When I went to pay, the owner was running the register and greeted me with a very glum "hey". That is the only word he said until I was walking away when he said, "have a good night." Really? The owner? What an uncaring individual. He could have cared less about our experience or if we had a nice visit.
After a small tip, our bill totaled $50 for two of us. For $25 I expect a whole lot more from a dining experience. What a rip off. I would not recommend this place to anyone.
Re: “Buddy Roe's Shrimp Shack”
The above reviews must be friends or employees or asked to leave a review because there was NOTHING good about this place. The food is so overpriced for what you get and tasted like s*&^! The service was bad when we could gould get service at all and if the band spent more time woohoo'n then actually singing! Never again would I set foot int there!
Re: “Water's Edge”
Beautiful location , scenery and excellent attentive service, do not always denote a great dining experience. There is something missing here... oh right... the food.
Someone in the management needs to get a handle on the seafood end...until they do... i can't say you should even try here. As much as i hate to post a negative and influence someones' living i sure don't want you to waste your money when there are so many other options in town....even the choice of a 3 piece fish takeout from a big chain seafood place and a seat on the dock beats this place...currently.
Maybe its a simple fix.
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
What a wreck our experience was. My wife, sister, brother-in-law, aunt, uncle and two cousins went there this week. We are all from South Carolina and were looking for some good seafood. My parents had been to this place years ago and suggested that we go. Getting there should have been an indicator to us. The place is not clearly marked although the GPS took us straight to it. Once inside there wasn't much of a wait so we sat down. We were in a booth up against a wall. While waiting we heard several times what sounded like a large animal scurrying around inside the wall. We told our server and never heard anything back so we're not sure what it was. It took FOREVER for our order to be taken and then to get it. The whole place is not air-conditioned and it was July in South Carolina so you can imagine how stuffy it was in that place. Then of course, the food finally came. Served on paper plates!!! Our bill came to $130 for six adults and one child (my youngest cousin is very small and didn't eat anything from the menu). The food was just ok. Having grown up in South Carolina I spent many summers at the beach and I feel like I know what good seafood is. This stuff was just OK but I digress. The bill itself amounts to about $18 per person, which isn't to bad except when it came time to pay they informed us that they couldn't or wouldn't split the check. I spoke to an older gentleman about it. He got very defensive about it and said that their policy of not splitting checks was on the menu. I didn't see it on the menu but he insisted it was there. As we discussed things he suggested that, "maybe you shouldn't come back"! The nerve of this guy is beyond me. Between the slow service, the mystery noise in the wall, lack of A/C, and the rude treatment by management I'll never go back to that hole in the wall. Oh yeah, the gratuity was automatically included and they didn't bother to tell me that either. The real icing on the cake comes in the next three or four parties that left after us. We all gathered in the parking lot outside and compared stories. Not one of them was positive and many of these people were locals. The "Wreck" as the locals often call this joint sure is appropriately named. The whole thing was a real train wreck from beginning to end, a real disaster!! DON'T GO THERE! I don't care how good someone says it is. You will regret it.
Re: “Hyman's Seafood”
Hyman's Seafood is the worst restaurant in the Southeast. It is a tourist trap that prides itself on having a line out the door; which is probably because management closes 75 to 90 percent of the restaurant in order to create this illusion of grandeur. The food is crap, the service crappier, and the thought of even going back makes me sick to my stomach. With all that said Hyman's Seafood = Shit Food, Shit Service, and a Shittier Experience. Sorry for my french; but it's hard to get ones opinion out when there is no option for negative stars.
Re: “Fish”
Wife & I were terribly disappointed during a recent visit. Dim sum arrived cold and kind of rubbery. Salad and and fish entree were extremely salty. We won't go back.
Re: “Fish”
I love how it's painfully obvious that the restaurant had a meeting and asked everyone to write a good review. Either that or they asked some regular customers to do so. The place doesn't get but a small handful of reviews in a year and all of a sudden 5 star reviews abound within a matter of days.
Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
Remember going here with some friends maybe 5-6 years ago who had come down to Chas for the weekend, and I remember us having a blast, eating some good cheap food, drinking a cold beer and sitting out in the open air at sunset. I know it wasnt expensive, bc we were all broke college kids. Well, I went there recently and was completely and utterly SHOCKED that they now feel they can charge $18.00 for the Charlene(small) portion of fried shrimp!? On a paper plate, no less. We didnt stay to eat after that sticker shock! I'm not a food snob, I love some fried shrimp as much as everyone else, and will gladly pay a higher price for fine food, but unless they are donating half of that $18 to charity, I cant say they can justify those kinds of prices, or that I would recommend this place to anyone.
Sad what effect an overblown ego and a Southern Living write up can have!
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Re: “The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene”
The Wreck is the worst restaurant in Mt. Pleasant, in my opinion. Before someone says "you don't get the dive restaurant thing," I do get it. See my review of Bowen's Island. I love dives, and I love local seafood. I hate mushy poorly fried seafood. We had originally tried the wreck back in 2008, simply based on the story about the place. During that experience, service was slow, but not horrible. The food during that visit was ok, but not worth the price ($18 for fried shrimp, I believe).
Fast forward to December 2012. We decided to give the Wreck a second chance, as we were hungry and wanted some delicious fried shrimp. We arrived about 30 min after they opened, and about half the tables were occupied. It took about 20 minutes to get the server to take our drink order. I would say it was another 10 minutes before she took our food order, which was simply two menus with items circled in red. I ordered fried shrimp and fried scallops, while my fiance ordered fried shrimp and fried oysters with she crab soup as an app. We didn't see the waitress again at our table for 30 min after that. When she arrived, all she had was two dinner plates and no soup. We quickly asked about the soup, which must have been forgotten. As we looked at our meals, we realized they were all wrong. I had received fried oysters and fried scallops, while she received just fried oysters. No shrimp to be found. After the waitress came back, we told her about the errors, so she took the plates back and agreed to not charge for the soup. 20 minutes passes by, and we finally get some soup. The soup was just ok, by the way. 5 minutes later, new dinner plates arrive, along with a soft shelled crab (didn't order that). The dinners were wrong again. This time I received fried oysters and grilled scallops, while my fiance received fried oysters and grilled shrimp. At this point, we were 1hr and 30 min into dinner and starving, so we just ate what we got. The fried seafood was mushy, and not flavorful. The grilled stuff was ok, but not what we ordered. The combo meals cost $21 a piece, so we just paid for overpriced seafood without even getting what we ordered. I am not sure how this place is still in business. If your service and food are poor, what do you have that brings people in? My only guess is that the articles talking up the place have made it a dive tourist trap. All I can say, is that I will never go back to the wreck again.