Location

225 E Bay St,
Charleston , SC 29401 UNITED STATES

Reviews

Based on 7 reviews

leelee0527w

Excellent!

This restaurant is in high demand, so we made sure to put in our reservations a few days before we came to Charleston. We told them that we were celebrating my husband's birthday while we were there, so they put us in a huge private booth that was very romantic! When they brought us our wonderful Chocolate Souffle Cake, they even wrote "Happy Birthday" on his plate in chocolate!!
The service was wonderful, and they even took a picture of us when we asked them to with my camara!
Word of advice, CALL AHEAD!

posted at 02/07/06

toddnla

Grill 2Rude4words

I've been lucky to travel the united states and around the world. In 44 years, I've had some amazing experiences, good and bad, but I have never walked out of a restaurant; I did here. My girlfriend and I spent 5 nights in Charleston and saved Grill 225 for last. We made an 8:45 reservation and arrived at 8:46 (walking from our hotel, the lovely Charleston Place). The restaurant was less than 1/2 full, it was a Wednesday night. We were told to wait at the bar upon asking for our table. Mistake 1: never tell a guest to go sit at the bar just so you can try to sell them a cocktail. The hostess was the coldest, least friendly hostess I'd ever encountered in Charleston where "friendly" is a way of life. After being seated we order a bottle of 2005 Sancerre per the wine list and were brought a 2006 bottle. When I pointed this out to the Waiter, he said nothing, left the table and sent the wine steward over to our table. The wine steward proceeded to tell us that it was impossible to get 2005 now and became rude and hostile. We thanked him for the information. Set our napkins down and exited the restaurant. Grill 225 takes the term Southern Hospitality and re-terms it Southern Hostility!

Fortunately, we walked accross the Street to, funny enough, a restaurant called "S.N.O.B." (Slightly North of Broad). They managed to seat us in less than 15 min. even though their restaurant was pretty packed. We had a lovely dinner than included a bottle of the same Sancerre Wine (2004!) and the bottle was priced $2.00 less than the 2005 bottle at Grill 225.

The moral of this story: Restraunters never be a Snob; Charleston travelers, make sure and dine at S.N.O.B.

Cheers

posted at 08/19/07

grill22rude

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

What was supposed to be a wonderful experience turned out to be an obnoxious OWNER'S SON bullying me, my wife and two friends out the front door.
The experience began when we requested, at the time of our reservation, a booth and a bottle of champagne waiting on us. Instead, we were greeted with a smirk, then seated at a table far away from the booths with no champagne greeting us. I reminded the owner/manager that we requested a booth and pointed out to him all the vacant ones around us. His response was "this is the table you will sit at, and if you don't like it, you can leave". He had no interest in accomodating his patrons and the old business saying that "the customer is always right" must have been taught on a day he was absent from school! To top it all off, upon informing him that we were leaving to dine somewhere else, I was told (in a nut shell) to "F-off and not come back". As a local who's family is also involved in the Charleston restaurant business I am appauled at his behavior and will make sure that I tell all my friends and business counterparts to never dine there. Now, if you really want to go somewhere that's first class, definitely go to Peninsula Grill! Upon hearing about our experience at Grill 225, they greeted us with open arms and immediately seated us. It didn't matter that it was a busy Christmas Saturday night in Charleston.

posted at 12/16/07

mags1

Got up and left - 'nuff said.

As a transplant to Charleston from San Fran, we've had a lot of experience with great restaurants. And Charleston has its own share of fantastic spots (Fig, Peninsula, Al Di La, Fulton Five), but this is certainly not one of them. It's an upscale wannabe without the sophisticated and subtle knowledge of what clients expect from an upscale experience.

Valet was cash prepaid. Never heard of that in my life -- as if I'm going to run off on the $10 charge and leave them with the keys to a $60k automobile! When I questioned the valet about this, he was a real smart alec and responded that "he didn't make the rules." Tip to valet: even as an employee you should have a handle on the business reasons behind the rules in your department. And if you don't know why, at least act sympathetic to the customer.

Bartender was inattentive while we waited for our table. Perhaps this is understandable since there were three staff at the bar, and at least four patrons. Tip to bartender: you're on the welcoming committee. Take the time to set the right tone for the guest's experience.

Hostess was completely unaccommodating. In a half-empty restaurant, we were seated for our reservation right under the hostess stand, in the middle of the restaurant, without an occupied table in proximity. We pointed out a few tables in somewhat better locations and asked if we could move. We were told that they had been "specifically requested." Doubtful. What made this even more dubious, was when my wife asked that we be seated virtually at the kitchen door (that's how bad our table was!) and was told by the hostess that that table had also been reserved. Huh? Tip to hostess: at least act like you care. Take it to the manager and ask for help. Even if the answer is ultimately "no", at least the customer will believe you tried.

After that, we immediately got up and left. Took it to Fig, where they get it right every time.

Won't return to Grill 225.

posted at 02/23/08

Gabster45

The snobbiest bunch of staff you will ever see

My husband and I made a reservation at Grill 225 looking forward to a nice evening. When we got there, the hostess sat us at an extremely small table near the traffic path from the kitchen to the rest of the restaurant. We immediately asked to be moved and she said that she couldn't possibly move us as all the other tables were reserved for the evening. When we looked around, we could see that there were plenty of two people tables empty. There was no reason we could see why we couldn't be moved to another table. We asked how long it would be if we waited and she sniffed and said that it wouldn't be practical as they were booked for the rest of the evening. We told her if we weren't moved, we would be leaving and she simply said she was sorry (not). Didn't even have the decency to go to a manager and at least ask if there was something that could be done. As we walked out, the rest of the staff was gathered around the hostess stand and wished us a good evening and we said again how disappointed we were with our table and they just shrugged their shoulders so we walked out. We will never go to Grill 225 again unless their staff suddenly develops manners. Oh, by the way, we walked down a half block and ate at High Cotton where we were treated like customers and had the most wonderful dinner. Can't wait to go back!!!!!

posted at 04/18/08

Snoogerbooger

Lunches were always good - Roof top too - Dinner horrible

How do you do such a great job with the lunch crowd and then turn out the most horrible meal ever. There were ten of us and NO ONE had a good meal. Oh excuse me one did, she had the mussels. All the ones that had the fish special all said it was over cooked. We all just paid the super high prices rather than make a scene.
Won't go back, save yourself the trip. Maybe if they got a new chef I would consider.

posted at 01/25/09

paulcutler

Excellent food, ambiance and service!!

We have had many meals at 225 over the past 4 years both before and after the staff knew who we were. A must recommendation is to book in advance if you can. Our parties have ranged from 2 to 40. The steak is excellent and consistent and the seafood is second to none in Charleston. The service, decor and food is by and large impeccable. The management is more than accommodating when possible. The valet parking will cost you $10.00 but parking in a nearby lot will cost you easily $5.00 to 7.00 and their valet is far more convenient. Very upscale with a wonderful bar and rooftop bar. Food selections can be pronounced (so if you are like us you will know what you are going to get) and selection is abundant. Very romantic, clean and trendy. Just writing this is making me hungry for one of their meals.....
Take it from us, picky to the nines, and having dined in many medium and upscale places, 225 ranks among the best in Charleston!

posted at 01/30/09

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Worldwide > United States > Charleston, SC > Restaurants

Grill 225

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Reviews

leelee0527w

toddnla

grill22rude

mags1

Gabster45

Snoogerbooger

paulcutler

Detail information

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Grill 225