The Cottage

My husband and I have been to The Cottage twice. My favorite thing about this place is the tea menu! They have a selection of over 100 teas! I got the shrimp and grits this time (I don’t remember what my husband got). My meal was fine, but not my favorite version of S&G.
One thing I don’t like is the bathroom placement. I know it’s a small place, but it’s really awkward to have to walk through the kitchen and staff to pee! Then if someone is in there, there is no place to wait really, you just have to go back to your seat. Kind of like an airplane! Being someone who has to pee all the time (sorry, TMI), that is definitely a turnoff.
We were sitting right next to the pastry case, which I stared at the whole meal. Next time, I would also make sure to sit outside. Sitting in that location, I felt like I was in the way, like I almost had to lean over a few times to get out of the way of the server, and when people walk by so close to your table, it’s very hard to focus on your conversation!
We took two pastries home, and honestly, for the price, and after staring at them the whole meal and trying to decide what to get, I was expecting something AMAZING. We got the coconut macaroon with chocolate and the peach tart. The macaroon was good, but the peach tart was a little bland and had a bit of an odd flavor. I would give the cakes a try, and let’s be honest, I would try another pastry, because I love pastries, even though it wasn’t as good as I expected. Overall, an ok experience.

«High Tea» here does not exist. It is more of a «High Mess». They throw in store bought cookies on top of the tray tear. The sandwiches are a laugh and the «tea» is not that great. There are no finger sandwiches, they are regular sandwiches. It’s a cute place but it’s a rip off. Always crowded and not relaxing at all. You’re shoved in a table and they insinuate like a «take it or leave it» attitude.
It should be called «Low Tea». We were there 3 years ago and it’s sad to hear from the remarks here that they have not changed.

This place is too cute. Very homey and warm. Service was wonderful. And they serve you huge portions!
For brunch we ordered a vegetarian dish called mamasita which was delish! And one of their specials — a Benedict made with French toast, hollandaise sauce, chorizo!!! This dish was the bomb!
They are also known for tea as they have a really large selection. And their tea pots are presented in a really cute dress. Uploading pics.
Definitely recommend this restaurant if you find yourself in the area!

I was looking online for a charming place to have afternoon tea while visiting Hilton Head, and based on the website this place was the perfect opportunity to check out a charming little downtown and catch tea. However, it ended up being the WORST «afternoon tea» I have experienced by far.
Reservations were easy even though we didn’t reach out until late the evening before. The day ended up being rainy and we finished shopping faster than anticipated, so we arrived early. We were happy just to wait on the dry porch until our time, but they were anxious to get us seated inside — and to also put in our orders so the chef could prep (in hindsight I cannot fathom what needed prepping…) We got ushered to a table just inside the door — which was like a busy deli at lunch time — so I asked to move into the «tea room» once something was available. That room was small and simple but quaint, so we were back on track.
The staff couldn’t answer some of our questions about finger sandwich and sweets varieties for the tea, and it was disconcerting that they defaulted to «it varies day to day depending on the chef.» We requested they asked the chef what today’s choices were and were told turkey/​ham, pimento cheese, & tomato/​cream cheese sandwiches — but the chef still couldn’t determine what the sweets would be (translation: you’re getting whatever is leftover in the bakery case.) We had a person with a fresh fruit and nut allergy at our table, so we ordered the full tea set-​ups without those items.
The tea arrived. My «Coronation» was brewed too strong and tasted bitter as a result (though in my last cup I realized despite not being given a strainer they had left the loose leaf in the pot!) The other 3 pots were fine.
Our tiers came out and looked like a generous but disorganized set up. The sandwiches were on crustless white bread but pressed in a panini maker to make them look fancy I guess. The pimento cheese sandwiches were full size triangle halves, the turkey/​ham was your standard cold cuts, and there were no tomato/​cream cheese sandwiches — much to my husband’s disappointment.
The top and middle tiers were a jumbled mess of baked goods and cake slices with no apparent organization. I hunted for my scone and devonshire cream — thinking it must be buried below some of the sweets — to no avail. When the waitress returned I asked if they forgot the scones and was told they substituted more sweets for thr scones because today’s scone was orange and cranberry; she could bring them out but it would now be an additional fee (what?!) First, our person could have eaten the scone without a problem because it wasn’t FRESH fruit. Second, it would have been great for the waitress to mention the substitution BEFORE it happened — especially if there wasn’t a non fruit substitute scone — as we could have chosen to either include it or order something different.
Finally, lets talk about the mess of sweets on the top and middle tiers. The table had two «with a friend» tiers for $ 40each to feed 4 people. Mine and my husband’s contained the following: 1 slice if red velvet cake, 2 slices of soggy oreo cake, 6 squares of chocolate fudge, one half of a coconut macaroon and the following items pre-​cut in halves — chocolate chip cookies, a round of cheesecake, a round of fudge cake, and a mini chocolate bundt cake. I will admit the tiers looked abundant, but despite my love for sweets (and especially chocolate) I was grossed out by it all. Besides that there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the offerings piled on there, so my assumption about «leftovers» seems pretty spot on.
To sum it up, I spent almost $ 50 for my husband and I to have mediocre paninis, old desserts, and tea. The volume of stuff was egregious (we felt inclined to box up the leftovers, though no one will eat them), but this was not afternoon tea by any stretch of the imagination.
One special side note: avoid the bathroom here. The bathroom isn’t bad per se, but you have to travel through the smelly prep kitchen and around the staff to access it.

One of my first breakfast spots I tried once I came to the east coast. Pretty tasty. I really love how it literally looks like a cottage. Cute. Really casual spot with a friendly staff. They have a made to order white sangria that is beyond amazing! Not too sweet at all which is the product of a true sangria. It should be light, refreshing, & naturally sweet… with a kick too lol! This place did just that. I also had the popular shrimp & grits here which were really good but the toppings were really over powering. It was just too much for me. Good but too much. It didn’t match the grits ratio in my opinion. Anywho. this is a casual, inexpensive, dog friendly spot good for breakfast/​brunch/​lunch. Y’all go check um out!

The Cottage is a cute cozy eatery. The food was just ok. I am a native local who will not return based on the rude hostess Mary Ellen and our rude server Sean. Customer service is non existent.

Green eggs with parsley and avocado was awesome. The ambiance is relaxed and delicious. I’d recommend it over Cahill’s in Bluffton. It is also located in a cute intersection in downtown Bluffton. Worth the wait!

This place is cute, it’s in an interesting area, and the staff are friendly.
The blackened grouper with a fruit and black bean salsa is a great example of the food here: It’s based on an interesting idea that is not well executed. The salsa was cold (like on purpose cold from the refrigerator) and contained huge chunks of fruit. You could barely see the fish under it. The fish itself was nice, but the dish was overall a disaster.
The ubiquitous mixed vegetable side (on every entrée?) seemed like a naked attempt to fill half a huge plate with food. No one I was with ate even half of that. Also this side is a mess: it’s shredded carrots and shredded other stuff with some whole snap peas and I don’t remember what else. Miraculously it doesn’t actually taste bad, but it’s so unwieldy and unappetizing looking.
The portions are massive. You want to be appreciative, but at some point it’s just like, dude, just give me what a normal person realistically eats in one meal.
The wine menu is poorly done. Almost all bottles cost the same thing and there is bad selection and variety. There is no clear low-​end bottle and no clear high-​end bottle. They’re all low– to low-​mid end selections. The wine menu is in dire need of a sommelier or consultant. It doesn’t need to be fancy schmancy, just done better by someone who knows wine.
The draft beer selection was an IPA or Allagash White. So that’s an IPA or one of the most specific-​tasting beers I know of. This shows no apparent awareness of the world of beer today. This selection also needs an overhaul.
If none of these things were issues I could’ve been ok paying 70-​something dollars for two people having a drink and an entrée each, but since all of the above are true I think the prices here are obscene, just absolutely tragically high.

The service was piss pore. It took us 20 minutes to get a water and the waiter kept coming up with excuses for everything. They were consistently out of whatever we asked for; coffee flavoring, syrup and orange juice. Also my eggs were stone cold. Revolting

Highly recommended as I was researching online before our trip, I can’t say my expectations were met. We opted for two tables of two on the covered porch for our family of four as it was readily available however not ideal.
Service wasn’t great, too many tables for one server. My meal, the Green Goddess salad with shrimp and lobster had the potential to be amazing but there was something odd about the dressing that I can’t quite pinpoint…
The fried green tomatoes were good but lost a little something by drowning them in the sauce. Less sauce would have made a world of difference.
My 12 year old enjoyed his French Dip but complained about the chips that got soggy as the juices dropped from the sandwich.
Dessert looked great but we were too full and hot from sitting outside.

This is one of our favorite places to brunch when we visit the Lowcountry; but our recent experience was a little lacking. Our server, John was fantastic, but the food was a little disappointing :(I ordered a special but it was extremely bland. Covered in salsa verde without much flavor. I ended up throwing away a little more than half the dish. The coffee is always awesome and so is the cornbread. We will definitely return but I will gladly stick to the menu next time!

It’s a cute little place to dine if you are walking around downtown and the food is pretty good. They have a tendency to add some weird ingredient to something like vinegar in corn beef hash and ruin the dish. Perhaps it’s a lowcountry taste thing, but simple is sometimes best and they have throw some pretty odd combos in their dishes to be different. We’ve all experienced this motivation in our own kitchen’s. I walked in there on Saint Patrick’s weekend. Cottage Corned beef with potatoes & onions, Worcestershire crème fraîche & parsley. With poached eggs, over toast 12.50. This sounded good until the vinegar hit me, but overall most of their dishes are edible. Very reasonably priced. Nice staff. Busy. It’s quaint. It’s a cottage and I think the locals hang there, so… coffee is great!

Grouper. Tacos. Get here for lunch. Bike, kayak, out of body meditation– do it. The staff here is fantastic, and the food is truly transcendant of every crappy seafood joint in Hilton Head. Don’t skimp out on the fried green tomatoes either. If you’re on vacation to the island, vacate over here after a few hours after a beautiful beach day. You will regret nothing.

had a great meal. My Son ordered the Calve’s liver and my wife and I split a special (tenderloin over over crabs cake: Appetizer was lobster martini. Fantastic! Service was great and Ambiance Was
only criticism is they use a bit too much sugar in the seasoning. I know Southerners love our sweet tea, but not so much on our savory dishes.
Drink Pour was Generous! Win Absolutely come Back. oh, they don’t take reservations after 7:30

I really glad we stopped by and checked this place out, I would have liked to tried their breakfast but we came around lunch time and I didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, wanted to try something savory. My husband and I were promptly seated in the patio area, the restaurant outside has a homely feel very cottagey style and just very home feeling. The server was pleasant and prompt. We ended up sharing the chicken lettuce wraps, when they came out the chicken was piping hot it was sooo good. I loved the fact that it felt like it came right off a skillet and just wasn’t sitting there to get cold. It was such a great combination of flavors and also to have the hot food with the cold lettuce was perfect. I really enjoyed this dish and I even asked for extra lettuce and they didn’t give me any hassle they were nice enough to bring me 2 more even though I asked for one. I highly recommend, the prices were a little expensive than what I was expecting but it was definitely quality food. Great place!

Loved the lobster avocado roll, and my husband had the blue crab and corn pot pie, which he said was ok but couldn’t taste the crab. Love the atmosphere.

Great local place in old town bluffton! Service was nice, food is good and outside was beautiful. Food came quickly. We had chicken pot pie, fish taco, shrimp ginger wrap and shrimp with grits. All very good with nice presentation. Would definitely recommend it to locals and visitors.

I am no expert but that shrimp and grit was delicious. Full of flavor with a small spicy kick to it. The warm corn breads with tasty butter was a good complimentary start to our Sunday brunch. Overall neat place for brunch!

Wow. So glad we finally stopped!
The Belgian waffle with Ghirardelli chocolate was a hit with my daughter.
The shrimp and grits was crazy amazing. Really excellent.
I had the breakfast special, huevos rancheros. Very good.
Giant portions, great staff, lovely setting.

There was nothing wrong with the cottage, but with all of the hype, it was a slight let down. I had the fried green tomatoes with red sauce and shrimp. It was good, but I’ve had better. We had also been told the dishes were ENORMOUS and this wasn’t super filling. My husband had the Banging Burrito Bowl with barbacoa, avocado, rice, cheese, pico and it was pretty Banging. The service was good and the food was good, but this isn’t anything to write home about. Sorry, Cottage. :(