Cru Café

Before coming to charleston I reviewed the restaurants. Cru was very good. However when I am on vacation I want my socks knocked off. Don’t get me wrong cru was very good, service excellent. The fish stew was wonderful. Everything was good. The fish stew was excellent. Just hvrught amount of food. You won’t be full after eating this. Flavors were so good we eat sauce with te bread!
The prices are reasonable. That makes cru even better!
Yes this place is worthwhile would I return? That is the question. Nothing negative but nothing out of this world.
Yes I would return. But in the meantime I will try some other places

Went here on a recommendation from a friend and was very pleased! We had a burger special with mushrooms and fontina cheese. It was juicy and had tons of flavor. We also had the garlic chicken sandwich which was amazing. The sourdough was great on the sandwich! Atmosphere was great and the staff were very sweet! Would recommend to anyone!

Nestled into a cozy home with a lovely porch, this delicious restaurant was a delight. I had the General Tso’s Brussels sprouts. Our server tells us that this was an appetizer invented by the wait-​staff to prevent wasting a batch over the weekend. Then followed by the Thai spice seafood risotto, apparently a popular favorite. And for good reason. Notably fresh ingredients and a very tasty and well prepared dish. I will be back.

Hands down, one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Some of the best food I’ve ever had. I’m not a real «American cuisine» type of gal, but the food was just phenomenal. Not to mention, the wait staff were extremely hospitable. The restaurant itself is basically like a house so follow everyone else’s tip and make a reservation (you’ll need it!). Adorable set up. Super intimate though so expect to be close to everyone around you.
My coworker got mussels and I tried them for the first time. Glad I chose to do it at this restaurant because they were oh so good! She also got the fried goat cheese salad as a starter and really liked it.
I got the ginger seared salmon (extra well done) with veggies– so yum. The most amazing part of the meal were the sides we ordered: General Tso’s Brussel sprouts and Mac and cheese. Omg I can’t even tell you… Foodie heaven! Hands down the best Mac and cheese I’ve ever had.
For dessert the waitress suggested orange sherbet cake with coconut icing. Enough said. .
I will recommend this restaurant to everyone who visits Charleston! Thank you w

Had been to CRU for lunch so it wasn’t our first visit, we were so impressed we decided to celebrate the Mrs. Birthday here. and they did not disappoint. Host, waitress, and kitchen crew (we sat at the chefs’ bar) were engaging, accommodating, and pleasant. Great Food, Great Service and a decent wine selection made for an enjoyable dinner. You HAVE to try this restaurant!!!

I really enjoyed this place. My coworkers and I came here for lunch and I’m happy we came. I had a chicken club sandwich that was delicious. My coworker had the pulled pork and it was amazing. I wished that I had ordered it to go. There are so many good places to eat in Charleston so idk of I’ll b able to return here, but i will certainly not decline if I am invited by someone else to come here for lunch again.

This place is a slice of heaven on earth because their food is out of this world!!! The place is small and beautiful (by small I mean it can get pretty cramped — which is all the time since it’s always full) but it is so worth it! We had to wait for an hour to eat outside since you need a reservation to be able to get a table inside (I don’t know how it works for dinner though since we passed by for lunch). The staff and service was really quick and friendly. They give honest suggestions and they stop by from time to time to check up on you and the food. Me and my boyfriend had truffle fries for our appetizer (so so good. You can really taste the truffle and they also sprinkle some cheese on top), that was worth $ 7.50. Then for our entrée I had Lemon Capers Shrimp pasta which was heaven in my mouth! The cream, the lemon juice and lemon flavored capers with the shrimps were so good! Especially on a chilly but sunny day. They threw in some mushrooms there too! My boyfriend ordered a BBQ Brisket Sandwich with garlic mashed potatoes and both just melted away in different flavors in your mouth!!! For dessert we got their bread pudding (which was flavored white chocolate and pears) and they add whipped cream on top and cranberry sauce at the side… I’ve never had anything more perfect for dessert, ever, in my life! It was a very tasty, hearty meal for two and for all that we only paid $ 46.75! A MUST MUST MUST TRY!

Went for lunch to this popular place today and a two small but important issues. 1. Our fried green tomatoes app came to the table… With a hair in it!!! The manager got us a new one right away and even had the employee/​cook come from the back to say sorry about it
2. If you don’t mind the smell of bacon on you when you leave then you’re good to go… If not try and sit outside instead of inside.
The Shrimp BLT was really delicious otherwise.

If my wife and I hadn’t fully feel in love with Charleston yet the Cru staff we going to make sure we would fall head over heels. Great service, great food and a fantastic atmosphere. Luckily there were two seats at the chef’s counter (we love watching the kitchen do there thing) when we arrived without a reservation for a Friday lunch.
John and his team made sure we felt right at home and well taken care of. I had the daily specials of cauliflower/​mushroom soup and the Italian sandwich with fresh pulled mozzarella and capicola on a grilled sourdough. The side of shoestring fries were pilled high but so good I finished them off. My wife enjoyed the grilled garlic chicken sandwich with buttery pepperjack cheese. And we can’t forget the decedent chocolate torte and cloud-​esque whipped cream that solidified the beginning of our love affair with Charleston.
You won’t be disappointed!

This place was recommended by our hotel staff… and boy did it NOT disappoint. Very unassuming from the outside. Almost hard to find the entrance. It is a small, quaint set-​up.
We shared the fried green tomatoes and Asian salad style calamari. The fried green tomatoes were magnificent. Goat cheese and pork belly… topped off the taste buds.
Three of us ordered the shrimp BLT. The shrimp was grilled and flayed. The pepper jack cheese created a great taste. I had the mashed potatoes but didn’t even get to them. We also shared the 4 cheese macaroni!!! Please order some.
The wait staff were so sweet. Attentive, quick… this was definitely a down home feel kind of restaurant. I’d fly back down to Charleston to have more of everything here!

Celebrating our babymoon here in beautiful Charleston and so glad one of our first stops was here at Cru! Sat at the chef’s bar and got to watch the tremendous teamwork and efficiency in the kitchen up close.
Husband had the specials — a cauliflower, mushroom, truffle soup… Amazing! And an Italian sandwich… Too good to sneak a bite!
I had the garlic chicken club and thoroughly enjoyed it! You just can’t beat anything on toasted sourdough.
Sat next to some regulars and had to get the chocolate torte at their insistence… So glad we did!
It was so nice to see how welcoming the staff was to us newbies but also to the regulars!
Already planning another bite here before heading back to Texas!

The food, service and ambiance was superb! Starting with the scallop and spätzle to the schnitzel and pork chip, everything was on point!

This was our first restaurant on our visit to Charleston and boy did it set the bar high for the other restaurants in Charleston. Started with the House Smoked Salmon Toast which was really good. The flavor combinations were just right. For dinner I had the swordfish. It was one of the best prepared fish I’ve had in a long time. Perfectly cooked. The place itself has an old house charm and the service was excellent. Beer and wine selection was good also.

My partner and I ate dinner here last weekend. We had the fried green tomatos to start and dear god, they were amazing. I ordered the fried chicken and he the pork shank. His pork was cooked perfectly and super tender. My fried chicken was a tad bland, but overall good. The potatoes au gratin were the best I’ve ever had. I think we paid too much for the chicken. And our waitress wasn’t very attentive. But overall it was a good meal.
Tip — Make reservations, as it is a tiny restaurant. Be prepared to wait outside in a small patio area if your table isn’t ready.

My hubby and I went to Cru Café for dinner last Saturday night during our recent Charleston visit. I was VERY excited to try this place because of the outstanding reviews. We arrived and had to wait a few minutes for a table, the restaurant is TEENY TINY, which I was not expecting. There isn’t really anywhere to wait for your table, except outside, but there were already a number of people waiting there and also diners eating. Inside they have 4 seats at the bar overlooking the kitchen and then around 30ish seats at tables, and no real hostess stand. All in all, teeny tiny place. I must admit that this was an odd revelation for me, I don’t know why I was expecting a large bustling restaurant!
We were sat at a two top in close proximity to the bathroom, which is a single stall and constantly has a line/​people wondering if there are more than one stalls/​trying to open the door. I sometimes would offer help to those in line, saying, oh someone just went in, when they looked around to see what the deal was. Obviously, not an ideal place to sit and quite distracting during our meal. I know I am a picky diner and often the location of our table will significantly impact my enjoyment of a place ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ok, moving on the actual dining. They do not have a full bar and we didn’t feel like wine/​beer so we opted for soft drinks, which come out in European-​sized glass bottles (lol you know, the baby and adorably cute glass bottles they give you in Europe that last a few sips and cost a few euros each), another aspect that caught me off guard. We ordered the mac n cheese as an appetizer, as it came very highly recommended, and for entrees, my hubby got the night’s special, scallops in an Asian risotto, and I got their take of a Chicken Cordon Bleu with potatoes au gratin. The mac n cheese was quite possibly the best I’ve ever had. Absolutely delicious, cheesy, decadent, plentiful and fantastic! I should’ve ordered that as a my meal and called it a day! My hubby loved his scallops, which I tried and were quite frankly, perfect. Sadly, I cannot say the same about my dish. The chicken was eh, very boring and ordinary, I didn’t eat much of it, the potatoes au gratin were good but not great (when will I learn to stay away from chicken at restaurants???).
So, my 3 stars are for the overall experience. The food is obviously better than 3 stars. I would go back to Cru, but probably not for dinner but for lunch, and with my expectations adjusted, knowing it’s tiny and I could again be seated next to the bathroom. For dinner, there are frankly too many awesome restaurants in Charleston with a better ambiance and vibe, for my taste.

this was my only disappointing meal but I blame myself because instead of ordering the mac & cheese that looked delicious I settled on truffle fries. now truffle fries can be good but I hate really skinny fries… I didn’t realize they were that skinny… my hubs loved his food and I loved my ice tea! really the best ice tea ever.
so yeah I wouldn’t say the food here isn’t good, I just wish I ordered something better…

Fantastic Spot for Lunch. You have to go early or otherwise wait. We sat outside in the glorious sunshine & had Fried Goat Cheese Salad with Salmon. We also tried the truffle fries… To die for… our waiter was great & checked on us several times. The food was fresh healthy & delicious. Love the whole Charleston vibe here. Will definitely return

The macaroni cheese was among the best I have ever had. Toothsome and cheesy. Yum! The Thai risotto… GNOM! I asked them to leave out the Siracha with they did (I’m a wimp for the spicy stuff) which did not compromise the dish in any way. It was creamy, flavorful, loaded with fresh veggies, and all the seafood, including the shrimp were FRESH!!! The creamsicle cake was to die for and exactly as describe by our awesome server Johnny.
My friend had the duck breast and bread pudding, both of which she enjoyed immensely. My other friend didn’t enjoy her meat portion of her dish but didn’t complain because she said everything else was excellent. Johnny noticed this and asked her about it. When she explained it wasn’t the best but she didn’t want to complain he said «Nonsense!» and took the dish off the check. THAT is customer service. A good server notices when a guest has not touched their meal and addresses it. Perfection. While that dish was an oddity, everything else was simply fabulous. We dined on the porch making it a perfect evening with a perfect meal.

We made a reservation for 9PM. Had high table right by the entrance overlooking kitchen. Forgot his name who was very friendly and nice. I asked about the meaning of CRU, he explains it’s French. The chef is French and so on.
We had scallop white bean dish, Pork and other stuffs.
Every dish he brought to the table, I said wow!
It looked beautiful and tasted wonderful.
it was dark and drizzling outside, very gemutlich inside.
White wine was super, didn’t care much red one we had.
Great place.

Tucked away in the downtown Historic district, Cru is a great, homey spot for lunch, dinner or catering orders. The dining room is on the smaller side and fills up fast, so I recommend making a reservation on OpenTable ahead of time to avoid a wait. If the weather is nice, I especially like sitting outside and enjoying a glass of wine and soup + sandwich for a weekend lunch. The food is just as great as anywhere in Charleston and why Cru Café doesn’t’ get the same media attention as the likes of Husk and FIG I will never understand. I love their soup, salad and sandwich combinations for lunch, with unique, gourmet options like the Shrimp BLT, Balsamic Portobello and Short Rib Pastrami. Being on the smaller side, the restaurant can tend to feel cramped and loud at times. I like to personally sit at the Chef’s table and watch them prepare everything right there!
Must-​order items:
Musclun Fried Goat Cheese Salad
Shrimp BLT
Fried Oyster Hoagie