FIG

Wow. Somewhat gesitant to go as it appeared to be just another neighborhood standout. No this was great! Not just food is good, food was great!
Menu is limited but don’t let that deter you. The appetizers/​starters are a treasure! Try them!
I previewed the menu but upon arrival our server, chelsey (enthusiastic knowledgable). Got me to try the succulent pig confit. Wow… I never would have ordered it, I would have missed a truly exceptional dish.
This place is a gem!
Ps make sure you make a reservation

You want to eat at the best restaurant in charleston. This. Is. It.

Came here because a friend recommended it. It was bad. Extremely disappointed. From the dull ambiance to the food. I am very surprised by the reviews or even the recommendation from my friend. We are still friends because we went to college together and she’s my wife’s best friend which is how we met.
Anyways, don’t waste your money. The food is not innovative and flavors were dull. If you are forced to come here and have no control over changing the restaurant then get the fish stew, which is the only reason I’m not giving a review of one star.
I think this place might have been good many years ago. Even the ambiance was outdated. There is no way an upscale famous restaurant should have such an outdated ambiance. It wasn’t even vintage it was outdated with no style or theme. Maybe the chef and owners neglected this place to focus 100% on their new restaurant called «The Ordinary» which I should have tried instead but maybe it would have been just ordinary as well.

Sat at the bar. Service sucks. Very slow. Food — OK. Expensive. Do not have to return. Other fabulous restaurants around the area.

This place is worth the high rating but it’s busy so get yourself a reservation. I tried the gnocchi and the steak. The gnochhi was absolutely melt in your mouth delicious and the steak was cooked perfectly. The service was wonderful as well. I’ll be back on my next visit to Charleston.

The food and atmosphere here was excellent. We had the suckling pig and crusted flounder. The suckling pig was very good and the flounder was good. Our apps were the mackerel and the clams, the clams were amazing. Service was friendly and at tentative. We would definitely recommend it.

its notch above the rest when it comes to dinning experience. Not many places like it!

The service was extraordinary. Warm and welcoming staff. The food was outstanding. The triggerfish special was one of the most delicious seafood dishes I’ve ever had. The flavors were fresh and sophisticated.

Our server, Drew, was really nice and knowledgeable about the food– no hint of pretension. We started with the Salanova lettuce salad (buttermilk dressing) and the ricotta gnocchi. The salad was a bit of a disappointment– almost no flavor and nothing to give it any flavor. The gnocchi was AMAZING– soft little pillows pumped full of cheesy flavor with a light tomato sauce– they are a MUST GET ITEM, and I will dream about them.
For mains, we had the suckling pig rice bowl and the fish stew– the fish stew was the better dish. The texture of the pig in the rice bowl is very mushy. They roast the pig, make a confit out of it, and then put it through a process where it’s sliced and made into cubes– this tortured application didn’t work for me– the texture was just wrong. They also pair it with blood orange and broccoli rabe, but the brocolli rabe desperately needed some seasoning to tame its bitterness. The fish stew is cooked in a tomato, garlic, fennel broth and the shrimp and mussels were perfect. The fish chunks tasted a little fishy, which is always a fear of mine when I get fish stew, but there were only about 3 chunks, so it wasn’t too bad.
For dessert, we had the sorghum cake, which was covered in a rich caramel sauce– it was ooey gooey goodness!

I’ve been several times in past but have only had drinks at the bar. This time several friends and I had the opportunity to have a full dinner.
First off the service is exceptional. Incredibly responsive, thoughtful, and charming.
Second, the communal table is worth asking for if you aren’t on a date or just feeling social. We had great conversations with multiple groups and it livened up our evening.
The food itself is very good with some dishes being better than others. They do rotate the menu items fairly regularly and you are likely to order several dishes in almost family style so several will fit your desire. The one dish I absolutely recommend — the gnocchi. It is some of the best I’ve ever had — we ended up ordering two servings of it and o wanted even more after.

Excellent food, good service. We plan to share an appetizer, but the server told us is not enough for sharing, so we ended up with four entrees. It turned out to be just enough for four of us.

First of all, we were so blown away by the level of service at FIG. Our server, Lindsey, was incredibly impressive and knowledgeable, as was the rest of the staff. The level of professionalism they brought to not only serving the food but also clearing the table was remarkable.
Second, the menu is pretty limited but definitely tasty. In particular the ricotta gnocchi bolognese was perfection — like little pillows of deliciousness. A few days later I’m still thinking about it and wishing I had eaten more of this :) I also LOVED the duck egg tartine. The suckling pig rice bowl was my favorite entrée. The two fish entrees, Amberjack and Wreckfish, were ok but I’d probably do more small plates (ie more gnocchi) and skip the entrees next time.
Delightful!

Absolute best place in Charleston!
While the menu changes daily, I must note the stone crab spaghetti is possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten. period. The service is usually exceptional (however, once when they were clearly short-​staffed & I was disappointed that no one apologized for the very long wait times). We go at least once a year & make the reservation 1 month in advance – but I’ve often seen where you can join at the bar for a last minute visit. Mike Lata’s team doesn’t disappoint.

Food was amazing. I was disappointed because I didn’t realize they didn’t have typical southern food like banana pudding and shrimp and grits. But that’s my issue. We loved absolutely everything we ate.
Random: bathrooms are individual, so in case… you have privacy. They are dark so not possible to check your makeup. And there are several candles burning there so it smells so good.
Also FYI its really loud. Although if you have a kid that makes it ok because you can’t hear them crying!
Only complaint: Talking Heads CD was playing. Lame to have a greatest hits of one group, rather than a shuffling of songs, and IT WAS ON REPEAT. After hearing the same song 3 times (we were there a long time chatting away) I wanted to die.
The service was also amazing. Including being super nice about our stealing a table for an extra hour to chit chat.
Would totally go again. But tell them to change the music :)

along with Husk this was another place I had read about, mainly wanted to come to Charleston for. I’m a huge foodie btw. I believe when you go out to dinner money should be spent on the best, and why not? I don’t go out to eat every night and when I do I want amazing. anyway that being said the ricotta gnocchi here was the best I’ve ever had in my life. I was worried because after this place in New Orleans where everyone raved about the gnocchi, it ended up being a huge let down for this Italian girl. this place did not disappoint! amazing, heavenly pillows! seriously this is the thing to order here. if I could have been here when they have the truffle gnocchi I think I would have died lol… actually I really wish they had that when we went, only disappointment I had lol. any hype about this restaurant is well deserved. really I was so happy this place was good. plus our waiter was hot, can I say that? lol. I can still find waiters hot can’t I? :)

We went to Charleston with an intense purpose of eating really good food and this place surpassed my expectations. We had black bass (yum), mushroom risotto (very yum), and spaghetti with crab (oh my, the best!!!) as our apps, and our entrees were grilled grouper and fish stew and had sweet peppers as a side. The fish stew’s broth was absolutely amazing.
It has a really casual feel (as I assume like most places are in Charleston), and the service was excellent. My foodie NYC friends’ recommendations were right on. Next time, I’d start with one of their cocktails :-)

AMAZING! I’m not gonna deny that I had really high expectations for this place. My coworkers, friends, Unilocalers and residents themselves of Charleston all spoke so highly of this place and I’m glad to say I was not at all disappointed.
The service was amazing. From the hostesses to the wait staff, everyone was so friendly. When we asked the waitress for her opinion, she not only took the time to talk about her favorites but she also analyzed what we were definitely getting and provided helpful suggestions of which additional appetizers and entrees would work together. It was so appreciated because it really enhanced all the food in terms of how our palette interacted with the different dishes.
As for the food, it was just so good.
Bay scallop crudo — light and refreshing, great as a start. Scallops were fresh and the light olive oil with the thin cut radishes were perfect compliments.
Ricotta gnocchi — Like ricotta butter if there was such a thing. Melts in your mouth with the perfect amount of sauce and salt from the Parmesan.
Amberjack — interesting fish, a bit thicker consistency than a flounder. Great with the couscous and peppers. It was super flavorful yet light at the same time.
Fish stew — you are in flavor town with this stew. How in the world did they get so much flavor in the soup I will never know. It hits you at the first bite. I was blown away. It was accompanied by an aioli on the side. At first I was wondering why it was there but as you get down more in the soup, it gets more salty and I found that the aioli really balanced it. It was all so good. I cannot emphasize that more. Best fish stew ever with plenty of mussels, shrimp, squid and fish.
Overall, great meal. So glad to have ended Charleston on this note.

So many times to Charleston and no visit to Fig. The wife and I finally corrected the over site. I always thought that is was a tiny restaurant from the outside but it’s actually a good size once you step inside. I probably didn’t need another bourbon on this evening but I choose the cocktail called fire walk with me. It was enjoyable and I nursed it throughout the evening. The wife chose a glass of rosé or something to that effect.
Onto the food, Fig has a varied menu with lots of interesting options. The stone crab spaghetti and the suckling pig rice bowl were both calling my name. The wife chose the soft shell crab and burrata caprese for appetizer and the snapper as her entrée. Everything was cooked to perfection for us and needless to say that all plates were cleaned completely. For dessert, we shared the blackberry buckle and a trio of fruit sorbets. From start to finish, everything was great at Fig and the service was on point. We will defInitely be returning to Fig in the future.

I came to charleston on my birthday weekend and it was totally the best restaurant I had tried in charleston hands down.
I had wished we had made reservations for this place because it was completely packed. We tried to call 2 – 3 days before but they were completely booked. Probably because of the James Beard Award they won this year.
The front desk staff recommended that we come for open bar seating and we arrived approximately 10 minutes early on a saturday evening. We were the first ones to arrive but it wasn’t shortly after that it started to fill. keep in mind that it was on mother’s day weekend so even on a busy weekend it wasn’t too bad of a wait. You can order anything on their menu.
We had the ricotta filled gnocchi and the fresh spaghetti with crab. I wish i could have more of it right now. I wish that I could go back right now to eat those both because it was totally worth it. My hubby went back there another day to eat at the bar after work because it was that good.
We even had 3 other meals that day before dinner and even when stuffed the food tasted good. When you have 3 meals, usually food starts to taste bad and less appetizing but i couldn’t stop eating.
I would highly recommend making reservations several days in advance so you can enjoy your meal in the dining area.
Food is definitely good!

Food is damn good at FIG! Came with my husband for our last celebratory dinner in Charleston. We were warmly welcomed with sparkling wine and the best seats of the house.
We started off by sharing their famous ricotta gnocchi in lamb Bolognese. The gnocchi literally dissolved in my mouth and the lamb Bolognese was lick off the bowl worthy. This appetizer alone can be a small meal of its own — so filling, so delicious! Best gnocchi of my life!
Fish stew — the broth was rich and perfect for dunking basket after basket of complimentary sourdough, the seafood was endless (how many pieces of fish, shrimp, and mussels can you fit into this pot?), the creamy rice at the bottom — I must spoon every last bite!
Baked snapper — my husband thoroughly enjoyed his dish. It was very light yet tasty. Everything he was looking for after 3 days of «comfort food».
Too bad we way overate the last 3 days, we just didn’t have the stomach for desserts. Even with ever changing daily menu, I have no doubt there will definitely be something for everyone to love!