Kaminsky’s

Best desserts in Charleston! Get the toll house pie (it’s like a cookie) warm with ice cream

Wow. One of the worst lattes I’ve ever had. Staff was very friendly, so I’ll up the number of stars for that, but I wouldn’t go here for a coffee. (Desserts, on the other hand, looked very appealing. Didn’t have anything to eat, so I can only comment from the way they looked.)

Ok, I know I’ll make a lot of enemies saying this, but for a place that is focused on dessert, I just think they are ok… maybe I need to try some other options, but I’ve never been wowed by them or even liked something so much that I feel like I «must go back.» Every time I end up here it’s because someone else wants to go…
It is a cute space and the service is fine, but I hardly think this place is worth the average wait, especially on a weekend. To be fair, I’ve only gotten a single dessert each time I’ve been… so I’m only evaluating that one dessert.

I read so many great things about this place and even the locals were surprised to hear that I had a subpar experience. I came by on a Saturday night and the line was out of the door (which appeared to be typical) so I placed an order to go. After leaving it was discovered that the ice cream which was supposed to come with the berry cobbler was left off (but they didn’t forget to add the extra fee). The second it orders was a New York Cheesecake and if I can be honest it wasn’t all that New York-​ish. It tasted more like sugar cheese cake to me. I like my cheesecake to have almost like a lime aftertaste. I might be a bit of a cheesecake snob… I mean it is my absolute favorite… My top two cheesecakes are either from Costco or Jack In The Box. Classy I know lol. Anyway, they fact that they had forgotten the ice cream which meant a second trip (who eats cobbler without ice cream) put a bad taste in my mouth so we just returned the whole order. The sugar cake wasn’t even enjoyable so definitely not worth the calories.
Besides that, the staff was super friendly. We are in the south after all

Hands down the best desserts on the Peninsula! We visited on a Thursday night with a group of four and were seated before we even had a chance to check out their cakes on display. I had the Cookie Sundae and our table also ordered a slice of Mountain Chocolate Cake and two Brownie Sundaes. All three desserts (I stole bites) were fantastic.

«THE» place for dessert when in Charleston, S. C!!!
Wide selection of cakes & pies. The slices are HUGE! Very, very good.
Good service too. One of the few places that is opened late & is always busy.

Kaminsky’s has the name, the following, but it’s safe to say this isn’t the finest dessert destination you’ll ever frequent.
We visited on a Saturday night, which was packed. The cakes in the window looked amazing and we heard many recommendations to come here. Our name was on the list and waited 15 minutes for a table. After sitting, our server was rather short with us but this was primarily due to the Saturday night crowd.
After going back and forth on what to choose, we ordered the White Chocolate Chip cake. Maybe it was due to how well the cake was presented that we were both underwhelmed. To be honest, there wasn’t much flavor. Not the richness you’d expect from a white chocolate cake. The whipped cream was very thin, too.
We were both rather disappointed, as we made it a point to drive to Market Street for a night cap. I think Kaminsky’s attracts the tourist crowd and that’s fine. In my opinion, I’d look elsewhere for a savory dessert.

The Quick: Boozy dessert drinks, decadent pies and cake, and everything in between. Friendly staff, great location, worth a stop if you’re looking for something sweet.
The Details: A local recommended the spot for dessert, and I can see why. The desert cocktails are phenomenal. I recommend the curious George for something different (chocolate and banana and graham cracker crust). Even the lattes were delicious. Worth a try. Note there will likely be a wait on a weekend night.
The Damage: everything was reasonable. For two items we spent ~$ ¹⁰⁄₁₂ total before tip.

an ice cream place open late and looks like a bar… first I want to know why we don’t have this kind of place in NY? it seems like it’d be perfect for the hipsters. if I had the money I’d be taking this idea and opening my own little shop lol.
anyway it was awesome, my milkshake was delicious. my hubs devoured his sundae. it was just perfect for after dinner. plus the fact I could get a kiddie milkshake, which is great after eating tons of fattening stuff all day lol.

I have been here more times than I can count and have probably had 90% of the deserts on the menu as well as a few of the coffee/​milkshake selections.
My favorite desert is their berry cobbler which comes in your own personal stoneware bowl. Obviously you have to order it with ice cream!
The atmosphere is dark and loud, but honestly you cant blame this place as it is one of the bussiest desert shops in town. I will often go to Kaminsky’s to people watch and relax with a hot cappuccino and something sweet on the side.
The wait to get in is often 15 – 30 minutes on weekend nights and there is street parking along king. There are two garages on Cumberland Street that are well within a comfortable walking distance.

My sister and I took our elderly mother to Kaminsky’s for dessert after a day of walking around the city. It was 3 pm on a Tuesday, and there were 3 empty 6-​top tables and 1 empty 2-​top and the traffic inside was pretty slow. The hostess told us we couldn’t sit at any of the 6-​tops because they hold those in case of large parties. I asked then if we could pull up a chair to the 2-​top, and she told us «no» — that the 2-​top was too small and that we’d have to wait 15 – 20 minutes for a seat. I pointed out that our mother really needed to sit, to which they offered a high bar stool — which she visibly couldn’t step up onto. I would understand if the restaurant was busy, but it was not, and the reasoning behind asking us to stand for that long when there were perfectly good tables at which to sit really upset us.
Regardless of the tastiness of the desserts, because of the service, we will not return.
EDIT: My elderly mother just read this review and asked me to add that the desserts actually were not that tasty. And that she’s not that elderly.

Contrary to some reviews, Kaminsky’s is a great place to stop in during a hot shopping day, or to finish off the day after dining.
They promote closing hours as «late» and that does work. One caveat, they only serve vanilla bean ice cream… Bravo from me, a vanilla ice cream lover… Boo from my wife who loves chocolate! But never fail, they do have heavenly chocolate deserts.
Again, a key stop when in Charleston.

I’m SO done with Kaminsky’s. I’ve been coming here on and off for years and it progressively gets worse. This is the second time in a row the cakes were not fresh. They were so dry they crumbled as soon as you put a fork to them. An $ 8 piece of cake used to be big enough to share but not this time. Also, the variety gets more and more unappetizing.
Time to leave this place for the tourists, although I won’t be bringing my tourist friends here any longer. WAY too many other great bakeries in the area!

We wanted dessert but couldn’t get into Kaminskys bakery because it had steps. After asking the hostess at Tbonz (next door) if there was a hallway connecting the two eateries she informed us there was not but they were sister companies and she would kindly bring us desserts from Kaminskys to eat in Tbonz.
We sat down and ordered an iced Cuban coffee, hot chai latte and blueberry cobbler to share.
The cobbler was out of this world delicious but that was it. The Cuban coffee wasn’t good. I know sweet tea is very popular in the South, but the coffee tasted like a coffee version of sweet
was bitter but at the same time overly sweet. And if the sugar content in the coffee wasn’t enough to put you in a diabetic shock, the rim of the glass was sugared. I watched as my husband winced every time he drank it not wanting to let it go to waste, probably hoping the next sip would be better than the last but being disappointed each time. Speaking of disappointment, My chai was atrocious, yes that is a strong word and let me repeat myself my chai latte was atrocious! I guess they didn’t know a latte involves steamed milk because the barista forgot to put any in. I tried to salvage it by asking our waiter for a cup of ice hoping making an iced chai latte would make it drinkable.nope.
Go for the blueberry cobbler, don’t bother with the specialty coffee drinks.

This was another stop along our Charleston day, which we mainly used to cool off and hit the bathroom, but then we stayed for the amazing service, cake, and coffee. There are tons of different cakes to try and they’re really good. Plus the service is really friendly and very attentive. This place is a slam dunk and a nice quiet atmosphere. Didn’t seem very touristy.

Came in while walking around Charleston to cool down and get some dessert, mid afternoon.
All of their desserts in the glass shelve next to the door look amazing! I was hesitant which piece of chocolate cake I wanted to order — the Mountain of Chocolate cake, or the S’mores cake. They both just looked so good!
The waitress was nice enough to tell me that both cakes are made with the same chocolate cake, and the same chocolate buttercream. The only difference is that the s’mores cake has a graham cracker crumb dusting, and mini marshmallows sandwiched in between one of the layers.
Not a bad price either — a large piece of rich, delicious chocolate cake, that hit the spot perfectly was $ 6.50! Not too shabby!

A nice place to get some cake or dessert with friends. My fiancé and I shared the Italian Cream cake a la mode, which was amazing. We still couldn’t finish it even with sharing. He got the hot apple cider and it was a nice treat for dessert, the drink itself could have been dessert.
The first time we went the wait was 30 minutes. This time we got right in and got seated. Even with it being a weekday evening the place was still very busy. A nice place to try if you’re in Charleston, SC

Walked in with the hubs and just fell over ourselves at the dessert case. Hubs insisted on the mint cheesecake, but I negotiated and convinced him to try the mixed berry cobbler. YUM! We got a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top. The presentation was perfect and the Hubs LOVED it… And we agreed that we would do the mint cheesecake next visit.
The coffees were great. Hubs got a classic cappuccino. I got a Baby Kangaroo and it was excellent… Very sweet, but great.
6 stars, but would only allow me to give 5.

The locals rave about Kaminsky’s. A foodie and a tourist like me disagrees. Nothing really stood out as we were a big party and had about 4 – 5 different items.
I order the Butterfingers chocolate cake. It was okay… good chocolate cake but nothing was spectacular.
The pecan pie ala mode was decent. The crust was a bit hard and the cookie ice cream pie was just okay. The cookies were totally hard when the dessert arrived.
Good service, tables turned around quick even though it was busy. The décor was a bit too dark for a dessert restaurant.

Awesome! Sums up this place.
I tell everyone who goes there get Spencer as your server he will take good care of you and even gives the impression he cares about his job.
The espresso martini is amazing and not sickingly sweet to go with your already sweet deserts. And the peppermint pattie drink was good. Could have been a bit stronger on the peppermint side.
Ordered the tollhouse cake which is cookie and pecan mixed together. Awesomeness.
Ordered the blueberry buttermilk cake. It was ok. The cake was dry. The frosting was great.
Definetely worth visiting and its a great tourist trap.