The Palmetto Cafe

One of my favorite places for breakfast! Service and food are always top notch. Not inexpensive, but well worth it.

Holy bankruptcy batman. !!! Be prepared to spend a fortune. Example. 26.00 for their hamburger!!! Fries are extra!!! Once we got past the absolute sticker shock, the menu looked great and the variety was nice. I just was not planning to spend 80.00 for a simple lunch for 2 people. Just be forwarned. The average entrée is 26 – 29.00.
Finances aside, the home made breads are superb and the peach iced tea was a real treat, made complete with simple syrup. The 21 burger with lobster was super! Looking at other patrons meals I would say that they don’t put out anything unsatisfactory.

ABSOLUTELY Ridiculous. I did not make this account just so I can write negative reviews, actually most of my reviews are positive — but this was absolutely rude to the core. Made a reservation for 8 people a MONTH in advance for 10:30am on a Monday morning– cool. We call 2 weeks ahead to double check our reservation– all good!
Call MORNING OF to let them know we’re getting ready to head over – «oh, actually, we’ve been meaning to call you… we’re actually closed from 10:30 — 11:30, but we can seat you then!» WHAT-​THE-​DOUBLE-​EFF?! Not even a call the day before??? Um no, we cannot wait an hour for you to not-​call-​us-​again-​about-​your-​crappy-​service.
Poor management, poor staff training… chalk it up to whatever, but I hope everyone double and triple checks their reservation because my whole party had to scramble to find a place that could accommodate all of us on short notice. So unprofessional.

This is a really nice place to relax and have a delicious meal. It is certainly expensive but what hotel restaurant isn’t?
The service is great, and the menu has something for everyone (except maybe vegetarians but I’m sure they’ll accommodate you). I liked the atmosphere — quiet and easy to have a conversation.
I had the seared scallops and gazpacho which were both great; also the goat cheese cheesecake was really light and tasty. I’d go back if someone else was buying :)

I ate at this café twice while staying in Belmond Charleston place, which I also reviewed. This setting is beautiful, with an elegant vertical garden on one of the walls. There was also a cute garden outside, but it was closed because of the heat when I was there in July.
I first went for lunch, and I had just under an hour before I had to get to a meeting. I informed the staff of my time crunch. They were very understanding and provided quick service that didn’t sacrifice quality. Overall, the service is quite formal, so you expect to be called ma’am constantly.
The menu was very meaty, so I asked the waiter if the chef could put something vegetarian together. He concocted a ramen noodle dish with veggies and a light sauce. It was a simple but delicious meal. A bread basket was also served with 4 different kinds of breads, including lavash.
The veggie omelet I had for breakfast was basic, but satisfying. If you are looking for a cheaper breakfast alternative and willing to forgo the niceties of fine dining, I would suggest Sweetwater Café that is just across the street, which I have also reviewed on Unilocal.
Overall, this is a nice option if you are staying at the Charleston Place. The service is excellent and detailed.

Wowowowow I was hesitant to eat here because I thought it was just going to be another stuffy fluffy Charleston restaurant, but boy was I wrong. After visiting Charleston and getting a taste of the different food it has to offer, including the classic Hall’s chophouse I figured all traditional South Carolina food was heavy, but our meal here was light and dare I say refreshing. I ordered a cup of the gazpacho to start-​without a doubt the best gazpacho I’ve ever had thanks to the addition of watermelon at the bottom of the cup. Then I shared the tuna poke and crab salad with my dad, the tuna was basically swimming an hour before we ate it and the crab salad was like two crab’s worth of meat. It was more food than we thought it would be, but well worth the price, TRUST ME. Bonus point for our excellent server, Alice. Next time I’m in Charleston I will for sure be back here!

Every year I spend a few days in Charleston, and every time I’m here I come to Charleston Place, to have lunch or diner at the Palmetto Café.
Yes it is that good. The combination of a very pleasant setting, great food and impeccable service makes this place a 5 star experience.
I usually go into a lot of details in my reviews, but this place needs no extensive analysis. You have to experience it yourself.
Come in, relax, get a table by one of the large windows, let the Maitre Deux or waiter suggest you a dish and a drink, and just sit back and enjoy.
One note of praise: service is amazing, and the smiles are everywhere, the «thank yous» are repeated over and over, everyone polite and respectful… «ma’m» and «sir» are the norm.
Recommended!

The plantains with short rib were fantastic. As was the ‘21’ burger. Highly advise both. Service was impeccable.

Just an FYI they validate parking.
I really liked this place. It’s got a nice atmosphere and very comfortable.
A little pricey but I knew that going in. The staff here is great. Our server Maureen was very friendly and accommodating. She kept checking on us and made sure we were attended to. She even got the manager to visit and give us our validated parking.
There was a sampler of breads and a Neapolitan Butter. Omg the butter was great!!! It had 3 flavors of Pesto, Olive and
I had the sampler platter which has a lot of food items. Very filling. There was a She-​Crab Soup with Sherry. There was a lot of crab in this little sampler. I also got a crab cake which looked amazing. There was a slider with some deliciously cooked Wagyu Beef caramelized onions and topped with a cherry tomato. It also had a basket of fries and Tandoori Chicken Salad. I just have to say the chicken salad was my favorite with its unusual Tandoori flavoring. The only thing I would have probably liked if it was a warm instead of cold. Regardless I could not stop eating it.
My friend had the Seafood Club. This thing was enormous! Top layer had the salmon with lobster in the middle layer and shrimp on the bottom layer. It looked very difficult to eat but that didn’t stop my friend from chowing down.
Now the beverages. I had their version of Moscow Mule and the Peach Bellini. If I had gotten the Bellini first I def would have ordered another one. It was weirdly served in a martini glass which I quickly got over.
My friend also got the White Sangria looked amazing. That thing was huge.

I had the simplest hotel buffet breakfast, but it was the little things that made it special. Chilled asparagus as an option. Dark roast french press for the table. Cheese blintz on the buffet – delicate and delicious. But pricey! Not sure it was worth the $ 35+ including tip, but the service was impeccable.

Had the most amazing lunch at a Palmetto Grill today. Started with an incredible appetizer that were fresh and had amazing flavors. It had scallops in a curry reduction of some sort with fresh herbs and grapefruit that was Divine I tell you! For the main course I highly recommend the Seafood club on a house made flatbread filled with delicious fresh crab, shrimp, and thinly sliced salmon pile high and garnished perfectly with greens and a secret buttery sauce that was memorable. My only regret is that I don’t go there often enough and I am a local!

In my opinion, this is one of the absolute best restaurants in Charleston. Hotel restaurants can be iffy, or if not that, they can be very overpriced and predictable and boring, both in food and ambience.
This place is great on every level. I wasn’t staying in the hotel but was visiting family here and happened to be shopping downtown. I had eaten here years ago and it was just a standard dull, slightly dark hotel restuarant. But it’s been redecorated to make it a comfy but bright and sophisticated place, and the chef is also fairly new.
The menu is great. I had lunch there, and while it’s expensive, it’s worth every dime. The service is great, first off, friendly and pleasant but professional. The staff knows the menu well, too, which is refreshing!
I had the best crab salad I have ever had outside of California, where they have a different type of crab. Incredibly fresh, succulent crab stacked in a tower held together with a light but creamy dressing, topped with a little field of watercress and sitting in a tiny pool of a tomato vinaigrette. One of my dining companions had the grilled octopus dish, and it was the best octopus I have ever tasted, even at restaurants in the Mediterranean.
The wine list is good and the desserts are excellent — well, we only had one, but they all looked good. Even the coffee was great. Go for the Aztec, a French press coffee that is so dark and rich it tastes chocolaty.
The environment is quiet without being dull and you can actually hear your dining partners talk, something that is a rarity in large or even small restaurants in Charleston.
Love this place!

Positive:
Beautiful atmosphere — unparalleled indoor garden space
When I opened the menu and found a nearly 30 dollar burger which did not include fries I knew we were in for it. No burger is ever worth 30 dollars. Food was good but certainly not worth the $ 90 we paid for two for lunch (a lunch which did not include alcohol).
Many, many better places to go.

Came here for the Sunday brunch buffet. Very good with a lot of fresh fruit selections and your drink is included also. Would definitely recommend.

This is a review for breakfast only.
We stayed in the hotel and decided one morning to have a nice long breakfast on the patio. I am so glad we did. The food, for starters, is very well done. From the eggs and bacon (an American staple) to the juevos rancheros (spicy and outstanding), the cuisine was really high class and well prepared.
The service at Palmetto Café is simply outstanding. Every time we turned around, someone was standing there to help us. Whether it was some additional rock sugar sticks for the latte, or an extra fork after one dropped on the floor, we did not have to wait long.
Fresh squeezed juices, quality ingredients and an excellent preparation yields way to a four star breakfast.