Three Little Birds

First impressions are not always the truth, so I am glad that I can be objective. (Or at least I hope to be and choose some things to be a learning experience!)
I arrived just before 10am on Valentine’s Day, so it was totally normal and great to see how busy this little place was. My two friends and I stood waiting for nearly 35 minutes for a table, watching several people walk in and get seated right away. I know now, that they take reservations or «call aheads», because I asked the server to please explain this to us.
Once seated, the service was super fast, friendly and kind. We had cold lemon waters and coffee served asap. Our orders were taken right away and the food was served hot and fast. We had peanut butter/​banana French toast, a veggie burrito and a veggie sandwich. They had no problems omitting meat from my sandwich and doing a TON of veg instead. Everything was fresh and with a fun presentation.
The restaurant was clean and quaint. It’s too bad they don’t have more room for more tables and chairs. There is one male/​female bathroom which was clean. Lots of parking in a lot shared with a number of other businesses. Dogs are allowed out on the small outdoor patio.
We agreed that the coffee was a bit on the weak side. Loved the mis-​matched mugs. We also thought that the menu was laid out kind of strange, and a bit confusing/​scrunched together to read. Prices were totally reasonable.
A place to sit and wait, if this little resto is frequently that busy, would be much better than standing around beside other patrons’ tables while they are eating, would be super cool. Also, a quick explanation about or even quickly asking walk-​ins like we were if we had made a reservation would’ve left a better vibe in the minds of first-​timers. There were 2 other people who agreed with this who were waiting without calling ahead.
Vegan choices would be super-​cool too!
I would and will definitely go back, and will make sure to call ahead!

I realized I never submitted my review when I ate there last weekend. The food was great, I had heard about their bacon pancakes and they weren’t on the menu but the girl at the bar (where we sat) said she’d be happy to ask the cooks if they could make them since obviously they had the ingredients and they were happy to oblige. It’s almost always super busy but that’s because everything there is fabulous and the staff is very nice and helpful. It’s a small and cute place I always recommend to friends/​family in town visiting.

Definitely worth the wait! Brunch was tastes, with a good mix of things you see on every menu plus their own variations. My husband’s enjoyed his usual crab cake benedict while I ventured out on a black bean patty version with verde salsa that was delicious! I had heard good things about this place but it’s a little tucked away and not in my usual Sunday repertoire of brunch favorites — until now!

Awesome little breakfast place! Went there at 10:45am on a Friday. Great food, great service. Small quaint restaurant with an outdoor patio.

This is the cutest little place! The grilled pear salad is amazing and there is a fresh creative sandwich and salad menu.

The perfect quaint dining spot for breakfast! The vine covered building and glass windows created a sweet ambiance. The menu was small but had a range of items. The service was good and although size of the interior was small, it was quiet.

Extremely disappointed in TLBC and won’t be back. Arrived at 1:20 (not exactly lunch rush) and received uninspired food 45 minutes later. 40 minutes after ordering, we were informed there were no grits for the shrimp and grits (it took 40 minutes to realize that??), so hurriedly selected the Margherita Mozarella Melt which consisted of soggy, mealy tomatoes, very little Mozarella, non-​existent basil, and absolutely no seasoning (seriously??). A soggy Monte Cristo also arrived. This place gets 2 stars for the beautiful piece of grouper on the Grouper BLT, and the broccoli salad was pretty decent. Wait staff needs serious attitude adjustment — never saw a single smile from ANYONE the whole time we were there and no effort was made to explain the long wait, even when we asked). Bottom line: there’s no love in this place toward the food or the customers.

This should be 5 stars. Quaint atmosphere and the food is amazing! I had bagel and lox with cream cheese. Yum! Hubby had huevos rancheros Yum!

I’ve never experienced the terrible service quite like I did today. Put our name on the list at noon. Waited 20 minutes. Waited 40 minutes for food all the while watching 3 other tables that sat down after us get their food. Our initial «server» never came back over to the table to say «hey, we’re short staffed but your food will be out soon» so we had to flag down someone to find out what the problem was. Once our food finally came out no one ever stopped back by to see if we needed anything — more water, etc. When it was time to pay the bill, we had to go up to the front to get it. This place used to be one of my favorites but the food isn’t all that spectacular just to put up with service like this.

The food here is amazing and deserves 5 stars. The service is lacking at best. We had to get up several times to ask for napkins and coffee refills. There was a guy at at the table next to us that got up at least 3 times. The dinning area is small, quaint and inviting.
The food keeps us coming back. The Eggs in a Basket are eggs over-​easy in the center of slightly toasted bread and are light and whimsical. Worth checking out, just make sure you are not in a hurry.

I’ve been to TLB several times, and each time I think, why did I do this to myself?
It exists, as another user noted, not because it is actually that good, but because there’s really not many other quaint little breakfast places in Charleston. They fill a niche, but not very well. Not well at all.
Staff: Slow, unobservant, though not unpleasant. You kind of feel bad for hating how incompetent they are because they otherwise seem like pleasant people. However, I don’t eat out in Charleston to put up with not getting my glass of water 10 minutes after I order it, then having to stop the waitress to order, then having to stop the waitress to get my check, then having to stop the waitress to pay, all the while watching other people holding cash in their hands wondering how they ended up at this train wreck of a mismanaged restaurant themselves. Sorry, pleasant doesn’t cut it. It’s a restaurant. Get it together.
Food: Unremarkable. Full stop.
This is Charleston. We have no shortage of incredible culinary delights, offered by restaurant owners/​managers who know how to employ/​train/​direct competent staff. Skip this place or set your expectations low (er).

We almost didn’t come here because the overall rating was only 3.5 stars. I’m so glad we ignored that rating and came anyway! What a treat. The overall vibe is laid back and casual, but the food belies that feel with a real upscale blend of flavors and quality.
I had the sweet potato Benedict because I’m a sucker for hollandaise sauce. It was a great choice – the hollandaise was both rich in flavor but light. The sweet potato biscuit had a very delicate sweet potato flavor that set them apart from a regular biscuit, and their texture was perfect. The fruit cup on the side was fresh and nicely sized.
My husband ordered the Challah stuffed French toast with peanut butter, bananas, and honey. The French toast was stuffed with a delicious blend of PB, mashed bananas and honey, topped with fresh sliced bananas. It would have been easy to use too much peanut butter but the mixture was perfectly blended so that none of the flavors were overpowering.
All the food was served using hand-​me-​down dishes that provided a homey touch to the experience. Cold beverages were served in chilled mason jars (why do things taste better in a mason jar?!).
They also serve a nice variety of smoothies that looked delicious. If I hadn’t been so full from my meal I would have ordered one to take with us.
If we lived locally, this would be a place we would visit regularly. As it is, it is a restaurant we will definitely return to the next time we visit Charleston.

Located right behind the tree where I sleep in the South Windermere parking lot, Three Little Birds is one of those places that thrives not because it’s fantastic, but because there really aren’t many places like it in town. Where else do you go for breakfast when your parents are in town or if you want to «treat» the woman you put in a pretzel the night before? Certainly not Huddle House, a sacred place I only go when I want to see blood in my stools to know I can still bleed.
TLB’s exists to fill that niche that no one else fills, and they do it with such mediocrity that it makes my life almost look impressive. You walk in and first notice that no one really works there. Sure, they have «servers,» but you’re better off serving yourself than relying on one of them. Ready to order? You can wait 20 minutes. Need a refill on coffee? Good luck, you should’ve gone to 7 – 11. Want some orange juice? Oh sure, that’ll be $ 10, there goes a week’s worth of groceries for me.
TLB gets a mediocre 3 stars for doing the bare minimum to fill the gaping hole in their respective market. However, it suffers, much like my bowels after Huddle House, due to the high prices and lack of fiber glass in their biscuits and gravy. To those seeking the thrills of a morning-​after-​Huddle House experience, look elsewhere.

Great place to grab a quick brunch. This place is hiding behind the Earth Fare. It’s a smaller place so you can expect to have to wait a few minutes during prime hours. They always have unique flavors and fresh ingredients. The customer service is always pleasant. They boast delish specials every day from speciality pancake concoctions to fresh juices. The only reason I can’t give 5 stars is because there has been a few times where the portion sizes have been on the smaller side and I have left wishing I had ordered more food.

This is probably my favorite breakfast/​brunch spot in the city! The food is always phenomenal and the prices are lower than almost anywhere on the peninsula. The peanut butter and banana stuffed French toast and the sweet potato biscuit eggs benedict are the a couple of my menu favorites, but everything is great!
It’s a small little place tucked in behind the Earth Fare and Staples, and there’s a good chance you’ll have to wait… But it’s well worth it!

Came here for brunch with my sister. She had the shrimp n grits while I had the Sweet Potato Benedict. The shrimp n grits were pretty boring with underseasoned grits and only 4 small shrimp. The benedict was very good.
Come early if you go on the weekend, or else you will have to wait outside. It could be cold out!

I LOVED this place, plain and simple! The Nutella stuffed french toast was calling to me, but there were plenty of other menu items that peaked my interest too. Enough so that I need to get back here as soon as possible. And hallelujah for having multiple vegetarian options. Like, intentionally vegetarian.
The mismatched coffee mugs were quaint and the service was very friendly. I’m actually surprised by how quickly we received our food! Though, my breakfast partner-​in-​crime thought the shrimp and grits were pretty flavorless and not something that he’d eat again. The location can be tricky to find, but I’ll be back and would recommend others to try it as well.

Really cozy place to have breakfast but it is pretty small so expect to wait for a table. Service was really good and my pictures will speak for themselves.

Three Little Birds has been on my list of places to try for a while, so I took a visiting friend in for some brunch one Sunday. There was about a thirty minute wait for a table, but that’s how it always seems to be for all of the best breakfast joints in town, so we weren’t worried. I had good expectations going in, but I started to see where several of the poor service mentions in other reviews came from. After we had been seated for a few minutes, another table next to us was seated, and they were immediately waited on. After the waitress had taken care of them, then she came over to our table. She was friendly, but I was pretty annoyed that we had been waiting for several minutes before the other table was even seated and they were served first. I’m sure it was an honest mistake, but it was frustrating none-​the-​less.
We started out with some fresh fruit smoothies to drink. Mine was delicious, but my friend complained that his was warm. Weird. I ordered the daily special breakfast burrito, and it was pretty good, but the potatoes were just okay. For the most part, we were satisfied with our food.
I definitely believe that Three Little Birds deserves a second chance, so I’m not going to knock them just yet.

Gotta reevaluate my previous review of 3LB after today. Went here for lunch with my husband, and we won’t be going back. I was hoping he’d like it, but he was even more disappointed than me!
My previous review was for breakfast, and I had a good breakfast there… but face it, it’s hard for pancakes NOT to taste good! As with most breakfast foods.
My husband had a chicken gyro style sandwich with sweet potato homefries, and I had the veggie burger with sweet potato homefries. I have a lot of veggie burgers, and this was probably one of the worst ones. It wasn’t bound at all– no fat in it to bind with. In addition, there was nothing on the burger but the patty, lettuce, tomato, and bun. No sauces or any sort of seasoning.
The burger sounded delicious– black beans, white beans, squash, carrots– but tasted like mayo. Because I had to ask for a side of mayo to cut the dryness.
The chicken on my husband’s wrap wasn’t seasoned either. Just grilled chicken. Plain. Everything was very plain and tasteless. The service was spotty– we weren’t wowed by it.
The waitress never asked us how our food was, which made me wonder if she kinda knew everything would be lackluster. It would’ve been nice to at least be able to let them know, without rudely saying it, how disappointed we were.
We did have a coupon, so at least we didn’t pay full price for such a lackluster meal. The sodas are ridiculously expensive for a can of soda, too (hubs drinks soda– I don’t). I guess they don’t have many soda drinkers at a healthy-​ish restaurant.
As far as healthier lunch options goes, we won’t go back to 3LB. Lots of healthy but tasty options in West Ashley and Downtown.