The Porch Kitchen and Bar

I stayed at the hotel last night and dined at the restaurant. I had the pork shank with pumpkin risotto and greens. All the flavors were great together. The wine list and beer list was really good. I had a glass of La Crema Pinot noir to accompany my meal. I highly recommend trying this place.

The menu sounded great and it was on the beach… but…
Absolutely will never be back.
It took 30 minutes for our appetizers to arrive and our meal came out all of 5 minutes (maybe) later. It didn’t really matter much that it followed so close behind because after one bite — we didn’t want any more of the pimiento cheese balls or cornbread with pimiento cheese.
My friend ordered the beer can chicken which came with baked beans and hushpuppies. The puppies were really more like dry donut holes and the baked beans seemed more like Bush’s baked beans from a can.
I had the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a side of creamed greens. I should have probably asked what kind of greens instead of assuming they would be collards, but honestly, they tasted more like grass. And they were soooo tough! Not to mentioned the big stem that they included. The potatoes seemed to be mixed with water instead of butter and cream — oh and they were really lumpy. And the meatloaf??? Well — let’s just say that I have never ordered meatloaf cooked to medium and it was tough as well.
This is a big thumbs down and I would say to stay far away from the Porch.

Nice atmosphere but slow service and some great and some not good food makes this an ehhhh to me.
Our waitress while very friendly must have been the only one there as things were very slow, we never got any water refills. Bar was busy which lead to even longer drink times. 20 minutes for the boiled peanuts app is excessive, and 1:40 minutes for a few apps and a couple entrees is nuts. She was super nice but could have used some help it seemed.
The signature shrimp and grits wasn’t all that spectacular but it was plentiful even in the half portion. Pulled pork sliders were very good as was the boiled peanuts and fried green tomatoes. The group really liked the deviled eggs and the pumpkin risotto too. The kids spaghetti wasn’t very good though, tasted like canned sauce.
They do broadcast football games in the dining/​pool area with speakers so that’s fun if you’re into the game but it ends up being the dominant feature of the restaurant. We liked sitting by the fire and pool so it’s just part of the experience.

Great food. Stayed at the hotel for 4 nights and ate there twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Both times we asked for modifications to our orders and they got them wrong both times. We also waited a long time for our food.
If their service got better, this place would be great because the food really is fantastic.

Went here after the Tiki bar decided to close an hour and a half early on a beautiful night. The bartender was a bit standoffish and took about 10 minutes to make a weak Manhattan and my drink– a strawberry rhubarb sangria– which was very good, overpriced– $ 11, but very good and fresh. The décor is very in-​trend: concrete counters, ship lap, white cabinets, etc. the outdoor area is very nice and includes a fire pit. Essentially– it’s a nicely appointed, overpriced joint with lazy service. Disappointing, because there’s a lot of potential here. However, with a captive audience like HHI tourists, it’s unlikely the hustle in service here will change.

Cute atmosphere and décor!
Food was good, not exceptional but definitely get the corn!
Service was below par and disappointing.
Wouldn’t be on my list of places to come back to.

I was in the area for vacation, and i decided to visit Hilton Head. A friend told me about this place and I decided to try it. I had very mixed feelings with this restaurant for lunch. First off,
Service was not good. We ordered around one, and ended up not getting food until 1:40. Fourty minutes for food is very long, and I started thinking they forgot about us. The food was okay, but not the best. I got the grilled bird. The chicken was too blackened and there was hardly any avocado on it. Also, the menu was too short for lunch and I felt there wasn’t much options. I wouldn’t recommend it for lunch, but I cannot speak for breakfast and dinner.

We went here since the atmosphere and view seemed quiet nice and reviews about the food have been ok. The place still gets two stars which was mainly because of the atmosphere and ocean view. We ordered fried green tomatoes and chicken wings to start off but have cancelled food orders once the appetizers came to the table. The wings were more than dry and the fried tomatoes plain and overdone.
The service was ok at the best and the cocktails average.

Food was ok. Remembered it being much better in 2014.
This time service was so so. Kind of slow. Bathrooms were SUPER dirty.
I don’t think we will go back.

The two stars are entirely because of the service or lack thereof.
The food… was really, really good. Rave reviews for the wedge salad, caprese salad, burger. The beer can chicken was perfect. Hush puppies were great. I loved the ham and cheddar biscuit sliders. Cornbread and pimento were really good. Drinks were also good. Good beers and cocktails.
The only not great food item was the chicken and waffles. The chicken had a spicy batter that was not advertised. Now, for most it wouldn’t be spicy but to her it was. The real problem is that it wasn’t advertised.
The service was the problem. The waitress was very sweet but everything was very slow. Like beyond acceptable slow since the place was empty. It took a solid 30 minutes to get salads and we had to ask for them. What place doesn’t either ask how you want it or assume that you want it first? Then it took another 20 to get the rest. If the place had been slammed I would have understood but it was empty.
Added to that even though the manager gave a discount on the chicken and something else he never came by. This was after I’d had to make reservation via Facebook because no one answered the phone.
It’s a pretty place with a great ocean view but service needs to come up in a major way. Thanks for making our big family dinner on vacation a stressful evening.

Our final meal while we were in Hilton Head was at The Porch, which is on the beach connected to a Holiday Inn hotel. Parking wasn’t an issue and the staff was quick and friendly.
The menu offered local, farm to table food but most of it was deep fried, so beware.
We ate just about everything on the menu between everyone. Read: fried green tomatoes, hush puppies, mac and cheese balls, pimento cheese balls, shrimp and grits, burgers, fish and chips, steak salads, steak frites, shrimp — everything.
Some of the items were great and others were kind of a miss. Fried green tomatoes weren’t incredible and the burger ($ 14) was scorched, masking the other flavors. My shrimp and grits ($ 14) was delicious — smoky and creamy without being overwhelming. Sausage and arugula complimented the flavors and was just as good the next morning as leftovers. Mac and cheese balls ($ 7) were cheesy inside and crunchy outside. Half the hush puppies were undercooked but were still pretty good with a doughy middle. Shrimp was fresh and absolutely delicious,
Overall, price didn’t match the food in my opinion. The view is beautiful and the fire pit with rocking Adirondacks makes it the perfect place for a beer and an appetizer, but I’d hesitate to come back for another full meal.

Had a good time at the bar hotel. It has a great view and pretty decent service. Evening bartender will take good care of you. Tuesday is $ 1.00 beer day so that was super cool!

During our stay at the Holiday Inn, we came here everyday for their breakfast buffet. Try getting a reservation that includes breakfast… b/​c it is expensive!
Loved the buffet! They have someone on hand making omelets & waffles. They have scrambled eggs, really good roasted potatoes, bacon and sausage. They also have a fresh fruit bar, granola, cereal and lots of breads to choose from.
On our last night, we came here for dinner. Be prepared to spend a pretty penny! But it was worth it. I splurged on the filet mingon which was incredibly tender and so Delicious! The veggies were a little to al dente for my taste, but they still tasted ok. YOU MUST get the lobster sliders as your app. This was probably the best part of the dinner & I am NOT a seafood fan!!! The husband went boring and got a burger. He said it was good as far as burgers are concerned. We finished it off with a brownie sundae, which was really good, but nothing too special.
Our waiter was nice, he was knowledgeable and had lots of great insight and recommendations on food & things to do around the island. He was a bit slow with the drinks, but that was ok b/​c everything else was awesome. The view from the table can’t be beat!

I must start this review by telling you I never give 1 star reviews. I even gave my neighborhood Little Ceasars pizza a 3 star because they did their job well and it was I expected, generic pizza.
The Porch looks amazing when you walk in. Very well decorated. The ambiance at night is great with tiki torches and firepits. The sound of waves crashing on the beach. Can’t go wrong eh?
I must also state that my waiter did nothing wrong. He was a bit late bring my 3 kids their drinks, but I can forgive that. He was pleasant and nice. Made small talk and made sure we were doing okay. He seemed like he knew the dishes and suggested beers. He earned his tip.
My problem started with a movie. Yes it was a movie night. We came in as they a movie was wrapping up with credits. They had just shown Planet of the Apes and were switching to another movie. Think with kids present they would show a PG or a decent PG-​13 right? No. They started Saturday Night Fever.
For those who have never seen this movie, it is rated by IMDB to have a ¹⁰⁄₁₀ for sex and nudity. Amongst the drugs and strippers it boasts a rape scene of a woman in a car. They are showing this using Netflix, which only has the rated R version. The other ratings are…
Violence ⁶⁄₁₀
Profanity ¹⁰⁄₁₀: The F word is used 82 times
Alcohol/​Drugs/​Smoking ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Frightening/​Intense Scenes ⁸⁄₁₀
It took a while to get a manager while trying to shield my children from the screen.
Please don not think of me as a stick in the mud or what not, but I can’t allow my children to view this kind of material. Doing so would make me an unfit parent.
The manager finally came out and after explaining it to him he turned it off and showed another movie.
Then we got our food. My wife got the shrimp and grits ($ 26) while I got the Deep Sea Fry ($ 30). The shrimp and grits were disappointing to my wife and I. It had no real flavor. It seemed like they tried to use garlic and pepper too much and the garlic was kind of bitter. Shrimp and grits is my wife’s favorite dish of all time. She was very disappointed. My Deep Sea Fry was 80% fries, which were bland. The fried shrimp were tiny, popcorn shrimp, and they were overcooked. The scallops were the size of M&M’s and then battered. The 3 or 4 fried oysters were over cooked. The 2 small battered cod filets were the best thing on my plate.
I expected something significant for $ 30. I can go to the bait and tackle shop and get better shrimp. I can buy several pounds and get better results at home. The only thing that we liked was the alcohol, but it’s hard to screw that up.
The rundown is do not take your kids here and if you do, eat their food. It’s a third the price and you won’t leave regretting the $ 107 you wasted.

Beautiful location. Went out of my way for an oceanfront lunch and the view did not disappoint. Had fish tacos for lunch. Good dish, but they need to double up the corn tortillas. Looks like a nice hotel, may return for a weekend trip.

This restaurant was attached to our hotel, which was wonderful, so my boyfriend and I gave it a try for lunch.
The servers were non-​existent. It took almost 15 minutes to get a menu, and it wasn’t because they were busy. The selection was small and a pit pricey. There weren’t a whole lot of options of food you’d want to eat while sitting out in the sun. It was definitely fried southern cooking.
I had the chicken and waffles and my boyfriend had the brisket fries. Both were tasty, so it as an A+ for taste. The view was also gorgeous. Mostly, it was the service that ruined this experience for us. When you’re in vacation you want to be at the beach, not waiting near the beach for 40 minutes trying to get your check.

This place is actually in the Holiday Inn. Atmosphere is very nice, server was very nice. At first I was skeptical due to the fact that it was in a hotel. But food turned out good. We had the front porch, crab Benedict, fried chicken Benedict and the buffet. All was good. They have outdoor seating.

Had beer can chicken, way too salty. They didn’t seem to care when we said that it was too salty to eat. The pork nachos were good tho.

The Porch definitely exceeded our expectations, was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food for being inside a Holiday Inn — which, I should also mention Beach House (a Holiday Inn concept) was also a great place to stay, beautiful beachfront property with great amenities.
Stopped here for the night on a road trip from Florida. Had brunch the next morning, the atmosphere and the look of the menu brought us in. The design of the restaurant is awesome, pleasant, and extremely great taste that goes well with the beach setting. We were welcomed by an extremely friendly server who later took care of our table.
Our table had The Mound, The Front Porch, the oatmeal (best oatmeal presentation I’ve ever seen with brown sugar and raisins on the side with bananas on top), and The Porch eggs Benedict with amazing southern fried chicken.
The coffee was fresh and tasted great, it is left at your table for easy refills. Everything came in large portions, we thought prices were definitely reasonable for being right in front of the beach and the amount of food we had. The food was fresh, was wonderfully presented, and we appreciated the service we received.
If I ever find myself in this part of South Carolina I’d definitely stay at this hotel again and eat my meals at The Porch. My only regret was arriving late at night and leaving the next afternoon not being able to enjoy more meals there!
Even if you’re staying at a nearby property, take a walk to The Porch, you won’t be disappointed.

I think my favorite meal of our recent trip to Hilton Head Island came courtesy of The Porch — Southern Kitchen & Bar. This relatively new restaurant sits ocean front as part of the Beach House complex, next to the Tiki Hut Barefoot Beach Bar. There are a couple of large tables inside as well as a handful of smaller ones, and large garage doors open to the spacious patio. Out on the patio, which sits next to a swimming pool, tables can be grouped together to accommodate parties of any size.
To start the evening our large group split a couple orders of fried green tomatoes, which were just about the best I’ve had.
For dinner I thoroughly enjoyed the red brick chicken with black-​eyed pea and house sausage ragu, grit fries, charred broccolini, and pan gravy ($ 20). The flavor combination of this dish was amazing and the chicken was cooked perfectly. I also really enjoyed the grit fries on the side, which were like nothing I’ve ever had before, and something I wish I could eat regularly.
The Porch specializes in wholesome comfort food and this shows even on the kids menu. The spaghetti and meatballs ($ 8) appeared to be prepared from scratch and was presented in a cast iron serving dish. This also included a choice of sliced apples, green beans, or french fries.
Others in our group enjoyed the corn bread encrusted flounder ($ 26), the shrimp and grits ($ 24), St. Louis hog ribs ($ 16), and backyard burger ($ 14), just to name a few. The menu offers three choices each of chicken, beef, pork, and seafood, as well as a handful of salads. Breakfast and lunch are also offered and drink specials can be had all day long.
The food I tasted at The Porch was all outstanding and it is served in one of the best atmospheres I have seen on the island. I look forward to making a return visit on our next trip to Hilton Head.