The Rusty Rudder

Used to love this place for Sunday brunch. We would go every other week. They started changing things up and now, the only items are breakfast items… no «brunch”/lunch items. Very disappointing. I used to look forward to the shrimp and grits, the lobster roll, or the tacos. Now very standard omelet fair. Bummer. The mimosa carafe and Bloody Mary are still good, but go somewhere else for brunch and come back here for lunch or dinner some other day.

Really want to like this place as it is close to home and has a great outdoor seating area. Walk in following a lady with who has take out bags… From another restaurant. Delivers food to the bartender. Ask bartender if food is any good and she says she eats here every night and is «sick of it» proceeds to eat while we are at bar. Ask bartender about difference between two wines and bartender tells me one is Oaked and one is unoaked (which was written in the drink menu). Husbands first course salad brought out 1 minute before entrees. Burgers over done.
Won’t be back.

Stumbled in while traveling north on 17. Had best blackened grouper sandwich ever.
Outdoor patio looks so inviting, wish we lived closer.
Staff was so pleasant
Highly recommend

This is my second visit to The Rusty Rudder & I have to say it was a great evening. For a Wednesday it was very busy. They have a nice bar with lots of people sitting there. Lots of staff, very attentive & great service. It’s a big space but somehow they manage to make it cozy & warm. The food was really really great & that surprised me because this area is pretty far north on 17 just north of the hospital & I guess I was expecting basic bar food. But, no it had a upscale twist with a large variety of meat & fish dishes. They have a great outdoor area with comfortable couches, outside bar, cornhole & I understand live music in the warner months. This place is really great for all of us living in Park West, Dunes West & surrounding areas that do not feel like driving South to the heart of Mount Pleasant or into town. I loved it & will definitely return.

Do not order seafood here. I got the flounder and shrimp dinner and it was not good. The sandwiches at the adjacent tables did look good but stay away from the seafood!

Mangement! Please train your staff to be more friendly. One of your male bartenders is so rude. He’s either oblivious to his surroundings or could give a crap. I stood at the bar trying to get his attention for over 15 minutes. It was crazy. You do fine with the food but it could use a little facelift. I’ve visited about 4 times now and it’s always just okay. I’m always hoping for better because I love the atmosphere with the outdoor area. Please, please have your staff be nicer and more attentive. It would make the experience so much better.

Took ten minutes to even be talked to by our waitress. How do you run out of oysters at 6:30 on a Tuesday, in November, when that is a special??? The only reason I gave it a star is because they support a local brewery. Ended up getting pizza instead.

This place is a bit off the beaten path but not for long. A Sunday brunch menu is offered and that is the go-​to for that day. Regular Menu offers some very tasty specialty dishes. We opted for the Crab Cake Benedict which was enough for two people. Wife ordered the very personalized «Country Plate» both dishes are about $ 10.
Our server was Jen M. who was very pleasant and helpful navigating the menu. Honest about the offerings and in general a very good dining experience.
The Patio out back is awesome on a warm day and if it gets chilly there is an outdoor fireplace to keep you warm and toasty.

This was our 3^rd visit here … and the new menu has brought this place to a new level. BBQ Burnt Ends w/​Plantains, Chicken and Waffles w/​the waffle being mac & cheese. They did this right! Oh, and if sautéed spinach is the vegetable, it is a must get. Sauteed gently with swiss chard, I am hoping it was healthy, but it was delicious! Definitely a must do place. Note to the bar, if we could elevate the margarita, that would be even better.

Oh, if only the service was on par with the food, this restaurant would deserve a higher star rating. Love the new menu, and the prices are reasonable. Lovely outside bar and dining area, and on the night we were there they had a duo from Greenville playing great music.

I came here for restaurant week and the first time In months that I can go on a date with my husband. We had our reservations and everything.
Get there for our time and they say, «ok well let’s find a table». Odd.
Sit down, order our drinks and our dinner. It takes 20 minutes to get an appetizer of wings and burnt ends. Those were yummy but the wings were cold.
1 hour into our time, 3 drinks in, and still no entrée. We get the meat loaf and the seafood Diablo. The one word to describe it was BLAND. How it takes them 1 hour to practically preheat the food and then give us this, blows my mind. Quote from my husband «Your meatloaf is better.»
They ask us for a box and we decline. They ask why and we tell them about our experience. They comp is our entrée, plus, but then we waited an additional 20 MINUTES to get a dessert that was nothing but stale pound cake and canned peaches.
Oh and our waiter said, «Don’t come back during a restaurant week and don’t come on Friday nights either. «
So yeah, never coming back. Thanks for ruining our date night when I could have just made this at home.

I like the Rusty Rudder and especially enjoy their large and beautifully set up back patio. My only grievance with the place has been in the food prices on some of their entrées. I may have gone in with a false expectation as I was highly recommended a dish from a friend and found it less than it was hyped to be. On other visits I’ve had great food and enjoyed my time.

Food is not that good. The out side patio area is awesome but don’t come here to watch the game. The only TV’s you will find are at the tiki bar and they are all small.

Really enjoyed this place. I used to believe it was a hole-​in-​the-​wall dive bar, but I was VERY wrong. Beautiful and comfortable inside and a very spacious outdoor area with bar as well. It seems like they have live music several times a week. The menu was way above sports bar food. My wife had brisket tacos and cole slaw and I had the turkey burger with fries. Hers was very good, mine was just OK — wish I tried something else. About ten or so beers on tap although our waitress knew nothing about the beer they served (she was under 21) or what was actually on tap. She was helpful and went back to the bartender with my questions though. Service was good. We’ll be back!

This was a great find! Busy and a wait, but it was worth the wait. Had their brisket dinner that was so tender and paired this with a side of collard greens. Waitress was wonderful! We’ll be back!

I was nervous about coming to this restaurant based on the Unilocal reviews. I’m glad we took a chance on it as we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. Appetizer portions are a healthy size. I recommend the firecracker shrimp, tasty. The seafood platter was a very generous serving of flounder and shrimp fried to perfection, not greasy at all. The Mahi tacos were a generous size as well and had great flavor and my collards were tender and flavorful. The tacos could have used a little more spice, but hot sauce was handy at the table. A bluegrass band was entertaining and the back patio looked like a lot of fun (next time we might leave the kids at home). Our server and the bartender also did an excellent job in spite of the fact they were very busy.

Here’s a restaurant in Mt Pleasant, SC I will NOT recommend. The server spilled two large glasses of ice water on My five year old daughter totally by accident, then panicked, which in turn made my daughter cry from the embarrassment of everyone in the restaurant looking at her and no one but my family trying to help clean her up. My husband took her outside to calm down, and the manager came out to insincerely check on things, but ran right back inside while my husband was trying to talk to him. This was the last dinner of vacation with my in-​laws and it was ruined, since she spent it soaking wet and upset. In the end, the restaurant didn’t even offer to comp my daughter’s meal, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if they at least showed some concern or remorse about the situation.
Aside for the poor customer service, there were hardly any veggies in the veggie tacos.
Not a place we will ever visit again. Moreover, my in-​laws are local to this place and while they go out to eat often, this place is no long on their list of spots.

Cool atmosphere and outdoor seating. Went on Friday to sit outside and listen to live music. We had to wait an hour and a half to be sat, and by then, the music was done. My burger was good, but nothing special. I got the buffalo shrimp burger. My side of gouda and bacon mac and cheese mashed potatoes was good, but would have been much better if the potatoes were warm. Our waitress was nice, but overall service was slow.

My first visit to the Rusty Rudder. Very favorable impression with their inside and outside areas. Pleasant and serviceable. My oysters (order of 6) were very good and well-​presented. My brunch entrée was a bacon-​cheese-​egg sandwich. Not bad, but mediocre is maybe the best description. Excellent wait-​person, although it took a long time for our brunch items to appear on our table. We were outside, and it was a lovely setting. Very enjoyable. Live music began at 2:00. Because this is a «first visit», I cannot be definitive. It seems like a good place and I look forward to visiting again.

This place is the definition of hot and cold.
One visit, you get great service. The next, you’re not looked at.
One visit, the food is delicious. The next, it’s unseasoned, or just not good.
The ambiance outside is great! The service, again, is bad.
The clams are great. Unfortunately, the tuna tartare we had ordered to go with the clams was literally just chopped up tuna. No soy sauce. No onion. No ginger. No sesame seeds. No sesame oil. It was quality tuna, just completely bland, with very little flavor.
Oh, and this place isn’t cheap. They’re easily another 10−15% more expensive than other restaurants in Mount P, and I wouldn’t even put them in the top 50^th percentile.