Gone Down Hill
Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Dined in 2010 and 2012
By Sean Overpeck (CFE)
UPDATE: This Restaurant is now Permanently Closed
Carolina’s opened in 1987, as a Charleston favorite for the locals, focusing mainly on seafoods and being a leader in providing good quality products from local farms spawning the farm to fork or farm to table movement in the low country region. My first visit to the Carolina’s restaurant was part of a city tasting tour provided by Bulldog Tours, where the guide mentioned that with all the tourists that come to the city, this was the restaurant that locals visited to get away from the hustle and bustle.
Follow Wine, Dine, and Play:
Executive Chef:
Chef Jill Mathias
Main review:
After the initial tour of the very sleek and upscale feel the restaurant, I added it to my list for a full dining experience. The tour gave a quick walk through of the kitchen, and intro by Chef Mathias, and quick bite, before moving on to the next restaurant on the list. The dining room was very elegant with deep leather booths, wood columns, and just an overall feel of opulence.
Two years later after a few visits to Charleston, I finally returned with my daughter to enjoy a nice dinner, but unfortunately, things had gone down hill from the previous visit. The service staff was not attentive, was not aware of basic ingredients on the entrees and starters, and she did not feel confident with what she was selling. From there the food took along time to come out, even though the restaurant was not fully packed out, and the quality for the price did not match up.
My daughter and I stayed only for an appetizer and entree, but from there decided to get dessert elsewhere. It is a shame that only a few years prior the restaurant had such great accolades from the local community. Hopefully they can turn things around before the locals decide to find a new spot to dine at.
Other Noteworthy Southern and Seafood Favorites:
Moshulu in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Final notes and observations:
What is a restaurant review? Is one better than the other? How is the rating system broken down? Most reviews you read online are subjective, depending on the writer; but they should also be responsibly, and respectfully written, upholding the truth and accurately conveying the experience. My job is to put you at the table next to me, and to try and be objective to the best of my ability. Being impeccable with my word, never taking anything that happens at the restaurant personally, being honest in the review, never make assumptions, and to always write to the best of my knowledge is the goal. My ratings are notated by the level of stars I award (from 0 to 5). The star rating is based on the calculation and point accumulation of six separate factors with nearly seventy questions broken down by my individual experience such as wine and other beverage selection, plate presentation, customer service, restaurant or café ambiance, food quality, plus a bonus section called the wow factor. To see more details on how I do my ratings read this article:
Over all from this experience, and using my rating system linked above, I give Carolina’s a flat 0 out of 5 stars, meaning that they exceeded my expectations and were far above the average dining experience of most restaurants.
Review basics:
5 stars
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An Extraordinary Experience
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94 - 100 % (105% w/ full bonuses)
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4 Stars
|
An Outstanding Experience
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87 - 93%
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3 Stars
|
Exceeded All My Expectations
|
80 - 86%
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2 Stars
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Above the Average Experience
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72 - 79%
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1 Star
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An Average Dining Experience
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66 - 71%
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No Star Rating
|
The Restaurant is Basic, Poor, or Appalling
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65% or below
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Overall Star Rating:
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0 of 5 Stars:
The Restaurant experience was basic, poor, or appalling
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Restaurant style:
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Casual dining
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Dress code:
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Casual, or conservative attire
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Child policy:
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The Restaurants reviewed on this site may have a child’s menu or cater to them; however for full enjoyment of food and wine, it is recommended for children not to be in attendance, unless they have been trained in proper etiquette. If not then
Hire a Babysitter!
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Cuisine style:
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Contemporary, Steakhouse, Seafood, American, Southern, & Vegetarian
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Payments:
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Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express
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Parking:
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Public lot, or Street Parking
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Wifi
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The restaurants reviewed on this site may have Wi-Fi, but do not require you to go online, because the excitement of the food and wine alone will keep you too entertained instead of checking your social media and emails.
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Noise level:
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Low to Medium
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Smoking:
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Nonsmoking restaurant
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Patio:
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No
|
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High Concept Farm-to-Table Dining
A top 100 on Wine, Dine, and Play
|
Bustling clubby fish house eatery & bar
|
Ornate Top 10 American Chophouse
A top 100 on Wine, Dine, and Play
|
|
Genteel eatery with Low Country fare
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Locally sourced beef & sustainable seafood
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Mediterranean dishes, wine bar, villa feel
|
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Enduring Seafood Eatery and Landmark
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Low Country Bistro with French fusion menu, local farm to table
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Innovative, upscale, contemporary cuisine
|
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Refined upscale take on Southern dining
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Dessert shop with Southern treats, and praline
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Elegant old school steakhouse with seafood
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Carolina’s Restaurant:
10 Exchange Street
Charleston, SC 29401
Contact Information:
Restaurant website:
|
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Serving hours:
Eastern Standard Time
(GMT, Zulu, or UTC - 5:00)
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Permanently Closed
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Email or webpage contact:
|
Permanently Closed
|
Reviewed by:
Sean Overpeck (CFE)
Executive Chef
Father, Husband, Wine Drinker
Restaurant nut, History and
Star Trek lover
About Sean:
I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for over twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta, Georgia prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army Food Service Program. The idea for Wine, Dine, and Play started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by friends to write down the experiences from a few restaurants, wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra. Since that time, over 300 articles have been written, including fifteen restaurants from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide. There are articles on exotic world locations such as Victoria Falls, and South African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; ethnic country cuisines such as Afghan, and Peruvian; tasting tours of world cities like Charleston, Cape Town, and Dubai; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, with much more to see and write about.
Who is John Galt?
“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,
But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”
-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)
Other articles of interest on Wine, Dine, and Play:
Shark Cage Diving in Gansbaai, South Africa
The Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai, UAE
TTFN
