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There are so many things that draw people to enjoy the South- the sights, the sounds, the food, the historical attractions, the shopping, the charming manners and architecture. The list can go on and on.
My husband and I spent 6 days in the Low Country, exploring and enjoying many of the things mentioned above. I took over 200 hundred photos in an effort to document the memories we made. Of course I want to share these memories with you, dear blog reader.
Rather than bombard you with a huge post full of photos and way too much information, I have decided to break down the trip into sections manageable for both writer and reader.
I will tell you which restaurants we ate at, how we chose them, what they served, and a rating on the scale of 0 to 5 (0 is not worthy of feeding to your dog; 5 is the heavens opened up and angels sang). Because we ate out every day, I will have to break it down into parts. Today is Part 1.
Low Country Bistro- 49 South Market Street
What we ordered:
Ranch Pork Rinds ~ appetizer ~ $4
Southern Tacos: Slowed braised pulled pork, market salsa, pepper jack cheese, chive sour cream, warm tortillas ~ main course for me ~ $11
Shrimp and Fried Green Tomatoes Po-Boy: Fried green tomatoes, local shrimp, pimento cheese ~ main course for the hubby~ $12
This was the first meal we ate in South Carolina. We were hoping for some tasty, fresh, local seafood and were encouraged by UrbanSpoons rating of 97% (37 votes). Written reviews were positive and most seemed interested in repeating their experience.
We sat at a cozy little table for two on the porch that overlooked Market Street. The atmosphere was very nice; the waitress was attentive, charming, and good at her job. The excitement stopped there. The food was only okay. Nothing amazing. Rather bland. Not as fresh as it should have been.
I was really interested to try the ranch pork rinds. They are a snack I occasionally indulge in and have only had the spicy variety. The ranch flavor of these rinds was mild; there was no pizzazz. I am not sure why one would bother to pay $4 for something that the corner store does just as well (and maybe better, depending on the brand).
Because of my grandfather’s great love for BBQ, I have eaten more than my fair share. I know what good BBQ is and what it is not. The BBQ featured in the Southern Tacos were only so so. The meat was slightly overcooked; the smokey flavor was not as present as one would expect for excellent BBQ. The sauce was tomato based, which seemed odd considering traditional low country BBQ features a mustard based sauce. The market salsa was aptly named- the ingredients could be purchased at any grocery nation wide and were certainly not summery fresh. I am not sure why they bothered to feature summer foods when they used what appeared to be canned corn and hothouse tomatoes. The fries that accompanied the tacos were good, crispy, and salted with seasoned salt. I did find it odd that the ketchup was served in paper cups, too casual for the atmosphere upscale Low Country Bistro seems to be going for.
Sadly, my husbands po-boy was also lackluster. It seemed a little slim on the shrimp. The pimiento cheese was also slight in it’s appearance. There was a nice serving of fried green tomatoes and they seemed very fresh. The po-boy wasn’t bad. However, it lacked the punch one would expect from the use of such heavy-hitting ingredients.
Overall, Low Country Bistro was not bad. There were no significant complaints that would warrant sending the food back or complaining. No hairs, the food was all completely cooked. The waitress was attentive. The silverware clean. Nevertheless, we will not be returning to Low Country Bistro. It’s lackluster effort earned it a rating of 2 out of 5. It was not even good enough that I would want to return and give it another chance. If you go there, I hope you have a better experience.
AnnaShortcakes 