At the table · September 2026
A delicious plate with major execution misses
The grits and gravy brought real richness, but overcooked shrimp, a heavy hand with salt, and a rough presentation kept it from its usual high score.
- Visited
- September 2026
- Price
- $30.00
- Fair: Fine, though we wanted a bit more.Value is the sixth taste: our own judgment of what arrived for what it cost. It stands apart from the grade.How we review
- Fair
- A really solid dish, with some minor complaints.Our overall call on the plate, from A+ to F.How we review
- B
- Lowcountry Score
- 90/100
I started with she-crab soup. It came out so hot that I had to stare at it with anticipation for way too long. I didn’t want to roast my mouth and ruin the rest of my meal. Once I could finally try it, it was delicious: lighter than a chowder, full of crab, and finished with what looked like a generous pour of sherry that somehow didn’t overwhelm it. The cup was $9 and the bowl $10, so I the bowl, even though I was just planning on my entree. It was a wonderful example of our favorite Lowcountry soup.
Then came the $30 shrimp and grits. The presentation was a large mound of grits in the center and the shrimp, sausage, and sauce around it, almost like gumbo plated with a mound of rice. I like the idea because you can build each bite, but the grits looked carelessly plated. They tasted much better than they looked: fluffy, cheesy, and creamy. They stayed that way throughout the meal instead of tightening as they cooled.
There were a lot of small shrimp, perhaps 16 or 20, but that didn’t make up for them being rubbery and overcooked. The thinly bias-sliced andouille suffered the same fate. I would have welcomed some browning on the sausage, but these pieces were dry and tough.
The sauce was exceptional. I’d call it a cream gravy: rich and savory. It was extremely tasty, but as I kept eating, the salt built up until the plate tasted too salty, even to me.
The shrimp and sausage were overcooked, the gravy too salty, and the grits poorly presented. Those are substantial flaws in a shrimp-and-grits dish. Yet I ate the whole thing because it was delicious. That is the frustrating part of this endeavor: Shrimp & Grits can be a pleasure to eat while missing badly on execution.
I’ve had this dish here before and remember it being better. A restaurant can make the same recipe very differently depending on the cook and timing. From the customer’s side, consistency matters, especially when the plate costs $30.