Charley's Crab - (843) 342-9066

I realize that Christmas day is typically a busy day for a restaurant; however, our experience at Charlie?s Crab was extremely disappointing. The first irritation was that they had run out of fresh tuna and salmon ? not good planning for the early part of a busy evening. The She Crab Soup was mediocre, as was the Mahi Mahi. The most irritating thing was that they served the Seafood Jambalaya instead of the Chilled Seafood Platter. When we questioned the manager, he indicated that he had no idea why a hot meal was listed under the Raw Bar section and that this was indeed the correct dish. Much as we were not satisfied with the meal, we paid the check ? after all we did not want to make our own Christmas unpleasant. On leaving the restaurant we questioned the manager once again and, once again, received the run around and more excuses. A simply apology would have gone a long way. We won?t go back.

Charlys Crab is a good restaurant. It is also extremely expensive. The word that comes to mind is overpriced. The wine list gives you few options for an affordable, quality choice. The diner entrees are almost all in the mid to high twenties. The food is good but you get the feeling that you are paying "A" prices for "B+" food. The atmosphere is white table cloth with a bit of a chic big city feel. One of the few Hilton Head restaurants that you might see someone wearing a jacket and tie. Excellent water view. Service is good but perhaps a little ostentatious. This is Hilton Head, not New York or Paris! A fine restaurant , but you can pay less for a better meal elsewhere.

We went here on a friend's recommendation. We're from Atlanta, and have eaten at Ray's on the River, which is an excellent seafood restaurant. Compared to Ray's, the food at Charley's Crab is way overpriced. We thought Charley's food was average. When your bill is $90 after tip ( without dessert), for a party of 2, you should expect to have a fantastic meal. That is not what we experienced. The service was good until a party of 10 was seated next to us. Our server spent most of his time attending to them. There are other members of the wait staff that come around to remove finished dishes and refill your water, so we weren't ignored. I wouldn't go back here as there are other seafood restaurants in Hilton Head that are not chain restaurants, and are priced similarly. A staff member at our resort told me that Charley's is a chain ( we didn't know before going there ), and they get their food from the same distributor as the other Charley's restaurants, which isn't locally or fresh. I can't verify this, but it might explain why we weren't impressed with our dishes. I had a seared tuna, which wasn't very flavorful. It was served in a barbecue sauce, and wasn't seasoned as far as I can tell. My wife had the halibut, which was tasty, but not memorable. The presentation was lacking ( colors on the plate were bland), which is something that should never happen at a restaurant at this price point.