My mother and I booked a tour a few hours before it began, and that was not enough time to accommodate my mom’s vegetarian preference. Our guide Houn was friendly, informative, and funny, but at times I was extremely put off by the way he referred to historical white South Carolinians as “we” and enslaved Africans as “they” when speaking about South Carolina’s history. At one point he even said that “we” were susceptible to malaria if “we” had worked in the rice paddies, so “we” had to go to summer homes inland, while “they” worked. He also made reference to who was the most “valuable” slave, without qualifiers. This was difficult to stomach.
The first restaurant, Eli’s Table, was excellent, but it was the only restaurant we visited where I felt like there was a legitimate portion of food and enough time to eat it. We each had a quarter of a waffle with a piece of fried chicken on top, half a pancake, and a small bowl of grits (about the size of a scoop of ice cream) and one shrimp on top. The next restaurant, Baleo, served a few sips of melon gazpacho, which included shreds of crab. Around the room, only about 3-5 people finished this. Most took one sip and then stopped. I did not enjoy it, but that could just be my taste. Some people were disappointed they’d ordered expensive drinks when we only ended up staying for a few minutes and got no other food. The third restaurant was fine. We got a small bowl of soup (just broth) and a small bowl of rice, small pieces of sausage, and one shrimp. These bowls were again about the size of a scoop of ice cream. Here, we again barely had time to finish our drinks. At the last restaurant, there was a small plastic cup of banana pudding, which was nothing special. I left this tour hungry, disappointed, and feeling as though I’d just wasted 2.5 hours and $130.
I could have spent less money on another tour and gotten the same info and eaten lunch at Eli’s Table and been a lot happier.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Aug 2018
We were devastated to read that you did not have a good time on your tour. One of our points of pride is the leisurely nature of the dining experience and the amount of food provided; even going so far as to boast "more than a meal for most". We also like to play with our routing to keep the tours fresh, which means adjusting schedules and bringing on new restaurant partners, as was the case with your second and fourth stops. We're sorry that you felt rushed and that the food did not meet expectations. We are working to remedy this route immediately.
We wish you had reached out to us about the vegetarian preference. We do state that we need 24-hours to guarantee full accommodation, but even so we can usually make it work with less notice if we are made aware of it. We were never informed of this restriction and therefore couldn't oblige, otherwise we would have certainly tried to be as accommodating as possible for her diet.
We're glad you enjoyed the jambalaya and soup (usually she-crab soup, a Charleston classic, but sounds like you may have received the vegetarian option?) at Lowcountry Bistro, as well as the shrimp & grits, chicken & waffles, and sweet potato pancakes at Eli's Table.
Finally, thank you very much for feedback about the content of your tour. We also feel that the city's appalling history of slavery is difficult to stomach. The notion that human beings could be viewed as property and therefore valued solely in dollar signs is a nauseous facet of our foundations to say the least. As unsettling as it is, we do feel it is an absolute necessity on any tour of the city. Thank you for also bringing up a critical opportunity for us to examine with our guides the implications of language (particularly pronouns) when discussing our history and culture.
Again, we are so disappointed that your tour did not meet expectations. We would love if you would reach out to us so we can better address this situation personally.