Guy Harvey's Island Grill in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

This past summer (2009) a new restaurant opened in the neotraditionally designed Towne Centre shopping center in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Guy Harvey's Island Grill took over a large space previously occupied by specialty grocer, Earth Fare. The restaurant opened in July 2010 and was heralded by the various news outlets around town as a blessing for taking over the long vacant building and about Harvey himself, his art and his efforts at conservation.

Recently, my husband and I decided to branch out and go someplace new for dinner. Like many couples, we have a tendency to play the "Where do you want to go?", "I don't know, what do you feel like having?" game and then just go to the same restaurants over and over. We have been having a lot of chicken and beef of late, so we decided to go out for a seafood dinner. We chose Guy Harvey's Island Grill

Before leaving for the restaurant, I got online as I often do, to take a peek at the menu. The website for the Mount Pleasant location offered a lunch menu, Happy Hour menu, and a list of Daily Specials. Oddly, the dinner menu was not anywhere on the site. This should have been a big clue but I didn't give it much thought beyond what a lousy job whoever put the site together had done.

We arrived at the restaurant at 7:00 and had no trouble finding a parking space right in front. The bar is visible from the sidewalk but the dining area is hidden. I am a bit quirky about eating in places with few other diners but we figured that the lone couple sitting at the bar was more indicative of the time of the day rather than business volume so we went on in.

Entrance to Guy Harvey's Island Grill is through the retail shop. T-shirts, posters, paintings, sculpture and more t-shirts, all with Harvey's intrepid fish boldly displayed, are everywhere. There is also a separate art gallery featuring his higher priced pieces. What you don't see is the entry to the dining area or the hostess station because it is at the rear of the building.

After waiting a few minutes at the hostess station, alone, we were finally greeted and with some prompting, chose to dine in the bar. The bartender did double duty as both barkeep and server. Since there was only one other couple in the room, he wasn't overwhelmed.

Once seated we were handed menus and the significance of the missing menu on the website hit home. The prices are outrageous. My husband and I agreed that we would stay on the chance that the quality of the food would make up for the prices. We are a hopeful pair. Unfortunately, our optimism was misplaced and the food proved to be average at best. I ordered the Red fish Portofino for $24.95. My fish was cooked well but the lump crab meat on top of the fillet was tepid and the sauce was scarce. For what should have been a high-end plate, I was served red rice with an excessive amount of pimento and a medley of sauteed vegetables consisting of broccoli, yellow squash, and green beans. I was not impressed.

My husband chose the seafood chowder and a shrimp cocktail. His soup, like my fish entree, was just average. It could easily have come from a can and was definitely not worth the $9.95 he paid. I am still trying to get over the 'shrimp cocktail' that he was served. The Guy Harvey's Island Grill version of shrimp cocktail consists of a half dozen boiled shrimp sitting on limp lettuce with a dipping container of seafood sauce for $8.95.

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina is a tourist destination located just across the Cooper River from the "Most Polite City in America", Charleston, SC. It is a hospitality minded area and we are used to first-rate food and attentive, knowledgeable service-in fact we expect it. Unfortunately for the seafood chain, we received neither during our dining experience at Mr. Harvey's place. We were never offered a second drink (easy money ) nor were we asked if we would like dessert (Got a box? We may do take-out). Deciding to add this restaurant to our list of non-repeats was easy. The overpriced menu (Corona in a bottle for $4.25!), mediocre food and lackluster service made the choice for us. If only the rest of life was so easy to decide.