Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.
99 South Market St.
843-723-5665
Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover
Hours 11am-11pm Bar open til 12 midnight

1st visit- Bubba Gump is a theme restaurant based on the movie Forrest Gump. They play the movie over and over in the bar area, along with the making of the movie after the movie finishes. The restaurant is loaded with all sorts of memorabilia from the movie, which is pleasant on the eyes. You can buy all kinds of glasses, shrimp beanies, shirts & hats, cookbooks, and all sorts of knick knacks. They have a cute little shop outside to buy all sorts of things based on the restaurant.

We got to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at around 2:30pm, usually a good time to hit a restaurant, when you want to be about the only ones in there, but Bubba Gump was still hopping with guests. I waited for my companion to park the car, since after walking around downtown all day, my feet were completely killing me. While standing there waiting, I was greeted not once, not twice, but three times by the most upbeat friendly employees I'd had the chance of meeting. Charleston has always been known for southern hospitality, friendliness, and great service, but these people at Bubba Gump must have found the cream of the crop for friendliest staff in the whole city.

We asked to be seated inside, since it was so hot outside, but it seemed as though outside was definitely the place to be. Tons of people were enjoying fruity looking drinks under umbrella laden tables and appeared to be having a blast out there. We were told to approach the next host stand, and we would be taken care of, and boy were we. We walked up to the next podium, and yet more friendly faces smiled at us warmly and escorted us inside. I requested a booth as I always do, and we got seated right by the bar, in a booth that normally restaurants like to reserve for large parties since it appeared to seat about 8 comfortably, I asked for it, and they gave it to me no questions asked.

Next our server approached the table and got our drink order. His name was Sean, and he was great, even though he did not explain the license plates on our table. He had a good sense of humor which is something I treasure in a server. I had a friend visit once before who had clued me in on how that works, otherwise we would have been oblivious to them. There are 2 license plates on your table that read either "run forrest run" or "stop forrest stop". When you flip over the "stop forrest stop" plate, the next server that walks by your table will immediately stop and see what you need and make sure it is gotten for you. I was blown completely away by this, and tested it out several times (even when we didn't really need anything) to see if it really worked. True to their word, every time we had the stop plate flipped over, a staff member was immediately at our beckon call. VERY impressive!!! We absolutely wanted for nothing.

We both were ready for a nice cold beer, and got exactly that. I got a draft which was very cold, and just what I needed. My companion got a beer which came in a can (as all their beers do when not on draft). We then decided on the spinach and artichoke dip to start off with as an appetizer. I definitely don't recommend this one. The dip had far too many red peppers in it which completely over powered the taste of anything else in there. Our server informed us that they used to make their own, and this new stuff was a prefab knock off. They need to go back to whatever they had before, because this is the worst spinach dip I've ever had the displeasure of tasting. The portion was very small for the $5.99 price tag. To my disappointment, even after our server knew we didn't like the dip, and we sent it back, it still appeared on our bill. Since we weren't too sure on how the rest of the food would be, we decided to split a fried shrimp dinner which also had a hefty price tag of I believe around $15.99 for 18 shrimp. However, the shrimp were delicious. The breading had a great flavor, and wasn't too heavy, or too light. The food was served on plastic plates with waxed paper underneath the food. A nice simplistic style that I really enjoyed. The cocktail sauce was great as well, nice and rich, with just a bit of kick from the horseradish. I don't normally eat french fries, but the fries that came with our meal were great, I couldn't stop eating them. Also, the coleslaw that came with our meal was fabulous. Nice and light, not too much sauce, and a great light taste on a hot summer day.

I'm giving Bubba Gump 3 1/2 stars, and recommending you give this a shot when you're downtown Charleston. If you're looking for a place with phenomenal service, friendliness beyond your wildest imagination, and a great atmosphere to look at with all the movie memorabilia, this is your spot. I would like to go back and try more dishes and give the other menu items a chance, but the fried shrimp, cold beer, and service was great.

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