Southend Brewery and Smokehouse
161 East Bay St.
843-853-4677
all credit cards accepted

1st visit- July 25th, 2001 Southend Brewery and Smokehouse must be experienced to be fully appreciated. Brewing beer is their specialty. I've never been a big fan of brewed beer but the Carolina Blonde here is good if you're in the mood for a light beer similar to Budweiser. At Southend you can order from a diverse menu of different regional American dishes with Southwestern and Coastal influences. When you first enter Southend, your senses will be titillated at the smell of the wood burning oven. The environment is all open and sort of loud, so don't go here for a "quiet" getaway. However if great food and service is what you have in mind, you're heading in the right direction.

Lunch and dinner menus are the same which can get a little pricey if you're looking for an economical lunch, but the food is well worth the price. The last visit I had to Southend was for lunch and was fabulous. Our service was great. Our waitress was very knowledgeable, friendly, and polite and was there for all of our wants and needs, even though I noticed she had just been seated with a party of 6, and another table right before us.

One of my companions had a chicken and pasta dish which was perfectly seasoned with spinach, tomatoes, and spices, and the portion was hearty, the pasta was perfectly cooked, and the chicken was so tender you almost could look at it, and it cut itself. My dish was the pork tenderloin with a sweet maple sauce and caramelized onions with sliced green apples served on top, and served with the most unbelievable creamed grits you've ever wrapped your lips around (to be honest I don't eat grits, but these are more like coarse mashed potatoes, Don't miss these..) My other companion had the BBQ chicken pizza, as we had to test something coming from that wood burning oven. The chicken was in very large chunks and they didn't skimp on the meat, sauce, and cheese on the pizza either. The BBQ sauce was just sweet/spicy enough to make you not want to stop eating it until you felt as thought you'd bust. I wish I could say we had room for even a bite of dessert, but that was out of the question at least for this trip.

I am a hard person to please when it comes to good food and even harder to please when it comes to great service, and I am happy to report that I received both on my visit to Southend Brewery. When you visit downtown, make this a must do on your dining list. This visit gets all 5 stars.

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2nd visit- August 2nd, 2001 I must say, I had to revisit southend to make sure that my taste buds hadn't been just tricked into a "good day" by the kitchen by a crafty cook. We revisited Southend on August 2nd, and it was just after lunch time. (around 1:30pm). Upon entering, the hostess sat us in a timely fashion at a booth we requested. We sat in our booth for 7 minutes before our server ever showed up. This is one thing I'll say that got me a bit irritated, along with the construction worker outside making repairs to a window pane. Yes, hammering loudly away while customers sat right under this pane of glass, trying to eat their lunch. One miss of the hammer and the 2 ladies sitting under that glass would have had a nice shower of shattered glass. I mentioned this to a female manager, who, much to my dismay, actually seemed more concerned to pour herself a sweet tea while she stared at him, than to stop the proceedings. She did however, evidently mention it to someone (I assume the general manager) and the worker was asked to stop.

Our servers name was Catelin, and I must say that after she did make it to the table, she made up for her not so timely greeting. She apologized for not greeting us, stating she was seperating checks for a party of 5 that she was cashing out. She was very sweet, efficient and helpful, and by the time my soup arrived, I had completely forgotten about the two above mentioned incidents. We ordered corn chowder and the beer cheese soup that she informed us was made with their very own red ale brew. The corn chowder was the best I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. It was thick and rich, and filled with big chunks of potatoes and corn. The beer cheese soup was outstanding, but was a bit overwhelming. When our waitress saw that my companion was not eating all of his soup, she asked if she could remove it, and get him something else instead. I was MOST impressed by her perceptiveness, and willingness to make sure he was satisfied with his meal. She informed us that the beer cheese soup is a bit rich and is available in a bread bowl, which is how she personally recommends it. I think if you're going for this soup, definitely get it in the bread bowl. She brought him a cup of chili to replace his soup, and the chili was fabulous. It was brimming with big chunks of meat, beans, and was a good thick rich chili, with just enough spice for a wimp like me to taste the spices, but not go running for my water glass. Next we moved on to the chicken nachos. What can I say? WOW! These are a meal in themselves. The chips are the nice thinner crispy type, and they are loaded with tons of shredded chicken, cheese, and the works. I highly recommend the nachos, but be prepared, they're HUGE! We were so stuffed that we decided to forego any other menu items. When I told our waitress that we were reviewing the restaurant, she sent out the general manager. His name was Ken. He was delightful, and you could tell was the type of manager that cares what his customers think and feel about his restaurant. I was very impressed by him, and I was so satisfied with how everything else had turned out I didn't even bother to mention our first 10 minutes at the restaurant. I also found out that Southend has live entertainment on Thurs-Sat in the evenings, and on Sunday's from around 3-6. (times vary, so call ahead if you're looking for a great meal with some live music...843-853-4677)

I will once again highly recommend you eat at Southend Brewery on your next visit to downtown Charleston. This visit still gets 4 stars, and only doesn't get 5 because of our wait for the waitress to our table, and the female managers disregard to my concerns about her construction worker.

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843-696-1944

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