Charleston Edition: Tidewater Grill

Tidewater is an institution in Charleston, and I had been wanting to go here for quite some time. I guess I should have taken it as a sign whenever I mentioned the restaurant, my friends said "ehhh..." I think this place falls into that it's-been-around-for-so-long-we-accept-it-as-good.

It's located in the Charleston Town Center Mall and specializes in, you might guess, seafood. Apparently it comes from the harbors of Boston, Chesapeake Bay, and George's Bank.

According to their website, "Selections are procured by traditional "watermen" and selected by standards set centuries ago. A closely-knit, mutually accountable relationship has been forged between our company and two of the nation's top seafood purveyors - we inspect their New England facilities and they routinely examine our kitchen - to assure our guests of the highest standards of quality and freshness. Our seafood is as close to the New England waters as your taste can travel."

I looked over the menu, and there were a few things that looked pretty good - scallops, salmon, flounder. But the baked stuffed flounder stood out to me - George's Bank flounder fillet stuffed with Maryland lump crab meat, spinach, mushroom and leeks, broiled to a golden brown ($25.95).

But before w get there - let's start with the poppy seed rolls. Yum. Warm, doughey, fluffy. Dab of butter. We got two servings.

I ordered the Maryland crab meat balls for $12 as an appetizer. I was kind of shocked to see a total of four on the plate. Four. Everybody knows the crabcake is a bunch of breading, less crab. And $12 for that? Ha. It wasn't bad, the sauce wasn't either, but definitely not for the price.

My dinner also came with a salad, and I went with their house salad with vinaigrette.  I was happy with the nice assortment of veggie, with the addition of beets (yum!), and the crumbled gorgonzola had the perfect bit of tang. I was pleasantly surprised with the house salad.

My entree came with a side, so I opted for their veggies. But when I got my plate, I was looking around to see where the rest of it was. I paid $26 for a small piece of fish with some vegetables?

It was fine. Was it the freshest, most delectable piece of fish I've ever had? No. No, it wasn't. It was okay. It was maybe even under-seasoned. Dare I say bland? I was just very underwhelmed. Especially for footing a pretty decent bill. Luckily I got a few different components here to fill up with to almost make the price worth it.

Grade: C