grill 225

verified 100% usda prime cut quality, and aging, this is the standard for grill 225 at the market pavilion hotel in downtown charleston. 42 days on all beef cuts, with the exception of their center cut new york strip, aged at 50 days. match that with the fact that they are rated as one of the top ten steakhouses in america, filled with an elegance that only charleston can offer. here are my thoughts

beware. don't order new york strip!
good flavor but not tender in the slightest. plate moved back and forth when cutting. not necessarily tough, but dense and chewy? they do have great side dishes and a very nice atmosphere. tried to send my thoughts on their website before writing review and did not hear anything back. not a good way to communicate with customers.$104 for 2 plain chewy steaks, and nothing else...leaves a "bad taste in your mouth". waiter, jb, became short and curt after we said something about the steaks.

went for restaurant week. first, not a romantic place, very loud and there are like 3 tables for 2 and they are so large that you seriously can't hear the
person you are with. menus are so large you feel like you are in grade school. steak was good but really not spectacular. would go again for restaurant week with a group. would not pay full price for their steak. service was rushed, maybe because of rw but we ate after 9pm.

superb. best meal in charleston if you're looking to indulge!

pretentious. the waiter was a bit snooty. the fried lobster and fried green tomatoes ( a bit greasy) were average. my filet was done medium although my date's was done med well. we sent it back and it came back rare. the prme steak i've purchased at costco was much better than this. best part of the meal was the wine and creamed spinach. will not be back.

nasty steaks. as a local : the pretentious wait staff was beyond rude. funny that their menu is three feet tall: the food was ordinary and overpriced! sent back my first over cooked well done filet; the kitchen manager; insisted i cut more to go into the middle of the steak it might be right. it was dry and overcooked all the way! few minutes later: they brought out a raw nasty piece of meat on the same plate!! the youthful waiter tried to educate me and convince me a rare steak was medium steak : i refused to eat the horrible meal; left the to-go box on the table! they are a steak house that claims to offer the best steaks; they are terrible! don't waste your money! go to any other restaurant in charleston. i give them one star for their ice cold over priced martini! their food is ordinary and the staff is rude. why bother. i will never eat there again! so many other wonderful places to go to drop $210 for a single entre, two appetizers, and wine!

omg!. i went out with some friends tonight...the food was amazing!!! every bite of my steak melted in my mouth. the drinks were flowing and the food was filling. our server was one of the best i've ever had!! can't wait to go again.

delicious meal, for a price............. even though this was restaurant week our bill was almost $200 per couple. now, the steak was melt in your mouth perfect, as were the sides (extra cost of course). i wanted a cocktail before dinner but mistakenly ordered from the nitrotini menu. no cocktail is worth $18.00. the menus are about 38"tall and difficult to read in a tiny booth on a table that has 6 wine goblets per seat.
in this case, less is more. too cumbersome and uncomfortable getting settled, so be prepared for that. also, don't worry about tabulating the tip, they do that for you..... would i go again? maybe. the steak was delicious, but $200 worth, on a discount night?? i'd have to ruminate.....

disappointed. i have been to grill 225 several times and unfortunately have never had a great experience. the food is ok but certainly not great. the service is sub-par, wait staff is generally unfriendly and not very knowledgeable about the menu, wine, etc.. not what you expect from the all the dining "awards" they market on their web site. i have lived in downtown charleston my entire life. i have to say this is the most overrated restaurant in town. locals already know this. but for anyone visiting, heed the warning... i would not recommend eating here as there are just so many other better options, especially for quality steaks.

rooftop lunch. we went up on the roof for lunch. although it was in the 90's that day, the steady breeze made it so nice. the view is also worth seeing. i only had chips and salsa, but the salsa tasted fresh as if it was homemade (may have been). my boyfriend has a chicken salad sandwich. it was good and the waffle fries were awesome! it was the perfect place to hang out for lunch!

nice atmosphere...bad meal. the tomato and grape bread was amazing to start and the french onion soup was some of the best i have ever had, but i wasn't so lucky with the entree. i ordered the filet with shrimp special for almost $50 as i recall and i just thought it sounded amazing. the shrimp was horrible. they were infused with the typical cheap restaurant iodine crap. i don't care if they were from mexico, they were bad. the steak was decent, but undercooked internally, and charred out the exterior. i have gone to oak many times and i thought i would try to mix it up but boy was i wrong...i will stick with oak from now on. and no, i don't work for oak :)

star of restaurant week. restaurant week (actually one week in september and one week in january) is my favourite time of the year, but it presents a problem in choosing which restaurants to try, and then a further problem in deciding which items to try at a particular restaurant. grill 225 presented a particularly difficult dilemma in that they had an unusually extensive restaurant week offerings - four appetizers, six entrees, and four desserts. with so many options, i felt there was little choice but to dine at grill 225 several times during restaurant week. there are few restaurants in town that are in the same class with grill 225, and there is never any doubt the food and the service will always be of the highest quality. during the eleven days of restaurant week, i had dinner at grill 225 four times and lunch once when the restaurant week specials were not offered. due to the generous portions at grill 225 and the fact that i am not shy in the least about asking for a to-go box, i actually had many more meals than that from grill 225. for the most part, the restaurant week menu featured regular menu items at the discounted 3 for $40 special price. the exceptions were two desserts that do not appear on the regular grill 225 menu - tiramisu and the chocolate mousse bonbon (with which patrons of the pavilion bar on the roof of the hotel may be familiar) - and one entrée the poached salmon which i have never noticed on their menu before. i used to prepare dinners and entertain at home, but where i live now is not really set up for entertainment, so restaurant week made it much more affordable to take several special friends out to dinner at what is probably charleston's finest restaurant. on 12 january, i had dinner with rev. hank avent of st. philip's (formerly of holy apostles in barnwell) and his lovely wife glo and my esteemed friend, the governor. on january 14, i returned for lunch with the governor. on january 16, i had dinner with my charming and handsome young friend chris. on 20 january, i dined with the governor, his boss richard, and richard's beautiful wife christina who regaled our dinner party with her adamant insistence that it is perfectly acceptable to breastfeed children in public. i have no idea of what could have possibly prompted this tirade is neither richard, the governor, nor i have or are likely to have much involvement in emperor tiberius's hobby of breastfeeding a child. on january 22, i concluded restaurant week by returning to grill 225 to dine the governor and our dear friend jackie who was visiting from the hamptons. the food and service at grill 225 are dependably flawless, and i have found it to be the perfect venue for an excellent meal and making guests feel special. the beef and veal are always prime - the very best money can buy - and everything else on the menu is of comparable quality. the atmosphere, presentation of the food, and the service at grill 225 are unmatched in charleston.

this is a candy land for steak lovers.  appetizers done right for the hungry men and delicious nitro cocktails for the women prepare your appetite for the one reason you came -- steak.

steak are top notch, but this place is downright expensive so let me quibble just a bit and have some fun writing the review.

wet aged better?. grill 225  wet ages their beef. on my seventh visit to the restaurant i am still undecided about the wet aging process and its impact on flavor. tonight i discovered that i am certain about one thing: the filets can become overly tenderized. of my five filets consumed here over the years, two were downright soggy and unappetizing (with that dreaded sour/metallic flavor); whereas the other three were superb.

is it the wet aging or some other part of the preparation that has occasionally run amok? i don't know!! but at 56 dollars per cut i no longer wish to experiment.

the ribeye probably lends itself better to wet aging. it seems to help with the chewiness that sometimes occurs with these cuts. my sample tonight was delicious in every way possible with apposite tenderness and pristine flavor. 

maybe i have no clue what i am talking about, but my tastebuds get the final vote --- go with the ribeye.

our friends and the mister, all decided upon beef and i had a beautiful piece of salmon with a delicious dill sauce. vegetables were served family style which caught me a bit off guard.

best steak in the world. the best steak i have ever had, and the service is outstanding. it does cost but its worth it!!