halls chophouse

i rated hall's a 4.0 out of 5.0building reminded me of earlier dining establishment's in the 70's. well maintained though, not run down. hostess was very pleasant. live music playing jazz (well played), and a loud buzz of conversation everywhere. the good: steak had a great flavor, was tender. one of the better steaks i have ever had.  appetizers and sides were excellent. attentive wait staff were all friendly and knowledgeable, from the time i entered, until the moment i left. spicy shrimp with small pepper salad (very good). fried green tomato's (great, and i do not like tomato's!). cream corn (very good). lobster mac and cheese (very good). whiskey bread pudding (very good). the bad: steak was underdone to my preference. we were asked to cut into it and check, but i dislike sending food back as i like mine medium rare, and it has a small window to get it right.  i ordered medium rare and my steak was rare, but i can handle that, just not my preference. i would expect a $59 steak to be cooked as desired, however. interior was cold and loud. conversation was loud and the music, while very well played, was a bit loud for my preference. toward night fall, i got cold. this is a normal problem incharlestonwhere the days are 80+ in october and then fall to 60 at night. the place was packed and perhaps i was under the vent. the ugly: parking! not hall's fault, but you better be willing to walk two blocks to get there from a parking garage, or pay $10 to park in a private lot just around the corner, assuming they have a space.  if the gods of parking are kind, you might find a parallel parking space out front. on my visit, the gods were angry with me.

omg. my wife and i were back incharlestonfor our 25th anniversary. we have been back many times since our honeymoon in 1990. there are dozens of excellent restaurants in charleston. we decided to dine one evening at halls chophouse after reading reviews and talking to others. we were expecting good food and good service. what we got was the quietest table upstairs in the back thanks to telling them about our anniversary when making the reservation. we were greeted at the door with welcome and "happy anniversary". then we met brandon our awesome host/waiter and his co-wait/hostess kassandra. wow. professional knowledgeable staff. available, never intrusive, always as welcoming as having your favorite friends serve you dinner. started with the perfect wine brandon recommended after hearing our preferences. then came amazing stuffed mushrooms to share as an appetizer followed by aged steaks and unbelievably generous sides of creamed spinach and corn. stuffed beyond belief, we asked for the check. it came with a complimentary huge bread pudding just for our anniversary. this is a meal we will remember. it's not even the place we had planned to go back to on saturday for our anniversary! this was just a place we decided to try on the thursday before. unbelievable flavors, perfectly seared aged and succulent steaks, beautiful ambiance. well done!! bravo to all the staff, the chef, staff and especially brandon and kassandra (sure hope we are close to spelling your name correctly) thank y'all for making this a meal to remember!!!!
tim and sarah campbell

charleston restaurants are getting ridiculously expensive. an appetizer, a salad, and an entree, plus a bottle of wine, all split between two people, will run you roughly $100 in downtown charleston, pretty much everywhere. there are, of course, your dive-bar exceptions and a handful of quality places where you can escape for a more reasonable $50 or less ( taco boy, spero, monza ), but for the most part, you can expect to leavecharlestonrestaurants with your stomach full … and your wallet empty.

best food i have ever had. me and a friend were visitingcharlestonand decided to try hall's upon recommendation. as we walked in, the owner greeted and shook our hands, introducing himself. the hostess quickly found us a seat, as we had no reservation. the chicken and duck plates were nothing less than amazing... this has to be the best food i have ever eaten. i would recommend this splendid, upscale, delicious restaurant to anyone!

fabulous filet mignon. my wife and i had the pleasure to visitcharlestonrecently and decided we wanted a steak dinner. we chose halls chophouse for the online reputation and comments posted on the foodie sites. let me say we were not disappointed. i would venture to say this was, without a doubt, the absolute best filet i have experienced since i last dined at the ritz carlton in buckhead, ga. my filet was cooked to perfection, along with my choice of a side of nicely prepared and tasty butter (lima) beans, a daily side special, instead of the routine baked potato. the hall's chop salad was also delicious and nicely done with a touch of bacon and buttermilk dressing. our handler, jordan, was well versed in southern hospitality while at the same time very well traveled and, as it turns out, somewhat of a homie. my wife, a midwesterner, opted for the lighter bar menu's filet steak martini, very nicely presented with delicious mashed potatoes in a tasty peppercorn brandy sauce. no question if you are on king street in the historic downtown area ofcharlestonand desire a steak, you'll do no better than halls, guaranteed by none other than the door greeter himself, billy hall. great place that will see a repeat when we're in town. definitely put this one on your list.

halls chophouse went above and beyond!. great customer service and going beyond the traditional service norms is a rare find and when we do find this kind of service we want to point it out!
i encountered just such an experience last month incharlestonsouth carolina.charlestonhas been popping up on lists such as conde' nast and travel + leisure as best city to visit in the nation. perhaps this story will explain just a little bit about why they rank #1.
my husband and i spent a warm humid day moving furniture in to our son's dorm room on the same day as our 30th anniversary. we wanted to celebrate that evening but we missed the harbor ferry tour and then decided to go out to dinner. now the restaurants incharlestonare amazing and you usually need reservations for the finer restaurants. my husband thought he had taken care of it from his smart phone so we showered and changed and walked down the street to eat at one of the great spots our son in tow as well for a free dinner. unfortunately when we arrived we were told the reservation did not come through and our wait would be about 90 minutes. this is on a monday night! so we decided to take our chances and walk a little further. we saw the hall chop house. we came in and the place was jam packed, it has a 4 diamond rating and our hopes were waning. but then mrs. jeanne hall appeared and we told our little story and she said yes we will find a place for you. we were seated immediately at a high top table. special chairs were brought for more comfortable seating. jeanne introduced her son and we spoke for 15 minutes sharing and learning about each other. we suddenly felt like part of a group of friends. she order complimentary champagne for us and we settled in to look at the menu. which had great choice of offerings, chops, steaks, seafood, pasta even a prime cut burger. jackson had the shrimp and grits of which he has become a connoisseur since moving here to south carolina. i ordered scallops and risotto and john had the prime rib with a beet salad. their wine list is extensive and our waitress heather was so attentive and helpful. we all enjoyed our selections and tried a bite of each other's plates. excellent! there was live music and i am told that is a nightly occurrence. people kept coming in by droves and when we stood up to leave another group at the bar eagerly took our spot. there were hugs and the use of our first names at the front door as we said our goodbyes. they made our 30th anniversary and visit tocharlestonmemorable. yet we still received another surprise in the mail a few days later when a hand written thank you not came from our waitress heather. i was so overwhelmed by the service, genuine relationship and amazing food. i just had to write about it and share how opening your heart creates customers and loyal friends. thank you so much hall staff and family.

i've eaten at many places incharlestonand this place by far is the best place i've eaten at. i've never been to a place that had such polite wait staff and the owner treated us like he knew us and we were his only customer. what an awesome experience.

halls is a great option if you’re incharlestonand looking for a good steak, but they also do some classic southern dishes quite well – so make sure you look through the whole menu, and don’t skip straight to the steak page!

most amazing meal ever. the service decor and food was the best! the owners are very hands on. the chef even stopped by to make suggestions. the pepper jack creamed corn is unbelievable!!! the steak my husband said was best ever and we travel and eat out a lot!!
don't leavecharlestonwithout eating here!!!!

lovely evening. we showed up without a reservation and the host and waitstaff were very accommodating. our sever was excellent, the filet and the tuna were perfect! we come to thecharlestonarea once a year and we've added this to the list of places we have to visit when we're here.

for the clueless. i don't want to immediately come across as a snob, but i know a thing or two about food as a chef of 15 years. i am in the business world now and have enjoyed fine dining across the country. halls is one of the most shining examples of social hob-nobbery with nothing to support the hype that i have ever seen. apparently the old and new money incharlestonloves to make themselves seen, in an atmosphere so pretentious and overbearing that one wants to vomit before the appetizer has arrived. the appetizer, by the way was poorly executed. the beet salad was flavorless and hacked up, not finely diced. the sauce was a cold and grainy, not to mention again flavorless, a bree, melted with cream. it was terrible. the steak was ok but was less than enjoyable when accompanied by the halls' over-reaching and assuming behavior. i assume that because i present well and was wearing a rolex, they thought i was a target. in my mid thirties, i don't like to be called "baby" a dozen times and hugged more than three. are we in a popularity contest or out to dinner? all in all, if you don't know good food and want to over-pay for average food, knock yourself out. otherwise, steer clear. the halls are a deplorable family from what i could surmise, serving up the emperor's new clothes to a bunch of clueless want-to-be's.

kindest service anywhere. hall's is a good steakhouse, but the servers and owners really make it worth the visit. my wife and i, tourists incharlestonat the time, came to hall's before a spoleto concert. our sever made sure our food came out of the kitchen in a timely fashion, yet in no way did the dining experience feel rushed. one of the owners paid a visit to our table to make sure we were happy and completely taken care of. after dinner, we got about 3 steps out the door when the other owner hurried after us to wish us a wonderful evening. he even offered to help us find other attractions and restaurants for the rest of our visit to charleston.

halls chophouse is absolutely acharlestontreasure. one that you need to savor. to relish. to experience. to make time for in your busy schedule. but, make a reservation! they seat 160 and they were packed from the time we arrived

delectable, rich and unforgettable. so many times when i sit down to read a restaurant review or a blog post featuring a high-end eatery the same old tired words are used to describe not only the food served, but also the hospitality and level of service provided by the restaurant staff. and quite honestly, sometimes you read those pieces and you think, "uh huh, yeah, umm, right." then you show up at this highly acclaimed dining room with wait staffs decked out in white coats and gold rimmed dinner plates adorning an impeccably appointed table, and your dining experience begins with a half-hearted superficial greeting from a host or hostess who seems to be very tired of greeting another fat guy in a jacket and tie. often after reading or hearing about the house specialties and all of the awards and accolades bestowed upon the chef the actual experience is a bit disappointing, not a bad experience, but maybe just not a "wow" experience either. perhaps this is due in part to your expectations, your anticipation of something really, really special.



i have been hearing a lot of good things about halls chophouse, located on king street in historic charleston. a couple of the blogs that i follow have provided glaring reviews on halls. a sample of some of the terms and phrases used to describe halls: "family", "relationship", "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen", "aged steaks, like a fine cabernet", " cooked to a perfect mid-rare, this is a bright beautiful steak", "seasoning was spot on", "buttery", and the piece de resistance of quotes, "it is so good, i get emotional."
so, as you can see, a lot to live up to, no? the bar has been raised if this dining experience is going to live up to the reviews; this place has got to make me say "wow."

i was expecting a warm reception, what we received was so much more than that, we were met and greeted at the front door with firm handshakes and a sincere welcome, by not one, but two members of the hall family. immediately, billy hall offered to take our coats and told us to feel free to visit the bar and that our table was ready for us whenever we were ready to be seated. allow me to set the stage for you, we are in historic downtowncharlestonon a saturday night dining in one of the most popular restaurants in town, they are jam packed with diners and not only have we been properly greeted at the front door by two people whose last name matches the name on the sign, but they have made us feel like they are on our schedule and we are guests within the hall household, not their family business. for crying out loud, they hung our coats in the hall closet.


and the hospitality didn't end there either. after meeting our friends with whom we were dining at the bar and enjoying a glass of wine and some conversation we moved on to our table. when billy hall spotted us beginning to make the move to our dining room table, he met us half way there and insisted on carrying the ladies wine glasses to the table for them. can you say impressive attention to detail?

i am a huge beef lover and i am a tough critic when it comes to steak. i had read an article about halls chophouse serving allen brothers steaks. allen brothers has been around chicago since the late 1800's and anybody who knows anything about the gourmet steak industry knows that allen brothers is second to none as a source for the finest, most tender and tasty usda prime beef. i also knew that my server at halls chophouse would present to us a steak plate prior to taking our order so that we could see first-hand, up close and personal the quality steaks that we would be enjoying this evening. what i didn't expect was that this wasn't just a ritual that the waitress was trained to perform for each table of diners, she was actually purpose-driven in her presentation. i engaged her in discussion about the bone-in filet mignon and i could tell that she wasn't just reciting the points provided to her by the chef staff, she knew what she was serving and she knew what was good.
so, after experiencing halls chophouse for myself, how do i describe the dining experience? here are some words that i can use to describe it: "family", "relationship", "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen", "aged steaks like a fine cabernet", "cooked to a perfect mid-rare this is a beautiful steak, the seasoning is spot on", "buttery", and "it is so good, i get emotional." ok, honest, no i didn't cry over the experience, but all of those other comments, absolutely.

as billy hall retrieved our coats from the "hall closet" he walked us to the front door, held the door open for us and wished us a good evening. once again, it was as if we had spent the evening in the hall family home, not their family business. i mean what restaurant owner walks their patrons to the front door and bids them farewell by saying, "stay in touch."?

hall’s chophouse has been one of our downtowncharlestonfaves ever since it opened.