jestine's kitchen

tourist trap. please do yourself a favor and think twice before eating here. my wife and i are from sc and grew up eating traditional southern/soul food. jestine's however is not the place to get it. for an outsider, i can see how one can be fooled. the menu sounds great but the food was horrible. not much flavor, temp on my meat was way off, and the service was pathetic. there are many "authentic" southern restaurants downtown; jestine's however is not one of them.

food blah, bakery amazing!. we visited this place because of the reviews. i was not expecting a great, great meal but i felt the food was bland. the iced tea, corn fritters, and the pineapple bread pudding was amazing; our entrees (fried catfish and steamed shrimp) not so much.

soul nirvana. so many trips to charleston and i could kick myself for not trying jestine's before now. everything we had was simply delicious. we ate there two days in a row! one dining companion declared to have the best shrimp creole ever! i had the pork chop which was perfectly breaded and juicy. another had meatloaf and another had crab cakes. all were wonderfully prepared and the southern style vegetables were divine. do not miss this restaurant and do not miss jestine's bakery to get the best red velvet cupcake for the road. the wait staff was awesome. they allowed us to take our time and answered every question with a smile!

jestine's kitchen a tourist trap. heard raves about their shrimp and grits, but they only serve it one day out of the week (?). the place was packed with tourists, and the wait staff was rude. the portions are small, overpriced, and quality was average.

i would never go back.

if you are looking for good southern cooking, look no farther. the feel is very homely, and the smell of fresh home cooking is instantaneous. the staff is very hospitable, and the food is delicious. a must for everyone, young and old.

southern "heaven"

home cookin'. jestine's proved to be just what we had expected - good home cooking just like granny's. i loved the pickles, probably mostly due to the trip down memory lane. the fried chicken plate comes with 3 huge pieces of chicken, which is a breast, thigh and leg. the mashed potatoes are country style. the mac & cheese is great, too. i've had better fried green tomatoes, but they were still good. service was friendly and there was no wait. oh, coca-cola cake is to die for - can't forget that!

great!!!. you just cannot go wrong w/ this place, it is a local and tourist favorite....good-ole southern cooking!!! plan on waiting in a long line, but it is well worth the wait.

really good food, down home southern style cooking. another must stop at while in charleston.

don't waste your $10.. i ordered the shrimp po boy. the bun was black it was so burnt. i could not believe that the cook would send it out as acceptable nor could i believe that the waitress seeing the bun uneaten on my plate completely ignored the situation. the sandwich was full of lettuce and tomato but only 4 shrimp. i did not feel comfortable sending the sandwich back since the waitress not very friendly.

upon hearing that we’d moved to charleston, an old colleague of mine commented that she loved the area and that she and her husband have come very close to moving here. she also could not say enough about jestine’s kitchen on meeting street, so we wanted

the food and staff is great! i had salmon croquets served over grits with macaroni and cheese with black eye peas. good stuff. i highly recommend this place!

good food and great service. the key is to go at the right time. if you go and have to wait it makes the food less appealing, you see. i had a wonderful waitress named sarah and a great salmon dish. the food was cooked well and flavorful and the service was cute with a smile. definitely recommended! remember, go at an off time!

i see what the fuss is. (the fuss is all hype).. this is one of those "vacation restaurants." people want to like things on vacation, for obvious reasons. and they do. they have the blinders on so to speak. i am on vacation too but i just want to kind of set the record straight.

1) no reservations, and they don't take names at the door. they make you stand in line around the corner. which is ok.. but it perpetuates the notion that this place is good (see they know what they are doing here...).

2) they have open tables, left uncleared-off that the line can see through the windows. again, ok but -- hire more people. we would rather wait inside at a table than stand in the line outside.

3) the famous fried chicken. yes, there is more than you can (should) eat. mine was terribly over cooked, and the meat itself was flavorless.

4) our server. the guy was personality-less, and didn't even mumble, he did less -barely spoke to us at all. visited our table 4 times at the most (including to get our drink orders and then take our order). we wanted to eat some of the famous coca cola cake, hoping to end on something that wasn't flavorless, and tasted good, but we were afraid based on our experience to this point that it would take too long.

5) wife got the friday (catholic) special (flounder) and it too was flavorless. all it tasted was fried. and there were bones in it.

6) they provide free homemade pickles. ok thanks. now pay for cornbread. wait what? a "true southern" restaurant that makes you pay for cornbread?

anyway. don't assume you are going to like this place and then give it a good review because you think you should. go somewhere new (no i don't have suggestions, i don't own any of these places).

a quiet masterpiece of low country culinary excellence. having only happened upon jestine's while wandering the historic streets of old charleston it was a lucky find! charming and quaint the restaurant has that old south grace and warmth that welcomes you in and serves up dilectible southern classics of equal portion as tastes excellence. of note the meatloaf was heavenly and the home made coca-cola cake was something out of this world. highly recommended!