jestine's kitchen

over rated. saw jestine's listed on msn as one of the best places in the usa to get fried chicken. i made a point of going there while on my vacation. three of us went for lunch and were seated rather quickly and didn't have to wait to order. the wait for our food though was, at 25 minutes, longer than i thought it should be.
when the food finally arrived, i have to say i wasn't that impressed with the fired chicken. it was, in my opinion, not even above average. i've had better friedchickenthat cost a lot less at more than a few places.
just my opinion.

excellent! friedchickenwas better than my mom's - and that's saying a lot because my mom makes *the best* fried chicken. try the coca-cola cake too. it's delish!

we ate here while taking a mid-day tour through the markets.  it was recommended on roadfood.com and several other places, and my wife and i can say that the recommendations are spot on.

we started out with their complementary cucumber pickles and fried green tomatoes.  there were 4 slices on the plate, along with some sweet pepper relish.  i didn't think it had a strong enough flavor to add anything to the meal, but my wife enjoyed it.

i ordered 2 pieces of dark friedchickenwith butter beans and coleslaw for my meal.  she ordered fried catfish with deep fried corn on the cob and fried okra for her meal.   we shared a taste of everything.  the friedchickenwas lightly battered.  we both thought that it could have used a heavier seasoning, but it was piping hot and otherwise delicious.  the fried catfish was lightly battered and also tasted good.  their coleslaw is dressed with a vinegar based dressing that was one of the better ones i have eaten.  the deep fried corn on the cob was a disappointment.  apparently, the end result of deep frying corn on the cob is the same as for roasting it on the grill.  it is easier to eat the the kernels, but it still needs butter, salt, and pepper.  after adding these condiments, it was a delicious piece of corn.  the butter beans were not hopelessly mushy, which is the way that i like them.

the service was quick and efficient.  we arrived at 11:45 am for lunch on a thursday and we are glad that we arrived when we did.  when we left about an hour later, the dining room had filled up.

i was very disappointed in the food and the service. we had friedchickenand meatloaf, while they were both okay the sides were far from it. the only good thing was the coca-cola cake (next time we'll just do dessert). our charge (including tax and tip) was $60 which was the most expensive meal during our whole week in charleston, hilton head, and savannah; and we ate at several nice restaurants during this trip.

i had very high expectations going into here due to the impressive reviews on sites so i was a bit disappointed to find their friedchickenaverage at best. there was a very long line to get in so i assumed it must be great but that only added to the hype which it failed to meet. thechickenwas lightly breaded and did not stand out as anything spectacular, the sides were okay, just average sides you would find at a dive barbecue joint. hopefully if i go back it will be better.

great southern food. our first dinner in sc and we were not disappointed. friedchickenand fried fish with great collards and grits and over the top desserts... what else can i say!

pros: quality sides, certain main dishes, history, generous portions (value)
cons: avg service, inconsistent (certain main dishes), waiting (potentially)

so we decided to hit this little place up on a whim, as we saw the line of people waiting for a place that wasn't even open. for starters, many people complain about waiting and the big line, but it wasn't an issue at 11:00am on a saturday.
we ordered some sweet tea, which had good flavor and wasn't too sweet, aka good. we also got an order of corn bread. it had good texture, was slightly dry, but good overall. the honey and butter combo they serve with it was welcome.
for our actual lunch, we decided to try the pecan friedchickenbreast, with fried corn on the cob and mashed potatoes.
first off, thechickenwas amazing. super moist, tender white meat, with a great outer crusting that had some sweet flavor infused. the cream that came with it wasn't the best, however (gravy aka). the mashed potatoes were also pretty good; good texture, and the skin is always welcome. gravy was a standard brown.
the corn was perfectly seasoned, but we felt the frying kind of masked the flavor. still good though.
our friends dishes weren't anything special, though.
one got the crab cake, the other fried oyster po-boy.
the crab cake didn't really have any flavor and tasted kind of heated up from the freezer.
the sandwich, while the oysters were good, had too much bread and that took away from the overall flavor. and the fries were overly greasy, with no flavor.
the service was okay, but just average really.
overall, this was a cool place with some good history, but certain dishes seemed to outweigh others!

the friedchickenis amazing, the best i have had...ever. clearly everything is prepared daily, from entrees to sides. highly recommend this restaurant, and well worth the wait.

the best meal we had in charleston. jestine's kitchen was great. the atmosphere, service and food were excellent. the fried green tomatoes were delicious with a soft crispy breading and were not soggy (yay!). the pepper relish was a perfect complement to the tomatoes. the friedchickenwas a huge portion with a crispy coating and the meatloaf, green beans, rutabagas and mac and cheese were all equally delicious. jestine's also has great iced tea--the way iced tea should be as it was clear, not cloudy, and had a strong "tea" taste. perfect! the coconut cream pie was sweet and creamy, the toasted coconut on top was fabulous and the crust was soft and buttery. this meal really made us very happy.

soooooo delicious!!!. the best friedchickeni have had in years!!! everything we ate/tried was delicious! have been talking about and recommending jestines kitchen ever since we've eaten there.

i ate at jestine's yesterday. i didn't like my food at all. i orderedchickenand rice soup which was so salty i couldn't eat it. i love salt but it was ever so salty i sent it back . i hate to do that but honestly why eat something u really dont' like. i also hadchickenwhich was not nearly as good as my dad's homecooked chicken. the french fries were very salty as well. i would not eat there again. instead of the soup i ended up with collard greens.

so-so. as you might guess, i'm a friedchickenfanatic and because of that jestine's has been on my wishlist for quite a while. you can't be a fan of southern cuisine and not heard about this place - it's on almost every 10 best list i've ever seen and maybe that's why i thought it was just so-so. maybe my expectations were just too high. while thechickenwas moist, the crust was almost burnt and that was the flavor that it imparted as well. the mashed potatoes were good, but consisted of half peel/half potato. wifey enjoyed her greens. the cornbread wasn't too sweet, but was dry and served cold. the pecan pie and the coca-cola cake aren't really worthy of mention. judge for yourself, but i think that a onetime giant is just resting on it's reputation.

great food at a great price. charleston is not cheap. it is hard to find great food at a fair price. i highly recommend this place. the usual wait is a clue. it is well worth it. the friedchickenis the best in the south.

good southern food. good reasonably priced fare. pork chops were amazing, perfectly cooked with great flavor. my wife had the meatloaf which had good texture but was a little on the bland side. sides were all excellent. highly recommend the coca-cola cake, very rich and delicious. good service, didn't wait too long at all on a friday night in august. highly recommended overall but would skip the meatloaf and go for thechickenor pork chop.

embarrassing to call this soul food. the family and i went to jestine after being told it was not good. how true!!!! this place has been highly over rated but i think it's due to its appearance on several tv shows and it now must have new owners because the original owner would be embarrassed.

i love to cook and have made much better tasting, flavorfulchickenthan what was delivered to me today. the plus here was it was hot.

the fried green tomatoes lacked seasoning. they were retrieved straight from the garden, sliced, dipped in cornmeal, and fried. that's about it.

the okra gumbo was just okra mixed and cooked with canned diced tomatoes. lima beans were good, not excellent.

lastly, dessert - coca cola cake was very delicious.

warning: do not waste your money on this place. trust me, your own soul food cooking is much better.