Weekend in the Low Country

buffetbuster


Friday June 20

My first stop after I landed late Friday night in Charleston, SC, was Diana's.

At least it used to be called Diana's. As is noted in the updated review by Michael Stern, it is now called Tropical Toast at Diana's.

What an unwieldy name! The theme here is tropical and the interior is kind of Jimmy Buffett-ish. This sign made me think I was at Hodad's in San Diego.


I started off with an appetizer of the Tropical Toast. If they think this dish is so wonderful that they decided to incorporate it into the name, I think that is a "must try".

Sorry for the lousy photo. This is basically cut up pieces of french toast along with some whipped cream on a plate. The dish itself was just fine, but maybe I was expecting more. One nice thing is that if you buy a dinner, the Tropical Toast is free.

For my entree, I went for the coconut shrimp.

As you can see, there is just some shredded pieces of coconut laying on top of the shrimp. It is also supposed to come with a pineapple glaze, which wasn't applied to the shrimp. I asked my waitress, so she went back to ask. The chef had forgot about the pineapple glaze, so she brought some pineapple sauce for me to dip the shrimp in. Not the same, but no big deal.

Lots of interesting side choices here and I settled on the red rice, which was just okay and the macaroni and cheese.

This was easily the best item I had here. This was some supremely soulful mac & cheese!

I was sitting next to the impressive looking dessert case,

so I carefully studied my options. Since it was getting very late, I got a piece of the buttercream chocolate to take back to my hotel.

I'm afraid it didn't taste any better than it looked. Another disappointment. I really have to give this place a very mixed review. They did seem to be having a bad night, but the mac & cheese was wonderful. I wouldn't mind checking out some of the other sides on a return visit.

I may be a little kinder to this place because of the service. My waitress, a UVA student from Franklin, TN, was a real sweetheart. When she told me how much she loved Pancake Pantry in Nashville, well, I was smitten! I love when a woman talks pancakes!

http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Writeup.aspx?ReviewID=1414&RefID=1414

I checked into my hotel just across the bridge in Mt. Pleasant.

Much more to come.....