The Waterfront Restaurant

Good seafood reasonable atmosphere. They had a soloist playing guitar on the day we visited. The hot wings were large and the other portions were good.

I’ve been going to Edisto Island in August for the last five summers and one of our traditions is that I take my nieces out to lunch at least once.
Their favorite place for lunch is The Waterfront. The original location of The Waterfront was on Big Bay Creek (hence the name) and when they moved the restaurant a number of years ago they kept the name, but it isn’t on the water any more.
My nieces enjoy any salad bar with lots of green olives, and any place that has good grilled cheese sandwiches.
On our recent trip I had an Oyster Po’ Boy sandwich, and another time I had the Low Country BLT (with green tomatoes). They were both very good. Last year I had the crab cake sandwich which was okay but I found it to be a little soggy. Their dinner crab cakes I liked better.
I’ve also had the Pimiento Burger, which I enjoyed.
The Waterfront has a reasonable selection of local beer, and my favorites were the Charleston Lager and Palmetto Amber, both from the Palmetto Brewery. The sweet potato fries make a perfect accompaniment to Charleston Lager.
The owner’s family runs Flower’s Seafood Company, and his wife’s family owns King’s Farm Market, both on Hwy 174 north of town and both places we ALWAYS shop at during the week.

Excellent food and service. I had fried shrimp and flounder. They where so fresh. I will be back next time that I am in town!

My family and I just came back from a vacation on Edisto beach. We decided to eat out one night and ended up at The Waterfront. We weren’t sorry we did.
The portions are huge, enough for two people to split. The food is great. The people in my group who had the grits say it was amazing. I had a combination platter with grilled shrimp and a crab cake. The crab cake was a little dry and clearly not made from lump crab meat. The shrimp were cooked well and it came with a huge portion of cole slaw, green beans, and another side. The cole slaw was some of the best I’ve ever had, a little sweet and peppery. Oh, and the hushpuppies were to die for!
We went back for a second visit with a bigger group on Friday. Not super busy, considering it was 6pm on a Friday night. We had a group of 10 and were seated right away. Everyone was very happy with their meals once again. The waiter was the same gentlemen from the first night we went, very polite and personable. Everything went very smoothly until it was time to pay the bill. The waiter didn’t tell everyone that an 18% gratuity was already added to the bills we received. It was also very small on the actual bill. So my mom paid in cash, leaving an additional 20% without knowing the tip was included already. The waiter didn’t say a word about it, I guess assuming she meant to leave nearly 40% tip. I paid with a credit card, as did the rest of my group. We noticed it before it was too late. But it left a sour note at the end of the meal for my mom, who felt ripped off.

Had dinner here one night with the family while we were staying out at Edisto Beach. The food is OK. I had their pasta that’s advertised as a restaurant specialty on their menu. I was hungry, so I ate it all up, but it tasted about the same as Ragu primavera sauce and some frozen shrimp heated up and poured over some pasta. It’s a little pricey too, for the quality of food. And I guess since we had 5 adults and one child in our party, they added 20% to the check for a tip. The waitress (who was very friendly) would have gotten that from us anyway, but I’m not a fan of places where they automatically add the tip like that.

The food taste like plastic. I would not recommend this place. The server was really good but I really wanted some good seafood.

Nice atmosphere. Calamari is nice and lightly breaded, Marinara sauce is light. Servers were accommodating. The dinner was overall good. I would return. A good nite to remember is to go early, you have quick service and parking is a breeze.

Food was good but not excellent. Disappointed by the lack of service from our waitress. The fried oysters and hush puppies were the best choices in our triple combos.

Ok… so I am always a bit suspicious of «seafood joints» even at the coast. But, this was excellent! Thursday after Memorial Day, party of 7 seated immediately… service was awesome! Thanks Belle! Go Tigers! We ordered hugely… Fried green tomatoes were fabulous and a first for our friend from New England. Pimento cheese was a good appetizer as well. The various seafood combos were excellent… Fried flounder, oysters and shrimp were so very good. The broiled scallops were not to my liking, but others liked them. Shrimp and grits were classic and delicious! Shrimp Alfredo was great as well. Can the best fried oyster ever v. Not such tasty scallops raise this from a 4 star to a 5 star? YES!

Listen, if you’re looking for fine dining on Edisto Island you might be on the wrong island. If you’re looking for an old school southern fried food seafood expedition with some newer decorations on the walls this might be just the place.
Let’s face it, you’re probably only going out to eat when you’re on Edisto after you’ve cooked four or five meals by yourself. You’re not looking for a restaurant that wows you with fine linen tablecloths and house made sorfito sauce. No, you’re looking for the biggest most succulent fried seafood items you can possibly shove into your mouth. And that is a worthy cause my friend.
Enter The Waterfront.
Be enchanted by the miniature lighthouse out front. Be wowed by the longest wheel chair accessible ramp you ever seen outside of a major metropolitan city. Take solace in the safety that the cinderblock walls provide for you. Reminisce about high school assemblies with the wonderful stackable chairs in the non booth sections. And lastly gaze at the, not one but two, cascading water elements that enhance this room’s ambiance like a crown of jewels.
If you’ve ever been to a seafood restaurant in the south you’re familiar with this place’s menu. There are a variety of different ways to get fresh and delicious seafood into your face whether it be in the form of pasta, po boys, or everyone’s favorite breaded and deep fried!
We ordered a variety of different items from the menu. I stuck with the classic seafood platter with the fried oysters, fried shrimp, and broiled scallops. My wife went with the shrimp and grits. Our entrées were served extremely quickly, like impressively fast. We had salads to start with and as soon as we were done the entrées arrived at the table.
I want to take a moment here to commend our fantastic server Belle. She was seriously a delight. Truly just the sweetest thing and so happy to be serving my wonderful family. We were all quite touched.
My wife’s shrimp and grits was huge. Seriously. Wow! That’s a lot of food. She shared it around the table and it didn’t look like anyone even made a dent.
My seafood platter was quite pleasant as well. The veggie today was green beans with a delightful Asian ginger sort of glaze on them. The real star of the show though was the fried oysters. Giant savory soft yet crispy amazing nuggets of seafood bliss. I honestly looked on my plate and wish that I had gotten nothing but fried oysters. The broiled scallops were an incredible disappointment. Bitter, and not flavorful. However the awesomeness of the oysters definitely made up for their shortcomings.
In all truth this meal was a four-​star experience for me. However Belle’s service earned an extra star. Towards the end of the meal I asked for the craziest favor I’ve asked any server at any time. 24 sheets of plain white printer paper. Belle didn’t even blink.
Within a minute she was back with my request. She informed me that the manager would need $ 2.00 for the paper. That was a bit of a shock, but I was in great need of 24 sheets of plain white paper so I was willing to ignore the fact that the running cost for 500 sheets of 16 lb paper is about 10 bucks. I was fine with the roughly 400% markup. A man has to do what a man has to do when he really needs 24 sheets of white printer paper.
I gladly handed over the cash. But not more than two minutes later Belle returned with my money, informing me that the manager realized how silly the whole situation was. Silly maybe, dire yes. I’m glad the manager had a change of heart. I would have paid $ 3.00. I’m glad I didn’t though. I’m glad Belle was our server, and I look forward to diving in to a plate of The Waterfront’s fried oysters on my next trip to Edisto.

The food was just ok. Slow service. Pricey bill at the end. Not worth the price of the menu.

The complaints about service seem to have improved the waitstaff but not the food. This was our first stop for seafood and we left let-​down except for one of the four.
The good: My wife ordered Calamari and she was very pleased as they cooked it properly and had more than enough for a meal. The salad that comes with meal is pretty nice size with cucumbers and tomatoes. They bring the dressing on they side which helps the customer distribute how much they want or need.
The rest: My in laws both ordered the Low Country Stir Fry and were less than impressed. Now I wouldn’t have ordered stir fry from a seafood joint but it had shrimp in the stir fry. Neither one really liked their meal. The hushpuppies were nothing great either. They had bits of corn in them.
The Bad: My Tuna was cooked to medium or so it seemed on first bite. Then I realized that one side was done about perfect but the flip was not executed very well as it barely touched the pan. The Tuna steak was also very fatty, stringy, and just low quality meat for $ 19. I did not enjoy my steak at all. I bought a tuna steak in Ohio that 3 times better than this and cheaper. The ginger rub and teriyaki glaze didn’t work for me either. I should of complained but I was trying be optimistic and hoping that the next few bites would get better. Then i felt like I ate too much to send it back. I like my tuna pan seared to be honest but this one wasn’t even hot enough. Either that or they let my tuna sit too long in the window.
If I am spending close to $ 20 for a plate then I expect quality with my food. I felt like this place did not own up to their price point. If the meals were around $ 12-​$ 15 then they would go up a star. They have a nice idea with the All you can eat ($ 18.99) which I think I should of tried.

The waterfront was open on a Monday for lunch, which was great. Unfortunately, the food was not that delicious. I had the salad bar with grilled shrimp as an add on. The shrimp was almost $ 5 and included 7 shrimp, which was quite small. The salad bar was fine and had a lot of different topping options. My fiancé had the crab cake sandwich which he did not enjoy at all. We will not be coming back here during this or any stay on Edisto island.