Drawing Room

We came here for dinner on a recent trip to Charleston. It’s easy to find and close to the historic district. The location itself is a trip because it’s in an older building that’s been converted into a hotel, a restaurant, and a coffee shop. As disjointed as that sounds they actually manage to blend everything well nicely. Couldn’t give it 5 stars because we actually enjoyed the appetizers more than the main courses. They have an heirloom beet salad that delicious and beautifully presented. 5 stars for sure. The ceviche is probably 4 stars. The lamb was tender and tasty enough but nothing really too memorable. Scallops were good as well and probably in the 4 star range. All in all a good place to visit.

I came to the drawing room because I had heard great things about the food, but I’ll be returning for the dessert! The food was all amazing and very well presented and thought through. Dessert is always my favorite part of the meal so I had high expectations and I was blown away. The presentation was flawless, and the flavors were complex and complement each other so well. I’ll be dreaming of those desserts. Also — service staff was amazing! I can’t say enough about this place. Go there, now.

Probably not fair to give one star since after a few minute conversation with the door troll my wife walked out despite the long drive downtown. despite reservation way in advance and reconfirmation, the door troll wanted my wife and I to eat in the hallway. Considering our tab should end up over 200 and a 20% tip on total including tax, we felt we really did not want to eat in the hall way. So a 50.00 bill to a hostess at a close by restaurant and a very happy waiter in the end we managed to have a great Christmas Dinner. My wife pointed out the other reason she would not want to eat in a hallway was since the change from the Library the Drawing Room reminded her of nothing more that the free breakfast area of any Holiday Inn. So if you must eat here, check in advance where you will be seated or have a Franklin in your pocket just in case.

Had a very nice dinner experience here. Service was great, loved the atmosphere. Cocktails and cuisine were wonderful. Talented musicians playing live jazz. We will be back!

Awesome. Service, ambience, cuisine are world class. Contemporary American extraordinaire. Very artsy interior, an amazing guitarist playing background music added a really classy aspect to the experience. In our mountain environment of Asheville, we have wonderful but casual restaurants. It was nice to have waiters and waitresses dressed a little more formally. We will definitely be returning hopefully with friends and family.

Went here on a Saturday night. We went at 7 before it got really busy. The restaurant is inside the Vendue hotel. The ambience is «old style» this is an old library from 1870 that was converted into a restaurant. The food is «french inspired». Very attentive staff.
We had the beet salad and calamari/​crab salad for starters. For the main course we had spicy lamb and scallops.
The beet salad comes is very tasty and the calamari is awesome. The lamb was falling apart and was so tender. The scallops were well prepared and very tasty. Really great food.
The desert menu is a joke. Too few and too simple dishes. We went elsewhere. The service was a bit overwhelmed but otherwise really great with good explanation about dishes, …
Very much liked the ambiance. With a real desert menu this would have been a straight 5 star.

The venison was the best I’ve ever had. Great red wine selection and quality. Desserts were awesome as well.
Ambience was on point– classy without trying too hard. Beautiful space that mixes historic, classic, and modern just right. They had a live classical guitar player on a Saturday night and he was great.
Some of the best service I’ve had anywhere. Really friendly and knowledgeable but without an air. Perfect timing with everything but not being intrusive at the same time. They treat you well.
They were very accommodating with our toddler, so it was nice to enjoy a dinner there without any weird vibe from staff or patrons as long as your kid is behaving. I’ve noticed that generally in Charleston– seems much more kid-​friendly than dining in some other cities.
The Drawing Room really nailed it on all points. I’m super impressed and I can’t recommend this place enough. My hats off to all the staff there and please keep the venison on the menu!

Went to dinner here for my bachelorette party and felt like the staff went out of their way to make it amazing! The food was incredible and the staff couldn’t be more nice. Definitely a fantastic choice!

Pretty good food selection and nice atmosphere. Enjoy a great dinner and then head to the rooftop for a cocktail with a view. The hubby had a burger, and we split some oysters. They were both great! Plus, they have a $ 15 corking fee. Great place!

My fiancée and I celebrated our engagement with The Drawing Room and the experience was wonderful, and served to make the visit to South Carolina even more special. The staff was very welcoming, and accommodating to the event, providing candles, complimentary sparking wine, and a few delicious samples of the chef’s own creations — which we both loved. On top of the pleasant service, the main courses were just as delicious as the samples, and presented as artistically on our plates as the artwork on the walls.
We will be sure to return when we celebrate our engagement in SC this time next year. Thank you to the staff for making the night memorable and keeping our spirits high. Definitely recommend this place for any event!

So, second time here since the restaurant was changed from The Library. We arrived later in the evening both times, around 9:30pm. Love the new décor but that’s about it.
Both times service was slow. First time we were the solo table dining in the restaurant. Second time there were more patrons but those seated way after us were finished way before us.
Ordered a butter lettuce salad and garlic smashed potatoes for the table & boyfriend ordered grouper. My salad arrived but his entrée did not. Salad was touted to have a poached egg but it was deep fried and arrived more like hard boiled. Asked for a new one and the color was lighter on the outside of this one but ended up still overlooked and inedible. Had the salad returned and they brought a crudité plate instead, which I politely refused.
Slooowwww service. Food quality certainly isn’t the same as before. Only plus is Tuesday is half priced wine. Kind of disappointing.

Service: amazing. Food: artfully presented, well thought-​out flavors, and absolutely perfect. This place should be considered in the upper echelon of fine dining restaurants in Charleston. We stayed at The Vendue and received a $ 25 gift certificate just for our stay (to their restaurant, The Drawing Room). We were planning to swing by the bar for simple drinks before heading out to explore other restaurants. This idea quickly changed as we read through the menu and were so warmly welcomed by our bartender. Everything that came out of the kitchen is a work of art. One of our favorite dishes is the beet dish appetizer (totally forgot what it is actually called, but must be had). Such a great place, and we look forward to making it one of our staple-​places to go.

My husband and I were totally blown away by this restaurant! We were stopping in charleston for one night while on our way to beach. Upon checking into the hotel the concierge suggested we try The Drawing Room for dinner. We are so happy that we did because we experienced the best dinner of our lives thus far. It’s been a month since we have returned from our vacation and I still find myself thinking of the amazing food we encountered that night. It really was food art. Every dish was beautifully presented and completely unique. You can really tell that every dish that comes out of that kitchen is made with so much love and care! Thank you to all BOH and FOH staff for making such memorable experience for us! We are already planning another trip to Charleston just so we can dine in your restaurant again! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Cozy intimate lobby/​dining room was the setting for this memorable meal. Started with the Trio of HudsonValley Foie Gras. Three great preparations of this classic with a nice counterpoint – the brandied fruit chutney.
Ordered the Catch of the Day –tender seafood «sausage», lobster and baby vegetables with a heavenly broth poured on top.
Wait staff lovingly described each dish. Even the guy pouring water loves his job (he’s a Culinary Institute of America grad).
Only minus was wearing my coat during the meal because guests coming into the hotel would leave the nearby door open. Sometimes an annoyance can be overlooked when the food’s THAT good (hence the 5 star rating) but I would respectfully ask management to consider adding a heat lamp or two in the winter.

Just returned from a truly wonderful dining experience at the Drawing Room. They did a fantastic job with the renovation as now its a beautiful and elegant space. The walls have great art that makes it fun to walk around and you can even buy what you like. Though a bit noisy, we were easily able to talk at a table for 4 without repeating or yelling (a plus). We were there for restaurant week and the food was beautifully prepared and the service by our waiter Ryan was amazing. He described every dish and wine in great detail and was clearly a wealth of knowledge. I was also impressed by the hostess Lindsey who contacted me by text ahead of time to confirm and was friendly (with a great smile) on arrival and bringing us to the table.
The restaurant week menu was $ 40 and the wine pairing flight was only $ 25 for full glasses of wine with appetizer, entrée and dessert. The latter were esp delicious port, muscat, and riesling. We had a great warm grain appetizer that included a poached egg and was a play on carbonara. The buffalo short rib entrée wrapped in bacon was so good that I would return to have it again. The dish entrees of tilefish and trigger fish were also delicious. I was especially taken by the Brussels that had been blanched and snapped fried… OMG! All three of the desserts were also fantastic… my favorite was the Napoleon. so good that I hesitated to share it. Also had an unusual olive oil cake served with bacon and a tasty chocolate pot du crème.
I was so impressed by the Drawing Room. Would definitely return.

Beautiful ambiance, the service is excellent! Our server was knowledgable about the menu and guided us the entire way. We had an amazing time and experience. Usually my reviews are long, but my experience was so amazing I don’t have anything else to say! I cannot wait to go back!

Stopped in for happy hour on a Sunday night. There was an impromptu group of us and no tables available. The host set us up in the sitting room with some chairs and a bistro table. We made happy hour in the nick of time. The sparkling was killer and the Macedonian red was a great glass of wine. The cocktails were praised and at $ 5 a drink, it was an amazing deal. The peppers and popcorn were great snacks and the duck fat fries were hearty and delicious. The ambiance was perfect for a relaxed yet classy happy hour. Keep the prices and service where they are and I will go out of my way to return. Love this place!

The rating might be misleading, because I can’t actually review the food — only the service based on about 15 minutes of being at the restaurant.
We went for dinner and had an 8:00 reservation. We arrived at about 8:05, then waited about 10 minutes for a host to show up to seat us. The host was helping the (one) server in the dining room. The host provided us with menus and water.
There were probably 8 tables of people, with 3 or 4 empty tables. While we waited for the waiter to come, I noticed that only 1 or 2 people out of about 20 in the dining room were actually eating food. I noticed that there was only 1 server, so I thought that this was a bad sign. By 8:15, I would think a few more people would be eating. The table next to us had been there without food and drink from the time we arrived (8:05) until about 8:20, when their wine arrived.
Given few people were eating, that the table next to us had apparently been waiting a while for wine, and that the host was helping the server in the dining room, I started to think that eating here might be a mistake. It seemed that the place was under-​staffed. I thought it might be very slow service. So we got up and left. (It reminded me of the service we received at Toque in Montréal — where the initial signals I was getting from the service were very predictive of the bad experience we were about to receive. I also posted that review on Unilocal.)
I would like to see another review that better addresses the service issue at dinner. If I saw a few good reviews on that issue, I would try this place again.

We had breakfast at The Drawing Room twice during our Charleston visit because the experience was so amazing the first time.
While I hardly ever call a breakfast experience world-​class, this one definitely was. All of the waitstaff were extremely professional, accommodating, and nice. Our server handled all special requests with a large smile and positive attitude. She even remembered what I had ordered the previous day!
The food was exceptional (which is hard to do at breakfast). All the premade omelette combinations were artfully crafted, and the side potatoes were crispy without being greasy! I had the French Quarter Omelette and another one with bacon, grilled onions, and cheddar cheese that was heaven on a plate.
The toast came with a delicious homemade peach jam (I wish I could have some back at home) that was natural, fresh, and housemade!
We were shocked at the low pricing for our breakfast, especially considering the impeccable service!
I’m so sad we didn’t find this place earlier during our visit, and I wish I could have breakfast at The Drawing Room daily!
I’ve also heard their other meals are very tasty!

There really isn’t too much to say, unfortunately. I think that is partially my fault though. I definitely didn’t order the right thing. I ordered an appetizer and a small plate, because I cannot say no to a crab risotto. They warned me it would be a small helping but I shamefully ignored their strong advice. BIG MISTAKE. The dish was decent but nothing to rave about and the serving was way too small for my liking. Again, I admit this was no one’s fault but my own. Life is all about personal growth… I’m working on it. I did try someone’s burger and it was very good.
I must say, the service was very pleasant and super friendly. That definitely played in their favor. If and when I go back, I will definitely be ordering a big boy meal.