Dye’s Gullah Fixins

Go to the low country backyard instead. The food was extremely hit or miss. Excellent crab cakes, truly awful fried catfish. I mean no flavor at all, other than a vague general nastiness. The sides also ranged from meh to pretty good. Our meal consisting of 2 small entrees and an appetizer cost almost $ 60 pre-​tip. That would be fine at a nice restaurant, but this is a literal hole in the wall with plastic table cloths and minimal décor in full florescent lighting. Additionally, we came on a slow night and the owner sat at the empty table next to us and watched us eat our food. I definitely wouldn’t go back.

My family and are just finishing our first week on the island, and for our big final Friday meal we went to Dye’s Gullah Fixins. Wow… what a great place this is! Best meal we had in Hilton Head. The fried chicken was incredible and my son loved his pork chops. The sides were some of the best ever… butter beans, Mac and cheese, sweet potatoes and collard greens. This is the only real Gullah food place on the island, so don’t miss the opportunity to eat at this true Hilton Head treasure.

Visited on the last night of our stay in Hilton Head, and this was probably everyone’s favorite restaurant of the entire week. My personal favorites were the butter beans and the sweet potato cornbread sides. Don’t leave without trying the cornbread! It’s both moist and sweet. The fried chicken and pork were also great. We also had collard greens and macaroni sides, which were solid.
The restaurant serves locally owned, authentic Gullah cuisine… Gullah refers to the African American community that has resided here since before the Civil War, and the owner carries on their traditions through her food.
Note that you must call ahead and make a reservation to eat here.

Do not go for the buffet. Poor food, frequently out of many of the items, poor service. Charged full price for kids ($ 24).
The food may be authentic, but not particularly good. Atmosphere of being in a shopping mall (which it is).

Our favorite mandatory treat whenever we are in Hilton Head. Home authentic Gullah cooking cook and served by the wonderful Dye. The menu changes frequently but the Boiled Pot and Seafood Platter are to die for. Leave room for dessert!

We loved our meal at Dye’s. Cute place and wonderful service. The owner is friendly and has a wealth of knowledge on Gullah culture. I had the crab burger and sweet potato fries. Both were delicious. The hubs said the collard greens were the best he had ever had. My only complaint is that they didn’t have a high chair, which would have made dining more pleasant since my husband had to hold our squirmy toddler. Make sure to RSVP beforehand.

Went for the Wednesday noon buffet– all home made, from scratch, fried chicken, gumbo, black eyed peas, so good.
Finding the restaurant is a challenge, it’s inside the Atrium building, without much signage to help you find your way, but well worth the effort to get there and partake. The owner is a lovely woman with some great stories of local interest.

The food was powerfully and delightfully wonderful. The deviled eggs were to die for as well as that cornbread with the sugarcane syrup. Dye provides home cooking and a homelike atmosphere. The meal of fried chicken, greens, Mac and cheese and sweet tea — well I’m speechless. Then I let her tell the dessert menu — the pound cake… No words!!! Went back to take some pound cake and greens on roadtrip home.

In her bio she says she’ll fix you up like grandma. She does just that. It’s home cooked. It feels like you could be sitting in your grandma’s kitchen. The food was hot. Dye was making conversation with others when we got there but then it kind of stopped. Maybe since we didn’t have a reservation she was put off, I don’t know. The chicken was good, my friend enjoyed her crab cake. It wasn’t out of this world amazing, and it wasn’t horrible. Thanks for filling us up, Dye.

We had a great dinner. The food was terrific and the atmosphere very friendly and sincere. We love it and plan to come back. Recommended to anyone looking for local fare prepared with care and pride.

The food better be good. Rude and crude owner. She was closed early. Excuse was she was working since 11:00 and now it was 14:00. Prepping for party. Never did get in. Impossible to find the place anyway.

The food was quite good. But everything else that makes up a positive dining experience was either disappointing or just plain whack. I probably won’t return. Though I would have wanted to try the buffet or the dinner. Which happen once a week.

Great fried chicken. Before today I had two restaurants that served fried chicken well above any other — Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans and a Michael Symon restaurant in Cleveland. I now have a third. The chicken was delicious– light breading and moist. The macaroni and cheese and collard greens were also excellent.
This is a really neat place with a great history. The owner greets everybody and she is a very pleasant woman. I greatly recommend this place.

One of the best meals I have had on HHI this week. The sweet potato cornbread with homemade sugar cane syrup was good enough to call dessert. The shrimp and grits was extremely good and very satisfying. The butter beans were the best I’ve ever had and the blackberry dump dessert was amazing.
Don’t go there expecting ambience and white table cloths. Go there for great food and a satisfied hunger.
There are two kinds of tea served; city and country. In the South, country is the only way to go.

If you are looking for authentic Lowcountry cuisine, this is the place! Family-​run, local fresh ingredients, slow food cooked like your grandma used to do it. Shrimp and grits, pan fried chicken, crab cakes and low country boil, all cooked to order. Portions are large, so plan accordingly. There is desert! Call to reserve a day or two early. Put it on your list for your HHI stay.

While on vacation I kept seen things for «gullah» Loving all types of ethnic/​regional food I did a search and found Dye’s, after reading reviews my husband and I decided to give it a try. We arrived yo an empty restaurant for lunch which I was gone with. After a nice chat with the owner and another patron who comes daily we ordered-​my husband had some type of fish which in spots was a bit over salty but otherwise good. I had a crab burger and blue crab stew. You can tell things are made in house like the sweet potato fries and the collard greens, oh my the collards were amazing (This is the first time either of us has had them).
Price wise is about what you would expect for good food that isn’t cookie cutter store bulk.
Thourghly enjoyed lunch and the conversation – we will be back next visit and hopefully the tomatoes will be in as well.

Great low country menu. One of the best places on HH Island. Be prepared to wait. Food was prepared nicely and just what you want when looking for low country dining.

We had to visit dye’s twice in 2 days, because, we simply love her food. Everything is farm-​to-​table and home style cooking to the last details. Dye is a very frank and friendly also very knowledgeable with the Gullah cuisine. As a group of New Yorkers, we can’t find better local (real) food than Dye’s.
We happened to find Dye’s on Unilocal by chance for lunch and after riding around Hilton Head on a tendem bicycle, we could not have been happier. We had fried chickens, collard greens, blue crab stew, field beans and the awesome corn bread. Fried chicken was simply the best Carolina chicken with crispy skin and tender juicy meat without the grease. Top with Dye’s hot sauce and it was a instant classic in our book.
The blew crab stew was delightful and the flavor was balanced. It was creamy but not heavy, the taste of crab was prominent but not overwhelming. it is a must have when it shows up on the menu. Dye said it will appear more often when the weather gets cooler.
The sides were just delicious. We wolfed down the tasty collard greens which cooked perfectly tender without the excessive salt or grease that we so used to. The sweet potato corn bread is hands down the best I have ever had. Flaky and moist, sweet but subtle, had substance yet not filling The field greens were cooked just right, not to a mush. The best thing was they complimented the main courses completely.
We were really impressed and decided to visit again the next day as our last dinner at hilton head, and again, it was the right choice.
Hush puppies as appetizers which were delicious balls of stuffed shrimp and crab with tangy tartar sauce. The familiar corn bread made another appearance but this time came with home made sugar cane syrup and butter. The bread it self was amazing but the syrup and butter brought it to whole mother level.
Pork chops with sugarcane and bourbon glaze with collard greens and sweet potato. 3 pieces of pork chop that were glistening under perhpas the best sweet glaze i ever had. Sweet tangy and a hint of burbon with its spicy note really showcased the depth and flavors real food could carry.
Shrimp and grits, I wish I could write more but i only had a teaspoon full and according to my mother in law who ate nothing but shrimp and grits for 4 days straight, Dye has the best recipe in town. Comes with home made sausages and Bacon.
Low country boil. A bowl with an assorted of goodies which includes shrimp, corn on a cob, potato, pepper, an egg, home made sausages with secret spice mix. Again I only had a bite but the plate was cleared and it was declared best meal ever. We had sweet potato as a side and it was just no non sense straight up sweet potato truly worth its name, sweet.
We wrapped up our meal with a blackberry dump which like a blended cobbler in a cup. It was fruity and not overly sweet, a perfect ending. (Caution: Extremely hot)
Again all the side dishes and appetizers work wonders with each other and not one dish was salty or greasy. Everything tasted fresh and was prepared with great care.
Dye was very friendly, answering an onslaught of questions about the food but never ran out of patients. She also told us about her family and her opinions on varuois topic which made the dining experience more interesting. We truly felt her southern hospitality and will not hesitate to recommend anyone, in fact we urge you to try it if you ever find yourself on Hilton Head island. We will be back and we will bring friends!
Thank you Dye for your wonderful food and knowledge of the gullah history. Till next time.
PS: Dye has both sweet and unsweetened tea, but come on, you are in South Carolina, get that sweet tea and be blown away.

Won’t be back here. It’s odd. It’s in a building that might be offices. Not sure. You walk into a lobby and then into the «restaurant». It’s a total dive (which is fine and often a good sign as far as I’m concerned). In this case it wasn’t a good sign. You walk into this room with (maybe) folding tables. There were maybe four total. 2 families were waiting to be served. They have fluorescent lighting and a cd player for music. It’s very quiet. The place is not nice and frankly I’m sorry to say wasn’t charming for me either.
So they make all this noise about needing reservations (only a handful of tables so makes sense) and take out ordering is a very weird experience to boot. You can only order certain things. Now that I’ve eaten the food I suspect the reason why is that they may not be cooking on site but bringing the food here after preparing it elsewhere. Tried to peek in the kitchen but couldn’t. Nothing tasted fresh and I even showed up early for my take out. It was all packed in a mix of containers as if they don’t always get containers from the same supplier… and the containers were packed in a plastic KROGER bag! I love that actually for a couple of reasons but let’s move on. We had the stuffed founder with some sides and the shrimp/​grits. The flounder was dry and the crab meat inside was not a good consistency. Limas are very similar to canned and may in fact be canned. The collards were cooked nicely. The shrimp while cooked well were smaller ones. You get maybe 8 – 10. The grits were stiffff. The gravy/​sauce was uninspiring. The mac and cheese was fine.
So this is a tourist trap. Save your money for another spot.
7÷22÷15 update: this is the delightful response I received from Dye via private message. Lowering to one star. PASTE: Dye R: Well when u make a complaint, make it true full, u don’t know food. Check out the other reviews. And as I recalled u didn’t even leave a tip and that was before u got the food. And as I see u did not return it, being just a mile down the street. I would have refund your less tip gladly. There 12 tables and when u came in we were full, on camera. So if you have nothing nice to say shut up. Thanks and be bless !

If you are anywhere near Dye’s Gullah Fixins, you need to stop by. They have an amazingly good place serving excellent lowcountry food in a lovely family restaurant. Finding the place is a bit of a challenge stuck in the middle of a professional building far from the parking lot. Dye’s has times with a buffet and other times with a set menu.
On my trip, I had the buffet and was just simply amazed. This is real Southern food from a real family in a real nice place. Everything was perfect. She makes some great chicken, but the stars are the corn pudding and collard greens — both of which will knock you out. Even the beans made me stop and ponder how so much flavor can get into one lonely bean.
Dye’s is highly recommended for anyone wanting a real lowcountry Southern food experience that you will still reminisce about for years.