Flip That House (Restaurant)

If you're a fan of TLC's Flip That House, you know that it takes place in Charleston, SC. Richard is the "flipper" and he normally flips houses. However one time he agreed to help a friend flip a restaurant, The Crab House. Well the lady that set up our crib in our rental house strongly suggested this and exclaimed that this was the best place to go for seafood. Not having talked to my friend that lives in Charleston, I took this lady's word for it and made reservations at The Crab House. I later talked to my friend and she said, while she'd never been there, she still wouldn't recommend it. I should have listened to her! It was mediocre at best. The best part was the crab-puppies, hushpuppies with very finite flecks of crab. I was somewhat ashamed that I had eaten 3 until I heard my dad say that he had 6 or 7! I even gave Colin some and while he loved it, I thought oh what am I doing to my poor child, filling his belly with total grease! The menu was comparable to Red Lobster - typical generic seafood with traditional American junk food tossed in. The appetizers fall into the American junk food category - cheese sticks, buffalo wings, calamari, and several crab varieties of junk (i.e. crab cakes, stuffed mushroom, and crab wontons). The entrees ranged from fried to fried, with a few broiled items in between. I opted for a non-fried meal and ordered the Island Shrimp. I got 2 skewers of small shrimp (about 10 in total) atop a bed of Cajun rice, with a Thai chili sauce. The shrimp, although quite small, were tasty, but it was in large part because of the Thai chili sauce. Each entree comes with 2 sides and I chose the tossed salad and grits. The salad was, well a typical green salad, but the grits were fabulous. They were easily the highlight of both Wes' and my meal. Wes got the fried shrimp and scallops with collard greens and slaw as his sides. The greens were also good but the slaw wasn't anything great. His fried food was pretty tasteless and over cooked. My entree was $13.99 and Wes' was $16.99.

While it was neat to see the restaurant in person and reminisce about watching the flip on tv, the food left me wondering why this place gets the hype that it does. It also left me questioning the crib lady, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion!

Rating: 2*