Restaurant Review: Hominy Grill

Today's edition of restaurant review will look at Hominy Grill, a restaurant that had been pointed out to me for its Shrimp and Grits.

Hominy Grill is a breakfast based restaurant in downtown Charleston, just across from one of the hospitals. Its a bit out of the way, away from the central shopping district. But they have their own parking lot so no need to pay out of pocket to park and eat.

Of course, I like to do things my way. And since I sincerely dislike paying for parking in downtown Charleston, I merely drive out near the bay and park where its free. From there I just unload my bike and bike back to downtown. Not a bad deal considering it only takes me 5 mins on bike to get back to the main shopping district. And so to deal with the manly hunger that get while biking, I have to eat manly meals.

When I first arrived at Hominy Grill, I was dismayed at the lack of bicycle parking for myself. I was eventually forced to just chain my bike to a tree. Walking inside, I was quickly seated and brought a menu. I was tempted to get their Big Nasty, which is a fried chicken in between two buttermilk biscuits. But I opted to stick with my original plan and get the Shrimp and Grits. At $17 a plate, I was putting a lot of faith into this meal.

This is what I got:

Hominy Grill's Shrimp and Grits

When I first received my plate, I was a bit dismayed at the size of the plate. I had ordered about the same size Shrimp and Grits at Toast for nearly $6 less. But then I took my first bite and my taste buds exploded in foodgasm goodness. Toast couldn't even begin to compare and I had just barely started. Each bite was as good as the last, if not better. And the addition of everything else really help give the grits a much better look to it than Toast, who just put Shrimp in their grits.

So lets get on to the ratings.

Food: 10/10

The Shrimp and Grits were just absolute heaven in my mouth. I would definitely buy more Shrimp and Grits from them.

Atmosphere: 8/10
Service: 9/10

Price: 6/10

The Shrimp and Grits is good. But that's still $17 a plate. And that's w/o sides. For someone small like me, food portions aren't as much of an issue. But I can see how a slightly bigger person would find this inadequate.

Overall: 8/10

I still highly recommend people come check out this restaurant, especially if you are a shrimp and grits fan. Be sure to be in a vehicle, since this isn't really in walking distance of anything. Unless you are of course spending time at the nearby hospital.