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The Glass Onion mercifully begins to fill the void that gapes between fine dining and dive dining in Charleston. I think in a lot of ways this new little restaurant points to the future of dining; one in which quality and affordability trump pretension and pomp. As people become more aware of and picky about the source of their food (as food literature on the topic abounds), restaurants like The Glass Onion will meet demand.
I’ve visited The Glass Onion three times (1 lunch + 2 dinners) since it hit the ground running a few weeks ago, and I don’t hesitate to call it an instant classic. They make an effort to source all of their ingredients locally or as close as possible to local and use good quality natural meats and local shrimp and seafood. And the prices are great, truly. $10-$13 gets you an entree with sides. $8 gets you a huge sandwich. On the side hand cut French fries are served with beef gravy or bernaise sauce, reason enough to visit.
For lunch I like the oyster and pot roast po boys, served on a fresh hoagie with house made pickles. The cornbread with local honey is moist and delicious and the collards are good. For dinner, the shrimp and bean entree is light and nice, though it came a bit under-seasoned to the table.
The Glass onion changes its menu daily; you can check it for updates on their webpage: www.ilovetheglassonion.com
As warmer weather approach, the menu will no doubt spring to life with strawberries, squash, tomatoes, and other spring and summer harvest. I will keep returning to The Glass Onion and look forward to the upcoming seasonal menu changes.
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I am from Chicago and visited the Glass Onion when I was in Charleston. I LOVED it. I wish we had a restaurant like that around here. Excellent food with great prices. I’d probably go there everyday!!!!!
Comment by Pam McCurry April 16, 2008 @ 3:19 amthanks, pam. i go to the glass onion 2 or 3 times a week so i know where you are coming from. glad you enjoyed some good lowcounntry food. also, way to avoid tourist traps.
Comment by rottenoysters April 16, 2008 @ 11:35 pmI was excited about the Glass Onion and was then let down by two things – the hours and trying to get a hold of them.
First the hours, who ever heard of a restaurant closing at 8pm?
Next trying to get a hold of them – if you call the phone number they have on their website your call is answered by a voice mail.
The only problem is that the voice mail doesn’t saying anything about whether it is for the restaurant their hours, whether they are still open (heard reports of them closing early) nothing.
As much as I want to try the place, I think i will wait for them to hire a decent manager to run their day to day operations.
Comment by Steve April 22, 2008 @ 3:22 pmi hear you steve. they also close between lunch and dinner service which is a pain if you want to eat a late lunch. hopefully they’ll iron these issues out–thanks for commenting.
Comment by rottenoysters April 22, 2008 @ 3:58 pmAfter hearing a little bit about the background of the people who were starting The Glass Onion, I was pretty excited to drive it. I think it only made me want to try it more that I drove past it about 6 times before they actually opened it. I only had the opportunity to get take out, but I thought their pork belly was fantastic. There is a really nice atmosphere in there as well. I wish places like The Glass Onion would get some more press so I don’t have friends who come down to visit me at school only asking me to take them to Hyman’s (I think their big ad in the airport is partly responsible) or Jestine’s.
Also, I’m a big fan of your blog, in fact you convinced me to head up to La Nortena, which I am definitely thankful for. I’m a CofC student and started a food/film blog myself, check it out if you get the chance (http://dhisgood.blogspot.com), and let me know what you think.
Comment by David Heiser April 23, 2008 @ 9:01 pmBy “excited to drive it” I actually meant “excited to try it.” It’s the end of the semester, I’m lucky I can still form coherent sentences.
Comment by David Heiser April 23, 2008 @ 9:03 pmHey, I hope you don’t mind the request (I’d email you but I couldn’t find any contact info), but I was wondering if you might be willing to add my blog to your “Links” section. I’m trying to build a little bit of traffic to my blog outside of my social circle, and it seems like you, deservedly, get a pretty decent readership. I know I tend to write more film than restaurant reviews (cost is a major factor there), but if you do decide to link to me you could either link to my main site or to just my restaurant reviews here. Thanks and keep up the good work!
(Feel free to delete this comment after you read it)
Comment by David Heiser June 11, 2008 @ 6:28 amSomehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Walleyed.
Comment by Walleyed June 19, 2008 @ 1:54 amGlass Onion disapointing — Today, I took 3 friends (two visiting from North Carolina, one from Colorado) for brunch at The Glass Onion.
I had told them how great the food and service was and they were very excited to try it. One friend ordered the quiche Lorraine, only to be told later that the quiche was not ready and was forced to make another choice. Another friend and I ordered the gumbo, which was served without rice since apparently someone had forgotten to make rice. At the register, we were offered about $1 off the gumbo since it came with no rice. I’m not from New Orleans, but is rice-less gumbo really traditional gumbo?
Wikipedia has the correct definition of gumbo. Perhaps the owners and staff of this purportedly cajun eatery should visit this article to be brought up to date:
Comment by oigres73 June 28, 2008 @ 11:47 pmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumbo
Mr. Oysters, lets take a trip to the Glass Onion next time i’m home. We could wear our homemade ghost busters jumpsuits.
Comment by Ross Bills September 8, 2008 @ 4:06 ami like this idea. i hear they have god frozen lemonade popsicles.
Comment by rottenoysters September 11, 2008 @ 1:01 amIs there a story behind the name “Rotten Oysters?”
Comment by Emily October 10, 2008 @ 4:38 pmWhither Rotten Oysters? Your reviews of Charleston area eateries (sorry) are easily the best on the web. So, where’ve you been?
Comment by Shandon Fowler January 18, 2009 @ 1:43 pm