I had high hopes for this from what I've been told by others. Total disappointment. First, the service was awful. We got there 15 minutes after they opened and the only ones seated at the bar. You would think they would be on top of things that early in the evening. Nope, my wife had to wait 18 minutes to get her wine (which we bought the whole bottle). Second, they haven't changed their fryer oil in FOREVER!!!! Yes, I know what I'm talking about. As it being an open kitchen and you can see everything. We witnessed them take oil they just cooked in a pan and dump it in the fryer with the other oil. Are ya kidding me??? All the fried food came out dark as all get out it's been that long since they changed it or even filtered it. Third, some of the cook wore gloves and others didn't. No big deal normally. I watched one cook reach in the garbage and then proceeded to start preparing food!!!! No fing way!!!! Four, the Egg Roll was bland, the inside ingredients was garbage. Over cooked and tough. My wife's filet was under seasoned (well no seasoning at all), a cheap cut of meat and dry!!! The béarnaise sauce tasted and looked like it came out of a jar. It was the worst I've ever tasted. She asked for no vegetables and the risotto instead. She did get the risotto. I'll admit, that wasn't so bad. The bread that was under the filet was ICE cold. Not even sure why they served it or put it on the plate. Fifth, this is a one and done for us. There are soooooo many better options in the area with a better menu, price and service. To say disappointing is an understatement. Oh ya, almost forgot. We had to get a Togo bag and it reminded me of the bags you use to pick up your dogs poop. I'm not even joking. read more

May River Grill - Shrimp and Crab Egg roll - New American Near Me - Bluffton, South Carolina

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So good! Fun atmosphere-- great food and excellent service. Group of 6 and restaurant was very accommodating with split checks. Thank you! read more

Amazing food and great service! Fresh Low Country seafood and a fav with all the locals! Book early!

Good food and service Will definitely go back soon for lunch. I highly recommend May River Cafe.

We loved our dinner here with friends. It is a very cozy environment. The friend green tomatoes are a must! They service was fabulous as well, our waitress was very attentive and reviewed the specials in detail. We will definitely be back - excellent wine options! read more

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I made a reservation for four and when we got there they didn't have it!!! They asked if I got it mixed up with the one in Palmetto Bluff! They only take reservations by phone! My advice call the day before to confirm your reservation!!! It screwed us for the night with friends. :-( read more

We had a great dinner @ May River - it was our last dinner with our hosts and it couldn't have been better (even if I didn't spill a bit of wine on Wayne's fried seafood). The green tomato salad was incredible - and the stuffed shrimp was so very good, as were the mashed potatoes. Wayne had a roasted oyster sampler and our hosts had the grouper special - it was promoted with two options and so - one of each! We totally enjoyed our server, Kim, and the woman who made our martinis was very good as well. And, just because we had creme brûlée for desert - it was so very good. Will plan a trip back next year! read more

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Drinks are very expensive, foods was excellent. Service was excellent . Parking is was limited.

Excellent food and service. Mende has just about anything you want. One of our favorite restaurants and eat there frequently.

We love MRG and eat there several times a year. Friendly service, and the best fish entrees in Bluffton.

Well MRG is back ! Happy to report I can now give it a fabulous review. Been two times and both were stellar. Love the fried green tomato salad and had seafood pasta and veal franchise both dishes very good. All good in the world one of my fave places back . I hear under new ownership. read more

Good food. Cozy well run place. Very good for small groups. A seat at the counter is tops.

Excellent service, all (4) courses were great. I sat at the Bar and was served by Meghan. Starting with Appetizer, main entree, followed by salad and dessert. Meghan created the salad specifically for me, with spinach leave topped with strawberries (this one was off the menu). I recommend this restaurant to everyone that enjoys great food complimented by great service. Gary G. read more

Had a reservation for 5:30 on Saturday. When we arrived they told us ut had been canceled and accused us of canceling, makes no sense. Stuck us at a lousy table and told us we had to be out in an hour. We walked out and will never go again. Food ok, ambiance is non-existent and service is awful. Avoid!!! read more

Service complaint I called for a reservation for a dinner group of 7. A week prior to the date of our reservation, I called to confirm. The lady that answered the phone sounded very rude. She kept saying she couldn't hear me. After her saying this at least three times, I took her off speaker phone and asked if that was better. I raised my voice louder. She then asked if I could speak clearer. She said she had no reservation for my party under my name or for my size. She said she had a Rhonda for 4 at the time I had requested. She then repeated part of my phone number incorrectly. I then asked her who could have gotten everything so wrong. She then said I was yelling at her. I reminded her that she said couldn't hear me over and over. I asked for the manager and she said she was one of them. I told her I didn't want to go there and had not ever been spoken to so abruptly. I have never been to this restaurant and have absolutely no desire to ever go there. This manager needs to find a new job-she's a very poor representative. There are too many other places to go to where service is outstanding and the front desk is delightful and helpful. read more

Excellent service, food, ambiance! Weekly dining when possible! don't force patrons post more thou

Wonderful dinner !!! We enjoyed the Egg Roll appetizer and the French Onion soup.. the main entrees were wonderful! The pork chop outstanding, the snapper tasted great, the veal was delicious!! The Tres Leche cake (shared)was swimming in a delicious sauce . Perfect ending for a wonderful dinner ! read more

First time trying the May River Grill. I had very high hopes as the chef used to be at the Jazz Cafe before opening his own restaurant. We must have caught him or his sous chefs on a bad night. We joined our friends for dinner here, and had a selection of items from the menu. The She Crab soup, Asparagus crab soup, egg roll, Walleye, Veal piccata... I was told the soups tasted like chicken soup. And the egg roll flavors were not on point. Not sure this place is a good fit for our palate, but wish them the best. read more

Favorite restaurant in Bluffton. Great food and atmosphere. I go here every time I'm in the low country.

Very small place -- definitely call for reservations. There is an open kitchen and you can sit at the counter and watch the cooks. My husband opted for the stuffed flounder special. He found it pretty bland. I on the other hand had pasta with shrimp and it was delicious. Good wine list, saw some of our favorites from Amador County in CA. Would return next time we are in town. read more

Very intimate setting. Food and service was wonderful. A little pricey and no view, but worth it. I will go again. Have to make reservations as the restaurant is small. We went about 530 and did not have reservations. She did work us in, but I will make them next time. read more

One of my favorite restaurants. My husband and I moved to SC 4 months ago from NJ. It didn't take long for us to love this as one of our favorites! Delish food, wonderful drinks, service is great and the staff is so warm and inviting! read more

Cozy little bistro serving delicious dinner! Food presentation, quality and flavor was outstanding. Surprisingly large portions for the price made it a good value. Fried green tomato salad was a unique treat and the crab stuffed shrimp was so fresh and savory. I would order both again!! A great team provided excellent service. A very enjoyable experience all around. read more

First time dining at May River Grill this evening with my girlfriends. It was really a great experience. We had the Walleye, Ribs, chicken parm and stuffed flounder special. We were all eating off each others plates and everything was so delicious. The food was seasoned great, not over salty. We had the chocolate raspberry cake for the birthday girls at the table and it was amazing. Stephanie our server made everything so nice for our group. Top notch! We will be back! read more

Great food great service! Stephanie our server was so sweet! Definitely our favorite place

Very disappointing dinner, all 5 of us were unhappy with our meals. The fried oysters were soggy n tasteless. Mussels w Pernod were good and I enjoyed them. Two ordered the egg rolls and they were a disappointment. Two ordered salmon, fish covered in a heavy sauce but moving sauce off n salmon tasteless. Some one orderer a salad and nothing exciting! I haven't been to MRG in awhile as last time there we (4 ) were asked to leave as the next 4 had arrived! Asked to leave!! We asked waitress to bring out all at once as the apps were somes meals but she messed up n we had to wait . The place wasn't busy at all but can you imagine we were told there was no PASTA, they ran out!! As we left the owner was at the hostess desk? Maybe a good night or a Thank you would have been nice. What is going on? read more

Went for our anniversary dinner. We had not yet tried this place. Always look forward to trying new to us restaurants. Our server was friendly, good and efficient. Our food chicken Milanese and pork chop dinner were vary good. We both enjoyed our meals. Dinners had nice flavors and good presentation. Vegetables could have been a bit more seasoned same for the butternut squash soup. We shared the Carmel custard cake for dessert. Short of licking the plate clean our dessert was fantastic. Overall we had a nice experience. We would go back. Side note. We are not seafood eaters but there were plenty of options available for non seafood lovers. read more

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My husband and I love to going to May River Grill and sit at the bar so we can watch Charlie and the other cook's putting together the beautiful plates. What they do is an art in itself. They take such good care of you there. I personally have never cared for oysters but my new favorite thing is their baked oysters. They are delightful. We have not had a bad item yet. love trying new thing's. Sonny & Sandy Brewer read more

Food was great, service was great, ambiance was great. Went on a Tuesday, full house but no trouble having a conversation. read more

Outstanding. Been in this town for a year now. Been enjoying checking out all the new resteraunts. Have a group of guys that get together for a good meal each week at a different place. This one was by far the best. Food was amazing. Wine list top notch, and our server Kat was exceptional. read more

May River Grill - Boys night out. - New American Near Me - Bluffton, South Carolina

Service is fantastic and the food is amazing. We love to bring our out of town guests here. read more

Service was exceptional and the ambience was much improved. The menu was extensive wide the chopped salad and duck well prepared.

We were excited about trying this place out based on recommendations from some friends who love this place. So we had reservations last night at 7. I don't know if we just went on an "off" night for them or if we just ordered the wrong things, but we were quite disappointed in our meals. Also, the place is very tiny and since it was a Saturday night, we were all packed in there like sardines. The service suffered too because of how busy they were, although we felt our server did the best she could under the circumstances. The visit started out on a good note as we had an excellent bottle of wine (Nickle & Nickle Quicksilver Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon) and the shrimp & crab egg rolls with a sweet thai chili sauce ($11). These were delish! My hubby & I both started with the She Crab soup. I ordered the cup & hubs got a bowl. I think the cup was $7, not sure what they charged for the bowl. (The bowl was huge though!) Sadly, we were both very, very disappointed in it. We expected the creamy rich version with sherry like you get in Charleston. However, this was bascially a veggie soup in a broth (with no cream!!!!) and chunks of crab. Nothing smooth or creamy about this version! (How can they even call this she-crab soup??!!) So, my bowl had plenty of crab meat, but hub's giant bowl didn't have very much crab in it. Again, we were very disappointed! I ordered the shrimp & crab cake ($28). This was served over linguini with garlic white wine sauce. The dish had about 6 medium sized shrimp and a big crab cake in the middle. They called it a Daufuskie style crab cake...which I had never had before. If this is indeed the Daufuskie style crab cake, I will skip in the future. I was not a fan. It was sort of a weird texture...somewhat soggy and not sure what the breading/stuffing contained, but it was not very good. I think it had minced carrots in it, because I saw something orange in it. It didn't seem to have a lot of crab meat in it. The shrimp & linguini was ok but the garlic white sauce had sort of an odd almost burnt flavor. I would not recommend this dish. Hubs ordered the seafood pasta pomodoro ($23) which sounded delish in the description. However, it was disappointing as well. The sauce was not very flavorful and the shrimp/scallops were skimpy. There were 4 small/med shrimp and 2 small scallops. Hubs was not thrilled with it & when I tasted it, I thought it was "meh". The sauce tasted better than mine, but was nothing to write home over. I think 2 of our friends ordered the better option. They got the crispy scored flounder with the sweet thai chili sauce. I didn't taste it but it looked like the crispy flounder that I used to love at Garibaldi's and Anson's in Charleston. One of our firends ordered the steak special. Her sides looked good and she said the steak was good, but not the best she's had in a restaurant. If we ever go back, I would get the shrimp & crab egg rolls and the crispy scored flounder. But honestly, after this experience, I think it would be a hard sell to talk my hubby into going back. With the price point of this place (which is pricey when you factor in appetizers, drinks, soup/salad, plus the average $25-30 per person for entrees) we really expected to love the place, but honestly we have had much better meals at other restaurants in Bluffton and on the Island. read more

May River Grill - New American Near Me - Bluffton, South Carolina

Had the baked oysters and egg rolls for starters. Oysters were amazing, I'd have eaten a double order with bread as a main! All seafood dishes we tried were exceptional and the service was attentive without being intrusive. Small restaurant with open kitchen, a seat at the bar would be dinner and a show. Even with every table occupied we could still carry on a conversation without hearing those around us. Great value for the price, we'll be back read more

Nice restaurant but so many things bother me: -Water and general smell of restaurant smell like cleaning fluid. Had to get tap water off the table, it smelled so bad. -Hate that they mandated a 20% tip since we used a coupon. I understand that some may not tip on the coupon's discounted price, but this is a poor business practice. If we liked our service, we likely would have tipped more. If the service was poor, why do we need to tip at this level? -Waiter rarely wore mask. Other server staff did, but our waiter appeared to feel comfortable working without his mask. This was against local rules. -There is an $8 fee to split meals. There are numerous times, such as when they serve two softshell crabs, where moving one crab to the other plate makes sense. What is the point to charge $8 more to move food from one plate to another? Poorly decorated. Horrid smell. With so many other wonderful local options, unlikely we will be back. read more

A wonderful experience! Amazing food!! (I recommend the walleye and ribs!!) The chocolate mousse raspberry cake was the best restaurant cake ever!!! Thanks Brianna for great service and the suggestion to get the cake!! read more

This was a great restaurant experience. The food was delicious. I had the baby back ribs, my wife had a blackened prime rib, my son the crab stuffed jumbo shrimp and then my younger daughters ordered from a kids menu. Our 8 year old tends to be very picky - and so of course she picked the buttered noodles. The chef came out to our table and asked her if he could make her a 'special' sauce for the noodles instead of butter. She was hesitant initially, and then excited that the chef was making her something unique. It made her evening and she claims it to be the best dinner she had on our trip to South Carolina. So glad we stopped her. Service, food and overall experience were all 5 stars! read more

May River Grill - "Special" in lieu of buttered noodles - New American Near Me - Bluffton, South Carolina

Don't order the Chicken Parm. Plates are cold so the wet sloppy pasta is cold, chicken is hot but soggy. Pasta was swimming with water that was not drained so I did not eat. Service was just ok, for an empty place she only came around to ask about more wine...water guy came to the table 4 times to remove plates...read the check carefully $4.99 fee added if credit card use. read more

Fantastic restaurant! Breadth of menu for a small restaurant like this one is amazing! Excellent service, if you've never had a fried green tomato salad, the one here is incredible! Don't miss it! Anything I've ever had here is fantastic! read more

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I seem to take great restaurants for granted, but these days it's getting harder to find a place this perfect. First off, service was just perfect. Attentive but not overbearing. We sat at the bar. Meagan? Was awesome. I need a cocktail before a meal. I didn't see any and then, SHAZAM! It appeared. The aspect of watching the kitchen work right in front of you is an honest glimpse of how a restaurant operates. It's art and a show all in one. Best part was the excellently executed food. I don't take pictures of food. Luckily someone did. We started out with the eggroll. It's melt in the mouth decadent. I had the lobster tail special, never had it this well executed before. Melt in the mouth plate of wonderful. Perfectly cooked veggies and mash that inhaled the sauce. My sidekick had the shrimp pasta. Pasta was great, shrimp better, sauce completely balanced, and carb cake on top was just gluttonous. Be back soon to try the duck. This place is Epic. read more

May River Grill - Lobster tail special... Amazing!!! - New American Near Me - Bluffton, South Carolina