Middleton Place

Location:

4300 Ashley River Road

Charleston, SC 29414

Type:

Plantation & Gardens

Inn

Restaurant

Website:

www.middletonplace.org

Experience:

As you can tell from the header, Middleton Place is not simply a restaurant. This is an old plantation which is home to "America's oldest landscaped gardens." This is where the wedding ceremony and reception took place and I cannot stress enough how perfect of a setting it really was.

The wedding itself was as close to perfect as anything can come. Wonderful weather. Beautiful surroundings. Solo cellist. My sister looking better than any bride in the history of the world (and I will kill anyone who wishes to disagree!). The only thing that would have made me happier is if I could have stolen the day and used it for my wedding. Alas, simply not possible. I wasn't able to tour much of the garden as I was there for the wedding. What I was able to see was breathtaking though. This place really is magical. 

It is important to note that the restaurant requires reservations for dinner. No exceptions. And dress code is pretty strictly enforced. However, since the wedding was black tie, we all were appropriately dressed so I am not sure what the dress code actually is. Also it is worth noting that the restaurants are closed to the public on Mondays, but if you want to have an event, they are willing to be open to private parties, like say my sister's wedding. Enough about the rules and such and on to the important part... the food. 

There was a bit of a cocktail hour after the ceremony and during this time were some of the best appetizers I have ever had. There was a rack of lamb that was so good I literally followed around  the young girls who had it on their trays for a good forty-five minutes. They also had these little shrimp pastries which were okay and they had a crab dip that was almost but not quite as good as the rack of lamb.

When it came to the actual meal, I have to admit that I was already pretty full but I decided to truck through the meal like a champ in order to ensure I wasn't missing out on anything delicious. The she-crab soup was the first thing brought to me at the table and this alone made my decision to over-indulge in food well worth it. I am not even sure how to describe this stuff but it was very good. As far as the meal itself, I was a little less impressed. I realize that Middleton Place is known for their southern food but I can't say I was really impressed with it. The catfish tasted a bit like dirt, which in my experience either means it was cheapish meat (and for catfish that is saying a lot) or it wasn't cleaned very well. Either way, I couldn't eat that. Also on the plate was a ham biscuit thing that had honey mustard, only the honey mustard had obviously been made by the gods. I have no idea what it actually was but it was very good. There was also something called "Hoppin' John" that wasn't bad but again, not the best food ever. Or maybe I was just spoiled by the rack of lamb.

Now I think I heard someone say that the restaurant had made both the wedding cake and the groom's cake, but I can't swear by it. But for the purposes of this review I will go ahead and make the assumption that I did hear right. The cake was a white cake with a chocolate-raspberry filling, and it was AMAZING. The groom's cake was a French something or other, but was basically pastries with some sort of cream in them and I wasn't as excited about this but it was still good. 

Overall:

For the most part I was impressed by the plantation. The setting was ideal for a wedding, and the restaurant was more of the same. There were a few food type problems I had, but for the most part, it was extremely good. I am not really that accustomed to Southern cooking, so I have to admit that I am a little at a disadvantage to say whether or not this was excellent or not. But my new brother-in-law's family is very southern and they seemed to more than enjoy. So I will take it that it really was that good. And as I said, there were a few things I wasn't that impressed with, but the good far outweighed the bad. All in all, everything turned out as near to perfect as any bride could hope for and I have never seen my sister as radiant as she was that day, and I am sure that the place helped in making her that happy.

4.5 Carats