573 replies to this topic

[gsupstate]

Funny, when you look through almost any thread on UP, restaurants and food pop up.  You can certainly tell what's on our minds!  

What is your favorite restaurant?  Your favorite food at that restaurant?  And why?  Can be any place, any type, just whatever your favorite is.

[JayHass]

gsupstate, on Jan 6 2006, 08:07 AM, said:

Funny, when you look through almost any thread on UP, restaurants and food pop up.  You can certainly tell what's on our minds!  

What is your favorite restaurant?  Your favorite food at that restaurant?  And why?  Can be any place, any type, just whatever your favorite is.

I am looking forward to this thread.  One of my "issues" in the past living in the South has always been lack of or not as many different varieties of private owned restaurants.  Sometimes I like to go out for Indian...sometimes Thai, sometimes Italian, sometimes a steak, sometimes Japanese...most times I'm not at a chain for that.

Show this Hartfordite whatcha got there in Greenville.  

[RestedTraveler]

Well, I'll probably have multiple replies to this over time as I, like JayHass, have different moods when it comes to food and like to try a variety of restaurants, but usually stick to one or two favorite menu items at each restaurant (if that makes any sense).

Also, I try to keep my dining out budget at a minimum though, so I don't frequent places like Soby's or Restaurant O or Deveraux's.

I'm in a Thai mood today, so I'll start with my favorite Thai establishment:  Thaicoon Rice Fire & Sushi Bar.  I love their Spring Rolls, Chicken Sa Tay, Fried Rice, and Pork (or Chicken) Cahshew (Thai Hot ... that's a "10" on a scale of 1-10, baby!).

They were originally located off of East North (not sure if that location is still open or not), but have been expanding their University Square (near Furman) location and will be expanding again soon from what the owner, Bob, has said.  If you can look past Bob's aire of slight arrogance at times, it can be a great culinary experience!  

[Greenville]

For Thai food, I don't think you can beat Lemongrass (downtown Greenville, on Main Street).  I have been to Thai restaurants in many different cities, and Lemongrass is still my favorite.  The atmosphere is nice and pleasing, and the prices are very reasonable ($10-$15 for most entrees) for the food and service you receive.

[Brandon]

I love sushi...so I will have to try Thaicoon. My favorite Greenville restaurant is Tsunami on East North (right near Tiki Bobs) They have the best sushi I've ever had anywhere.
Other good ones...Soby's, "O" has the most tender filet mignon I've ever eaten. Cazbah has an incredible selection of tapa's...nothing better than going with a small group and sharing!
Im sure Im forgetting some.

[Greenville]

I love sushi too!  I have not been to Tsunami, but I have been to Wasabi (the new one downtown) and it is excellent.  Sushi Koji on Haywood Road has really good sushi as well.

[Brandon]

Greenville, on Jan 6 2006, 04:26 PM, said:

I love sushi too!  I have not been to Tsunami, but I have been to Wasabi (the new one downtown) and it is excellent.  Sushi Koji on Haywood Road has really good sushi as well.

I've been to both of those, and I agree they are quite good, but Tsunami has them beat.
Try the white tuna tataki and their Greenville roll....

[Greenville]

I will definitely have to check out Tsunami the next time I'm home.  Thanks for the recommendation, Brandon!

[RestedTraveler]

Speaking of Tiki Bob's...did I read correctly in the Greenville Journal last night that Tiki Bob's closed and that the Charlotte-based Bar Management Group is looking at the location?  Chalk up another one of those places I always wanted to go but never did.  

[gsupstate]

JayHass, on Jan 6 2006, 09:50 AM, said:

I am looking forward to this thread.  One of my "issues" in the past living in the South has always been lack of or not as many different varieties of private owned restaurants.  Sometimes I like to go out for Indian...sometimes Thai, sometimes Italian, sometimes a steak, sometimes Japanese...most times I'm not at a chain for that.

Show this Hartfordite whatcha got there in Greenville.  

OK, a challenge?  Greenville will surprise you!  And I agree with you, privately owned beat chains any day of the week.  One of the greatest things I've noticed about Greenville is an abundance of small restaurants with only 10 or 12 tables at most.  Very European.  When a restaurant can make it with that few tables, it's usually a culinary dream.  Trattoria Giorgio, 33 Liberty, Giovanni's all come to mind.

You can check out Swad (vegetarian Indian), Addy's (a true Dutch brown cafe), O'Cha (bubble teas), Fonda Rosalinda (Mexican bistro), Haus Edelweiss (German), Saigon Cafe (Vietnamese), Never on Sunday (Greek), English Country (British Tea Room), Saskatoon (wild game) and on and on.  Too many Japanese, Indian, Asian Fusion, Chinese, Thai,  Mexican, etc to mention.  Fondue, spring rolls, ceviche, you name it....it's here.  

[JayHass]

gsupstate, on Jan 6 2006, 05:23 PM, said:

OK, a challenge?  Greenville will surprise you!  And I agree with you, privately owned beat chains any day of the week.  One of the greatest things I've noticed about Greenville is an abundance of small restaurants with only 10 or 12 tables at most.  Very European.  When a restaurant can make it with that few tables, it's usually a culinary dream.  Trattoria Giorgio, 33 Liberty, Giovanni's all come to mind.

You can check out Swad (vegetarian Indian), Addy's (a true Dutch brown cafe), O'Cha (bubble teas), Fonda Rosalinda (Mexican bistro), Haus Edelweiss (German), Saigon Cafe (Vietnamese), Never on Sunday (Greek), English Country (British Tea Room), Saskatoon (wild game) and on and on.  Too many Japanese, Indian, Asian Fusion, Chinese, Thai,  Mexican, etc to mention.  Fondue, spring rolls, ceviche, you name it....it's here.  

THANKS!       That's what I was hoping someone would say.  Living in Orlando kind of soured me on Southern cuisine as every other place was a chain...I could only find one good French restaurant privately owned and it would be substandard for my current area by far  - well unless I wanted to go out to dinner at "Disney" that is.     Then again some of the best meals I've had were in Atlanta. (Well in this country anyway.    )

All of those places sound great, I'm glad to hear it and can't wait to visit.  

[RestedTraveler]

Hey!  Does anyone know when the Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop at 1818 Augusta Street opened?  They snuck in under the radar on me!  

JayHass, on Jan 7 2006, 06:20 PM, said:

THANKS!       That's what I was hoping someone would say.  Living in Orlando kind of soured me on Southern cuisine as every other place was a chain...I could only find one good French restaurant privately owned and it would be substandard for my current area by far  - well unless I wanted to go out to dinner at "Disney" that is.     Then again some of the best meals I've had were in Atlanta. (Well in this country anyway.    )

I moved up here from Orlando, myself.  I hear ya on the cuisine scene in O-Town.  My favorite places in Orlando to dine were also on Disney Property ... Bongo's (part of a small chain, Downtown Disney West Side) and the Rose and Crown (EPCOT).  I'd wager that the Fench Restaurant to which you're referring is Le Coq Au Vin on South Orange Ave., no?

[Skyliner]

There are WAY too many fabulous restaurants and cafes in the Upstate to begin to list them all.  I have developed a very flexible acceptence of any ethnic food, and therefore enjoy trying every restaurant I can think of.  I'll break down a few of my favorites by location.

Downtown

• Soby's New South Cuisine
  
• Restaurant O
  
• Smoke on the Water
  
• Trio Brick Oven Cafe
  
• Devereaux's
  
• Barley's Taproom and Pizzaria
  
• Sticky Fingers

The City (besides downtown)

• Haus Edelweiss
  
• The Peddler
  
• Saskatoon
  
• Miyabi
  
• Stax Omega
  
• Stax Grill
  
• City Range
  
• Rafferty's
  
• Atlanta Bread Company

The Suburbs and Nearby

• Gerard's Contemporary Italian Cuisine (Greer)
  
• Thornblade Country Club
  
• La Bastide (North Greenville foothills)

There are so many more, but I'll have to leave it at that for now.  I know I'll think of others worthy to be mentioned in this thread.

[btoy]

My two abosolute favorites are:

Barley's
Stax Omega

Others I love are:
Safrons
Chicora Ally
Gerards
The Great Bay Oyster House
Soby's
Rick Erwins
City Range
Augusta Grill
Pepper Mill
Hot Java (they serve food too)
Lunch & Such
The Delhi at Pelham Falls
Lemon Grass
some Thai restaurant on Pelham rd whose name I don't know.
Broadway Bagel
Wasabi
Tsunamis

and I am sure their are many more.

[jfl25]

Reading this thread really makes a person hungry.I agree with every thing on here except the sushi never really been a big fan.However  no ones mentioned Flatrock grill i love that place even if its not out of the ordinary.

[Greenville]

I recently ate at Rick Erwin's in the West End and really enjoyed it.  It is comparable in price to Restaurant O, but the food was outstanding.

Nobody has mentioned Bonefish Grill on Woodruff Road.  Very good seafood there!

Greenville definitely has some excellent cuisine.  My dad was talking to someone who recently moved to Greenville from the Tampa/Clearwater, FL area (a metro area of around 2.5 million I believe).  This person was commenting about how people in Greenville must like to eat out a lot at restaurants, because there were so many good ones in Greenville.  They went on to say that Greenville basically smokes the Tampa metro area in terms of cuisine, which is pretty remarkable when you think about how much bigger the Tampa metro is than the Greenville metro.

[RestedTraveler]

Greenville, on Jan 8 2006, 05:39 PM, said:

Nobody has mentioned Bonefish Grill on Woodruff Road.  Very good seafood there!

I haven't eaten at the one in Greenville yet, but the one on Sand Lake Road in Orlando is pretty darned good.

Greenville, on Jan 8 2006, 05:39 PM, said:

...My dad was talking to someone who recently moved to Greenville from the Tampa/Clearwater, FL area (a metro area of around 2.5 million I believe).  This person was commenting about how people in Greenville must like to eat out a lot at restaurants, because there were so many good ones in Greenville.

That was one of the first things my wife and I noticed when we moved to Greenville (aside from perfect strangers waving to us as we walked or drive by them) from Orlando.  Every Friday and Saturday Night, GOOD LUCK geting a table in any restaurant (chain, local, or otherwise) in town.  People in Greenville dine out like no place I've ever seen.  It's amazing!  

[gsupstate]

No one has mentioned Hot Dog King.  YUM!  Love this place!  

[EDPro]

Great topic!

Going back to Sushi, I'm a pretty big fan of Sushi Masa and Irashai's (and Tsunamai's).  

And how about BBQ?  My favorites are Smokin' Stokes and Henry's Smokehouse.

Others maybe not mentioned above: Sarah's Kitchen, the Blockhouse, Blue Ridge Brew Pub, Barleys (technically a chain, but a chain of only 3), Pita House, and Lattitudes.

[Skyliner]

jfl25, on Jan 8 2006, 04:28 PM, said:

Reading this thread really makes a person hungry.I agree with every thing on here except the sushi never really been a big fan.However  no ones mentioned Flatrock grill i love that place even if its not out of the ordinary.

Flat Rock Grill has a delicious honey glazed, hickory smoked salmon steak.  Not bad seafood for the Upstate.

gsupstate, on Jan 8 2006, 09:51 PM, said:

No one has mentioned Hot Dog King.  YUM!  Love this place!  

I've never been overly impressed with this place.  There's a hot dog cafe in Carlisle, PA that puts Hot Dog King to shame.  But they aren't the worst around either.  Obviously they do good business as they've been in the same location for a long time now.