Daniel Island Grille Daniel Island, SC

When You're Hot You're Hot, When You're Not You're Tepid

Outside Daniel Island Grille

Even though Daniel Island is not that far from us we haven’t ventured there since we’ve moved here this summer. I have heard good things about The Daniel Island Grille so off we went for a quick lunch.

To me, the name is a little deceiving because I thought it would be more upscale than it was. Not that that’s a bad thing, but it’s a full on sports bar, through and through. Where else can you find a foosball table on the outside patio? 

Bar at DIG

Walking in we were immediately and very warmly greeted. We chose to sit at the bar in front of a bank of TV’s, just a few of the 10 that adorn the place.  Our bartender (who never told us his name), quickly approached us. It’s a shame that he didn’t tell us his name as I would have liked to recognize him in this blog for his excellent service.

In addition to a very large pub-food-like menu our bartender explained that they also offer daily specials (ambitious, I thought), which seemed pretty interesting. Reading the menu itself is worth the trip to the restaurant.  Embedded in the menu copy are funny tidbits about athletes – past and present. Being a Bills fan (yes, it’s sad, but true), I spotted a Jim Kelly Buffalo Chicken Salad. Within the description they had somehow woven a zing about Scott Norwood (Nor-wide as he was known in Buffalo after he kicked the winning Super Bowl field goal wide).  Very clever. Many other athletes had the similar zings.  I thought it was very creative and it made me really read the menu items closely versus skimming them.  But on to our lunch.

Corned Beef Reuben

We ordered a Reuben (one of the day’s specials), and a Diamondback Dog Duo.  They have a long list of hot dog toppings and these had jalapenos, black beans, salsa and sour cream (sour cream was missing, though).  When they were delivered they looked like a nacho dog. Very unique.

But alas, all the chatting with the bartender and the humorous menu could not take away the fact that with 15 customers in the restaurant the food was taking 4-ever. Way too long.  No, seriously.

Diamondback Dogs

I was happy to see that when the food was delivered everything looked great and the portions are huge. The French fries that accompanied the items were bar-none, the best we’ve had since moving here. Hot, hot, hot and almost stood at attention on the plate. But (add heavy sigh here), the rest was “not so much”. Although the hot dogs tasted great, they were tepid at best. My sandwich was heaping with sauerkraut and corned beef, but it was not that warm. The bottom of the sandwich was very soggy (sat in the window perhaps?). 

To the restaurant’s credit the bartender quickly asked how things were. And, to go one better, I was very surprised that the manager came up to us to see how our lunch was.  Why not tell him, you ask? Good question.

We were in somewhat of a hurry and could easily eat what we were served, but it took the experience from something that could have been very, very good to just OK. I still say that if it’s going to take awhile to get food out of the kitchen whether it be a high end restaurant (see Husk’s review), or a Sports Bar, then it should be hot. If it’s not, then don’t send it, we’d rather wait.

It would appear that this would be a fun bar to watch a football game, or any sporting event, but sadly as a Bills fan, the season's pretty much over. 

We gave the Daniel Island Grille 3 out of a possible 5 plates.