Harborview Restaurant & Lounge

My wife and I go here about once a month or so. We never have any problem with food or service. We only go for dinner when we do, and we only go when Josephine is working. Josephine is the sweetest lady you will ever meet! We don’t order the expensive stuff on the right side of the menu (seafood is overrated)…my wife gets the nachos with no meat and nothing spicy, and I get either the Philly or the burger. We never have any problems with anything! Most of these reviews on here are just for breakfast time. I can’t speak on breakfast time stuff, but I can tell you dinner + Josephine + window seating near the bar = awesome! My wife and I know what horrible food and service is cause we are extremely picky! We prefer to eat at home, but we go cause of Jo. -=80)

The food was really fresh and on point. I had the chicken penne and my husband had the riverside chicken – both entrees were cooked perfectly and for a good price. The waitress was so super nice, it was a good dining experience. Thank you!

The only reason I had dinner here was pure connivence. Brenda was great as a host but won’t make up for the salty disgusting seafood. I ordered the seafood platter and all the seafood including the veggies were soaked with salt. View is great. Drinks were fine because you can’t mess up corked wine. If you are tired from traveling do yourself a favor and order pizza.

As the highest elevation restaurant in all of the Lowcountry, the views from this restaurant’s 14^th floor are spectacular. (The Marina Variety Store Restaurant, California Dreaming, and Fleet Landing also have great harbor views.)
From this height, you can barely make out both the Isle of Palms Lighthouse and the Morris Island Lighthouse in the far distance. You can see North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, and James Island. You can clearly see downtown Charleston as a peninsula where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers converge.
We typically do their breakfast buffet (pancakes, sausage, grits, bacon, biscuits, cereals, and the like). It’s wholesome but not gourmet or anything. The staff is attentive.
The restaurant was remodeled several years ago and feels contemporary.
As a word of caution, be careful leaving their parking lot because of heavy, fast moving traffic (especially going toward Charleston).

There is nothing particularly special about the food, traditional buffet breakfast — eggs, potatoes, oatmeal, grits, pancakes, fruit, bagels and pastries. Still tasty though. The customer service was a bit off putting. I was told to call and make a reservation and the man on the phone took it. Well when i arrived the woman at the counter said they don’t take reservations for breakfast and continued to make me feel ridiculous for saying i had made one. She tried to seat us in the middle of the room, but the whole appeal of the restaurant, and the reason i made the reservation, was to sit by the window. A very nice man intervened and said he’d take care of it and after a short wait we were seated by the window. The view is what makes it all worth it.

DO NOT EAT HERE!!! I am a local and have given this place 2 attempts… Go there for a beer only and the view because thats the only thing they cannot mess up. If a half a star was an option I would of choose it. If you are visiting from out of town, go downtown or west ashley. Fast food serves better food, prices, and service than this place. What a disappointment, the only good out of it which would be worth half the star would be the view only. The food was disgusting!

Yet again, my experience hasn’t matched that of others. I like the place just fine and have now been several times. I’m giving 3stars for the food /​service (about average) plus 1 for the ambiance which is far above average. Cost is slightly high for the quality but balanced for convenience it’s a solid 3.5 to 3.75 experience.
If you were expecting a five-​star experience atop a fairly old Holiday Inn — you won’t be impressed. The deal is, it’s a basic Holiday Inn house restaurant but has the view of a true 4+ eatery.
My entrée was just under $ 20. Fried flounder plate. It was plenty tasty and well prepared. Probably trucked in and not fresh but it was good. Slaw was good and my slab of cornbread was local authentic. Nothing «omg this is the greatest ever» just genre appropriate.
Huge plus: having had surgery today I asked some very specific cooking instructions. My server relayed them perfectly and Cookie didn’t bat an eye over it.
Just don’t come expecting fine dining — it’s hotel eats with an amazing view.

The view was great the food was so so the service was very slow. Saying that, it was in my hotel so not having to hit the traffic made up for the slow service.

Don’t eat here just drink and enjoy the view. Many people have comment we on this place believe them and stay away of you are hungry it is tempting but don’t get sucked in

Holiday Inn guests especially — but others as well — be not tempted! The view is amazing, and it’s convenient for Holiday Inn guests… but the food???
I’m pretty sure they are using the same food service as a diner I frequent back in Jersey. Let’s start with the rolls — diamond shaped rolls which are supposed to be warmed. When warmed properly — the slightly sweet glaze on top adds flavor. These were barely warmed — leaving an ugly sticky pasty bumpy half glaze. Those rolls I’ve seen at my local diner in Jersey too. Exactly the same.
I ordered the Salmon with Teriyaki ginger sauce. Comes with salad so I opted for Caesar.
Caesar salad — about on par with an average caesar salad at any chain. Not great but not bad.
The salmon — grilled — but overcooked and dried out. But hey — a teriyaki sauce might help re-​moisten it. Nope, not a chance. No teriyaki sauce was gonna help this. The teriyaki sauce was in a little cup on the side –not even over it at all. And — it was a salty teriyaki — very little sweet or ginger — and THIN. Like water thin. A nice thick glaze with some sweet would have helped a little. Nope, not a chance.
The veggies with the salmon? A carrot/​broccoli/​cauliflower mix. Overcooked too — broc was dark olive green — not bright green, carrots were mushy, and I don’t like cauliflower. Get some fresh broc and steam and drizzle a little garlic butter glaze folks — it would have been a big improvement. This seemed like it would have been from a frozen bag and overdone.
Mashed potatoes. Parts hot, parts cold, I don’t think they were freshly made but I could be wrong.
Service — was just fine. Greeter, server — courteous and pleasant and helpful.
Folks — if you’re staying at the Holiday Inn — don’t bother. Go have a drink in the lounge to soak in the view. For dinner — you could do better elsewhere. You see these other reviews? That are bad? Please believe them. It’s not good. Which is really a shame, because honestly — if it was GOOD — they’d attract way more than hotel guests and have a nice little gem here.

Don’t make the same mistake we have. Possibly the worst restaurant in the state. Avoid at all cost. Crab dip and crab stuffed flounder must have been imported from oversea in a non-​refrigerated container it was far from the fresh seafood you would expect at the coast. The low country stew was not edible. The sausage was like rubber the potatoes like stones. Absolutely the worst meal I have had in a long time. Go anywhere else.

I would like to give helpful insight as to the quality of the food, drink, and friendliness of the staff, but sadly did not get to experience any of these. Though only 7 tables were occupied in the entire restaurant, it appears the waiting staff was too busy to stop by and at least introduce him or herself. After being blatantly ignored for upwards of 20 minutes, my girlfriend and I opted to leave. Though I acknowledge the beautiful view (and thus give 2 stars rather than 1), I unfortunately cannot recommend this restaurant.

We decided to try this restaurant because the previous review had been done quite a while before. We were anxious to see the view of Charleston and quite frankly not having to go back into town.
The view from the restaurant is excellent, we were greeted by Brenda the hostess/​cashier I was friendly and welcoming.
We ordered cocktails which were very reasonably priced, and quite tasty. I ordered the half rack of ribs and my wife ordered a house salad and a shrimp cocktail. My ribs were extremely tender and good tasting. My wife salad was clean crisp and cold.
Our waitress Jayda and she was very helpful, friendly and attentive.
If we were to have a complaint, it was that the food was a bit slow coming out of the kitchen. The view and the cocktails however made up for this.

The only reason we tried this restaurant is because it was in our hotel and we wanted to see the view. The view of the harbor was the only good thing about our meal that night. Our waiter was not very helpful nor cared to be there. Our food was not very good at all! The chicken was dry, the vegetables were terrible, and the salad bar was severely lacking (if you can even call it a salad bar). The crab cakes were over done, the dirty rice was bland as well. Our apple pie for dessert was the best thing we ate there and even that was pre-​made and «blah.» We will never go back nor recommend, over priced and the worst dinner we’ve had in a long time.

The view at this bar is great! It looks right into the city of Charleston and the water.
Unfortunately the cocktails are not very good at all. They are watered down and sugary.
I would recommend heading to this place for a beer in the afternoon before you head downtown for the night.

The food is decent but the view is much better. If only most of the nearby buildings weren’t blocking the view, I would’ve marked it one notch higher.
The service was good. I ordered the Turkey Club and there was plenty of turkey on it, it was just bland turkey. The drink special was a 007 and it was pretty good. While we were there, a nearby couple proposed so the area is definitely scenic and romantic enough for lovers.

Imagine a bar in a Holiday Inn… now put it on the top floor of a 12 story building with a view of the Ashley River and downtown Charleston.
Other than the view, there’s nothing to set this place apart from any other hotel bar, two beers on tap, mediocre food and average prices. Worth the visit once just to say you did it.
I think they have a full restaurant, but I wasn’t there for that.