We had a jam-packed day yesterday. We went to Folly Beach to soak up the sun and after a several hour stint in the water and sitting in our chairs we decided it was time to go. One of my coworkers Kyle suggested that next time we were at Folly we should check out Blu Oceanfront since they’ve gone through their massive renovation. I was a wee bit skeptical simply because they’re in a Holiday Inn. Not that there’s anything wrong with Holiday Inn (I worked for one for 2 years and it was a great company, I’d recommend them to anyone looking to work for a hotel) but they’re not notorious for having gourmet food. We were feeling adventurous and decided we’d give it a shot.
Blu is situated around the back of the hotel on the beachfront. If you look out the beautiful, expansive back windows you can see the ocean about 100 feet away, something that not many restaurants can boast in the Charleston area. Aside from the slightly upscale beachy atmosphere, Blu didn’t seem all that remarkable at first. We had set the bar low, always a great idea when visiting a new place. I always try not to set my expectations too high because I seem to be terminally disappointed if I do. We were open minded, don’t get me wrong, and we wanted to like it upon first impressions. We were greeted by their bartender Eric at the inside bar that had a beautiful waterfall water effect behind it. We ordered a few cocktails from him and Patty suggested that we order some tapas to hold us over until dinner (it was about 5:00 at this point). Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera on me because we went to the beach and I didn’t want it to get ruined. Sorry about the lack of pictures of the food but you’ll have to take my word for it. We decided to order shrimp bruschetta, mussels in a tomato-based sauce, and the lump crab cake with butterbeans. They came out and we all fell silent. We were fully expecting it to be beach restaurant fare that one could get on the deck at Snapper Jack’s. I do love SJ’s, but I really don’t make too much of a habit of eating there. They’re great for grabbing a drink pre or post beach but their food has left me disappointed on more than one occasion. I digress.
We did only order 3 things, I’ll admit this first. However, all 3 of those dishes were prepared completely differently which leads me to believe that there is actually a talented chef in the back. And yes, in case you were wondering, all of those dishes were really great. As in, really awesome. The butterbeans were ridiculous as were the mussels and the shrimp. We were pleasantly surprised. It is definitely worth a second venture and might I recommend if you decide to hit up Blu that you go sit at the bar and ask if Eric is working. He was awesome and so friendly, exactly what a beach bar needs. And yes, it is definitely a beach restaurant make no bones about it. It’s not Peninsula Grill but it doesn’t try to be. What they do, they do well. I can’t wait to go there for dinner.
Suzanne
