Food Lovers' Guide to Charleston & Savannah: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings (Food Lovers' Series)

Cha Bella was highly rated in Herrick's “Food Lover’s Guide to Charleston & Savannah”. However, we quickly learned, when 9 of 10 people in our group received meals that were either inedible or mediocre, that the high ratings are out of date. Our complaints included, but were not limited to, the meat being “tough” and the sauces being under-seasoned. I later learned that our inn’s concierge no longer recommends this restaurant to guests, because he has experienced such inconsistency there in recent months. I only wish I had asked his advice in advance, and read recent online reviews, instead of relying so heavily on this food guide book. Our group planned our reunion months in advance, and had only 2 dinners together, so being served bad food one of the nights was disappointing, especially when Savannah is full of high-quality restaurants. After this experience, I contacted the author with polite, constructive feedback, and I received the following response: “Please keep in mind that book was written over 2 years ago (researched and written in 2011) and unfortunately, quality can slip over time. It sounds like that's what you experienced. I'm very sorry for that. I do not live in Savannah, so do not get there as frequently as the innkeeper. Companion website is a great idea, but not one that's being funded by the publisher.” So buyers of this book—beware: the author positions herself as a Savannah restaurant expert, but I feel that is a distortion. If you do buy this book, be sure to verify your initial restaurant choices with recent online reviews, and/or the advice of your concierge.

Great little book. Enjoyed reading. Unfortunately since the book was a bit out dated, many of the places had closed. Found more than enough good choices for southern cuisine. Good size book so it is easy to tote around town.

Good descriptions of different restaurants. The most appealing factor of the book was that it not only outlined restaurants but also specialty shops and brew pubs. Would recommend this to anyone traveling that loves food and wants to see the hot spots of CHarleston.

If you are not familiar with Holly Herrick...please do yourself a favor and follow her on Pinterest or buy one of her cookbooks! This is an "older" food guide, so I hope when we go to Charleston and Savannah the restaurants that Holly recommends are still of her recommended quality. In any event, the photographs and "shared words of wisdom" make this book worth a read. I highly recommend!

This book was not as described; it was supposedto be a cookbook, with recipes for things served at wedding receptions. It was a total waste of my money. I live in Texas. I do not care about restaurants in Charleston, SC. I only gave it one star because I had to; it deserves NO stars!

Enjoyed!

I like this book!

great service, great book!

My wife and I will be wintering in Savannah and visiting Charleston. This guide is exactly what we were looking for.