Catch 22

The food was outstanding and served by a gracious and caring staff. The Shrimp and Grits is the best you will find anywhere outside of Charleston, The Salmon was artfully prepared and was melt in your mouth delicious. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a delightful dine in interior with the option of dining outdoors on the quiet veranda.

First of all, let me say that if Nicole had not been our bartender, this review would have gotten a ZERO! She was friendly, attentive, and professional. I do not regularly write restaurant reviews, but was so humiliated by the manager (she may be the owner, I'm not sure) at this restaurant that I felt the need to let others know. Don’t waste your money in an establishment that does not value your patronage. It is an over-priced pub at best! I had looked forward to my visit as one of my favorite performers, Bil Krauss, was performing there on Friday night. Let me add here that his name is BIL, not BILL, as they put all over their facebook pages—something they should know since he performs there often and the pay him to do so (and there are advertisements all over the place). He deserves at a minimum for them to know his name! But anyways… terrible experience! Some friends and I agreed to meet for dinner and drinks, and watch the performance afterwards. Two of our friends were not coming for dinner, but agreed to meet for the outdoor entertainment after dinner. After having drinks at the bar and then dinner at a table, we moved outside to await our friends and watch the performance. There is very minimal seating there, but we made sure to eat early enough to a get a table outside when the performance began. We selected a four-top table and sat down to order drinks. After sitting for almost 20 minutes, and watching other tables with couples being served their drinks and give their dinner orders, we were completely ignored. Finally, as we discussed what was going on and tried to get service, a lady who I assume to be the manager or owner, came to the table and told us "This table is reserved." We looked around as there were no other tables available at this point and it was obvious that NO tables were reserved. There was nothing marked reserved and when several groups arrived, it was obvious that they looked around and selected whatever table was available. I might add here that there is minimal seating on the patio anyways. Anyways, she stood there and seemed to be waiting for us to get up and leave!!!! My friend indicated that we had really looked forward to watching Bil's performance and inquired as to what other options were available. She finally reluctantly agreed to find us some "chairs or something"! My friend mentioned that we had other folks coming and would need a table obviously. I was humiliated and will never return! I also want to warn others who might be tempted to visit, in addition to the terrible service and being totally humiliated, there is a strong odor from the sewer or trash dumpster on the back patio--I would not recommend sitting out there after experiencing it. I am sorry to have missed the show, but will not spend more money in an establishment that does not value my patronage. I spent too much money on drinks and dinner to be treated like trash. I do NOT recommend this establishment, most significantly because of the lack of customer service, humiliating experience, as well as the highly unpleasant sewer/trash dumpster odor outside on the patio. It is obvious that they do not value their customers and are very unprofessional. Don't risk wasting your money!

This restaurant is absolutely HORRIBLE!!!! Robert Irvine needs to come here and feature it on Restaurant Impossible, although I'm not sure that even his impeccable knowledge of the restaurant business could turn this train-wreck around. The staff is absolutely horrible. My brother and I went in here for lunch around 11:30AM, and there was only one other party (consisting of 2 people) in the restaurant. We wanted to try it since my parents are new to the area. The waitress, Melany P., did not tend to us the way she should have considering that she had only one other table that she was helping. When I questioned her about where Catch 22 was getting their fish (whether it was imported or domestic), she said that she had no idea and she did not even try to find out for me. I was extremely unimpressed with their menu. They did not have a good variety of fish considering that their restaurant has a seafood emphasis. I expected a wide variety of sushi rolls to choose from, but there was only 5 rolls if that. The sushi rolls were between $8- 9 a piece and were the thickness of a Maki/Temaki roll, not a specialty roll. Maki/Temaki rolls only cost $5 per roll for DINNER at other very high quality sushi restaurants and are $3.50/each for lunch!! The fried green tomatoes we had as an appetizer were DISGUSTING. This restaurant does NOT have a separate fryer to cook their hushpuppies, french fries, etc. in. Rather, they are cooking them in the same fryer as they are their fish, and our fried green tomatoes tasted like fish oil. Also, I watched the person behind the raw bar who was preparing my sushi roll and she did NOT wash her hands or use gloves. I have been to extremely high quality sushi/Asian fusion restaurants and every single time they have used gloves, because it does NOT affect one's ability to prepare the sushi correctly. I did NOT touch my sushi roll, but instead got it "to go" and threw the darn thing away as soon as we got out of the restaurant. I am reporting this restaurant to the Health Department, because of the health violations that we witnessed.



The prices were another major problem. As I am writing this I have my receipt in front of me. For 4 slices of fried green tomatoes my brother and I paid $6.99. The remoulade sauce Catch 22 serves with them comes from Cisco. The Maki/Temaki roll I got cost me $8.99, and my brother's Flounder Po Boy cost him $7.99. I will give credit where credit is due, the Flounder Po Boy was pretty good. However, I was appalled when we received our bill and it amounted to $27.78!! FOR LUNCH!!!!!! Catch 22 used to have another location in Columbia, but shut it down and now just has the one in Chapin, which is a red flag. It is no wonder this business is failing. We will NEVER go back here again. I encourage anyone who wants to get some lunch to go to McDonalad's, Wendy's, Burger King, or the like. Cisco supplies them too, and at least you'll pay only $10 maximum for some very low-quality food versus $30.



However, if you want some good quality food in Chapin, go to Zorba's Greek Tavern or La Fogata's Mexican Restaurant for lunch. Both are always busy during lunch hour, but there is a reason - both restaurants have amazing food and the wait staff is wonderful at both places.