21 East

My wife and I went for dinner and were promptly greeted at the door and taken to a table.   Love the decor with exposed brick, nice lighting, cool/hip style.  Nice music playing in the background.  I didn't feel I was in Greenville, but more like NYC or Toronto.  Started with the Lobster Mac  & Cheese as an appetizer to split with my wife.  Good portion size and the flavor was awesome!  I had the crab cake special for dinner and my wife had the shrimp and grits.  Both were amazing!!!  The food here is top notch.  Service was excellent.  Food came quickly.  

What I liked about 21 East is the quality throughout, from decor to food to even the bathrooms.  It's not the typical restaurant.  They have broken out of the "Southern Style" same type of place that you expect to see in Greenville.  21 East is upscale and really cool.  Plenty of menu selections...I can't see myself getting bored with food options.

21 East has shot to the top of Best of Downtown restaurant options.  I will have Lobster Mac & Cheese cravings until my next visit."

By the way, the style here is not "Retro 80's" and the food selection is not "Tapas".  Very modern style with a full dinner menu.  There are appetizers and burgers, but there are also full dinner plates.  Whatever you choose, you're sure to LOVE it!

Hint, make a reservation.

Returned with a Groupon on a Monday night.  The manager seated us, and told us that our server was one of the best servers and bartenders in the area, and they were lucky to have her.  Well, there's all kinds of luck...
She didn't know what was on tap.  Our meals were not hot when they arrived (after a long wait).  She had to be flagged down twice for beverage refills, and she repeatedly disappeared into the basement.  
The manager told us that burgers are $5 every Monday, so we ordered them.  When the bill came, we presented the Groupon, and when the already rang credit card receipt came back, the burgers were suddenly no longer $5, but $10.  When we asked, we were told they were excluded because they were a "Promotional Menu Item." Every Monday?  The manager said, "Well, I guess it's just semantics."  Sounds more like Bait-and-Switch to me.  If they were not going to honor their Groupon, they should have told us BEFORE running the card through!  No offer to make it right; just tough.
The burgers are not quite as good as Blackstone on Woodruff, and certainly not worth $10; especially since they cool down to room temperature before they are served.  The fries that accompanied them are limp, cold, and supposedly drizzled with truffle butter and Parmesan.  Tasted the parmesan, but that must be a very light drizzle of truffle butter.
There are just too many reputable places to eat in Greenville for me to patronize these jerks.

Valentine's night, greeted warmly by hostess and wife immediately got a rose. Table next to us chatted us up and just gushed over how good the food was, and it was their most favorite new restaurant. They were not wrong - chicken and sweet potato waffles with whiskey butter was awesome. Fried chicken was lightly battered and waffle melted in your mouth. Shrmip and grits were awesome! Tasso gravy baked into a grits cake and shrimp, lightly grilled and delicious. Pound cake with light lemon-cream and fruit sauce was tasty.  Reasonably priced and Corie our server was great. Nice micro-brew selection as well! Decor is retro-eighties-hip and comfortable. Tables near the window are nice to gaze at vibrant Greenville pedestrians and street. Tables in the interior looked cozy and romantic. Great job!