Green Shutters Restaurant

Had an exhausting day and far from home. The sun beat down and even the dogs were having their siestas. We're hungry and need a break. So we pass this little place; converted from a house into a restaurant.
Now, I've never had a bad meal at a restaurant in a converted house, but they're usually rather "high end" but we stopped. Good move. As we entered we knew the prices would be reasonable but feared a limited menu. It was, indeed, limited. I had the grilled scallops, grilled mushrooms and apple sauce as a side.
I have this involuntary thing where my left eye tears up when I REALLY enjoy food. The scallops were the very best I'd ever eaten. The mushrooms (from a can) were absolutely beautifully prepared. The applesauce was, well, applesauce. A word about their coffee; best I'd ever had.
My wife had the fried (deep fried, this IS the South!) and enjoyed them. Do consider stopping in. The staff is very nice and the cook (chef?) is very talented indeed!

I'm rather fond of country cookin' type restaurants: places heavy on fried chicken, steaks, maybe some shrimp or catfish and of course ample side dishes and desserts; when done right, these restaurants though not fancy can stand out far above more complex fine dining experiences. However, not all such restaurants are created equal at all, and the Green Shutters sadly did not impress me in the least. The interior is none too welcoming and the lighting was dim in a way that made it seem that the restaurant was pooly tended to, though I cannot honestly say it was "dirty"--just not appealing.

The waitress was nice enough but the food--fried shrimp which is what I often order at such places and isn't a great chore to turn out right--tasted as if it had been frozen and possibly pre-breaded, pre-packaged that is, and just dipped into the fryer for cooking. Two of the four hush puppies were fine and the other two were burned badly. The cole slaw was ok but nothing special and the dessert, a strange affair called a "s'mores brownie surprise" or something like that was a total mess. It was the sort of dish your aunt (if you're Southern) would have made for a pot-luck only it somehow was too muddled together and the flavors were all over-shadowed by the chocolate taste so the marshmallow and graham cracker flavors were pretty much lost. I seriously felt bad for it, and for the cook who made it: I am sure she could have turned out a great pecan pie or something else, but decided to try out this recipe and it just didn't work out well. That happens to the best of cooks, certainly, but still it wasn't something you're happy to pay for as a dessert when dining out.

I would love to give the Green Shutters a much better review--I like to see independent, local, places like this that appear to have been in the community for some time garner good reviews. I like to see them doing well. However, I was not impressed or even happy with my dinner, either. In fairness, friends tell me their burgers are their charm, and should I return I will order a burger and see how that fares.