A group of three friends had a strange experience at a Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant popular with food influencers. The experience did not live up to the hype… or did it?
In a video with more than 57,000 views, TikTok user Paige Breen gave an honest review of Allora, an Italian restaurant that has received positive buzz on social media. She spent her own money and offered the establishment tangible feedback after it did not match her expectations.
Breen said she had a great time at the restaurant at first. The hostess seated them and was friendly and accommodating. However, when the server came out to take their drink orders, Breen noticed that he was putting on a thick, fake Italian accent. She described the accent as gaudy and off-putting, immediately setting the tone for the experience ahead.
Then, she noticed a large brown, stained ring in the center of the menu she received. “For somewhere that opened less than six days ago, there should not be a stain on the menu… nor should you give that to a customer,” Breen said.
The experience went downhill from there. The server returned to the table every two minutes to check on them, repeatedly asking whether they were ready to order appetizers. Breen claimed the server dropped by at least six times within 10 minutes. When they were finally ready to order, she said the server tried to upsell them different menu items to an excessive degree.
The server also insisted that they place their entire order, including entrees and appetizers, at once. At that point, they had only selected a few appetizers and had not yet looked at entrees. They asked for a few more minutes and decided on three pasta dishes.
Breen said another server brought over a bread boat that took up most of the table but didn’t attempt to distribute it. The bread itself looked picked at rather than fresh, she said. Their server “raced over” to distribute the bread after noticing they had been left with it for an extended period.
When the appetizers arrived, they received dishes that were clearly dirty, Breen said. When she asked for new plates, the server seemed upset, responding, “No, they’re not. They’re not dirty.”
Breen said she found the denial strange, considering she could show him the food residue on the plate. He relented after some back and forth and brought out another set of plates — which were also dirty. Breen said she had to ask again for a clean set. The server huffed, went to the back, and returned with plates fresh from the dishwasher.
When Breen and her friends got their entrees, she said the dishes were cold and tasted like they came from Sysco. “None of the pasta was good, or fresh and authentic as they were saying,” she said. Breen requested that her food be rewarmed, which the restaurant did. Fifteen minutes later, however, they received three additional plates of pasta identical to their order. They now had double the amount of food, covering the entire table, despite not asking for new dishes.
The server continued to make strange comments toward them, offering limoncello he said was “homemade” and complimentary. The limoncello, according to Breen, did not taste fresh or authentic. He also made a comment about the pasta, saying that “[the food] taste[s] better when its free,” another remark Breen found off-putting.
Toward the end of the night, Breen said they were charged for the additional pasta dishes they did not ask for. “We barely touched it and it went back twice,” she added.
The server dropped his Italian accent, “huffed and puffed,” and dropped off the check in a rush to conclude the night.
Breen reiterated she was disappointed with the service, especially considering the cost of the meal. “You opened a restaurant six days ago, and everything is dirty. You’re claiming you’re authentic but everything is fried from a bag, from the freezer,” she said. “Not one thing had to be freshly made in there. This was an absolutely absurd dining experience. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life.”
Allora, the restaurant Breen reviewed, currently has 3.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp with 19 reviews as of Oct. 25. That drastically contrasts some of the ambient videos posted onto TikTok.
Many TikToks of the restaurant highlight the coastal aesthetic and ambiance alongside some of the drinks and food items on the menu.
Yelp reviewers, on the other hand, generally liked the atmosphere, but said the service and food could use improvement. That lines up with Breen’s critique.
One reviewer even said she sent back lobster that she felt was undercooked. “Ten minutes went by, no manager, [and] the server returns saying the kitchen confirmed it was cooked,” the woman wrote.
She said she left the restaurant with the issue still unresolved. “The undercooked dish remained on the table, yet it was still on our bill. There was no apology, no offer to replace it, comp a drink, or even a simple gesture to acknowledge what happened.”
Other reviewers noticed similar issues, with one stating that the limoncello was “undrinkable.”
We have reached out to Breen and Allora via email. We will update this story if either party responds.
@paigekbreen real and honest review of the newest chs restaurant … hard to say that will be back anytime soon. #chs #charleston #foodie #restaurant #italian ♬ original sound – Paige K Breen
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