We tried LIDI when we first moved to Daniel Island about three years ago and, at the time, weren't overly impressed. After recently seeing posts about their new and improved menu, we decided to give it another try and ordered takeout last night. What a difference -- everything was absolutely delicious! I had the spaghetti and meatballs, and it was definitely not your typical spaghetti and meatballs. It tasted elevated and upscale, with so much flavor. The portion wasn't huge, but honestly it was plenty, and I'd much rather have quality over a giant plate of extra pasta. My husband had the chicken parmesan and said his was delicious as well. We were both really impressed and are so glad we gave LIDI another try. We will definitely be back! read more

I made a reservation for Father's Day dinner, but probably didn't need one, because there were only about 6 families in the restaurant when we arrived. I started out with the wrong menus. I was given a current menu, but my wife was given a discontinued one. It happened to the family next to us as well. We ordered drinks and an appetizer to begin. The drink, a peach mule, was very short on peach and VERY heavy on ginger beer, making it nearly impossible to enjoy. Our appetizers came and were great. A few times the waitress stopped by and asked how we were doing, which was nice. But that's where it ended. As the table next to us got their appetizers, the same waitress took their dinner order. When we finished our appetizers, she came and cleared away our plates, NEVER asking for our dinner orders. What was the purpose of replacing our menus, if you're not going to take our order? Meanwhile, the next table was served their dinners. After a few minutes she came back and I asked for our check. She said, "Great", never asking about our meal or our experience. Clearly we weren't going to have dinner here. We left and ate dinner somewhere else! This was our first and last visit to Ristorante LIDI, I would never return. I spent $45, plus an hour of our time, for 2 drinks and 2 appetizers, to have to go elsewhere for a meal. I don't believe that's the way its done in Italy. What a waste. read more

The restaurant was decorated nice and it was clean. The service was good- the menu looked promising. I was looking forward to the calamari but when it arrived there were only rings and no tentacles! Those are usually my favorite . I got the market fish that was fried. It was very tough not tender and the veggies underneath were underwhelming. The salad was ok.... Maybe next time I'll try something else. read more

The ambience in here is top tier. Food and service... not so much. I was disappointed in all of the food we ordered and I tried almost everyone's on the table. It's convenient if you're looking for Italian on Daniel island but beyond convenience, there's not much more reason to come here. I will note that the way they pull off white table cloth service is cool and it's a very kid friendly restaurant. read more

The food was delicious, with big portion sizes, and not too expensive. The service was average. The ambiance was about average.

Still excellent food and service. The swordfish puttanesca is great and served with asparagus and beautifully presented. They are still doing the small plates thing with the menu but it worked out well for me on this visit. I like being able to eat at the bar when I am there solo and be casual but in the dining room you can be casual or a little bit dressed up and fit in either way. I also like seeing some servers that have been there for years. read more

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We ordered takeout from Ristorante LIDI and unfortunately came away disappointed. While the food was packaged well and ready on time, the quality just didn't justify the price. Several dishes lacked flavor, and everything felt fairly average rather than memorable. We had been looking forward to trying it, but with so many great Italian restaurants in the Charleston area, this wasn't one we'd order from again. We hope it was just an off night, but based on this experience, we expected much better. read more

Wow what an experience. Made a reservation to go before a concert. We both wanted to get veal, so we did. This bone in veal chop Parmesan could have fed both of us. It was cooked to perfection and so was the pasta. Our server made sure we always had full water and full alcoholic beverages without being overbearing. We sat in the bar and it was a fun atmosphere of others going to the concert, yet still felt upscale. Delicious meal! read more

Ristorante LIDI - Veal Parmesan - Italian Near Me - Daniel Island, South Carolina

We went on Tuesday and they were closed so we came back Thursday. The bread and herb butter dip was excellent. The pear cocktail was superb. The waiter said he'd never sold one but I bet he's singing a different tune a month from now because - wowza!!!! The spring salad was good. I loved the blackberries. There were a lot of fresh peach slices which my friends enjoyed helping me eat. More goat cheese would have been ideal. Happy hour was in the bar only and ended at 6 (everything we read said 7 so we were disappointed since we arrived at 6:01). My friend tried to order bruschetta but they took it off the menu. The veel was ok but not worth what they charged. read more

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The food was amazing couldn't have been better. Our waiter Dominic Fusco was also the artist whose works covered the walls and brought the place together. Our family would like to thank him for his food recommendations and making an amazing dining experience a life experience. read more

Service was excellent Atmosphere was pleasant. Music did not match Could have been better with smooth jazz instead of Elvis Elvis is great but just wasn't relaxing . I ordered the small Caesar salad which cost $9. It was so small I could count the leaves of romaine and was topped with the cheapest croutons that they apparently picked up quickly at the grocery. So I also ordered the chicken parmesan which was good but they had advertised artichoke in it but no, not one to be found. Now I do not like skimpy on the sauce and there was plenty for the ratio (1 chicken cutlet) and which was good, light , and tasty -not pasty , however, they must have had 1/3 of a cup of linguine at the very most for $23??? Seriously they skimped out on the least expensive items that could make a person satisfied with not only their belly but the price. The wine selection was good But I do not think this place will be beckoning my return anytime soon. I was still hungry so I ended up going down to Publix's for some dessert read more

Delicious authentic Italian food, staff are kind and attentive, very welcoming environment for families. Definitely will be back!!!!!

Great dinner with the fam on Mother's Day! Cat, our server/bartender was amazing, so personable, lively and energetic. Her service was top tier and would recommend her to anyone coming into Lidi!! Great night full of great food and great people! read more

For a restaurant that has went through a couple changes over the last year or so, they have hit a home room with both food and service. Don't trust me....go visit them! Great Italian tasting food and great service! You will happy you did! We actually go there every Sunday for dinner! Why....because we get the same thing every Sunday day evening. We have plenty of options to eat on this island but we have our every Sunday dinner reserved at LIDI because it is A+. read more

Catherine S was incredible. Friendly and efficient. We thoroughly enjoyed our Mother'sDay Dinner. The food was great and service top-notch. We will be back!!!! read more

Informal Italian restaurant in the heart of Daniel Island . Upon entering the restaurant, the red checkered plastic tablecloths set a casual tone . Relaxed , family ambiance . Expect to see folks from all walks of life : kids , families , people just getting off work , dates etc . In regards to food : i found everything underwhelming with just average taste. Everything ordered seemed like it was missing something. We ordered : Stuffed mushrooms appetizer Meatballs appetizer Caprese salad Braised veal short rib entree Piccata entree The meatballs were the best thing we ordered . After trying multiple dishes and being disappointed in most of it , this is not a restaurant I'd likely go to again . read more

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LIDI is an amazing Italian restaurant. One of my favorite things is the seasonal salad. No matter the season, it's always delish & fresh. The fish is always on point & my children rave over the steak. The bartenders are warm & friendly. You walk in & you feel the love immediately. I highly recommend it! read more

Morgan, our server was attentive, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. They do have gluten free options, no bread, but pasta and many others. We had an enjoyable evening after the tennis tournament. read more

Went to Ristorante LIDI for dinner with my coworker. For a Thursday night, the restaurant was not busy at all. We ordered two appetizers to start with. The meatball was super tender and flavorful and the calamari were fried perfectly. I started with a Manhattan. It was good, but the glass was not filled to the rim. The second glass I had did. For our entrees, my coworker ordered chicken parm with pasta and I ordered a shrimp scampi. The chicken parm was good, but the scampi was mediocre. The shrimps were small, rubbery and salty with overcooked pasta. My least favorite dish. Our waitress was tentative and friendly. Outside of the shrimp scampi disappointment, everything else was pretty good. read more

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had a family dinner with the husband, daughter, sons and their significant others. great food, good drinks and excellent service. Our server Will was amazing. very attentive and made sure our dinner experience was amazing and the food was great. a must try for those who love authentic italian read more

Decided to try LIDI again after not having been in years since I heard they had a new menu and maybe new ownership? While the food was definitely better than it was in the past, overall LIDI still fell a little flat for me. We took a bit to decide on food and in the mean time our waitress said she would bring us bread (which we were charged for. I'm gluten free so didn't try it, but thought this was a questionable albeit effective sales tactic). Beyond that, the food was pretty good! Again, gluten free, so can't judge pasta too harshly! I appreciated that they had the option. They did tell us in advance that portions were quite small, made for sharing, and they meant it. Not a deal breaker as a concept, however for the price they charge the portions were way smaller than I would have expected. Like the cost of full size entrees for appetizer size dishes. Not a bad spot if you're not worried about price though! For me, not better than cooking at home to make it worth going back any time soon. read more

Came in here for dinner with local coworkers after spending whole day working in the nearby chemical plant. Typical Italian dishes and really nothing stands out. I had chicken masala as the entree. We shared a few appetizers and a glass of house red. read more

Superb experience. Not just the exceptional service by Dominique but the award winning meals by Chef Randy McDonald and his staff. The ambiance was quite pleasing. The artwork by Dominique was very attractive and memorable and intriguing. Nice visit. Will recommend and return. Shirley Robinson read more

I hadn't been in since doing pickup meals during covid times, but I recently had a group birthday dinner here and it was great. To be honest, I was looking a trying one of the hot new restaurants downtown that I have on my list, but I had some friends coming that weren't very adventurous eaters and didn't want to break the bank on dinner. I decided I would look for something that worked for everyone regarding price, cuisine, and easy of access. Well who doesn't love reasonably priced Italian food with that's centrally located in town and has free parking?!? It was a Monday night so it was pretty quiet in there but made us feel like we had a private dining experience. Our server was great and made sure to course everything out slowly while one person was super late. The eggplant rollatini is a great starter and a since I couldn't decide between pizza and pasta, I ordered both and shared the pizza... delicious but often overlooked as a shareable appetizer. For my entree I had the Fettuccine with Pancetta and Peas and it was great as well. While I wouldn't say it's my favorite Italian restaurant around Charleston, it's a great option that fit the bill for this dinner. I'm glad it's back on my radar, because I think I'll consider it more often now. read more

Ristorante LIDI - Pizza - Italian Near Me - Daniel Island, South Carolina

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We headed here before a show we were seeing at the stadium nearby. This was super close and easy parking. We had made a reservation in advance to make sure we didn't have to worry. It wasn't busy when we got there on a Friday but it was also an early dinner time. Since it was early dinner, we were too hungry so we decided to split a salad and a pasta. They were so lovely to split them plate wise for us. We got complimentary bread with olive oil and balsamic to dip. Yum. Salad was basic - croutons extra crunchy. Good though! We got the bolognese. It was still a lot even though I only had half of the serving. I liked the pasta type used - chewy like gnocchi. read more

Ristorante LIDI - Half of Lidi Caesar Salad - Italian Near Me - Daniel Island, South Carolina

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On the positive, l like the new layout. Besides for that, bring back the old menu. Not much to select from on the new menu and no cannolis. In addition, the food portions were appetizer size, and left very hungry. Sad to say we won't be going back. We used to go once month. read more

My boyfriend and I are here in Charleston for a short work trip. We arrived in town hungry after our drive, so we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner. I made a reservation for 4:15PM. Upon our arrival, since the doors opened at 4PM, we did not end up really needing a reservation, but the host thanked us and told us it was a good idea since sometimes they get booked up fast! With that said, today, we were seated immediately. The ambiance is very casual which is great since we were in our road-trip attire: leggings, a sweatshirt, and sneakers for me, and shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers for my boyfriend. The decor is comforting. It feels very cute and family-like in here with the checkered tablecloths, lights, and wood-covered walls. Soon after being seated by the host, another staff member dropped off silverware and glasses of water for us. Quickly after, our server greeted us. I regret that his name has slipped my memory, but he is the gentleman with shaved head. He was an absolutely excellent server! He was very attentive without being overbearing and gave us the perfect amount of time to peruse the menu, order, bring our food, and top off our water. To drink, I ordered a glass of Malbec which I really enjoyed. The complimentary bread basket was also enjoyable. It came with a plate of olive oil and balsamic which of course we dipped our bread into. For our appetizer, we had the calamari which was absolutely perfect. My boyfriend especially has high standards for his calamari since he is a huge fan, and he loved LIDI's. The calamari here is breaded nicely and the marinara dipping sauce was addictive. If I didn't care about manners, I would've dipped my spoon into it and started eating it like a soup. Unfortunately, against my heart and stomach's wishes, I resisted. For our main meal, we shared the wild mushroom gnocchi and the white pizza. First, I took a bite of the gnocchi. The gnocchi was decadently soft, the asparagus had a nice crunch in contrast, the mushrooms were flavorful, and the sauce was delicious... so delicious that I kept dunking my pizza crust into it. Which brings us to the white pizza... the first thing I noticed was the sweet smell of garlic that hit my nose as I brought the slice up to my face. I am a believer that you can never have too much garlic, so I was in heaven. The bottom of the pizza stayed magically crunchy without any sogginess at all, the crust was crispy, the ricotta was creamy, the feta was tangy, the provolone was buttery, the spinach tricked me into feeling like I was at least caring a little bit about my health... Every element worked together so beautifully. As you can see from my review, the food is great, but it was the service and overall experience that brought it up to a 5 star rating. We felt so much happiness here. Hopefully we can return again soon. There are so many more things I want to try! Thank you! read more

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Jaded Service: Food - ok. Service at the bar - disappointing. Regular customers seem to get good service. If you are not a regular, you are out of luck. I was not told the specials, never checked on to see if the food was any good or did I want anything else, forgot to get the second drink after it was ordered and was late with the bill. Poor showing all around as far as service goes. read more

Pretty good good. Table not really clean when we sat down but was rectified quickly. Had to make a reservation and not many options but when we arrived there were very few people there eating. I got the eggplant which was good but needed more sauce and the eggplant a bit greasy. No one asked if we wanted another drink and water wasn't replenished. Not the typical experience we usually have here. read more

Ristorante LIDI - Eggplant parmigiana - Italian Near Me - Daniel Island, South Carolina

Disappointed. Menu in the restaurant completely different than what was on line. We were also notified that the menu is "tapas" or "small dish" style. He recommended we each get 3 dishes. Problem is $21- $25 per dish? That's approx. $75 per person. Tapas style at an Italian Restaurant? Super small portions? Sorry, this place is not good. read more

showed up on sunday at 4:30 all doors and lights were off both answering machine and door hours show that its open . unsure if its open on sunday or not. read more

One of the best happy hours in the Charleston area. The happy hour bar bites are decent proportions, especially the gnocchi and salads. The toasted raviolis, spinach salad and stuffed mushroom were my favorites. Mushroom was very flavorful. Had 5-6 bar bites and 2 glasses of wine each for $60 total. Service was quite slow which knocked it down a star. Will definitely be back. read more

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As an Italian who is obsessed with their own family recipes, this place is half decent. I learned to go for things without red sauce (besides their pizza) as it seemed to be lacking in salt and all fried items tasted the same, though I do have to say that the calamari was nice and tender and not rubbery. The spinach artichoke raviolis also passed the test. There is still more exploring to be done here for me as I love the ambiance and energy of this place! read more

Top notch food and service. Chicken Parm, fantastic! Bread and herb butter, fantastic! Lemon and shrimp linguine, fantastic! Berrimisu dessert, fantastic! Ask for Will, highly attentive and...fantastic! read more

It's been a while since we went there; however, we were disappointed with our most recent visit. My husband ordered the chicken parm and it said it was good. I ordered shrimp scampi & was very disappointed. The shrimp tasted rubbery and chewy. The scampy sauce was much too spicy. I asked them not to put the red pepper in it, but the translation was lost between the server and the cook. Service was horrible. Our waiter (not sure his name, but 50'ish y/o bald-headed & wore his glasses on top of his head) appeared to be very bored while taking our order and didn't respond we said "thank you" when bringing bread and water. While waiting for our dinner, mostly he stood at the bar putting his head down - very unprofessional! He brought our food and that was it! Never once checked back to if everything was ok, never checked to refill our water or fresh bread. There were two tables near by that were uncleared for over 30 minutes cleared - he finally came over and did clear them. We had to "flag him down" to get our bill. He brought it and although my husband left a 20% + tip, he did not say thank you, please come back, pleasure to serve you - - nothing just turned around and left. Sure glad we had water cups in our car, because Mr. Rude/neglect your patron certainly did not offer a refill. Given the prices, it is doubtful we will be back. read more

Great service, amazing happy hour, lots of choices and amazing drink specials. I would recommend getting a glass of red wine ($4, and it's good too!) then then a few orders of the sausage stuffed mushrooms, the crispy ravioli, a Caesar salad, and a pepperoni pizza...and if You have room the meat hall siders a bomb too. Cute outdoor patio and inviting bar area with high tops. If you on Daniel island check it out during the week between 4-7 read more

Ristorante LIDI - Pepperoni pizza is amazing. Thin crispy crust, flavorful sauce and delicious cheese blend - Italian Near Me - Daniel Island, South Carolina

I love the old school atmosphere and vibe of the bar area of Lidi. Feels very cozy, familiar, and festive. Happy Hour is M-F 4-7 and very popular. You can actually reserve bar seats! Service can be hit or miss but last night was great. Hostess had an attitude you had to get past and ignore...after that 5 star. Enjoyed our wine, garlicky mussels , fresh baked bread, bar pie, and split a shrimp scampi with gluten-free pasta sub. With tip we came out well under $100. read more

Ristorante LIDI - Bar Pie - Italian Near Me - Daniel Island, South Carolina

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Came in before our concert for a bite. Was not disappointed. Sat at the bar and Quentin was our bartender- he was an absolute pleasure. Personal, knowledgeable and quick. The food was great- the ravioli was to die for. The bucatini sauce (i subbed for gf penne) was amazing. The meatballs (not gf) were great. But to be honest..... the FOCACCIA BREADDDD..... i would come here every day for it i could read more

I said I would never go back to LIDI after several bad meals in the past, just nothing special. Recently took my family to try the new LIDI, well it still sucks. I mean for the prices they are charging, I'll make my own pasta dinner. No reason to give details, trust me the food is still bad. The chef I hear isn't even Italian, HELLO!!! read more

The newly remodeled Lidi's is fantastic! The decor is lovely but the service and food were outstanding. We started with the focaccia then indulged in a strawberry kale salad and for the mains of lasagne and swordfish which were both out of this world delicious. We were too full for desert but ordered one to go knowing that it will be outstanding as well if it compares to the rest of our meal. A must try on Daniel Island! read more