Cafe Fresca , SSP America

There are not many opportunities in the gate area at Charleston airport. I got the tomato and basil sandwich which was okay. Prices are in line with usual airport fare.

I stopped by here this past Monday morning for a coffee with my fiancé while flying back home. Not realizing how small the airport was after getting through the gate this seemed to be our only choice for coffee and so we went with it. I ended up getting a large coffee while the fiancé went with a small one. Both were reasonably priced and after giving our money to the cashier our cups were handed to us. We made our way over to a back counter where we filled the cups ourselves. The coffee that we ended up getting was not that great but it was passable. At least the service in getting it was decently friendly.
The bottom line for me is that I wouldn’t stop by here again for a cup of coffee if I could help it. Its not like you have a choice though when it comes to coffee but at least some of their food sounded appealing with the egg white panini with spinach and mushrooms catching my eye.

Boo. First, the girl in front of me tried to order breakfast at 10:15am and they said no, just lunch, too late for breakfast. Weird, it says that nowhere on the menu board, but whatever.
I ordered a sandwich, a mozzarella, tomato, basil sandwich on cibatta bread. They were in the case, so I thought it would be a grab and go situation. I should’ve known this place was weird when I saw that the sandwiches were made improperly, all of them, with the bread crusts facing the inside of the sandwich, the soft chewy parts facing the sky. I thought maybe it was just presentation, or a way to save the bread from getting soggy, until I received my sandwich that way. I actually received it hot off the panini press. When I inquired if that was indeed my sandwich on the press and found that it was I said I didn’t want it hot, I thought it was a cold sandwich. I was met with a very annoyed person who said, «what you want me to make you a different sandwich then» I was so shocked by this I just took the hot sandwich and walked away, but then I got pissed and went back and said I wanted a new one. They were super annoyed and yelled at me that all sandwiches are panini style and served hot. It doesn’t say this anywhere on the menu board fyi, and I’ve had cold mozz sandwiches from more airports than I can count. I explained to them that a. I don’t frequent that specific section, let alone any section of the airport in South Carolina, very often and b. how in god’s name would I ever know the policy and practices of a crappy restaurant when the food in question was listed as a sandwich, not a panini, and I don’t work there. Ugh. Also, the sandwich totally sucked. They are served with chips though, so that was nice.

Susan was also my bartender, and she was just as described in the review below — friendly and cheerful and gave great service, and she was probably the best part of the experience here. Really nice. While I was here, Miley Cyrus was doing something gross on TV and everyone at the bar was watching in horror and commenting on it — not as fun as watching a football game, but amusing.
The food was forgettable — I had a caprese style sandwich and some chips. The sandwich was kind of small and dry and not my favorite in the world. I also had several miller lites. The restaurant is kind of set up weird, and is almost part of the hall. As you go through security, you first see a little beer drinking hut on the right and then a small bar area that backs up into the hall (where I sat) and also a cash register area just past it where you can get food to go if you want.
I was pretty sad at first that I had to go on this side of security, as my favorite place, The Great American Bagel, is at the other gate that I usually go to. But this place was OK to sit around. Great American Bagel still has better food and a more enclosed area so you aren’t literally sitting in the hall. But this was just fine.

The name is SSP America
Charleston Intl Airport
843−767−7055
Café Fresca
Order 62
this was on February 27 2013 between 5:30 to 7:45 PM Eastern
again
visited on March 14 2013 — between 5:15 PM to 7:00 PM Eastern
Outstanding customer service by the people who were working there
I can remember one person based on the receipt– Susan who is very helpful, cheerful, have a great sense of humour. The other girl who was working on February 27 2013 — i have forgotten i wanted to write but it has been a month now i am not able to find the place where i have written the names.
Again on March 14 2013
The girl/​lady — Australian was very quick, able to manage multitasking and very good caring for customers.
I lost or forgot her name too
We need to appreciate such a good place for food, service, exemplary way of handling customers
Please ensure to pass this to publish such a nice restaurant inside Charleston airport
Thanks again
Sri