Charleston HDJ Review - Faithy's Corner Cafe

"Location, location, location" is the most common advice given to businesses. A great location can definitely help a restaurant overcome shortcomings, especially in a downtown business district. Faithy's has an ideal location, sitting on the corner of Summers Street and Brawley Walkway, halfway between downtown and the Town Center Mall. Serving basic lunch fare, it's been there for many years and has stood the test of time. With all of the hot dog competition it faces in the downtown area - most notably from Swiftwater Cafe and Super Weenie - one would think it's hot dogs must be at least passable.

We decided to find out.

 First, kudos to Faithy for wrapping up her hot dogs in wax paper. By the time I carried them back to my office they were soft and supple, just like a WV hot dog should be. Opening up the paper, it was clear that these were Utilitarian Dogs through and through: Built for taste, not for show. The heft of the dog was nice and all of the ingredients were wonderfully combined.

Sadly, "everything" on a hot dog at Faithy's includes ketchup. I didn't realize this and didn't ask them to delete it from my hot dog, so I tried my best to ignore the sugary tomato past taste and ate around it where I could. I found that Faithy's chili is fairly decent, with a strong chili powder flavor but not much spice. The slaw was too chunky, but the taste was OK, and it went well with the chili. The weenie was fine and the onions were reasonably chopped, but could have been a little smaller.

Overall,we can't say anything bad (except the ketchup) about Faithy's hot dogs. Clearly they are "also rans" to the two aforementioned HDJs, but nothing to apologize for. We'll give them 3.5 Weenies.