167 Raw moved from a tiny room at 289 East Bay Street, now 167 Sushi Bar, to a long narrow 19th century building on King Street with original brick walls and a walnut bar. It takes no reservations. City Paper readers voted it Best Oysters and Best Raw Bar in 2026, and on r/Charleston the tuna burger is the dish people name.
167 Sushi Bar is the sushi and yakitori room from the 167 Raw group, in the East Bay Street storefront where 167 Raw itself began before moving to King Street.
39 Rue de Jean is a French cafe, brasserie and bar on John Street just off Upper King, with exposed brick, a patio and a private room upstairs. Explore Charleston reported in spring 2026 that it was marking its 25th anniversary with themed wine dinners and expanded lunch. It belongs to Holy City Hospitality, a Charleston group, and City Paper readers voted it Best French in 2026.
82 Queen is the Lowcountry restaurant on Queen Street that City Paper readers voted Best She-Crab Soup in 2026. The top answer in a r/Charleston she-crab soup thread agrees. Opinion on the rest is split: it is offered as the most Charleston restaurant in one thread, and in the same thread a commenter says it is not as good as its reputation.
BellyUp! Charleston / Over 50
Good places to eat and drink in Charleston, minus the nightclubs. When a spot gets loud later or draws a lot of kids, the card tells you.
13 spots
Fauzia Garner and her brother Mirwais Haris opened this in summer 2025 because the Charleston area had nowhere cooking the food of their home country. The dining room has about a dozen tables and serves mantu, the meat-filled dumplings, and bolani, flatbread stuffed with spinach and potato, along with kebabs. The venue says every dish is prepared to halal standards. A market beside it sells clothing, goods and groceries.
Weems Pennington taught himself to make ramen about five years ago, went to Japan in 2025 to study it, and opened this ramen bar on Reynolds Avenue in December 2025 with Sharon Brown as general manager. There are four bowls ... shoyu, shoyu lite, miso and a vegetable ramen on fennel and shiitake broth ... plus karaage three ways and korokke. Cocktails are named after albums. It serves food until 12:30am, walk-ins only, behind a bright green mural near King BBQ.
Open late. Go earlier if you want a calmer room.
Coast calls itself a small, family owned craft brewery on an old Navy base, making beer with organic and local ingredients. The taproom has a full bar and kitchen and opens Thursday to Sunday.
Nathan and Chasity Brown opened the Reynolds Avenue shop on 1 January 2021, and Charleston City Paper included them that spring in a piece on Black restaurant owners, where Chasity said a lot of people in the community had stopped by. The bakery makes cakes, cupcakes, cake pops and cookies from scratch. It is a graduate of Lowcountry Local First's Community Business Academy and is listed in that directory as women-owned and minority-owned.
A coffee bar and vintage clothing shop in the back of Reynolds Laundry, opened in June 2025 by Tyler and Kennedy Troyer, who moved from Boone, North Carolina to join their friends Erin and Jon Carpenter, the laundromat's owners. The laundromat was on The Kelly Clarkson Show in April 2025. Drinks include a strawberry shortcake latte and a pistachio matcha, some poured into cowboy boot glasses, with Counter Culture beans.
Joey Sakran moved from upstate New York in 2008, spent nearly two decades at Boeing, and retired to open the pizzeria he had wanted, with his daughter Rebecca, in December 2025. It sells New York slices and 14 to 18 inch pies, garlic knots, fried ravioli and meatballs from a family recipe. His brother Jason Sakran co-owns Bon Banh Mi and served on Charleston City Council. It is in the Shoppes at Montague Corners.
The venue calls it 'Chinatown BBQ made with Southern Smoke': Chinese roasted and chopped meats given what it calls a gentle smoke. Owners Shuai and Corrie Wang also run Jackrabbit Filly; the venue says a fire closed King four months after it opened and that Shuai was then cast on Top Chef season 22. Wang means King in Chinese, which is where the name comes from. The venue lists Bon Appetit's Best New Restaurants 2024. Counter service, first come first served. It says it has no high chairs but a few booster seats. Wood species not stated; not whole hog.
Chef Raul Sanchez has cooked around Charleston for more than 15 years, including at R. Kitchen. In February 2026 he moved Maya del Sol from Reynolds Avenue near the old naval base to a space behind The Starlight Motor Inn on Rivers Avenue, with a handful of tables and a long chef's counter facing an open kitchen. Lunch is tacos, burritos and daily specials ... at night there are two seatings of a five-course menu built on family recipes, with occasional Indian and Chinese dinners. Charleston City Paper keeps it in its Top 50.
A family-owned soul food room on Dorchester Road. The city's tourism office says the family moved here after closing their downtown Charleston restaurant because of rising rent, and that the kitchen cooks soul food and Gullah dishes ... okra soup, seafood platters, bread pudding. The venue lists fried shrimp, catfish dinners, ribs with red rice and mac and cheese. The Local Palate called it a meat-and-three stop on a Black Food Fridays tour in 2022.
Dat and Phuong Nguyen both left Vietnam, met in Belgium at a Vietnamese New Year celebration in 1986, and came to the United States in 2007. Dat worked at H&L Asian Market and opened Pho #1 inside it before the couple moved into their own room on Rivers Avenue in 2012, in the former Raul's Taqueria. When The Post and Courier profiled them in 2022 the menu ran to 79 dishes, all under $13 ... pho, banh xeo, egg rolls and bun.
A lunch-only barbecue counter that calls itself the home of the Super Pig and also claims the best cheeseburgers in town. The tourism office describes it as family owned, serving barbecue, hash, potato salad and onion rings. It is open five days a week and closes at three.
Striped Pig has been distilling since 2013 and describes itself as a woman-owned, family-run distillery. The tasting room serves specialty cocktails, tours run Wednesday to Friday afternoons, and Ghost Monkey Brewery pours beer on the same site.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
Owners Shawn and Gabriella have more than 25 years in restaurants between them ... Shawn managed Bennett's Calabash Seafood in Myrtle Beach for 15 years. The room is bright and tropical, the sauces are made in house, and Charleston City Paper's 2017 taco crawl sent people here for taco cecina, salted dried beef. It has grown into a small local group with rooms in Summerville.
The same over 50 spots, sorted by the reasons people actually pick them.
Recommendations from real Charlestonians, always attributed to whoever wrote them.
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