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.
21 spots
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.
The restaurant of the Charleston Harbor Resort at Patriots Point. Every table looks across the harbor to the Charleston skyline, the USS Yorktown and the marina, and the Bridge Bar on the roof is the sunset perch. The kitchen is a member of the Good Catch program and says it sources locally and responsibly.
Costa is a coastal Italian restaurant on the ground floor of The Jasper at the west end of Broad Street. It is part of Easton Porter Group, which also owns Zero George. Dinner only, Tuesday through Sunday.
Chef Frank Kline owns and runs Grace & Grit, which he opened in August 2017. The kitchen works from local seafood and produce, and its calling card is the Grit Flight, a sampler of the house grits. Tables sit inside or under the oaks on a dog-friendly patio.
High Cotton is a Lowcountry dining room on East Bay Street with live music in the bar, weekend brunch and private dining rooms. The bar opens at 4pm every day.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
Leon's opened in early 2014 in a converted auto body shop on upper King Street, per The Post and Courier; the venue calls it a former garage. It comes from Brooks Reitz and Tim Mink, the team behind Melfi's and Little Jack's Tavern. The house list is fried chicken, oysters, salads, cheap beer, soft serve, rosé on tap, frozen gin and tonics and grower champagne. City Paper prints the full name as Leon's Fine Poultry & Oysters. It was named a Bib Gourmand in the inaugural MICHELIN Guide American South on 3 November 2025.
Chef Nico Romo's oyster and seafood room beside Shem Creek, the first of the Nico Romo Hospitality Group rooms that now include Bistronomy by Nico and Laura's. The week runs on rituals: half-price oysters on Monday, an oyster class on Wednesday, Wine & Brine on Saturday afternoon. Its press page lists Charleston City Paper's Best Mount Pleasant Restaurant for 2023 and 2024.
A family owned and run Southern restaurant on Coleman Boulevard serving breakfast, lunch, supper and weekend brunch, walk-ins only. Its signature is Ashleigh's Shrimp & Grits, which the restaurant says has been voted Best Shrimp & Grits ten years running. The family has since opened a second restaurant in Summerville's Nexton and runs a food truck in Moncks Corner.
A restaurant and small inn in Mount Pleasant's Old Village that calls itself a coastal tavern. The building at 101 Pitt Street went up in 1896 and was for 16 years the Old Village Post House, which closed in February 2019. Kate and Ben Towill of Basic Projects redesigned it and reopened it as Post House in August 2020, moving the dining room to the back and turning the bar to face Pitt Street. Indigo Road Hospitality Group, the Charleston-born group, bought the restaurant in March 2025. City Paper's Summer 2026 Top 50 points to the raw bar, fresh pastas, a local seafood massaman curry and Anson Mills cornbread.
The newest room in the sector, open by late September 2026 on the roof of Storehouse Nine at Navy Yard Charleston, the redevelopment of the naval base that closed in 1996. It belongs to Charleston's Indigo Road Hospitality Group, the people behind Oak Steakhouse, Indaco and O-Ku. Executive chef Sean McMullen came from Luminosa in Asheville and cooks coastal Italian ... crudo, head-on shrimp, handmade pasta, whole fish, pizza ... with the Cooper River in view.
Saint Urban's is a 350 square foot wine, cheese and cocktail bar on I'On Square that opened in July 2023, run by partners Warren Johnson, the cheesemonger, and Chad Besenfelder. City Paper profiled it in September 2026 for a dirty martini made with Spanish Perelló olives, French bread pizza on Tuesdays and a Wednesday night called Weenies + Tinis.
A seafood and barbecue house on the Shem Creek docks, opened in 2017 by Wade Boals, Brett Yearout and Joel Olindo. Wade is the son of Ronnie Boals, who opened R.B.'s Seafood Restaurant next door in 1985 and was one of the people who turned the creek into a place to eat; the menu still carries the Boals Family Crab Dip and a coconut cake. The restaurant closed from 5 to 12 January 2026 for its first major renovation, with a food window called The Wagon serving at the Mill Street entrance in the meantime. It has a Gazebo Bar and prints a dog treat menu.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
A Shem Creek bar and restaurant pairing Lowcountry classics with sushi, with weekly live music on the water. It stands where Ronnie Boals opened R.B.'s Seafood Restaurant in 1985, according to the history page of Saltwater Cowboys next door. The contact address points to Bottlecap Group. Mount Pleasant Magazine still lists it under its earlier name, Sunsets Waterfront Dining.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
A Shem Creek restaurant with an indoor bar and a waterfront dock bar, owned by Andy Palmer and Jeff Condon; the site credits Dianne and Cecil Crowley as co-founders and Denis Crutchfield as executive chef. Live music plays on the creek Friday and Saturday from 6 to 9 pm, and the T&T Room seats up to 32 for private dinners.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
A seafood house at the foot of the Breach Inlet bridge, family-owned since 1997. The restaurant says it pioneered a focus on fresh local seafood when it opened, and the daily fish comes grilled, broiled, blackened or roasted. Upstairs is a rooftop bar; the screened Waterfront Deck looks over the inlet, the marsh and the sunset. Sundays are seafood boils.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
The Establishment opened in May 2018 in the James Gregorie House, built around 1791 and named for the Scottish merchant who lived there. Executive chef Elliott Howells has been in the kitchen since opening and took the top job in 2021; he came to Charleston in 2002 and trained at the French Culinary Institute, per Charleston Wine + Food. The menu centers on sustainably sourced seafood and changes daily. The house has two dining rooms, a wine cellar, two private rooms and a chef's counter on an open kitchen, plus live music on Saturday nights. It is Recommended in the inaugural MICHELIN Guide American South.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
The Indigo Road group's restaurant at the Daniel Island Waterfront, next door to The Dime. Indigo Road is the Charleston-born group behind rooms such as Post House in Mount Pleasant.
The second Longboard ... the first opened on 1 May 2015 in Cruz Bay on St. John in the US Virgin Islands. The Sullivan's Island room is a hybrid of that original and its sister restaurant The Easterly on St. Thomas: seafood-led, with a raw bar, weekend brunch and Caribbean-leaning cocktails.
The Ordinary opened in 2012 as the seafood sister of FIG and describes itself as fancy seafood. City Paper calls it an upscale oyster hall with house-smoked oysters and local fish. From 4pm to 5pm oyster sliders are half price.
An oyster-led neighborhood restaurant inside I'On Village, with indoor and outdoor tables. The daily menu is posted on Instagram rather than printed on the site. The homepage carries a line of praise from the food writer Michael Ruhlman.
A Shem Creek seafood restaurant on Shrimp Boat Lane with an outdoor bar on the lower level facing the creek. Sunday opens with a brunch buffet from 10 to 2.
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