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.
18 spots
A family fish camp at the end of its own island road, founded in 1946. City Paper's Charleston Classics list says it grew from a grimy cinder block outpost into a place serving fried seafood, hushpuppies and cold local beer in an upstairs dining room, and tells readers to follow their nose downstairs to the all-you-can-eat oyster tables, where local oysters come by the shovelful. The paper also singles out the Frogmore stew. The restaurant's own site remembers the old room as an aging pile of cinder blocks and boards held up by layers of graffiti.
Charleston Crab House has been family-owned since 1991 and serves Lowcountry boils, crab legs and oysters. The James Island room looks over Wappoo Creek, which the site describes as 'sweeping views of Wappoo Creek and a relaxed, coastal vibe'. Its sister rooms are on Market Street and Shem Creek.
The Shem Creek room of Charleston Crab House, a family-owned local seafood group that dates itself to 1991 and also runs rooms on Market Street downtown and on Wappoo Creek on James Island. The group describes this one as a laid-back, no-fuss seafood spot right on the creek.
Fin & Crab is the upstairs restaurant at the City Marina that was the Marina Variety Store, a breakfast spot started in the 1960s by 'Big Mike' Altine. Cindy and James Capps, who own Rusty Hooks Dockside Grill in Southport, North Carolina, bought it in November 2025 and reopened on 23 January 2026. Much of the staff stayed, including longtime cook Earl Felder, whose pancakes are still on the menu. Booths were swapped for tables to open the water views. Salty Mike's, the dive bar downstairs, reopened the same day.
Fleet Landing sits on the harbor beside Waterfront Park and bills itself as Charleston's best waterfront dining and raw bar. The venue says it has been open for two decades. It reports three Post and Courier Charleston's Choice wins ... Best Downtown Restaurant, Best Waterfront Restaurant and a tie for Best Seafood Restaurant. The largest party it can seat is 10.
A marina restaurant on the Intracoastal Waterway. The venue calls itself family-friendly, with direct access by boat, weekly live music and sunsets. Explore Charleston lists yard games, kid-friendly trivia nights and a full kids menu; the Post and Courier mentions corn hole on the spacious patio and says to start with hushpuppies.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
Koko's is the tiki kitchen and bar at the foot of the Folly Beach Fishing Pier. It calls its food 'Follynesian' ... Folly's island mood with the flavors of Polynesia ... and books live music and Music Bingo. The careers page ties it to Avocet Hospitality.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
Justin and Iryna Moore's restaurant sits in an old Navy building beside Riverfront Park on the former base, looking over the Cooper River. The tourism office describes the house as a historic Panama-style home from the naval base years and says the kitchen buys from local fishermen and farmers. The patio has heaters and a fire pit facing the water.
A fresh seafood market on the bank of Shem Creek, run by the fourth generation of the same family and, by its own account, one of the oldest businesses in the Lowcountry at more than 80 years. It sells local catch over the counter and caters. The Post and Courier reported a structure fire there in 2024 and the family picking up afterwards.
A dockside beer-and-seafood spot on Shem Creek that calls itself 'a friendly spot to enjoy a cold beer & fresh seafood in a laid back setting', with views of the creek's wildlife and the sunset. It lists Best of Charleston wins going back to 2004, including Best Waterfront Bar and Best Outdoor Patio.
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 Crossing is the second-floor dining room of The Cooper, the new hotel beside Waterfront Park that opened its restaurants in 2026. Executive Chef Nick Dugan cooks what the hotel calls coastal Mediterranean cuisine with a Lowcountry twist, with harbor views and interiors by Meyer Davis. It serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.
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.
Charleston Magazine's dining guide tells readers to find this out-of-the-way dive behind the Shem Creek docks, and says it is named for a ship stranded on the same spot during Hurricane Hugo. The seafood is sourced fresh and the locals' orders are the deviled crab and the fried seafood platter. The restaurant has no private dining room; its outside patio rents to groups of 35 or fewer, and events and buyouts are only booked October through February.
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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