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Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Bartender at a local haunt in Charleston. Imagine your favorite dive bar. Patinaed wood, ripe for carving your initials.
Dim, diffused lighting. Maybe a few holiday light strings. Only a handful of tourists or college-aged adults mixed in with the regulars.
An emphasis on music, including live performances. Cheap food and drinks. Charleston has its share of dive bars, some storied, most with character – and most with characters.
The best are lived-in neighborhood hangouts. As regular bars and restaurants become increasingly expensive, city denizens continue to retreat into their tried-and-true spots. However, the point of difference for Charleston’s dive bars is that there’s more than PBR on the menu.
In fact, one can eat and drink really well if you know where to go. Charleston has a booming craft beer scene and many of the city’s and Southeast region’s local beers are stocked and sold, at affordable prices, at our grungiest hangouts. In Charleston, you can drink and eat well on a budget at these five resident-approved spots.
Interior bar at Gene's in Avondale. Gene’s Haufbrau , West Ashley, Avondale The oldest bar in Charleston also has the most extensive beer menu (drafts, cans, bottles), with roughly 150 selections. It also has a full bar and kitchen, with the latter delivering Sunday brunch, “blue-plate” specials on weekdays, and sizeable burgers to pair with pool, darts, and shooting the breeze.
Every night is a good night to be at Gene’s whether early for daily happy hour from 4 pm to 7 pm or late – also daily, until 2 am. What to Eat: Burger or Wiener Schnitzel The exterior of Moe's looks delightfully seedy. Less so inside.
Moe’s Crosstown Tavern , Downtown Charleston, Hampton Park Terrace The exterior of Moe’s belies its interior. If you’re vibe is as seedy as they come, you’ll likely be disappointed at the well-lit, tidy bar and restaurant inside. This decades-old Charleston institution, however, delivers on the promise of price and taste.
Open every day of the week and offering happy hours each weekday from 4 pm to 7 pm. Like Gene’s, Moe’s has scores of TVs, with at least 1 in every vantage point trained to sports, including Fox soccer, NFL Sunday Ticket, ESPN GamePlan, MLB, and NHL Center Ice. Moe’s takes pride in their kitchen, with several options around their pub-style burger, including a build-your-own.
What to Eat: Burger or BLT and wings The exterior of Lowlife reflects the breezy Caribbean vibe of this Folly Beach spot. Lowlife Bar , Folly Beach The name ‘lowlife’ rings with promise. However, this beach-adjacent, open-air bar has a breezy Caribbean vibe focused on excellent cocktails and live music.
The founders’ first bar, Mother’s Ruin, remains a beloved drinking den in Nolita, though the vibe is as urban and bustling as downtown Manhattan gets. Both pair a serious mixology program with equal attention to food. Lowlife’s thatch ceiling, wood tables with backless stools, and slushys (try the Erik Estrada for their spiced take on a Piña Colada) complete a laid-back, idyllic escape.
What to Eat: Shrimp roll, buttermilk fried chicken sandwich or crabcake sandwich. The burger at Big Gun. Big Gun Burger Shop & Bar , Downtown Charleston, Business District & Marion Square A dive bar built around a burger joint, Big Gun occupies a narrow red brick sleeve squished between a country music bar and a nightclub.
You’d miss it if you didn’t know where to look. Their burgers are consistently selected among the top in the city. Despite this focus, there’s enough variety for vegetarians including house-made cheese spreads (pimento or white cheddar jalapeno) as well as veggie burgers, vegan tacos, and fried Brussel sprouts.
On the drinks side, they offer several Sprecher sodas, roughly 10 craft beers, classic cocktails, and over two dozen whiskies. What to Eat: The burger, obviously. It’s outstanding.
Griffon Bar is covered in dollar bills. The Griffon , Downtown Charleston, French Quarter Adorned by tens of thousands of dollar bills, stapled by customers to the walls, posts, ceiling and other available surface areas over the past 3 decades, the Griffon interior is unforgettable to anyone who has stopped in for a drink or bite. In fact, the bills do more than served as cheap-expensive decoration.
Several thousands of bills were ‘harvested’ to pay for furloughed staff during the pandemic shutdown in 2020. The Griffon is also a bit unusual for a dive bar given its daily 8:30 pm closing time (6 pm on Sundays), but that’s still plenty of time to try their pub fare and enjoy a beer from their 16 taps. Eat: Fish & Chips Editorial Standards Forbes Accolades Join The Conversation One Community.
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