3 weeks Ago
Visitors and local diners are constantly asking me to name the Charleston area’s top waterfront eateries. It might come as a surprise, though, that no more than two dozen locally owned establishments are housed adjacent to the water. Even fewer serve food that can stand on its own without the surroundings.
The view matters, and these 10 Charleston-area establishments fit the bill. With oysters, fried fish and more, each one delivers the fresh seafood-focused fare people expect to find in Charleston, too. It’s hard to argue with an evening at Bowens Island Restaurant, minutes from Folly Beach.
Enjoy cold beer and fresh oysters picked daily from the waters surrounding the 13-acre island while watching the sunset. The James Beard Foundation American Classic pick is almost 80-years-old and an essential introduction to steamed oysters, but don’t expect white tablecloth service. At Bowens, piles of oysters are dumped onto half or full trays, and guests are handed oyster knives for self-shucking.
Enjoy Italian seafood inspired cuisine at chef Ken Vedrinski’s signature beachfront restaurant on Isle of Palms. Start the meal with a crudo or Prince Edward Island oysters and finish with fusilli with blue crab, ricotta gnudi, potato-crusted wreckfish and more. Six years after a fire destroyed the 3-week-old Boathouse on Ellis Creek, the restaurant’s owners opened Ellis Creek Fish Camp on the same site.
Offering sweeping views of Charleston, the James Island establishment serves hush puppies, whole fried okra, crab cakes sandwiches, shrimp and grits, grouper platters and more. Fleet Landing is owned by Tradd and Weesie Newton and is housed in a 1940s-era naval debarkation building. Visited by the likes of celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, Fleet Landing serves bivalves on the half shell with house-made cocktail sauce at its new oyster bar, which overlooks the Charleston Harbor.
Other options include shrimp and grits, whole fried flounder and blackened triggerfish. Island Cabana Bar overlooks Seabreeze Marina, Oct. 27, 2021, in Charleston.
Find Island Cabana Bar beyond the Morrison Yard development on the banks of Charleston Harbor. The walk from a gravel parking area to the waterfront eatery takes you past the headquarters of the Island Coastal Lager beer brand that owns the 2-year-old eatery. The square brick building once served as the county jail.
The sunny seaside setting joins a menu of fresh, simply prepared fish. Juicy blackened mahi mahi bites, buffalo fried oysters, conch fritters, a tuna salad and fish tacos can be split amongst a group. Grab a bucket of beer and walk down the long pier with a swath of pea-green marsh in view.
Gaze over the calm water at cars rushing across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, the iconic Patriots Point visible in the background. The experience won’t overwhelm your senses, and the food is far from complex.
But when asked about Charleston waterfront dining, this is what I believe diners are looking for. Morgan Creek Grill ended a 17-year run at the Isle of Palms site in 2019. The city leased the restaurant space to Isle of Palms residents Dave and Chrissy Lorenz and Jon Bushnell, who opened Islander 71 Fish House and Deck Bar at 80 41st Ave.
in May 2022. Dave Lorenz — who owns Mex 1 Coastal Cantina locations in West Ashley, Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island with his wife — wanted Islander 71 to remind guests of the 1970s, a simpler time before growth on the island started to skyrocket. The Lorenzes were both born in 1971, hence the “71” in the name.
Islander 71’s beverage and food programs offer the experience many diners seek out when they inquire about waterfront destinations — namely frozen drinks and an abundance Story continues below of seafood. Seafood headlines the entrée section, which includes flounder platters, a lobster roll, and shrimp and grits. Oysters, shrimp cocktails, ceviche and tuna poke make up the raw bar.
There are a few twists, too. Consider the she-crab fries, whose rosy topping graces a bed of battered french fries. More the consistency of sauce than soup, the crab crown is flecked with visible bits of sweet crustacean meat.
Marina Variety Store has been open for 64 years, serving three meals a day in a casual setting on Lockwood Boulevard in downtown Charleston. After snacking on house-made pimento cheese, fried green tomatoes and seafood platters, stroll downstairs to Salty Mike’s deck bar for views of the Ashley River. Four years ago, MOMO relocated from Goose Creek to North Charleston’s former Navy base in the Quarters L building, which once housed officers.
The new location was attractive to owners Justin and Iryna Moore because of its rare waterfront setting near the entrance to Riverfront Park. Alongside the views, Justin Moore is churning out ceviche, oyster sliders, shrimp and grits, smoked whitefish pâté and more. Christine Williamson (from left), Mia Breau, Marlo Greene, Tiffiny Kitchin and Clarice Cawood enjoy drinks on the patio overlooking the Wando River at The Kingstide on Daniel Island, March 31, 2021.
In 2021, Daniel Island gained its first waterfront restaurant, which is furnished with windowed dining rooms on two levels. The Kingstide is the second Daniel Island project from The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, owners of the Daniel Island Market and Eatery next door. At The Kingstide, the menu emphasizes seafood, delivered by executive chef Kevin Getzewich, who has helmed the kitchen from the start.
Diners can expect fish bologna sliders, seafood towers, scallops, crab agnolotti and more. Fred Scott and his wife, Patricia, opened the Wreck in 1991, naming the restaurant after the defiant ship that tore through Shem Creek during Hurricane Hugo. By then, Scott had already wrapped up a pair of professional stints as a poultry farmer and an attorney.
He decided to recreate the rustic shrimp shacks he patronized as a boy in Charleston, where his family relocated from Fort Worth, Texas, in the 1930s. An aroma of fish frying in peanut oil hangs over the restaurant’s entrance, near an open kitchen with young cooks grilling scallops and spooning she-crab soup. Paper-lined wooden tables face the water in the back, where fans are affixed to wooden beams, whirring away as chatter echoes throughout the screened-in space.
Paper menus flutter under small lamps on each table. Guests are handed Sharpies and asked to circle the items they would like. The page is full but many of the same words are used over and over again.
Shrimp — fried, grilled or broiled. Fried oysters. Shrimp and scallops.
Scallops and oysters. All that is to say the offering here is straightforward. I would hazard a guess that patrons like it that way.
The combination seafood platters come with red rice, coleslaw, a hush puppy and a fried hominy square. The menu promises an 8-ounce portion of fish — the bounty filling most paper plates surely exceeds that number more times than not..
