The Resy Hit List: Where In Charleston You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

The latest venture from Kultura, Bareo, too, captures the contagious energy of co-owner chef Nikko Cagalanan, a 2024 James Beard Emerging Chef finalist. When the first restaurant he and his wife, Paula Kramer, run together moved up the street, they flipped the space into an entirely new bustling urban watering hole, which opened in February 2026. Expect seafood onigiri (filled rice balls) and hand rolls, dumplings, and more. If you haven’t seen it already, the kakigori piles high shaved ice with flavors like coconut and pandan in a very delicious (and Instagrammable) treat that is an homage to Japanese influences in Cagalanan’s native Philippines. Beverages lean tropical with herbal undertones, like the Golden Hour, which promises Arnold Palmer, but with green tea — offered with an optional aperitif lift from Cocchi Americano. 

Walk into Sushi-Wa and you’re in the hands of generous chef-owners Kazu Murakami and Chris Schoedler, who offer a sushi experience unlike anywhere else in Charleston. Five nights a week, Sushi-Wa serves just a handful of guests some of the best sushi in town, omakase style — a traditional Japanese chef’s choice format. Murakami and Schoedler make the tough decisions for you, though enticing (and worthwhile) upgrades will be up for grabs, like A5 wagyu nigiri. Bar offerings focus on sake, with large and small-format bottles. Again, let Kazu and Chris be your guides. 

Even with its national profile, the low-key digs of this Cannonborough-Elliottborough spot don’t immediately telegraph how epic chef-owner Dano Heinze’s menu can be — serving up offerings you didn’t even know you needed in your rotation. Dishes include snails, fresh crudo, a simple-but-rewarding steak, and handmade pastas like gnocchetti. And that classic but inventive approach extends to the wine list, curated by Dano’s wife and business partner, Bethany. What gives? The couple spent time in famed Charleston locales like the now-defunct McCrady’s before a California sojourn that wound them back east to Charleston. That bicoastal experience has helped shape Vern’s well-deserved reputation, and made it a local gem.

Virginia’s has been serving up Southern eats on King Street for 20+ years with the same welcoming hospitality as its namesake — the matriarch of the owners, the Bennett family. Brunch and lunch are available seven days a week, which means you’ll have your pick of biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, Benedicts, burgers, and more. Or stop by Thursday through Sunday for a proper supper, with stellar fried chicken, shrimp and grits, she crab soup, and more. Brunch cocktails like Rise & Shine offer coffee (hot or cold!) mixed with smooth Carolina Cream liqueur. Be sure to check out the family’s other spots nearby, including Camellias at Hotel Bennett, Coast Bar & Grill, and 39 Rue de Jean. 

Open three meals a day at The Dunlin, one of the Charleston area’s newest resorts, you’ll find Carolina crab Benedict in the a.m., burgers and egg salad around lunchtime, and cornmeal catfish for dinner. A short drive from downtown on Johns Island, Linnette’s overlooks the picturesque Kiawah River, an idyllic setting for a rum swizzle or the house “Lazy Man’s” old fashioned, made with local High Wire Distilling’s Jimmy Red bourbon.

Chef Jason Stanhope became captain of Sullivan’s Fish Camp just before summer 2025, taking over the popular island spot that nods to workaday seafood outposts tucked along creeks and rivers throughout the Carolinas during the pre-war era. But this is Sullivan’s Island, so things will be stepped up a notch. We’re talking snappy starters like beet carpaccio and clam and fish chowder, perfectly crispy shrimp, or a knockout fish sandwich. Of note, Stanhope earned a James Beard nod for FIG in 2015 and opened Lowland in 2023. Those bona fides add a few flourishes to throwback fish camp. For example, South Carolina-ground corn meal forms the crust of pillowy hushpuppies, fried fish, and shrimp.

The New York Times really just confirmed what Charlestonians have known for some time when it named Chubby Fish among its 50 best American restaurants. No reservations at this Elliottborough hot spot at the corner of Coming and Bogard streets; visitors instead queue up to enter starting at 5 p.m., choosing to hang nearby or step next door to Seahorse, the team’s newest addition, a teeny cocktail and seafood bar. Inside the main event, diners choose from staples like slider-sized caviar sandwiches, seasonal local seafood delivered daily, and even housemade pastas. This is all to say: You really can’t go wrong with anything plucked from chef-owner James London and chef Carlos Paredes’ menus. Drinks? They’ll bring them to you on the sidewalk while you wait or gladly replenish your A+ chilled selection at the table. 

Find more info here.

Chef Alex Eaton leans on experience and local purveyors as the culinary director for La Cave and its sister restaurant, Felix Cocktails et Cuisine. With comfortable dishes that offer a chance to settle in, La Cave serves up classics and inventive treats, from boeuf en croute to caviar profiteroles. Try new tastes like Provençal Tarvin shrimp, bouillabaisse, or raclette atop short rib burger patties (a Felix import). Or pick a creative riff on a go-to like duck confit gnocchi, filet mignon tartine, or poulet rouge. You know the wine list is lengthy (with plenty of bubbles), and being tied to Félix, the cocktails will be on point — like the Jean de Florette, with vodka, Lillet rose, fig syrup, passion fruit, and lime over crushed ice.

In a town full of great food, the local conversation about traditional S.C. barbecue could begin and end with Rodney Scott. (And that’s not to knock the acolytes of delicious mustard-based offerings.) Pitmaster Scott imported his family’s whole-hog craft from Hemingway, S.C., to the Holy City in 2017, smoking pigs on pits steps from King Street in downtown Charleston. (He’s now up to six locations across the South.) Pulled pork mopped in Scott’s vinegar-based sauce is the name of the game, characteristic of its eastern Carolina roots. But Scott’s smoked chicken and turkey as well as his ribs are also A+. And it’s a barbecue joint, so you know the sides are key: hushpuppies, mac, baked beans, and more. Pro tip: Grab a bag of pork skins at the register. You’ll be back for more.

Find more info here.

The Cooper hotel’s opening marks one of the most high-profile openings on the Charleston shoreline in a generation, with The Crossing nestled inside, ready for diners in the second-story dining room overlooking the river. Executive chef Nick Dugan has crafted a three-meals-a-day menu stocked with Mediterranean-influenced knockouts, starting with morning shakshouka and ending with octopus, fresh local catch, and Colorado lamb chops with chermoula and couscous. Beverage director Cameron Nadler, formerly of New York’s Polo Bar, pairs seafood-driven offerings with thoughtful cocktails like the Battery Rose Margarita, with reposado Tequila, hibiscus, rose, and citrus. If The Crossing’s introduction is anything like sister restaurant Sorelle, you’ll enjoy an impressive dining and hospitality experience that diners are growing to expect from Charleston’s blockbuster new additions.

These companion whiskey bars have grown to be lively gathering places to enjoy, yes, hundreds of different bourbons and bourbon-adjacent cocktails like the Rx Bandit, with Monkey Shoulder Scotch, carbonated carrot, ginger, and fennel juice, lemon, and honey. Or peruse the 200+ bottles up for grabs, including a number of bottled-in-bond selections, and you may find a few bucket-list options if you happen to walk in on the right day. Check the menu for spot-on burgers and sandwiches, not to mention some of the best crispy fries in town, served with béarnaise sauce.

Find more info here.

Renowned chef Daniel Humm continues his yearlong residency at The Charleston Place, pivoting to a new a la carte format this spring. New tasting menu additions include fried chicken, and the bacon-wrapped “Humm Dog” with celery-truffle relish, served in griddled brioche. Starting in April, the pop-up will host a number of collaborations with visiting chefs. Announced guests include Sean Brock (formerly Husk Charleston and McCrady’s), James London (Chubby Fish), Dano Heinze (Husk Charleston), and Michelle Weaver, who retired in 2024 from the Charleston Place kitchen after a generation.

The newest location of the wildly popular market first launched in the Park Circle neighborhood of North Charleston opened its doors in downtown Summerville in January 2026. A 25-minute drive from the O.G., Flowertown’s Odd Duck set up shop in a c. 1873 Victorian house, giving it a decidedly homey feel — the perfect pairing for OD’s comforting lattes and breakfast sammies. But it doesn’t stop with sandwiches and fresh pastries, Odd Duck stocks a slew of local and hard-to-find goodies like Sarah’s Dumps, Edisto Gold honey, and more. Be sure to check the specials board for seasonal offerings, and don’t forget to grab a bottle of wine or six-pack of local brews to take home.

Find more info here.

Sprung from its original home downtown, Minero has established itself on Johns Island, serving tacos, chargrilled wings, and cocktails you didn’t even know you were craving. Be sure to start with the wings, cooked over fire and shaken in a brown paper bag to douse them with Valentina hot sauce. True to the restaurant’s foundation, Minero is still pressing its own corn and flour tortillas, ready to be filled with chicken smothered with rich, red mole coloradito; pork al pastor with avocado puree, and more. Margaritas come a half-dozen ways: classic, mezcal, top-shelf, using blanco Tequila and pineapple, and frozen among the selections.

Chef Mike Lata showcases the freshest seafood, mostly pulled from Charleston waterways, at this King Street seafood hall. Sidle up to the marble bar or grab a Resy with a friend and take your pick from oysters farmed in the Carolinas or delicate preparations of fresh-caught bluefin tuna, snapper, triggerfish, and more. Can’t decide? It’s time for a seafood tower, which is pretty much what it sounds like: tiers of select seafood from the raw bar with all the fixins (that’d be lemon, cocktail sauce, and mignonette — housemade vinegar dressing perfect for briny oysters).