Hucks Low Country Table is upstairs, and Banana Cabana is on the ground floor, numerous other restaurants, bars and coffee shops are also nearby in the center of the town
Because Charleston so heavily influences the area around the city we’re going to group the next few posts under Charleston’s banner. In doing so we’ll be posting a few Charleston photos with each post, mostly because there are so many. We visited Charleston while staying in Isle of Palms, went on to spend several days in Charleston and stopped again on the way back. Did I mention we think Charleston is in our humble opinion - probably one of the best cities in the world? If you’ve never been – go, if you’ve been – go back.
IOP’s dining venues were interesting ranging from the upscale and very good Hucks Low Country Table to the horrendous Banana Cabana (breakfast) where the food and the service competed for worst. Coconut Joes was not particularly good but at least can’t compete with Banana Cabana for worst of the worst. The slow moving apparently deaf servers and mindless hostess at Coconut Joes had passable pub grub – I suppose if they ever get the order right, but does look like a good beach place to have a drink. I mean, how hard could it be to pull a draft – and the barmaid was by far the most talented and aware employee in the place. She observed and picked up the slack of the server and the dense hostess. Another indication of skilled restaurant management is the fact that Google has the wrong URL for Coconut Joes (it's biz not com) and apparently nobody has thought to correct that, incredible really. I had a drink at the Acme Cantina which was right across the street from the Ocean Inn, it was crowded and all seemed to be enjoying the food and conversations with bar patrons indicated so. Acme Cantina has an under construction website but they do provide a link to their Facebook fan site. These restaurant/bars and Sea Biscuit, known for its southern breakfasts (where long lines indicated we should have gone for breakfast) were all within a couple of blocks from the Ocean Inn. The best we personally experienced was Hucks Low Country Table, very good, albeit a little expensive – but given the real estate and the well prepared dishes I guess that is to be expected. On a Saturday it was quite crowded but we were there early enough to get seats at the bar, the area of which became sort of a drinking & holding area for those waiting for tables and creating almost a party atmosphere. Our general impression was that it was the place to see and be seen in IOP; more than a few “Masters of the Universe”. The food was good and creative but possibly they try a little too hard to make it special and cover up some of the flavors rather than compliment and meld them. Good but a smidgen off.
There are other options on the island we didn’t try but heard good things about them. In a retrospective skimming of IOP restaurant reviews our two biggest regrets are that we did not check reviews beforehand. Several, such as the Morgan Creek Grill which is situated on the intracoastal side of the island a little north of the downtown area; and the Boathouse at Breach Inlet which overlooks the inlet between IOP and Sullivans Island look perfect with water views and a great dock type atmosphere. The Morgan Creek Grill had some spotty reviews but most were good. The Boathouse at Breach Inlet – also a dock type atmosphere, with generally good reviews – especially from Open Table a review we trust over others (boathouserestaurants.com).
Another very interesting place (not a restaurant) was Island Time Beach Shop, where local art, bike rentals and other at the beach essentials can be found along with good advice on where and what to do. Located across from Sea Biscuit in the center of town.
Isle of Palms is a great place to be, we’re guessing that it’s packed during high season but it was very easy to get around in fall (but note you still need to make some reservations unless you are like us – we always figure out something).
Some of the promised Charleston photos, and yes - I took way too many - but it's just a stunning city with a surprise behind every door and gate. Click on photos to expand.
Of course Charleston has the obligatory horse or mule driven trolley tours.... but if you can walk, by all means do so - it's the only way to catch all the details and hidden treasures.
The gardens are just magnificent, resplendent with native plants and flowers, mature trees, brick walks, iron work, masonry and stone walls - all just so perfect.
We called it the "skinny house" and imagined all the strange things that could go on along with the strange people...
Typical intersection and street view, and we mean typical, this place is so charming it hurts
The new and exclusive meets the old and exclusive
There are no "bad alleys" in Charleston, every opening, every brick is a place for design, garden, aesthetics - there really is no other place like it.
Many of the homes face the gardens on what would normally be the side of the house, the front "street" doors uniquely open to the porch "as a presentation entrance", this is relatively common, especially south of Broad.
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