Charleston City Guide Part 2
Back again with the second part of the city guide! I decided to break down the beach activities we did into their own post, which will be coming next week. This one is just some restaurants and bars I went to, but there are so many great places to eat and drink down there, it’s hard to have a devoted post for all of them!
I also got a few questions from people asking where I stayed while I was there, and unfortunately, that is the one thing I don’t have a good recommendation for. We stayed in the dorms at the College of Charleston because it was a school-sponsored trip, but we had faculty stay at the Embassy Suites on King Street, and one person stayed at the Hilton Gardens right off of King Street, and they all enjoyed those spots! But there are so many places along King that it would not be hard to find a hotel.
Republic- this place is a nightclub, but we went on Sunday, and it was a very casual and chill crowd. I can see how it definitely gets rowdy on the weekends and probably gets very busy, but on a regular Sunday, we had some delicious drinks in a very cute patio setting. The overall vibe of the place is so fun, and it would definitely be a great stop on a night out. Drinks were very expensive, though, so something to keep in mind.
Reds Ice House- this was such a fun place in such a cool location! It’s located on Shem Creek, which is an area in Mount Pleasant right on the water with a bunch of different restaurants and bars you can easily walk to. The food and atmosphere are very pub-like, and this was the best margarita I had in all of Charleston. The best one was the prickly pear spicy marg, and it was truly *chef’s kiss*. The food was good, again, it was very much seafood with a pub vibe, and it was basic, but it was delicious and got the job done. We came here for happy hour once, and then a friend and I came here and got lunch. Even if the food is nothing extraordinary, the vibes are, and the margs are, and we saw dolphins in the creek, which is enough reason to go!
What you see when you walk into the restaurant.
The view from the patio.
Uptown Social- a perfect place to grab a drink! This is another place that turns into a club at night (I didn’t go, but I had friends who did and they had a lot of fun), but even not being at the club and just at the bar was a good time. The colors and style of the bar were so fun, they had a DJ, and even had some lawn games people were playing. The downstairs area is more sit-down restaurant, and then upstairs there is a rooftop bar/patio situation that we spent our time at. Good drinks, a bit pricy like all other bars, but nothing insane.
Coterie- a full outdoor patio with lots of plants and greenery everywhere! It’s such a cute place to grab a drink and work (we did this a few times), and Friday-Monday, it becomes a coffee shop called Idle Hands, which serves some of the best matcha I have ever had. I never ate here, so all I can speak to is the cocktails and the coffee/matcha beverages, both of which were delicious, and what a great place it was to spend a few hours and work or chat.
Holey City- the most important part of this shop is that they have gluten-free bagels! I repeat, they have gluten-free beagles!! This was the highlight of the food trip for me, and it was the least fancy meal I had the whole time. But the fact that this bagel shop had gluten-free bagels, 3 different kinds, mind you, and they stayed together when eating, is a true miracle. This is a bagel breakfast sandwich place that offered a wide variety of breakfast sandwiches, on a wide variety of bagels, and everyone who went loved what they got. I got a basic sausage, egg, and cheese on an everything gluten-free bagel and loved every minute of it. It is so rare to be able to get a gluten-free breakfast sandwich like this that I savored every moment of it.
Bodega- yet another place that is a chill lunch spot by day and a bar/nightclub by night. Not sure what Charleston’s fascination with this concept is, but here we are. We came here a few times and got snacks, and worked. Overall not bad, but this place was a bit overpriced for what you were getting. It was a very laid-back and casual feel, open patio, and garage doors that opened onto the patio, but prices that reflected a much higher-end dining situation. Again, didn’t make it to the bar/club version of this spot, but the lunch was a little overpriced for very average food.
Joyland- this was another gluten-free success! This is kind of a chain; they have 4 restraints in the south, but it was so good, I had to include it. Again, there are not many places like this that offer gluten-free options in a quick, almost fast food setting, and so this one gets major points for having not only gluten-free buns but separate gluten-free fries as well. They also offer a gluten-free fried chicken sandwich, which is also incredibly hard to come by unless you want to make it yourself! This place was overall so good, but the bun did fall apart on me while I was trying to eat it. Par for the course with gluten-free breads, but still a bummer when there are options now where they do not fall apart.
Alright, that’s it for the food and things I did in Charleston proper! As I mentioned, I am doing a separate beach guide to keep these posts from getting too long, so stay on the lookout for that next week!
Madey