Where we eat when we are down here.
Myrtle Beach runs on all-you-can-eat seafood, but there is more to it than that. Here is the short list.
Where to start the day, nearest to the condo first.
Sea Captain's House
A 1930s beach house that became a restaurant in 1962, and every table has the Atlantic in the window. Crab cake Benedict and a crabmeat, shrimp and feta omelette on the breakfast menu. The closest of these to the condo, and you can walk it up the beach on a nice morning.
3002 N Ocean Blvd, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Johnny D's Waffles and Benedicts
The waffles are the point: classic, cinnamon roll, banana split. The Benedicts are the other half of the name and just as good. Chef-owned rather than a chain, and busy enough on a weekend morning that it is worth going early.
3301 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Eggs Up Grill
The dependable one. A long menu of omelettes, benedicts and pancakes, quick service, and easy with children who want something plain while everyone else orders properly.
1289 38th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Croissants Bistro & Bakery
A real bakery as well as a brunch room, running since 1995. Pastries, fresh-roasted coffee and mimosas, and a calmer room than a pancake house. Worth the drive if you want brunch rather than breakfast.
8014 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29572
Calabash-style seafood is the local institution. Come hungry.
Pirate's Table Calabash Seafood Buffet
One of the biggest buffets on the strand: crab legs, prime rib and a wall of Calabash-fried seafood. In season there are pirates and mermaids swimming in a 10,000-gallon pool while you eat. Worth the drive with children.
1100 Water Ave, Surfside Beach, SC 29575
The Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood
The one that introduced the Grand Strand to Calabash-style seafood nearly forty years ago. Over 170 items including all-you-can-eat crab legs, in a huge nautical dining room built around a ship.
9593 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29572
Seafood World Calabash Seafood & Steak Buffet
The closest of the big buffets to the condo. More than 120 items: snow crab, broiled and fried seafood, steaks and a long dessert line.
411 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Captain George's Seafood
Running since the late seventies, and the most upscale room of the bunch. Over seventy items on the buffet, with table service for drinks.
1401 29th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
A few places we keep going back to.
Cafe Old Vienna
A proper Austrian and German restaurant run since 1997 by Werner and Martina Horvath, who are Austrian themselves. Wiener schnitzel, sauerbraten, rouladen, spaetzle and a beer garden, then apple strudel or Black Forest cake. The closest good dinner to the condo, and a real change of pace from fried shrimp.
1604 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
The MarshWalk at Murrells Inlet
Eight restaurants along a half-mile boardwalk over the marsh. Wahoo’s for shrimp and grits, Drunken Jack’s for the pirate room, Bovine’s for wood-fired steak and pizza, Neptune for the raw bar. Most have live music and a deck facing the sunset.
MarshWalk, Murrells Inlet, SC 29576
Two oceanfront rooms with live music, both a short walk south.
Tin Roof
Third floor of the BLVD building, looking straight out over the Boardwalk and the ocean. Live music almost every night: acoustic sets over dinner, then local and touring bands later, with a DJ on the rooftop patio at the weekend. Bar food done properly, and the closest place to the condo for a night out that does not need the car.
1410 N Ocean Blvd, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
RipTydz Oceanfront Grille & Rooftop Bar
Three floors and 500 seats on the Boardwalk, topped by a rooftop bar with the best view on this stretch of beach. Raw bar, lobster rolls, Dungeness crab and prime steaks, plus live music and a DJ. Go up for sunset even if you only want a drink.
1210 N Ocean Blvd, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
The local beer scene is better than the beach-town reputation.
Grand Strand Brewing
A small independent brewery with a taproom and outdoor seating, and the easiest one to reach from the condo. Seasonal and experimental beers alongside the regulars.
819 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Voodoo Brewing Co.
Veteran-owned brewpub with rotating hop-forward IPAs and stouts alongside scratch-made pub food: burgers, nachos, pretzels and a proper kids’ menu. Ask about Voodoo Love Child, a Belgian tripel aged on sour cherries, raspberries and passion fruit. Easy to fold into a Broadway afternoon.
1318 Celebrity Cir Unit CS8, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
New South Brewing
Brewing small batches here since 1998, which makes it the elder statesman of Myrtle Beach beer. The taproom is where the seasonal and one-off brews turn up.
1109 Campbell St, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Tidal Creek Brewhouse
More than a dozen house beers on tap, plus fresh-roasted coffee in the morning, hard seltzer and cocktails. Open from breakfast onward, so it works at almost any hour.
3421 Knoles St, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Crooked Hammock Brewery
Half beach bar, half backyard, with a big outdoor area of lawn games and fire pits, a full family menu, and enough beer to justify the drive. The most to do with children in tow.
4924 Hwy 17 S, North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
A note on the buffets
The big Calabash buffets are busiest between six and eight in the evening in summer, and most of them do not take reservations. Going early, or after eight, is the difference between walking in and waiting an hour.