Restaurants and Bars

When it comes to food, Myrtle Beach's tastes are fairly basic. You will find a variety of restaurants, but seafood and steak prevail.

Three things you'll come across repeatedly in South Carolina restaurants are grits, hush puppies and iced tea. Grits are made from corn ground to a thick, creamy consistency and are served with butter. You won't see grits very often at any meal other than breakfast. Hush puppies are small, deep-fried balls of cornmeal, reminiscent of plain donuts. They are served in a lot of the family-style, less expensive seafood restaurants as soon as you sit down at the table. Most restaurants serve 'bottomless glasses' of iced tea all year-round, but you need to specify sweet or unsweetened.

Seafood

Fresh shrimp, oysters, flounder and catfish caught from local waters are always available. One style of seafood you'll often see advertised is Calabash Seafood. Named for the small fishing village on the North-South Carolina border, the four fish are usually fried and inexpensive. Capt. Bennett's Calabash Seafood in Myrtle Beach on Restaurant Row and in three other locations is popular with families. Children ages 3-5 eat for USD2.95, and children under age three eat free. Its seafood buffet offers a huge variety of fish as well as beef and poultry. Kids under age 5 eat free. The Sea Captain's House Restaurant is another award-winning restaurant worth visiting. Open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it offers a wonderful variety of unique fish dishes as well as poultry, steak and pork. Enjoy a wonderful meal and a beautiful ocean vista at the same time. Steak

South Carolinians love their steak. Almost every restaurant serves steak even though it is advertised as seafood or other type of restaurant.

When you order one of the delicious, large steaks at the very popular Carolina Roadhouse Restaurant & Bar on King's Highway in Myrtle Beach, be sure to order a salad as well. The honey mustard-hot bacon house dressing is outstanding as are the croissants, which come with it.

The Yamato Steak House of Japan cooks your food right in front of you at your Hibachi table. It offers steak, seafood and chicken and Sushi bars.

Italian

There are quite a few Italian restaurants scattered up and down the Grand Strand. Chianti South Italian Restaurant in North Myrtle Beach has some of the best homemade pasta and an extensive award-winning wine list. Near Restaurant Row in the Galleria is Rossi's, a large Italian restaurant. Even though prices are in the average range, the food is excellent and the service superb. After dinner, you can listen to piano music in the Eighty-Eights piano bar until 2a.

Themed Restaurants

For a truly unique experience, be sure to try Medieval Times or Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede dinner and show combinations. Be transported back to the 11th century at Medieval Times. This spectacular show features Andalusian Stallions, incredible horsemanship and jousting tournaments. Oh yes, and dinner is included. Dixie Stampede includes a four-course meal and an impressive show with 32 horses, trick riding, comedy, and buckboard and ostrich racing. The finale is a stirring patriotic number.

If race cars are more your speed, then the NASCAR Cafe is probably right up your alley. Absolutely everything is race car themed. For example, booths are called 'pits;' appetizers are called 'Qualifying Lap;' and drinks are called 'Liquid Fuel.' You get the idea. There is a race car museum on the grounds, race car go-carts, and a gift shop where you can purchase NASCAR-certified race wear. Family and Children

The Spring House Family Restaurant in North Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is inexpensive and has a large children's menu.

Upscale

Myrtle Beach is a very informal place. You very rarely need to dress up in more than shorts or slacks and a t-shirt or golf shirt. That doesn't mean, though, that there are not some nice upscale restaurants where you can experience very fine dining. Examples are The Brentwood Restaurant and The Parson's Table in North Myrtle Beach, Greg Norman's Australian Grille at Barefoot Landing, and Cagney's and Thoroughbred's in Restaurant Row. Each is expensive, but the unique menus and elegant decors are worthy of a special occasion.

Other For the sports enthusiast, try the Overtime Sports Cafe in North Myrtle Beach. They have a general menu and TV screens everywhere so that you can watch more than one sport at a time. It tends to be loud as whooping and hollering fans route for their favorite teams.

The Horst Gasthaus is one of two German restaurants in Myrtle Beach. Enjoy authentic German food and join the sing-along—when your mouth isn't full, that is.