JINYA Ramen closes Charleston location
The ramen spot at 850 Morrison Drive has closed on Saturday. This was the second location in SC for the ramen chain, which has about 70 restaurants. The Charleston spot was opened in January 2025.
Mazal has a new menu item
The West Ashley restaurant has added Candy Wrap Kebabs – meat wrapped in a tortilla that is then grilled. The Mediterranean spot is located at 1901 Ashley River Rd.
Dive In Food and Spirits to open soon
The new neighborhood bar and restaurant is set to open within the next month at 525 Meeting St., the former home of Palace Hotel, which closed in 2025. Co-owned by Fitz Gaines, Lamar Bonaparte, and Tyler Wicker, the restaurant will serve lunch, dinner, and drinks, including house-made burgers, sandwiches, and duck confit fries.
Palmetto Pita opens in Charleston
The new spot at 141 Calhoun St. (across from Marion Square) is the sister restaurant of North Charleston's Istanbul Shish Kabob, owned by Emad Hammad. It serves build-your-own bowls, sandwiches, and wraps with shawarma, chicken kabob, or lamb kofta, plus scratch-made toppings. Seating is limited. Palmetto Pita is open 11 a.m. daily, with Friday and Saturday service until 3 a.m. The spot is closed on Mondays.
Krystle Brooks Jewelry brings hand-mined Herkimer diamonds to Charleston
Krystle and her niece Alayna have landed in Charleston with a family jewelry business built around Herkimer diamonds – rare quartz crystals hand-mined in upstate New York. Read more [...]
Mother’s Ruin opens on Friday
The NYC-based bar with locations in Nashville and Austin, opens April 24 at 474 King St., where The Rarebit operated for 13 years before closing in December. Named after the mid-18th century moniker for gin, the bar kept the space largely familiar and put the Rarebit Moscow Mule on its opening menu. Brunch runs until 4 p.m., with a smashburger, crispy chicken sandwich, French onion grilled cheese, and waffle fries available later. The kitchen stays open daily until 1:30 a.m. Hours are 11 a.m.–2 a.m. Monday–Friday and 10 a.m.–2 a.m. Saturday–Sunday.
Looking for restaurant recommendations?
Aaron Pennell, an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston School of Business, has launched TasteSignal.ai, a platform that uses AI to rank 240 Charleston restaurants across 16 dining categories based on critical reviews, crowd sentiment, trending data, consistency, and local relevance. Rankings are fact-checked, updated monthly, and include cited sources and confidence scores. April's top overall picks were Wild Common, Chubby Fish, Vern's, Malagón, and FIG. Pennell hopes to scale the platform to other markets and eventually build a mobile app.
V Modern opens today
The new Italian restaurant from European-based Fast Fine Restaurant Group, is opening today at 465 Meeting St., Suite 120 in downtown Charleston. The restaurant group, founded in 2017, operates venues across Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and brought its first U.S. location to Nashville last spring.
⚾️ 🍗
Life Raft Treats' Not Fried Chicken – an ice cream dessert disguised as a fried chicken drumstick – is coming to Yankee Stadium this season, along with Boston's TD Garden and other arenas to be announced. The Charleston-based company, founded in 2018 by James Beard Award semifinalist Cynthia Wong and her husband John David Harmon, landed the deal after Legends Hospitality spotted the dessert at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Not Fried Chicken is also available nationwide via Goldbelly and at Charleston restaurants including Chubby Fish.
Epic Hospitality to open new restaurant in Charleston
Lou Lou's Tavern on the Tracks is opening this spring at The Refinery development at 1640 Meeting Street Road, joining The Whale craft beer bar near the open-air music venue. The restaurant is owned by Dave and Chrissy Lorenz of Epic Hospitality, the couple behind Islander 71 and Mex 1 Coastal Cantina. Taking over the former Cleats space, Lou Lou's will offer a small-plates menu with vegetables, seafood, and land-based options including burgers, along with curated cocktails, kegged wine, and local craft beer. The concept is built around The Refinery's concert schedule, with ticket holders able to book dinner tables and move between the venue and restaurant. Weekends will feature a kid-friendly brunch and lunch. An opening date and full menu are expected in the coming weeks.
Parking lot used for Charleston RiverDogs and MUSC staff to be converted to affordable housing
The City of Charleston plans to replace a 1,200-space parking lot at Hagood Avenue and Fishburne Street with affordable housing as part of Project 3500, its initiative to add 3,500 units by 2032. The lot currently serves RiverDogs fans, Citadel event-goers, and MUSC commuters. The city says changes are at least a year out and is exploring options including a new parking structure, expanded transit, and underutilized downtown garages. The RiverDogs, who lease the lot for $155,000 annually, say they support the housing effort but called the potential loss of their primary parking a "significant challenge." [Post and Courier]
Annie Mae’s announces soft opening
The bakery at 185 Saint Philip Street will be open today, tomorrow, and Sunday from 8AM-2PM. The new establishment, which specializes in Southern savory and sweet treats, is owned by Annie and Jason Vieira, who have been selling breads and desserts in a commissary kitchen to Charleston restaurants for the last ~2 years.
Prophet Coffee to close downtown location
The coffee shop will close its downtown location at 194 Jackson St. in mid-late April, less than six months after opening. The owners, who debuted the cafe in October 2025, said the East Side spot didn't pan out the way they hoped. Their original Park Circle location at 4427 Spruill Ave. in North Charleston remains open. The downtown shop will operate limited hours (8 a.m.-1 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday) until it closes.
New app
The City of Charleston Recreation Department announced a new mobile app, which allows users to register for programs, camps, and athletics, book tee times and facility reservations, scan membership barcodes for pool and tennis center access, manage accounts and pay balances, and receive notifications about events and registration reminders. It can be downloaded by searching "City of Charleston Recreation" in any app store.
#15
Charleston ranked No. 15 on Travel + Tour World's 2026 list of the 50 best nightlife destinations in the Americas and Caribbean, beating out cities like Savannah and Cancun and joining the likes of Las Vegas, Miami, Toronto, and Nashville. The Upper King area, home to around 70 restaurants, bars, clubs, and cafés, can draw more than 50,000 after-dark visitors over a single weekend, according to a report by the Post and Courier.
New Italian spot is coming to Charleston
V Modern Italian, a new Italian restaurant from European-based Fast Fine Restaurant Group, is preparing for a spring opening at 465 Meeting St., Suite 120 in downtown Charleston's Greystar Corporate Headquarters building, taking over the space left by The Select, which closed in November after less than two years. The restaurant group, founded in 2017, operates venues across Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and brought its first U.S. location to Nashville last spring.
Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm switches to à la carte at Charleston Place
Daniel Humm, the three-Michelin-star chef behind Eleven Madison Park, is switching from a four-course tasting menu to an à la carte format at his Charleston Place residency, which opened last October in the former Charleston Grill space. Humm says the shift, launching March 4, lets his team better respond to seasonal local ingredients and makes the experience more accessible, whether guests want a few dishes or a longer meal. The new menu features items like a lobster roll, foie gras torchon, bibb lettuce salad, and "The Humm Dog" – an upscale hot dog with bacon, Gruyère, and celery-truffle relish. Reservations are available on Resy.
Bareo is now open
Bareo, a Filipino-Japanese restaurant owned by the owners of Kultura, is officially open. The new spot specializes in dumplings and kakigori, a shaved ice dessert.
Joyland closes
About a year after it opened in downtown Charleston, the burger joint by chef Sean Brock has closed. Joyland has 3 other locations in Nashville and Birmingham, AL.
Pizza a Modo Mio opens Clements Ferry location
The pizza spot announced the soft opening of its third location at 1937 Clements Ferry Rd. The location will be open from 7:00 am for coffee, bagels and egg sandwiches, and pizza will be available between 11 am - 8 pm.
