How to Reserve a Seat at Charleston’s Hottest Restaurants

Yes, we have strong opinions about dining in this beautiful Holy City, and I cross my heart this is not a complete list of all the delicious and tough-to-get-into restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina, the city I’ve happily called home for the past thirteen years. What follows: tips for snagging a table at a handful of recent award winners, personal favorite spots, places where the manager answered my emails and calls for insider details, and restaurants I often hear visitors ask about—or comment on the lines around their respective blocks.

This seafood haven on King Street does not take reservations and stays slammed with walk-ins. “Once the restaurant is at 100 percent capacity inside, we begin to generate a waitlist with a name, phone number, and party size,” says general manager Greg Mest. “The good news is, you need just one person in your party to come down and sign up on the waitlist.”

Timing tip: “Tuesday is the slowest day, and Monday night tends to be a bit slower,” Mest says. “Friday lunch begins to get busy around 12:30, but if you come before noon, you can generally walk right in. On the weekends, I recommend coming by around 5:40 to add your name to a waitlist to ensure a spot between 7:00 and 8:30.”

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Photo: Gabriela Gomez-Misserian

Grilled oysters with crab fat curry and cashews.

If you’ve heard about restaurants that are hard to get into in Charleston, the 38-seat Chubby Fish is quite likely the example given. Known not just for its fun wine list and inventive seafood menu, Chubby Fish famously does not take reservations until the day of, once open. Its massive queue along Coming Street has even inspired a start-up economy of college kids and neighbors who take payment to line-sit and book a table for diners.

“The official policy,” says chef-owner James London, “is you show up and get in line, and at 5:00 we’re going to open the doors and seat the whole restaurant, or you put your name down and you can basically say we’d love something around 7:30, 8:00, or 9:00, and we fill those slots out and you come back for dinner that night. We try to accommodate every single person who is in that line, and we’ve done that since day one for eight years.” The system helps ensure the restaurant always serves two hundred guests each night. If London did the standard reservation system with a fifteen-minute grace period between bookings, he says he’d be losing a huge portion of covers each night. Now, from the time a group pays and leaves, it takes just three minutes for the team to clean and sanitize the table and the next guests to sit down. He also notes that there are plenty of cancellations throughout the night, and walk-ups often get lucky and snag a bar seat, especially after 8:00.

In late 2024, London opened an adjacent cocktail bar called Seahorse that has helped with overflow in a few ways. “Now we have this patio where we can seat an additional roughly sixteen people, which is massive for us,” he says. “When the weather is nice, we can use it as a flex space and offer the Chubby Fish menu there.” But the Seahorse menu itself is worth a look if Chubby Fish is totally booked—with a cocktail lineup that includes Japanese whisky highballs and six or seven rotating bites each night, you can absolutely make a meal at the sister spot and then try again for a seat at the O.G. the next night.

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Photo: courtesy of the ordinary

The oyster bar at the Ordinary.

Chef Mike Lata is still the king of local-ingredient-forward dining in Charleston with his two landmark restaurants. If you’re planning ahead, both FIG and the Ordinary open their books twenty-eight days in advance at noon via phone, on their websites, and on Resy. It’s worth stopping by to check for bar seats at either spot, or calling the restaurants, which are staffed with James Beard Award–winning hospitality pros. “If you come in or call and can be flexible with your plans, we will do our utmost to get you seated and served,” says Morgan Calcote, operations coordinator. “If reservations don’t pan out and you can’t snag a last-minute booking from the Notify list (Resy’s alert system), come by. We manage in-service waitlists at both restaurants.” And no worries if you don’t land an actual dining-room table—“the bars at both FIG and the Ordinary are some of the most convivial dining spaces in the city,” Calcote says. “The patio at the Ordinary is a gem too. Hard to beat alfresco oysters and seafood on a nice evening.”

Photo: PETER FRANK EDWARDS

The bar at FIG.

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Reservations open up thirty days in advance on Resy, and dinner spots book up quickly at this Spanish standout that was recently awarded a Michelin star. But do as the Spaniards do and aim for the 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. range between lunch and dinner for a glass of wine, olives, and the spectacularly tender octopus. Or keep with another Spanish tradition: late-night bites. “People will come in for dessert toward the end of the night,” says manager Aynsley Barnett. “Maybe they had a reservation at our sister restaurant, Chez Nous, and then come here for our Basque cheesecake. With the bar seats and standing bar, everyone can squeeze in here.”

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Photo: lindsey shorter

Roast chicken at Merci.

With just twenty-six seats, this teensy European-inspired restaurant is one of downtown’s most coveted reservations. And the exclusive vibes don’t stop once you’re booked: Just as soon as you’re seated, the server will advise you to order the beef Wellington if you’re interested, because the kitchen preps a limited number each day and always sells out. Merci opens its reservations on Resy seven days in advance at 9:30 a.m. (e.g., next Wednesday’s dinner tables will open this Wednesday morning). It’s tough to snag a walk-in seat, but one is sometimes possible at 4:00 p.m., says executive chef and co-owner Michael Zentner. And although the restaurant can’t promise to accommodate every request, he says, “emailing far enough in advance can work, if you give us some time to get to it,” he says. “If you write a really nice message, say it’s your anniversary or a special birthday and you’re coming to town, a lot of restaurants, including us, will try to make it work for you.”

Photo: Sophia Barham

Outside Merci on Pitt Street.

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Photo: courtesy of sorelle

Arancini with royal saffron and Caciocavallo cheese.

Even though this high-end Italian spot spans three floors, tables fill up fast. “Official reservations at Sorelle are handled through two main channels: Guests can book directly on our website, or connect with our ResCom team by phone during business hours,” says general manager Dario Vigil. A few tips: “The bar stools are always first-come, first-served and open to walk-ins. A great time to arrive is during aperitivo around 5:00 p.m. Another sweet spot is between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m., when some guests who started with drinks at the bar transition into the dining room—if you’re quick, some of the best seats open up then.”

Photo: courtesy of sorelle

The round bar at Sorelle.

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Photo: lizzy rollins

Roast spring chicken with brown butter jus.

Vern’s recently awarded Michelin star only affirmed what we locals know: This modern American bistro is doing everything right. (My husband and my standard order: the bitter lettuces salad, sourdough, whatever entree’s on special, and the seasonal granita.) To book a spot, I set an alert on Resy for a few time frames—maybe a random Thursday, and both a Saturday and Sunday night—and see what we land.

“We usually see some space pop up online when our confirmations are sent out—the day before at 4:00 p.m.—or right before the cutoff time of noon on the same day,” says Bethany Heinze, who co-owns Vern’s with her husband, Dano. And don’t be intimidated by the restaurant’s small footprint—regulars have plenty of luck walking in and snagging a canceled table or a seat at the friendly bar. “The bar is walk-in only and we definitely recommend arriving early, since it only has seven seats,” Heinze says. “Once the bar fills up, we start a waitlist and will text in order of arrival as space opens up throughout the night.”

Photo: lizzy rollins

Vern’s dining room.

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Photo: courtesy of wild common

A dinner spread at Wild Common.

This sunlit neighborhood fave spans a small dining room and chef’s counter, with a tasting menu of local seafood and veggies—and it was also recently honored with a Michelin star. “Our restaurant is very small. We seat on the hour and only seat twelve guests each hour, so being flexible with dates and times will give you the best possibility of getting a reservation,” says general manager Emily McCandless. “Reservations become available thirty days in advance at midnight on Resy.” The Notify list helps here, too, for updates when someone cancels and a slot opens up. An additional tip from McCandless: “Thursdays seem to be the day of the week that has lesser demand.”

Photo: talia cirillo

Wild Common’s bar.