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What to do at night in Charleston


tartanexile81
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We've got an overnight in Charleston on our cruise in a few weeks (from the UK) and we'd appreciate some advice on what to do in the evening. We're looking for a decent restaurant where it's fairly casual and with a bit of entertainment. Probably more $$ / $$$ than $$$$. We'd also like it to be within walking distance of the port. Any thoughts or recommendations please?

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We've got an overnight in Charleston on our cruise in a few weeks (from the UK) and we'd appreciate some advice on what to do in the evening. We're looking for a decent restaurant where it's fairly casual and with a bit of entertainment. Probably more $$ / $$$ than $$$$. We'd also like it to be within walking distance of the port. Any thoughts or recommendations please?

 

Charleston Grill, located inside the Charleston Place Hotel, has nightly jazz, and it's an easy walk from the port. However, while you'll probably see some casually-dressed people, it's considered one of the "nicer restaurants" so I'd plan on at least long pants and a collared shirt for men, and comparable dress for ladies. It is more $$$$ than $$/$$$.

 

 

 

https://www.charlestongrill.com/web/ochg/charleston_grill.jsp

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Thanks for your help and I looked at their website. Food looks great. However, our cruise line is very formal and we have to dress up every night so we were hoping to be more relaxed and maybe wear jeans and a top. Do you / does anybody know any place that might fit the bill?

 

 

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We met friends going on our cruise at Fleet Landing, right at the port: http://fleetlanding.net/. It was pretty casual and the food was very good.

 

TBonz is one of my favorite places, it's across from the market downtown.

 

The OP said in their original post, that they wanted a place that also offered entertainment. No entertainment at either TBonz or Fleet Landing that I'm aware of.

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Thank you. I use TripAdvisor a lot but unfortunately it doesn't actually say without lots of further delving whether or not there's entertainment as well so I thought I'd ask people "in the know". Sadly we can't do the carriage rides because my OH is severely allergic to horses

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The good thing is that the "downtown" area (also known as the peninsula) were the ships dock is relatively small. So most places are walking distance or a short cab ride. Check out the charlestoncitypaper.com they have sections for food, music arts and such that might be of help.

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We've been before so we kinda know the layout but the local newspaper sounds great so I'll check that out. It's really hard though isn't it? We want decent food at a reasonable price but with some lively entertainment and I think we may have set our expectations too high

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We've been before so we kinda know the layout but the local newspaper sounds great so I'll check that out. It's really hard though isn't it? We want decent food at a reasonable price but with some lively entertainment and I think we may have set our expectations too high

 

 

Eat at Husk even if only for lunch. Bourdain loves it and so do we. Their bar has the finest collection of Rye Whiskey I've ever seen.

 

 

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The menu IS the entertainment.

http://huskrestaurant.com/home/

 

 

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Thanks anyway. Though I'm sure the food is lovely we're used to fine dining at home / on our cruise so we're looking for something a bit livelier. Last time we were in town, we ate at SNOBS; the food was great but we just felt like we could be in a restaurant at home. Would love to go where it's more relaxed and we get the chance to chat to locals.

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It's really hard though isn't it? We want decent food at a reasonable price but with some lively entertainment and I think we may have set our expectations too high

 

Possibly. When an establishment offers entertainment, those entertainers need to be paid. That price is often found in the form of higher menu prices.

 

Lots of great restaurants downtown and most are casual. If the goal is to chat with locals, I would suggest that wherever you go, try to sit at the bar to dine, especially if the bar has a corner and you can sit on one side. Makes it easy to chat with folks on opposite you on the corner. For some reason, it always seems less intrusive to strike up and maintain a conversation with other bar patrons, as well as the bartender if they aren't busy, than with patrons at nearby tables.

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Possibly. When an establishment offers entertainment, those entertainers need to be paid. That price is often found in the form of higher menu prices.

 

Lots of great restaurants downtown and most are casual. If the goal is to chat with locals, I would suggest that wherever you go, try to sit at the bar to dine, especially if the bar has a corner and you can sit on one side. Makes it easy to chat with folks on opposite you on the corner. For some reason, it always seems less intrusive to strike up and maintain a conversation with other bar patrons, as well as the bartender if they aren't busy, than with patrons at nearby tables.

 

We don't mind the price at all actually. we just said a lower price to get away from the fine dining. We eat out regularly at home as we have lots of excellent restaurants in Edinburgh including Michelin stars etc. But our cruise line is very dressy and dinner is often a formal experience so when we get the chance to eat dinner ashore we like to be a bit more relaxed. I guess living in Scotland we're used to just striking up a conversation with the people closest to us - as we did last night!!

 

Thanks to you all for your help.

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Take a look at Tommy Condon's Irish Pub. http://tommycondons.com/

 

It's casual. Has a large bar area with tables too. There is entertainment so check out their calendar. Food is decent and fairly priced for downtown. It's a fun place only one block off South Market on Church Street. Easily within walking distance from the port.

 

You can also look at Henry's on North Market. It's got live jazz. http://www.henryshousecharleston.com/

Edited by ChucktownSteve
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Just had a quick look at these two ChucktownSteve and they look just the kind of lively place we're looking for. Our cruise is a long one (35 days) and Charleston is over 3 weeks into it so we'll have had enough of onboard formalities by the time we get to you. Charleston seems to be very well served by great eateries so thanks everybody for your help.

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