5 Best Restaurants in Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, South Carolina

The windowed porch overlooking the ocean houses the best seats at this nautical-themed restaurant in a 1930s beach cottage (unless it's a perfect spring or fall day to sit outside in the ocean breeze). Menu highlights include sautéed crab cakes and jambalaya; it's the rare Myrtle Beach seafood restaurant that offers vegetarian and gluten-free menus. The fireplace inside the wood-panel dining room is a warm welcome on cool off-season evenings. Breads and desserts are baked on the premises; save room for a slice of cheesecake du jour.

Come here for the justifiably famous key lime pie and red velvet cake, both of which are available whole or by the slice. Kudzu is also a great source for ready-to-cook specialties, such as cheese biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and quiche.

Though it might look the part, this isn't a greasy spoon: the luncheonette dishes up great fried chicken, homemade biscuits, and pie, plus grits, eggs, country ham, and other breakfast favorites. Join the regulars at the counter, or sit in one of the booths or café tables in the 1920s storefront building.