Two Charleston experts debate your top travel questions
Post any question on Tripadvisor’s Charleston forums and chances are you’ll hear from Justin May and Beth Thomae, aka @JTMAY and @Kiawahbeth. They’re two of our “Destination Experts” using their in-depth knowledge to help out their fellow travelers. May has worked in the city’s hospitality industry for 20 years while Thomae was introduced to Charleston 40 years ago and has been a resident for more than a decade. No doubt, their recommendations have helped countless visitors find the very best Charleston has to offer, all while avoiding potential pitfalls. With that in mind, we asked them to sit down with us and essentially do a Forum Q&A in real time, answering questions from our community of travelers. No surprise, most of our questions are about food. (This is Charleston after all.) Read on for their tips on everything from sunset cocktail spots to the city’s best fried chicken.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TRIPADVISOR: Here’s the first traveler question: “We’re celebrating the birthday of a total seafood lover. Where can we get a show-stopping meal with the wine to match?”
MAY: That's tough.
THOMAE: There are so many good ones…Charleston's a world-class food city, so you’ve got every price point, from $30 up to expensive seafood towers.
MAY: I would say Amen Street and 167 Raw. Amen Street is very approachable and has classic options, such as fried seafood platters with shrimp, oysters, and flounder. 167 Raw is an oyster bar, but it’s primarily known for its lobster rolls. They’re ridiculous.
THOMAE: What’s the restaurant in the bank building? Mike Lata’s place?
MAY: Ah, yes, The Ordinary. Oysters are its specialty, but it also has locally-sourced stone crab claws, which are delicious. The seafood towers are piled with oysters, clams, steamed shrimp, and you can upgrade to get snapper and tuna too. It’s worth the splurge.
THOMAE: The thing is, in this town, it doesn't necessarily have to be a seafood restaurant because all the best restaurants serve excellent seafood.
MAY: At the very least they're going to have the old standby shrimp and grits.
MAY: Pretty sure it's illegal to have a restaurant here and not serve shrimp and grits.
THOMAE: [Between upscale and casual] I always suggest Hank’s as a happy medium because it has fresh seafood for fairly reasonable prices. I like the broiled seafood platter, with shrimp, sea scallops, grouper, and coleslaw.
MAY: I agree with that. On King Street, there’s The Darling Oyster Bar. If you wanted to go to a dive, you could head to Bowens Island.
THOMAE: Bowens has changed a bit; it doesn’t have all the oyster shells in the parking lot anymore. But it’s a great place for the view, especially in the evening. It’s one of the few places in Charleston where you can watch the sunset while eating dinner.
TRIPADVISOR: I love it. OK, here’s a question I think will help a lot of travelers: "We’re hitting Charleston during the peak of summer. How can we go sightseeing so we’re not melting in the heat?"
THOMAE: Sightsee in the early morning, and go to air-conditioned places like the aquarium in the hot afternoon.
MAY: I enjoy the Charleston Museum because I'm more into dinosaurs than paintings. You could also do a sailboat tour, which I believe was Charleston’s number one attraction on Tripadvisor for a while.
TRIPADVISOR: Next question: “Cocktails are a thing in Charleston, but someone in our group doesn’t drink. What are some cocktail spots where the atmosphere is fun, whether you’re drinking or not? And any spots known for mocktails?”
MAY: The Watch Rooftop Kitchen & Spirits at the Restoration Hotel makes several different types of mocktails—try the Slowburn Margarita or the Lower Manhattan—and the view is excellent. There’s a “sunset hour” every day.
THOMAE: The Vendue rooftop serves mocktails, too.
MAY: Or The Citrus Club at The Dewberry.
THOMAE: My favorite place to take guests is the Market Pavilion Hotel’s rooftop bar. It’s more expensive, but nice for a drink. I love the Pavilion Punch (there’s rum in it though).
TRIPADVISOR: This one might spark a debate! “We’re plotting our dinners. We’ve heard about the usual fried-chicken spots—Leon’s and Glass Onion—but what’s the best of the best?”
THOMAE: I've had Glass Onion, but not Leon’s. Right now, my favorite spot downtown is Edmund’s Oast.
MAY: I don't disagree with that at all. There's a restaurant in North Charleston—and a new one that opened up under the same name in Hanahan, where I live—called Nigel's.
THOMAE: Back during COVID, a lady whose husband was a chef started a Facebook group called Lowcountry Eat Out. It blossomed into a helpful resource for finding little local places in different towns around the area, such as Hanahan, Hollywood, Summerville, Nexton.
TRIPADVISOR: Another one that might be a hot topic: “We’re brunch people. Who has the best brunch in the city?”
THOMAE: Millers All Day serves tasty food in an unpretentious, cheerful atmosphere. Everything I've ever eaten here has been good: quiche, fried bologna biscuit, and shrimp BLT.
MAY: I used to work at the hotel that was attached to High Cotton. I always loved the Sunday shift because I could eat High Cotton's brunch. When I was there, my favorite thing to order was the barbecue duck hashbrowns and eggs.
TRIPADVISOR: One last question, about the city’s history: “I’m surprising my husband with a weekend in Charleston. He’s a big American history buff. We only have time to visit one spot, Fort Sumter or Patriots Point Naval. Which one should we do?”
MAY: Patriots Point is decent, but if you're a history buff, limiting yourself to a day or two in Charleston is a mistake. Most cities up and down the eastern seaboard have history from Native Americans to the Colonial era and forward. My issue with Fort Sumter is that it was also active during the World Wars. So, it's not necessarily preserved the way a real Civil War site would be. I recommend doing a harbor cruise because you're going to go right near Fort Sumter as well as the USS Yorktown. Again, it depends on what type of history they want. Charleston Pirate Tours is a fun one as well.
THOMAE: In the last couple of years, several plantations, like McLeod, have started giving more information about the history of slavery. That is very important to Charleston and what happened here.
MAY: It's a very complicated history. They are trying to show a more accurate, realistic representation of that era, rather than the Gone with the Wind image. If you want a non-romanticized view of the South, you should read the Tripadvisor reviews of different plantations and see what rings true. McLeod leans into this part of the story; it has a whole section on its website that's dedicated to the enslaved people, including their names and genealogical research.
THOMAE: One of the museums that you can do in less than a half hour is the Old Slave Mart Museum, and that's not on most tourists’ radars.
MAY: The new International African American Museum is expected to open in June, as well.
TRIPADVISOR: Thanks so much for all your amazing answers! Do you have any last words of advice that you think would help visitors?
THOMAE: The biggest thing is don't come to town without dinner reservations. You need to book four to six weeks out.
MAY: You're going to put your hotel concierge through the wringer waiting until the last minute. If there's somewhere you know you want to go—you watched it on Food Network; you've heard all about Peninsula Grill; you saw Bobby Flay talking about the ultimate coconut cake—book it far in advance. If you’re coming to Charleston, the first thing you should do is book your hotel room, then your flight, then your meals. For example, most foodies want to eat at FIG, and if they can’t get a table, they’re going to leave disappointed. We don’t ever want that. We want you to enjoy yourself.
THOMAE: If you can figure out how to get into FIG, let me know. I haven't been there in so many years.
MAY: I think you need to bribe somebody to get into FIG these days. Maybe if you call the mayor. [laughs]