katzen

Hello,
My husband, 20 month old and I will be in Charleston beginning next week for 6 days/7 nights. I'd like to celebrate Father's day while we are there (surprising my husband). We are visting many of the sites during the week so I think a nice dinner would be nice. We have a 20 month old so it would more than likely have to be at a place that isn't too formal and we'd be eating an 'early' dinner.

I've been reading Fodors, Trip Advisor, Charleston's website, books, etc on restaurants but thought I'd check with the members on Fodors for a special place. My husband likes any type of food - soul food, crab legs, steak, etc - more casual dining would be preferred - we aren't really into the 'fancy' dining.

Or if there are any day trips, outings, adventures that maybe the locals know about - i'd be interested in those as well.

Thank you for your help!!

Summer7

Gotta love Charleston. We are from the upstate,but we love trips there.Restaurants that we enjoy are The Boathouse, Magnolia's, Blossom's or Hank's. There are many many more great ones. Please don't do too many chains. (Nothing wrong with that,but as my 6 year old grand daughter says,"Don't eat where you can eat at home!" Take some kind of tour of the city either by horse drawn carriage or walking. It is a lovely and historical city. There is an aquarium there and an IMax theater.
Sometime it gets really hot. Enjoy

PalmettoGirl

You will love Charleston! Bring bug spray as the gnats can get intense. There are so many great places to eat, it really is a food lovers paradise. On the peninsula, there are Hanks or the SouthEnd Brewery (more casual). If you don't mind going off the peninsula, there are some great places over in Mt. Pleasant. The Shem Creek Inn is casual and has great food. A friend of mine who is a local eats there regularly. A FANTASTIC brunch place is the Hominy Grill near the medical school. Enjoy your trip!

katzen

Thank you Summer7 and PalmettoGirl. We are very excited to go and are planning on visiting the aquarium, plantions, some of the historic houses, Patriots Point, carriage tour, beach, etc. My husband grew up in Alabama and we now live near DC so he is looking forward to some good southern cooking!

GoTravel

I would suggest the following:

SNOB
Hanks
Poogans Porch
Jestine's Kitchen
Magnolias
High Cotton

You can eat anywhere in town just about with your 20 month old but I would go early.

I don't know where you are staying but the Doubletree and Andrew Pinckney have the best deal on suites.

bachslunch

Liked SNOB the best of all the Charleston restaurants I went to. Bessinger's BBQ was pretty good. Was not much fond of Jestine's.

katzen

GoTravel - thank you for the list of restaurants. We are actually staying at the Andrew Pinckney but in one of their value rooms - not the suite. This ought to be interesting with the 20 month old!

bachslunch - thank you for your post - we love BBQ so I will have to check out Bessinger's BBQ - it's the first time i've heard of this place. Sticky Fingers seems to come up often on a few of the sites I've been researching.

GoTravel

See if you can upgrade when you arrive. Spoleto is over so rooms should be reasonable. The Value rooms are inside rooms with no exterior wall windows. There is a window out to the inside landing that has a indirect sunlight from a skylight.

It is still a nice room.

katzen

Thank you GoTravel. I'll check to see about an upgrade when we arrive. I didn't realize the rooms were situated like that. I was happy to get a rate of $146 a night sun-thurs and then $199 on sat and friday.