LOVE this place, it’s always a must when we’re visiting Charleston! Make sure you make your reservations in advance, it tends to book up pretty quick!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Oyster Bar, Crab Dip, Crab Legs
Craig Bromberg
Located on upper King Street, The Darling Oyster Bar is a hoping joint that you must make reservations if you want to get prime time seating, as it is clearly very popular with the locals. As you can imagine from the name, it’s a seafood heavy restaurant so be prepared. The atmosphere is fun and casual, a touch on the loud side but not off putting. Note there are two sections, the large more "happening" side with the bar, osyer shuckers, with multiple street facing windows and a smaller, dark wood lined room that is much quieter and intimate.For our meal we had the Fried Clam Strips (good but they used a sweet and sour sauce that reminded me of a General Tao's or Orange Beef sauce), Hushpuppies (delicious), Creole Shrimp (excellent...one of the best shrimp dishes we've ever had!) and, of course being in the south, a side of Grits (which I love).Service was great! Friendly and engaging with the meals brought out relatively quickly. Overall, a highlight of our visit to Charleston and strongly recommend it for seafood lovers. Enjoy!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ashlynn Anderson
We had dinner there a few weeks ago and it was delish! Our server, Molly, was exceptionally warm and helpful. She led us to the perfect choices and we couldn’t be more impressed! Can’t wait to go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Eileen Mayfield
Wish I lived closer so I could go everyday!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Geechie Boy Grits with Sweet Pepper Relish, Oyster Bar, Crab Cakes, Fresh Seafood, Fish, Crab Dip
Frank Sapienza
Great food great service highly
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Danny Brauns
Don't let name trick you, to me it seemed a bit odd but wow the food was amazing and the service was even better. Maybe the best Keylime Pie I have ever had. ?
We had such an incredible dinner at The Darling! Molly was our waitress and she was absolutely amazing. She made it such a great experience. All the seafood tasted fresh and great! Also, best key lime pie I’ve ever had in my life.
The food was so bad we ordered a variety of things and there were a few options that none of us could dare to have a second bite of. One of our guests has celiac disease. The waiter needed more training because he said everything on the menu was gluten free when that wasn’t true at all. It was overall not good, the kinda meal where you feel sick after.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Lacy Morton
We really appreciated the atmosphere of the Darling Oyster Bar. One of our favorite waitresses, Amy, moved to Charleston from our home town in the Upstate. We told her when we visited Charleston we’d be sure to come see her. So we did. The staff was very accommodating to our reservations to get into Amy’s section. We had the best experience, because Amy is simply the best. Lively, upbeat, attentive, and she makes us smile. We truly enjoyed our dinner at the Darling. Thanks Amy for being the best server ever!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Andrew
Came here to celebrate after hearing how beautiful the restaurant was and how great the food was. I had a reservation but our table was not in the restaurant that the pictures advertised on their website, we were sat in what appeared to be the overlay seating area behind the bar, that has no better of an atmosphere than what you would find at a Red Lobster. The shrimp cocktail was fresh.
Recommended dishes: Oyster Bar, Fresh Seafood, Fried
Joel Wamsley
We had dinner and drinks at the bar. Food was great. The bartenders were awesome. Friendly and gave great recommendations on food and drink. A definite stop when you go to Charleston.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Vladimir
Extensive selection of oysters.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Oyster Bar
Casey
It’s just so funny to me that one of the most celebrated places in such a foodie city was the worst meal I had there all week. You can skip it.
LOVE this place, it’s always a must when we’re visiting Charleston! Make sure you make your reservations in advance, it tends to book up pretty quick!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Oyster Bar, Crab Dip, Crab Legs
Located on upper King Street, The Darling Oyster Bar is a hoping joint that you must make reservations if you want to get prime time seating, as it is clearly very popular with the locals. As you can imagine from the name, it’s a seafood heavy restaurant so be prepared. The atmosphere is fun and casual, a touch on the loud side but not off putting. Note there are two sections, the large more "happening" side with the bar, osyer shuckers, with multiple street facing windows and a smaller, dark wood lined room that is much quieter and intimate.For our meal we had the Fried Clam Strips (good but they used a sweet and sour sauce that reminded me of a General Tao's or Orange Beef sauce), Hushpuppies (delicious), Creole Shrimp (excellent...one of the best shrimp dishes we've ever had!) and, of course being in the south, a side of Grits (which I love).Service was great! Friendly and engaging with the meals brought out relatively quickly. Overall, a highlight of our visit to Charleston and strongly recommend it for seafood lovers. Enjoy!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We had dinner there a few weeks ago and it was delish! Our server, Molly, was exceptionally warm and helpful. She led us to the perfect choices and we couldn’t be more impressed! Can’t wait to go back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wish I lived closer so I could go everyday!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Geechie Boy Grits with Sweet Pepper Relish, Oyster Bar, Crab Cakes, Fresh Seafood, Fish, Crab Dip
Great food great service highly
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Don't let name trick you, to me it seemed a bit odd but wow the food was amazing and the service was even better. Maybe the best Keylime Pie I have ever had. ?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Key Lime Pie, Fresh Seafood, Fish, Crab Dip
We had such an incredible dinner at The Darling! Molly was our waitress and she was absolutely amazing. She made it such a great experience. All the seafood tasted fresh and great! Also, best key lime pie I’ve ever had in my life.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Key Lime Pie, Oyster Bar, Seared Diver Scallops Half Portion, Fresh Seafood
The food was so bad we ordered a variety of things and there were a few options that none of us could dare to have a second bite of. One of our guests has celiac disease. The waiter needed more training because he said everything on the menu was gluten free when that wasn’t true at all. It was overall not good, the kinda meal where you feel sick after.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We really appreciated the atmosphere of the Darling Oyster Bar. One of our favorite waitresses, Amy, moved to Charleston from our home town in the Upstate. We told her when we visited Charleston we’d be sure to come see her. So we did. The staff was very accommodating to our reservations to get into Amy’s section. We had the best experience, because Amy is simply the best. Lively, upbeat, attentive, and she makes us smile. We truly enjoyed our dinner at the Darling. Thanks Amy for being the best server ever!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Came here to celebrate after hearing how beautiful the restaurant was and how great the food was. I had a reservation but our table was not in the restaurant that the pictures advertised on their website, we were sat in what appeared to be the overlay seating area behind the bar, that has no better of an atmosphere than what you would find at a Red Lobster. The shrimp cocktail was fresh.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 3
Service: 2
Restaurantji Recommends
Amazing and
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent. Food and drinks.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Oyster Bar, Fresh Seafood, Fried
We had dinner and drinks at the bar. Food was great. The bartenders were awesome. Friendly and gave great recommendations on food and drink. A definite stop when you go to Charleston.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Extensive selection of oysters.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Oyster Bar
It’s just so funny to me that one of the most celebrated places in such a foodie city was the worst meal I had there all week. You can skip it.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4