The Bluffton food cheat sheet
The dish to eat
A fried, grilled, or blackened grouper fillet with sautéed onions, mushrooms, and melted cheese on a brioche bun.
Best at Captain Woody's Seafood Bar, Old Town Bluffton / Promenade. Get: The grouper melt, a fan favorite for over 35 years
Five places, and what to order
- The Cottage Café, Bakery & Tea Roombakery/breakfast · Calhoun Street, Old TownGet: Southern-style breakfast plate or afternoon tea with baked goods, in the 1868 cottage
- Toomer's Bluffton Seafood Houseseafood house · Dr Mellichamp DrGet: She crab soup and blackened flounder, straight from the May River
- FARM Blufftonfarm-to-table restaurant · May River Road, Old TownGet: Seasonal tasting menu built around local fishermen and farmers' catch of the day
- Bluffton BBQbarbecue joint · near Old TownGet: Rack of ribs from pork slow-cooked for 12 hours
- May River Grillcasual seafood counter · BlufftonGet: Daufuskie-style crab cakes or the scallops meunière
The market
open-air weekly market · Martin Family Park, Old Town Bluffton. Local produce, seafood, she-crab soup, crab cakes, and fried oysters from prepared-food ve
The line worth it
Get: Biscuits and gravy bowl or the famous cinnamon roll
Expect: 10-15 minutes, longer on Saturday mornings. Beat it: Sign the paper waitlist outside and they'll come get you.
How it works here
Tip: Tip 18-22% at sit-down restaurants, a dollar or two a drink at the bar.
Book: Book the hot places on Resy or OpenTable, often the day tables drop (2-4 weeks out); counters and slices are walk-in.
When locals eat: Lunch noon-2pm, dinner 6-9pm; it gets late only in the big cities.