Best Seafood in My Business Directory

Grab a stool at the bar and watch the shuckers work through the day's haul, prying open briny half shells to order. It is a New England style oyster bar in the middle of downtown, pulling from coastal traditions up and down the map, from the Lowcountry around Charleston to the Gulf and New Orleans. Oysters come raw on the half shell or grilled under NOLA garlic butter, and the menu runs coast to coast from there: peel and eat shrimp, fried oyster po'boys, clam chowder, smoked fish dip, and lobster rolls done both ways, Connecticut warm in butter or Maine cool in mayo. Real lobster rolls are hard to find this far inland, which is a good part of why people make the drive. The room sits right behind Soby's, its Table 301 sister restaurant, in a restored building whose name nods to the Jones Furniture Company that once filled it. It runs walk in only, with no reservations, so a wait at peak hours comes with the territory. The reviews keep circling back to the same few things: creamy clam chowder, hush puppies people call some of the best they have had, and oysters shucked to order. Half the fun is landing on your own order, raw on the half shell or grilled under garlic butter, and a couple of visits is usually what it takes to settle it.

STIR is a relative newcomer to downtown Greenville, arriving in 2025 as the first South Carolina location of a concept that got its start in Chattanooga. From the beginning it built its name on two things: a cocktail program with real ambition and a raw bar stocked with oysters and seasonal shellfish. The kitchen works in contemporary American territory, pairing seafood with steak and chicken across lunch, dinner, and weekend brunch. Late hours are part of the appeal, with the full menu staying available past when most downtown kitchens close, until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Out back, a large dog-friendly patio gives the place room to breathe on a warm evening. The bar is where STIR shows its detail. The team hand-carves 300-pound blocks of ice for custom cuts and makes its own bitters, cordials, and syrups rather than pouring from a bottle, the kind of work most guests never notice but can taste. Reviewers tend to land on the same picture: a dozen oysters, a well-made drink, and an energetic room that stays sociable without turning deafening.

Downtown Greenville got its first raw bar when Abyss opened inside ONE City Plaza, and the gleaming ice bar up front is still the first thing that pulls people in. Expert shuckers work an ever-changing lineup of oysters you can mix and match into your own platter, alongside littleneck clams, king crab legs, and a chef's crudo that changes by the day. It reaches well past the raw bar. Under chef Dom Angelo the kitchen turns out a seared tuna the reviews keep singling out, along with scallops, sea bass, and a short list of plates that lean on whatever came in fresh. The cocktail and wine program is built to sit next to seafood rather than compete with it, which is why a lot of tables end up lingering longer than they planned.

Walk into Coral on the West End of downtown Greenville and you get a choice of two rooms: a big, open bar up front where the cocktails and the conversation run loud, and a quieter dining room set back from it for a calmer meal. Guests who want to actually hear each other across the table tend to ask to be seated away from the bar. The kitchen works around fresh seafood brought in daily, and reviewers keep circling back to the same handful of plates: the scallops over risotto and the bang bang shrimp lead, with grouper, halibut, swordfish, and the rotating dinner specials close behind. The bar has its own following for martinis and signature cocktails, and the pastry side draws as much praise as the entrees, with the sticky toffee pudding and creme brulee named again and again. Three friends with a passion for fine dining and hospitality started Coral, and the attentive, well-drilled service guests describe, servers remembered by name and owners stopping by tables, reflects that. Complimentary valet runs nightly, an easy convenience on a busy stretch of Main.