Contents
Drawing 10 pins from south-carolina-restaurants.geojson. If this line is still here, the map did not load — the file itself holds every point it would have shown.
6 michelin · 4 james beard — 10 pins from south-carolina-restaurants.geojson.
Top Ten Restaurants in South Carolina
All 10 are pinned on the map above. Each row also links straight to its own location in Google Maps.
The MICHELIN Guide American South covers South Carolina. Starred restaurants lead this list.
The ten
| # | Restaurant | City | Distinction | Cuisine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malagón Mercado y Tapería | Charleston | MICHELIN One Star (2025) | Spanish |
| 2 | Scoundrel | Greenville | MICHELIN One Star (2025) | French |
| 3 | Vern's | Charleston | MICHELIN One Star (2025); The New York Times, 50 best restaurants in the United States (2023) | American |
| 4 | Wild Common | Charleston | MICHELIN One Star (2025) | American |
| 5 | Bowen's Island Restaurant | Charleston | James Beard America's Classics (2006) | Lowcountry, oyster roast |
| 6 | FIG | Charleston | James Beard Best Chef: Southeast, Mike Lata (2009) and Jason Stanhope (2015); James Beard Outstanding Wine Program (2018); MICHELIN Selected (2025) | Modern American |
| 7 | Bertha's Kitchen | Charleston | James Beard America's Classics (2017) | Gullah, soul food |
| 8 | Lula Drake Wine Parlour | Columbia | James Beard Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program (2024) | Wine bar |
| 9 | Wade's Restaurant | Spartanburg | James Beard America's Classics (2024) | Southern |
| 10 | Leon's Oyster Shop | Charleston | MICHELIN Bib Gourmand (2025) | Seafood |
Why these ten
South Carolina entered the MICHELIN system on 3 November 2025, when the inaugural American South selection was announced at the Peace Center in Greenville. The state took four of the region's one stars, three Bib Gourmands and sixteen Selected listings. The four stars lead the page, five James Beard Foundation Award winners follow, and one Bib Gourmand takes the last place.
All four stars are one star awarded in the same year, so there is no older award to separate them and rows one through four are alphabetical rather than ranked. Scoundrel is the only entry from outside Charleston in the starred group, and the first Greenville restaurant ever to hold a star.
Rows five through nine are the state's James Beard winners at open restaurants, oldest award first. Lula Drake Wine Parlour and Wade's Restaurant share 2024 and are alphabetical against each other. FIG is the entry the corrected ordering moves furthest: it holds only MICHELIN Selected from the guide, the fourth rung, but Mike Lata won Best Chef: Southeast there in 2009, Jason Stanhope won it again in 2015, and the restaurant took the national Outstanding Wine Program award in 2018. Selected means only that an inspector listed a place, and it should not outrank three James Beard wins.
That leaves one Bib Gourmand seat. The rung should have held three Charleston restaurants and holds two. Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ took a Bib Gourmand in 2025 and Rodney Scott won James Beard Best Chef: Southeast in 2018, but the restaurant has been dark since 3 May 2026 following the collapse of the Pihakis Restaurant Group, and no reopening has been announced. It fails the open-for-business test and is left off, and belongs back on this page the day it serves again. Of the two that remain, Leon's Oyster Shop takes the seat as the alphabetically first, and Lewis Barbecue is the one displaced.
The MICHELIN Selected rung, sixteen South Carolina restaurants deep, is no longer reached. Three of those are worth naming because they were on this page under the old ordering: Chubby Fish, ranked 21st on North America's 50 Best Restaurants in 2026; Husk, named Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurant in America in 2011; and Di Vino Rosso in Columbia.
Seven of the ten are in Charleston, and Columbia and Spartanburg now appear alongside Greenville. That spread is what the ladder produces, not an editorial preference, and it will change as the guide widens.
Two more James Beard wins are out on the open-restaurant test rather than on ranking. Hominy Grill, where Robert Stehling won Best Chef: Southeast in 2008, and McCrady's, where Sean Brock won the same award in 2010, are both closed.
Sources
- Wikipedia, List of Michelin-starred restaurants in the American South: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michelin-starred_restaurants_in_the_American_South
- Wikipedia, List of Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Michelin_Bib_Gourmand_restaurants_in_the_United_States
- Discover South Carolina, South Carolina's culinary stars shine in the 2025 MICHELIN Guide: https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/south-carolinas-culinary-stars-shine-in-the-2025-michelin-guide
- MICHELIN Guide, all the stars in the MICHELIN Guide to the American South: https://guide.michelin.com/ca/en/article/michelin-guide-ceremony/all-the-stars-in-the-michelin-guide-to-the-american-south
- Wikipedia, James Beard Foundation Award: 2000s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beard_Foundation_Award:_2000s
- Wikipedia, James Beard Foundation Award: 2010s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beard_Foundation_Award:_2010s
- Wikipedia, List of James Beard America's Classics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_James_Beard_America%27s_Classics
- Wikipedia, Fig (restaurant): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_(restaurant)
- Wikipedia, Sean Brock, on Husk and its 2011 Bon Appétit award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Brock
- Wikipedia, Chubby Fish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubby_Fish
- Wikipedia, Bowen's Island Restaurant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowen%27s_Island_Restaurant
- Wikipedia, Bertha's Kitchen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha%27s_Kitchen
- Wikipedia, Wade's Restaurant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%27s_Restaurant
- Wikipedia, James Beard Foundation Award: 2020s, for Lula Drake Wine Parlour's 2024 Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program award: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beard_Foundation_Award:_2020s