Seven of the 12 Charleston oyster bars we checked post the names of their oysters online. NICO Oysters + Seafood (7), Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar (6) and Chubby Fish (6) publish the longest lists. The names that turn up most often are Lowcountry Cups, Perky Sea Cups and Southern Salts. Each oyster below links to our tasting notes, so you can decide what to order before you sit down.
Charleston oyster bars and what they serve
An oyster bar on Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant with a French menu cooked in a wood-fired oven, opened by chef Nico Romo in 2017. The site also lists a Wednesday oyster class.
7 oysters named
5 with tasting notes
- Oysters on the menu
- The menus page links a dinner menu PDF dated 8.29.26. Its raw bar names seven oysters, each with a growing area, a short tasting note and a price by the piece, from $2.50 for the "House Long Bay" to $4.50. Two dressed oysters, "Caviar Oyster" and "Tipsy Oyster", are listed as Long Bay, NC and are not counted here. The menu says the kitchen does not cut the adductor muscle unless you ask.
- Happy hour
- The site lists happy hour Monday to Friday, 4 to 6, and half off oysters on Mondays. It posts no happy hour prices.
A seafood restaurant and raw bar on East Bay Street in the historic district, near the Market and the harbor. It is open every day from 11am.
6 oysters named
6 with tasting notes
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BrinyVegetalButtery
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BrinyMineral
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BrinySweet
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BrinyNuttySweet
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BrinyCleanButtery
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BrinySweet
- Oysters on the menu
- The food menu page has a section called "Fresh Catch and Daily Oyster List" that names six oysters, each with a state or province, a size and a salinity. The section carries no date. The raw bar sells them as "Premium Oysters" at $23 a half dozen and $45 a dozen. The spelling "Massachuetts" is the menu's.
- Happy hour
- Happy hour is at the bar, Monday to Friday, 4pm to 7pm, and the posted list is drinks, including a $5 oyster shooter. Separately, the bar bites menu, available at the bar every day from 11am to 10pm, lists "Bar Oysters" from Chesapeake Bay, Virginia at $1.75.
A seafood restaurant founded in 2018 by chef James London that buys from local fishermen and farmers. It takes no reservations and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm.
6 oysters named
5 with tasting notes
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BrinySweet
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BrinyCleanButtery
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BrinySweetButtery
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BrinyNuttySweet
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BrinySweetSmooth
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Crowe’s Pasture MA
No profile yet
- Oysters on the menu
- The menu page is headed as a sample of the daily offerings and carries no date; the restaurant says its menu changes daily. The sample names six oysters, each with a state and a two-part tasting note, and no prices. Its "Steamboat Creek" is the Edisto Island oyster, not the Washington oyster in our Steamboat profile, and "Dukes" is short for Dukes of Topsail Sound.
A waterfront restaurant with a raw bar on Concord Street, two blocks from the City Market and next to Waterfront Park. Lunch and dinner are served seven days a week, and both bars stay open between the two.
6 oysters named
3 with tasting notes
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BrinyCleanButtery
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ButterySweetMild Brine
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SweetMild BrineCucumber
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Carolina Crown Topsail Sound, NC
No profile yet
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Ikigai Petite Newport River, NC
No profile yet
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Moonrise Cape Cod, MA
No profile yet
- Oysters on the menu
- The menus page links an "Oyster Specials" PDF dated August 7, 2026. It names six oysters, each with a growing area, a salinity level and tasting notes, followed by dressed oysters and oyster shooters. The separate raw bar menu lists "Chilled Oysters" at $21 a half dozen and $39 a dozen without names.
- Happy hour
- Monday to Thursday, 4 to 5, at both bars. The posted happy hour menu lists drinks only, with no oyster special.
A seafood restaurant and raw bar in a historic house on Calhoun Street on the downtown peninsula. It opens at 4pm Monday to Thursday and at 11:30am Friday to Sunday.
4 oysters named
3 with tasting notes
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BrinySweetClean
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BrinySavoryEarthy
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BrinyBright
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1620's MA
No profile yet
- Oysters on the menu
- The main menu is a PDF dated 09.30.26. Under "Chilled Oysters" it lists four varietals in a table with the state, salinity and size of each, at $24 a half dozen. It also has "Oysters Delaney" with caviar and a half dozen seasonal dressed oysters.
- Happy hour
- Monday to Friday, 4:00 to 6:00 pm. The posted happy hour menu lists "Shucker's Select Oysters" at $2.50 and an oyster shooter flight at $15.
The Charleston restaurant of Rappahannock Oyster Co., a Virginia oyster farm, in a 19th-century cigar factory on East Bay Street. The site says it is the company's largest restaurant, with a 40-seat copper bar, and that it is open daily from 11am to 10pm.
3 oysters named
3 with tasting notes
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SweetButteryMineral
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SweetMild BrineClean
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BrinyBoldOcean-forward
- Oysters on the menu
- The "View Menu" link opens an undated all day menu on Canva. Under "Oysters & Clams From Our Farms" it lists the company's own three Virginia oysters at $3.50 each, each with a town and one word for the flavor: sweet, mild or briny.
- Other locations
- Merroir (Topping, VA); Rappahannock (Richmond, VA); Rappahannock Oyster Bar @ The Wharf (Washington, DC); Rappahannock Oyster Bar @ ROW DTLA (Los Angeles, CA)
A seafood hall and oyster bar in a former bank building on King Street, opened in 2012 by the team behind FIG. It opens at 4pm and is closed on Tuesdays.
3 oysters named
2 with tasting notes
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BrinyVegetalButtery
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BrinySavoryEarthy
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Crown Jewels NC
No profile yet
- Oysters on the menu
- The dinner menu is a PDF dated 9.30.26. Its raw bar lists three oysters at $4 each, with the state for each, and a dressed version of the Perky Sea Cups. A cooked starter, "Smoked Bird Island Oysters", names a fourth oyster and is not counted here. Seafood towers come in three tiers.
A New England style oyster bar on King Street in historic downtown Charleston. It takes no reservations and is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 11pm.
This menu does not name its oysters, so we have not guessed. Ask your server what
is on today, then look each one up in our oyster profiles.
- Oysters on the menu
- The menu PDF, whose file name says September, lists "Oysters" at $4 each or $47 a dozen with the note "changes daily". No varieties are named. The raw bar also has two shellfish platters, and caviar can be added to any oyster for $4.
- Other locations
- 167 Hummock Pond Road, Nantucket, MA 02554 (167 Raw Fish Market)
An oyster house on Bowens Island that dates to 1946 and was named an American Classic by the James Beard Foundation in 2006. It is open Tuesday to Saturday, and steamed oysters start at 4pm.
This menu does not name its oysters, so we have not guessed. Ask your server what
is on today, then look each one up in our oyster profiles.
- Oysters on the menu
- "Raw Oysters" are singles on the half shell, sold by the half dozen year-round and described as supplied by local Charleston oyster farms. "Steamed Oysters" are wild clusters, locally harvested in season from September through the first half of May, sold by the half tray, full tray or all you can eat. No farms or varieties are named.
A fried chicken and oyster restaurant in a former auto body shop on King Street, open since 2014. The full menu is served all day, seven days a week, and most tables are for walk-ins.
This menu does not name its oysters, so we have not guessed. Ask your server what
is on today, then look each one up in our oyster profiles.
- Oysters on the menu
- The food menu is a PDF dated 7.10.26. The raw bar lists "Raw Oysters" with cocktail sauce and mignonette at market price. No varieties are named. "Char-Grilled Oysters" come by the half dozen, and there is a fried oyster roll.
An oyster bar on East Bay Street with sister locations in West Ashley and Columbia. Beyond the raw bar, the menu has char-broiled, fried and Rockefeller oysters.
This menu does not name its oysters, so we have not guessed. Ask your server what
is on today, then look each one up in our oyster profiles.
- Oysters on the menu
- The raw bar lists "House Oysters", on the half shell or steamed, at $3 each or $29.95 a dozen, and "Varietal Oysters" described as rotating daily selections at market price. No varieties are named. There is also a dressed oyster and three oyster shooters.
- Happy hour
- Monday to Friday, 4pm to 7pm. The posted happy hour menu lists house oysters at $2 each or $20 a dozen, on the half shell or steamed, and a $5 oyster shooter.
- Other locations
- 9 Magnolia Road, West Ashley, SC 29407; 936 Gervais Street, Columbia, SC 29201
An oyster bar in a restored storefront on King Street, with a 14-seat raw bar and a second restaurant in Savannah. It opens at 4pm Monday to Saturday and at 11am on Sunday.
This menu does not name its oysters, so we have not guessed. Ask your server what
is on today, then look each one up in our oyster profiles.
- Oysters on the menu
- The posted dinner menu does not list oysters on the half shell at all, though the site describes a 14-seat raw bar. The oysters it does list are an oyster shooter, baked oysters with a choice of three toppings, and fried oysters in the fry baskets. The downloadable copy of the menu has a file name dated 09.10.25. Ask at the raw bar for the day's oysters.
- Other locations
- 27 Montgomery St, Savannah, GA 31401
How we put this together
We opened each restaurant's own website and its posted menu on the date shown. We read the posted menus of 16 oyster bars and seafood restaurants in and around Charleston and kept 12: the seven whose half-shell list names its oysters, plus five oyster bars that do not. Two of the 12 are outside the peninsula: NICO is on Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant, and Bowens Island Restaurant has a Charleston address on Bowens Island Road and calls itself Folly Beach seafood on its site. Menus came as web pages, dated PDFs, an image and a Canva document. Several menus print oyster names in capitals or lower case; we give them in title case and otherwise as printed. Neighborhood labels use each restaurant's own words where it offers any (historic downtown, the historic district, the downtown peninsula, Shem Creek, the Cigar Factory); The Ordinary, Chubby Fish and Pearlz name no neighborhood, so those labels are the street from the address. Nothing here comes from review sites or other guides.
Oyster names and origins are copied from each menu as printed. A name links to one of our
profiles only when it clearly refers to the same oyster. Flavor tags come from our
profiles, not from the restaurant. Menus were checked on October 1, 2026;
raw-bar lists change daily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Charleston oyster bars list their oyster varieties online?
Seven of the 12 we checked on October 1, 2026: NICO Oysters + Seafood (7 varieties), Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar (6 varieties), Chubby Fish (6 varieties), Fleet Landing Restaurant & Bar (6 varieties), Delaney Oyster House (4 varieties), Rappahannock Oyster Bar (3 varieties) and The Ordinary (3 varieties). The other 5 describe their oysters only in general terms, such as a daily selection.
What are the most common oysters on Charleston menus?
Across the 7 menus that name their oysters, the most repeated are Lowcountry Cups (4 menus), Perky Sea Cups (2 menus), Southern Salts (2 menus) and Steamboat Creek (2 menus). In total we counted 35 menu listings.
Which Charleston oyster bars have an oyster happy hour?
Five of the restaurants here advertise a happy hour on their own sites: NICO Oysters + Seafood, Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar, Fleet Landing Restaurant & Bar, Delaney Oyster House and Pearlz Oyster Bar. The days, times and what is included are in each listing above, as the restaurant states them. Confirm before you go, because happy hours change without notice.
What if the menu does not name its oysters?
Ask your server for the name of each oyster and where it was grown. Most raw bars know both, even when the printed menu does not say. As a rough guide, East Coast oysters tend to be brinier and crisper, and West Coast oysters tend to be sweeter and creamier with cucumber or melon notes. Once you have a name, you can look it up in our oyster profiles.
Why is the list at the restaurant different from this page?
Raw bar lists change daily with what the farms ship. This page records what each restaurant's own website showed on October 1, 2026. Treat it as a guide to the kind of oysters a place carries, and check the menu link in each listing for the current selection.
