Visit the Great Restaurants in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina This Summer

One of the best parts of the Myrtle Beach area is the Murrells Inlet area just below Myrtle Beach itself. In Murrells Inlet, there are a number of great restaurants where tourists love to frequent and eat. Being something of a local, I know some of the best spots to eat in this area. Though you'll see some tourists frequent these places, they're mostly the stomping grounds for the local crowd. That's generally a pretty good indication that the food is good and the service is adequate.

Down on restaurant row on highway 17 in Murrells Inlet, you'll find almost 100 restaurants that all want your business. Some are nice, some are a little trashy, but they all look good from the road. Which one should you choose? For dinner, there's only three choices as far as I'm concerned. Start with a place called Drunken Jack's that's located in the central part of that Murrells Inlet strip. Drunken Jack's is a large restaurant and sits on right on the inlet with a water view. Its ambiance is somewhat dark and spooky, but the food is excellent. Here, you can expect to pay around twenty dollars per person for a great meal. They serve excellent seafood and the hush puppies are some of the best in the south. In the downstairs lounge, live music keeps the mood light and merry. There's easy access to this lounge from the boardwalk which runs by the inlet.

Just down the boardwalk from Drunken Jack's is a place called Captain Dave's Dockside Restaurant. Captain Dave's is a bit of an upscale restaurant, with a piano providing live music at night in the dining room. The food is mostly seafood and it comes at a cost of between 20 and 25 dollars per plate. There's an outside dining area which overlooks the inlet. At night, this is the place to be as the sun sets over the beautiful inlet area.

If you want to experience the atmosphere of Captain Dave's without that price tag, head down to Creek Ratz, where the food is a little cheaper. At Creek Ratz, there's always live music and you can view some of the locals shagging to the beat. If you've never seen the South Carolina Shag Dance done correctly, this will be a treat. The state dance was born in summer and the locals do it well. Here, you can sit on the patio and eat the excellent shrimp while drinking a beer. It's the perfect way to experience local culture and embrace all that Myrtle Beach has to offer.