This is the Strand's dining shortlist as the people who film it actually eat it — no press releases, just full meals reviewed on camera, from the oceanfront institution to the dive with dollar bills on the walls.

Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Dining at Sea Captain's House! Is it the BEST oceanfront restaurant?

Carmen and Brian

Carmen and Brian lunch at Sea Captain's House, the oceanfront restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner on North Ocean Boulevard. The 2024 review tours the dining rooms and both bars — inside and out — works through the seafood menu, and lands on the verdict its regulars already know: they recommend it, and the view cannot be beaten.

Key takeaways
  • ["Sea Captain's House serves breakfast, lunch and dinner oceanfront","Indoor and outdoor bars plus oceanfront dining rooms","Reviewers' verdict: recommended, with the view as the clincher"]

Top 5 Best Restaurants for 2025 in The Market Common, Myrtle Beach, SC

Beachin with the Boones

The Boones count down their top five Market Common restaurants for 2025, eating their way through the list: 1229 Shine (raw bar, bang bang grouper, shrimp and grits, happy hour 4–7) and Tidal Creek Brewhouse (craft beer, coffee, Lowcountry plates, and a dog-friendly K9 Corral) headline a dining scene that is the district's main draw after shopping.

Key takeaways
  • 1229 Shine anchors the list with a raw bar and Lowcountry seafood
  • Tidal Creek Brewhouse brews its own beer and serves breakfast through dinner
  • Tidal Creek is the pick for dog owners — kids' corner plus a K9 Corral play area

Captain George's Seafood Buffet in Myrtle Beach! ALL you can eat CRABLEGS! Full Buffet Tour!

Carmen and Brian

Carmen and Brian's full tour of Captain George's Seafood Buffet in Myrtle Beach, one of their favorite restaurants on the Grand Strand. The 2024 film walks every buffet station, covers current pricing and when to find deals, and finishes at the bar seating and the dessert line's flan.

Key takeaways
  • ["Captain George's is a giant Calabash-style seafood buffet in Myrtle Beach","The film covers pricing and deal timing as well as every station","Bar seating with TVs offers a quieter alternative to the dining rooms"]

The institutions

Sea Captain's House leads: serving since 1962, recommended by its reviewers with the view as the clincher. At the other end of the formality scale, the PIT in Pawleys Island — loaded PIT fries, fried grouper basket, decades of dollar-bill wallpaper — is reviewed with open affection.

The districts

The Boones count down their top five Market Common restaurants for 2025 — 1229 Shine's raw bar and Tidal Creek Brewhouse (dog-friendly K9 Corral included) headline — and a second film eats at Nacho Hippo, the district's cantina, where the signature nachos are portioned for a table and the habanero sauce is genuinely dangerous. On the Boardwalk, Pier 14's over-water restaurant gets its seafood reviewed dish by dish.

The PIT Restaurant in Pawleys Island, just south of Myrtle Beach. Great food and drinks.

Beachin with the Boones

The PIT — Pawleys Island Tavern — the Boones' pick for food and drinks in Pawleys: dollar bills papered over the walls and even the bathroom door, PIT fries loaded with chili, bacon, jalapeño and pimento cheese, crab balls, and a fried grouper basket. The island's beloved dive, reviewed with affection.

Key takeaways
  • The PIT (Pawleys Island Tavern): the island's famous dive bar-restaurant
  • Loaded PIT fries and the fried grouper basket lead the order
  • Dollar bills cover the walls — a decades-running tradition

Marsh Walk near Myrtle Beach. Lunch at J Peter's in Murrells Inlet

Beachin with the Boones

Mother's Day lunch on the MarshWalk: the Boones take an outside table at J. Peter's, right in front of the marsh — 78 degrees and sunny, salads out fast, grilled chicken alfredo as the standing favorite — while the banana boats swing past on the inlet. The MarshWalk at its daytime, family-lunch pace.

Key takeaways
  • Marsh-front outdoor seating at J. Peter's
  • Mother's Day on the inlet: busy, but seated fast
  • Boat traffic on the inlet is the lunch entertainment

MYRTLE BEACH OCEANFRONT RESTAURANT. Pier 14. Where to eat on the Boardwalk and Ocean Blvd.

Beachin with the Boones

A 2024 dining film at Pier 14's oceanfront restaurant, the Boones' pick for where to eat on the Boardwalk. They work through the seafood menu — the extra-blackened salmon and the lightly breaded Bang Bang Shrimp get the strongest reviews — in the seasonal restaurant that sits over the water at 14th Avenue North.

Key takeaways
  • A seafood-focused review of the Pier 14 restaurant (2024)
  • Blackened salmon and Bang Bang Shrimp are the dishes singled out
  • Seasonal, over-the-water dining right on the Boardwalk

The big rooms and the locals' pick

Captain George's full buffet tour covers every station and the deal timing. And Greg's Cabana in Garden City — filmed by subscriber request to test its voted-best-burgers billing — represents the neighborhood bar-and-grill tier, where the Monterey chicken steals the review.

Sources: the 8 videos on this page. The buffets and seafood houses have their own dedicated guide; breakfast has another.

Watch: Myrtle Beach Best Restaurants, guided

2 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Voted BEST Burgers! GREG'S CABANA Bar & Grill in Garden City Beach, South Carolina

Beachin with the Boones

Greg's Cabana Bar & Grill in Garden City Beach, filmed by subscriber request: the Boones test the 'voted best burgers' billing and branch out to the Monterey chicken — grilled chicken under melted cheddar and hickory-smoked bacon. A neighborhood bar-and-grill institution of exactly the kind Garden City is known for.

Key takeaways
  • Greg's Cabana: the Garden City bar & grill locals voted best burgers
  • Monterey chicken gets as much praise as the burgers
  • Filmed by subscriber request — a locals' pick, not a guidebook pick

Eat at the NACHO HIPPO In Market Common! MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA! The Ultimate Mexican Fiesta!

Beachin with the Boones

Dinner at Nacho Hippo, Market Common's cantina institution: the Boones work through the signature nachos (big enough for a family), a grande taco salad in a crisp tortilla shell, a queso-covered sloppy burrito, frozen specialty drinks — and discover the habanero hot sauce is genuinely dangerous.

Key takeaways
  • Nacho Hippo is one of Market Common's best-known restaurants, behind the parking garage
  • The signature nachos are portioned for a table, not a person
  • Frozen specialty cocktails are a house trademark

More Myrtle Beach essentials

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