Charleston · Charleston food tours

The Best Charleston Food Tours for Grown-Ups

Charleston is one of the great American food cities, and the historic peninsula is small enough to eat your way across on foot. A guided tasting walk is the best way to start; then use our self-guided day to fit in the dining rooms that made the city's name.

Researched and checked by the Trips for Grown-Ups team · Updated · How we research

Guided walk
Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour, 2.5 hours, $95
Also
Upper King Street Culinary Tour, $95
Included
Tastings at four restaurants, taxes, server tips
Self-guided
Oysters, a bourbon at Husk and dinner at FIG

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A guided tasting walk

Charleston Culinary Tours' 2.5-hour Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour stops at four local restaurants in the historic French Quarter and around City Market, with a narrated history as you go. It's $95 a guest, including tastings, taxes and server gratuities (tip the guide separately), and runs rain or shine. Their Upper King Street tour, also $95, covers the newer restaurant strip.

Charleston Culinary Tours

French Quarter and City Market, downtown

  • $$
  • Lively
  • Tickets in advance

Guided walking food tours of the peninsula. The 2.5-hour Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour ($95 per guest) visits four local restaurants in the historic French Quarter and around City Market, with tastings, taxes and server gratuities included. An Upper King Street tour is also $95.

Tip: Tours run rain or shine; the guide's tip is not included.

Our self-guided food day

A day of eating in Charleston

Every stop is a place we already recommend; book dinner ahead.

  1. Lunch

    Magnolias

    185 E Bay St

    • $$$
    • Lively
    • Reserve ahead

    Fried green tomatoes and Lowcountry classics.

    A Charleston classic for upscale Lowcountry cooking, from fried green tomatoes to parmesan-crusted flounder, open for lunch and dinner every day.

  2. Afternoon

    Leon's Oyster Shop

    698 King St, Upper King

    • $$
    • Lively
    • Walk-in

    Oysters, fried chicken and a glass of rosé on Upper King.

    A former body shop on Upper King serving oysters, Old Bay fried chicken, rosé on tap and a serious grower-Champagne list. The kitchen doesn't close between lunch and dinner.

  3. Aperitif

    Husk (and the Bar at Husk)

    76 Queen St

    • $$$
    • Lively
    • Reserve ahead

    A bourbon in the Bar at Husk's old kitchen house.

    Southern cooking in a restored mansion since 2011, Michelin Recommended. The separate bar in an 1890s kitchen house next door is one of the South's great bourbon bars, and a fine stop even without dinner.

  4. Dinner

    FIG

    232 Meeting St

    • $$$
    • Lively
    • Reserve ahead

    Seasonal cooking at the restaurant that started the boom.

    The neighbourhood restaurant that helped start Charleston's dining boom in 2003, run by James Beard Award winners Mike Lata and Jason Stanhope. Tuesday to Saturday only.

More tables worth booking

Slightly North of Broad cooks contemporary Lowcountry food in an 18th-century warehouse, and Halls Chophouse is the place for Sunday's gospel brunch.

Slightly North of Broad (S.N.O.B.)

192 E Bay St, French Quarter

  • $$$
  • Lively
  • Reserve or walk in

Lowcountry cooking with a contemporary edge in an 18th-century warehouse with exposed brick and an open kitchen. The menu changes daily; open for lunch and dinner.

Halls Chophouse

434 King St

  • $$$$
  • Lively
  • Reserve ahead

A family-run steakhouse on King Street, famous for its Sunday gospel brunch (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), when a local choir sings through the dining rooms.

Our advice

  • Take the food tour at lunchtime on your first day; skip breakfast.
  • FIG is open Tuesday to Saturday only; plan your big dinner around it.
  • Book weekend dinners a few weeks ahead in spring and fall.
  • Check current tour times and prices before you go.

Everything on this page was checked on October 1, 2026. Tour times, prices and opening days change, so confirm before you go.

Questions people ask

What is the best food tour in Charleston?

For a first visit, the Downtown Charleston Culinary Tour: 2.5 hours, four restaurants in the French Quarter and around City Market, $95 including tastings, taxes and server tips.

How much is a Charleston food tour?

Charleston Culinary Tours' Downtown and Upper King Street tours are $95 a guest; the guide's tip is extra.

Where should you eat in Charleston?

FIG and Husk for dinner, Leon's for oysters and fried chicken, Magnolias for Lowcountry classics and Halls Chophouse for Sunday gospel brunch.