From hot dogs to doughnuts to gyoza, you have so many dining choices in Abbeville. This list of 10 Places To Eat In Abbeville, South Carolina will help you narrow it down.
For more help planning your trip, check out all of our travel posts.
For us, one of our favorite things about visiting somewhere new is checking out all of the local restaurants. We try really, really hard to not visit any chains when we’re on vacation because we can get that food at home.
And actually, when we’re home, we try really, really hard not to visit any chains either because we really like small, local restaurants. Each one is unique, even if they all serve the same cuisine.
If you’re like us, you’ll be happy to know that Abbeville, South Carolina is filled with a bunch of restaurants with great food to choose from. We’ve eaten so many good meals over our last two trips to the area, so we have the scoop on what to eat.
And, if you are traveling through the Old 96 district, you should definitely make your next stop in Abbeville. It’s one of those hidden gems that you see in Hallmark movies. There’s that charm that you only get in little towns, a square that holds annual festivals (like the Abbeville Hogs & Hens BBQ Festival), and a community where there’s collaboration, not competition.
It’s a nice town to go for a couple days to enjoy that slower pace, forget the pace of the city, and really live the town’s tagline: Pretty. Near. Perfect.
If you’re visiting Abbeville and are trying to figure out what to do there, be sure to check out our Things To Do In Abbeville, SC post for help planning your time.
That post is focused on indoor activities in town, like the Abbeville Opera House and Abbeville Museum — both of which are haunted, by the way. If that sentence excited you, be sure to check our A Comprehensive Guide To Haunted Places In Abbeville, SC. There are a lot of ghosts in Abbeville.
10 Places To Eat In Abbeville, South Carolina
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To make this list, the restaurant had to be opened for the last year and operated by the same people during that duration.
I make that caveat because there’s a restaurant on the square that has the same name, but new owners as of earlier this month. Since no one is ever quite sure how things will go under new ownership, we didn’t add it.
Also, of course, there are more than just these restaurants in the area. We didn’t include all of them because, realistically, if you’re visiting, you’re not going to have time to eat at every establishment in Abbeville. So, we helped you narrow it down to (what we consider to be) the best restaurants in town.
And, one last thing: This list is in chronological order of when we ate there, not in order of favorite.
Theo’s Deli & Seafood Restaurant
Address: 302 S Main St.
Phone: (864) 366-4400
Hours: Daily: 11 am to 9 pm
Stick to the deli half of Theo’s Deli & Seafood Restaurant’s name because the sandwiches are a bargain. They’re huge, really stuffed, and come with really great fries. And that was just with us ordering the lunch special. I can’t imagine what dinner portions would look like.
But, no matter what you’re ordering, get the fries.
We didn’t ask, but I’m pretty sure they’re cut and seasoned in house, then cooked fresh. They’re delicious and we ate every single last one of them.
Is there outdoor seating? No.
What to order: Anything that comes with French fries.
Indigenous Underground
Address: 117 Trinity St
Phone: (864) 366-9054
Hours: Wednesday: 11 am to 2:30 pm; Thursday to Saturday: 11 am to 2:30 pm; 5:30 pm to 9 pm; Sunday: 10:30 am to 2 pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
A lot of Abbeville restaurant close during the week of SC Festival of Discovery which was when we were in town for the first time. Indigenous Underground was open, so we went there with no idea how the food would be.
You. Guys. Everything was so, so good. Better than you’d ever expect to find in a small town.
But chef Erica McCier is putting that small town on the map. South Carolina’s map, anyway. She’s one of three 2023 South Carolina Chef Ambassadors. Which is very cool. But honestly, her path to becoming a chef is even cooler.
Erica’s kidneys failed and she was put on dialysis (I promise, this story gets happier). While she was recovering and on dialysis, she started watching cooking shows on TV. Most of us watching those shows become critical of how many truffle shavings are going on top and think, “I could do that.” But none of us every actually do that. But Erica did. The former middle school teacher actually went to culinary school.
She started out hosting dinner parties for friends, which turned into a stint as a restaurant owner in The Belmont Inn, and catering (which she still does), and now Indigenous Underground.
The menu at the restaurant boasts local ingredients, many of which are farm grown (she grew up in a family that chose to shop from their own gardens rather than grocery stores). Everything is really fresh, really flavor-forwards, and really needs to get in your belly.
Is there outdoor seating? No.
What to order: The shrimp and grits.
Off Tha Hook Seafood & Grill
Address: 301 S Main St.
Phone: (864) 366-3474
Hours: Wednesday: 11 am to 4 pm; Thursday to Saturday: 11 am to 8 pm. Closed Sunday to Tuesday.
Go to Off Tha Hook Seafood & Grill. I promise you, it will be, unexpectedly, one of the best seafood meals you have. Ever. In your life.
The restaurant looks so bland from the outside. It’s a plain brown and tan, blink and you miss it, building you pass on the way to downtown Abbeville. Don’t pass it. Stop. Pull in. Order dinner.
Everything we ate was cooked perfectly. I don’t even like catfish and I could have eaten my mom’s entire two piece dinner of it. My crab cakes were nearly all crab, almost no breading.
And the baked potato, which is only a side after 5 pm, was great.
And – AND – let me tell you about the great service here. The man who sat us amused himself (and the diners) by singing along to every song, so carefree. Each server was incredibly kind and very personable. Staff came by so often to check on us, which was much appreciated. We had such a great experience here and will eat at Off The Hook every time we’re back in town.
I can’t say enough things about it. It’s top notch, for sure.
Is there outdoor seating? Yes.
What to order: Boneless catfish.
Swartzentruber’s Bakery
Address: 139 Highway 28 Bypass
Phone: (864) 446-2992
Hours: Thursday & Friday: 7 am to 6 pm; Saturday: 7 am to 5 pm. Closed Sunday to Wednesday.
When you open the door to Swartzenturber’s Bakery, it smells like you need to bring home one of everything. And we considered it.
We left with two loaves of sourdough bread (regular and wheat – have you ever seen sourdough wheat bread?), a red velvet Whoopie pie, a blackberry puff, and a bite of pound cake.
And regret for not also taking home a loaf of Cheddar Jalapeno Bread (which now I have to learn how to make because it smelled so good, but we ran out of hands).
The bakery sells cakes (which they will gladly cut in half if you only need half a cake), quiches which you just pop in the oven to reheat and take credit for making, packaged goods (like Pendleton, SC’s Timms Mill grits) and more.
Is there outdoor seating? No (there’s actually no seating)
What to order: Bread.
Two Brews
Address: 101 Court Square
Phone: (864) 366-8999
Hours: Monday to Wednesday: 11 am to 8 pm; Friday: 7 am to 2 pm. Closed Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.
There’s so much I love about Two Brews, I don’t even know where to start. So let’s start in the middle and squeeze in all the stories.
It’s called Two Brews because the original concept was to sell coffee and beer. They’re selling the former and working on the latter. Though owner Matt Grambell drank a lot of coffee while he was (literally) working on the railroad, it wasn’t until he stopped working on it (thanks in part to a hurricane here in Wilmington, NC … small world) that he learned how to brew it.
Cooking was something he learned from his Japanese mom, who met her husband when the US Military stationed him in Japan (like my grandparents!). He’s the youngest of four, by eight years, so he spent a lot of quality time with his mom (and part of that was in the kitchen).
Two Brews has the only in-restaurant smoker in Abbeville and so many fun menu items come off that smoker – like smoked chicken salad.
And, Two Brews holds an annual doughnut eating contest that doubles as a fundraiser. Last year it benefited The Caroline Project, an organization that educates the community on suicide, grief, and trauma.
I told you. So much to love. And I didn’t even get to tell you my favorite story ever, which involves Matt’s family farm and its land acquisition. We’ll have to get to that in another blog post.
Is there outdoor seating? Yes.
What to order: A doughnut if you’re there on a Friday.
JP’s Food & Spirits
Address: 104 E Pickens St
Phone: (864) 459-9625
Hours: Thursday: 5 pm to 10 pm; Friday and Saturday: 5 pm to midnight; Sunday: 11 am to 2 pm. Closed Monday to Wednesday.
Any time I get the chance, I tell people about the time my mom got haunted at The Belmont Inn. It’s a great story … because it didn’t happen to me. If it happened to me, I’d still be sleeping with the lights on.
When we stayed there last time, we checked out the menu of the hotel’s in-house restaurant, JP’s Food & Spirits (apropos, right?), but we ran out of meals and never ate this. So on our most recent trip, we had to try it. But we did take out. Because I was not risking bumping into Abraham, the hotel’s resident ghost.
The food is great. We had smothered chicken, which was really creative (the variety of vegetables on top were great), well prepared (the mushrooms on the chicken were so good), and, the best part, no ghosts.
Is there outdoor seating? Yes.
What to order: The Smothered Chicken.
Main Street Coffee Company
Address: 109 S Main St.
Phone: (864) 366-5010
Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 7:30 am to 5 pm; Saturday: 8 am to 4 pm.
Main Street Coffee is your quintessential neighborhood coffee shop. It’s really cute inside, offers a ton of small bites (including store-made yogurt and granola), and is the perfect place to meet your friends. Quite literally. One half of the shop was being used as a baby shower when we were there.
The French Toast latte was a daily special the day we were there, so of course, I had to try it. If you know, you know. And if you don’t know, you need to read about my brush with the best French toast I’ve ever had in Union Gap, WA.
It was really hot (which is how I like my coffee), sweet enough, and somehow (through sheer barista magic, I suppose) tasted exactly like liquefied French toast.
My mom got a plain, regular, house coffee … which, unfortunately, was really bitter, tasted more like water than coffee, and was undrinkable. So, don’t get that. But do get a latte. Because that was delicious.
Is there outdoor seating? Yes.
What to order: A French Toast latte.
The Rough House
Address: 116 Court Square
Phone: (864) 366-1932
Hours: Monday: 11 am to 4 pm; Tuesday through Saturday: 11 am to 7 pm. Closed Sunday.
There are few things you have to get when you’re in a certain area. In New York City, it’s pizza. In Chicago, it’s pizza. And in Abbeville, it’s … no, it’s not pizza. It’s a hot dog from The Rough House.
The restaurant has been selling hot dogs in its current location since 1932, which is longer than any other hot dog restaurant in all of South Carolina.
The Rough House (and Pool Hall, as it was then known) was opened during the Great Depression, when any sort of dining out was a luxury. You walk in and you feel like the walls have stories. The character of the place, the charm, the knowing that those walls and those bar stools and those hot dogs brought comfort to people who were going through it, that fills your bones as soon as the door closes behind you.
So many restaurants now lack that. They chase trends, serving you farm-to-table meals in black and gray minimalist buildings. They lack that soul that you can’t recreate with walls and menus, that soul that The Rough House has.
It also has good hot dogs (topped with mustard, relish, chili, or coleslaw) and Hershey’s ice cream that you can enjoy while you’re walking around and exploring the downtown area.
Is there outdoor seating? No.
What to order: Hot dogs.
Fusion Express
Address: 503 S Main St.
Phone: (864) 366-0088
Hours: Daily: 11 am to 2:30 pm; 4 pm to 9 pm.
The amount of times I drove by Fusion Express, with its sign that says “Hibachi Philly Wings” and wondered what the heck Philly wings were is an astonishing number. Punctuation matters, kids.
It mattered enough to keep us driving by, but peering in the parking lot. Literally, every. single. time. we drove by, someone was in the parking lot and someone was walking inside the building.
We finally looked up the menu, realized Philly wings isn’t a style of wings but a shorthand way to say that the restaurant sells Philly cheese steaks and wings, in addition to sushi and tempura.
We ordered gyoza (my favorite food to get in Japan) and crossed our fingers. It came out and looked good. I had high hopes. We got back to our Airbnb and my Japanese mom tried one … and was actually impressed. And then she regretted that we didn’t get shrimp tempura to go as well.
Next time.
What to order: Gyoza.
Is there outdoor seating? No.
Wings 101 Bar & Grill
Address: 101 S Main St.
Phone: (864) 366-9464
Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Friday: 11 am to 2 am; Tuesday: 3 pm to 2 am; Saturday: 11 am to midnight. Closed Sunday.
Wings 101 is the nighttime bar on the square. So if you’re looking for a spot to grab a beer, watch a game, and eat some bar food, this is where you want to be.
You can get traditional bar food, like wings, and then non-traditional bar food, like egg rolls and fried rice. I like fried rice (and make Chinese fried rice at home often), but we weren’t sure how it would be. So we decided to try chicken.
We thought about wings, then switched to boneless wings (until I told my mom those are just another name for chicken nuggets), and settled on chicken fingers in garlic parmesan sauce.
The sauce needs to be bottled up and sold. It’s that good. I need to be able to order it online and have it at all times. The chicken was cooked well, but the pieces were so tiny. We did get an extra in our order, which I appreciated, but we were still bummed about the size.
What I would do, if I lived near Abbeville, would be to order a bucket of the sauce to go, then make my own chicken fingers, and let them take a swim in the sauce.
Is there outdoor seating? No.
What to order: Wings, probably.
Other Places To Eat In Abbeville, SC:
Like I said, this list isn’t all the restaurants in Abbeville. You can check the phone book for those.
But, we do want to give a shout out to Brickyard Grille & Tavern, which opened right before our first visit to the area last year and we just didn’t have the chance to visit this year. If we had one more day we would have stopped in for pizza. Or if I was with Pete on this trip because pizza is his favorite. We heard it has some good food, so it’s on our list for next time.
And, Daily Bread Bakery is on our next time list too. It was closed when we visited this time (and I think it was last time too unless we just completely overlooked it). But, I did receive chocolate-covered Oreos from there as a gift in December (which my nephew inhaled).
Have you been to any of these Places To Eat In Abbeville, SC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.