Today I'm chatting about our trip to Charleston, South Carolina. I'm giving you all a review of everything we did and all of the details you may need when planning your own trip. If you have not yet visited Charleston, put it at the top of your travel list. It's truly one of my favorite places to visit! If it sounds like I am gushing, you're not wrong. We did not have a bad mean, drink, or experience. Everything was just perfect! This post is going to be quite wordy so grab a cup of coffee and have a seat!
Where We Stayed
Located right on King Street
We had great views from our room!
Hotel Bennett is centrally located on King Street in the thick of all the shops and restaurants. We were able to walk everywhere. It's a newer hotel and already has a lot of accolades to its name. If you are familiar with the area, it's one block up from the Francis Marion.
I've been to Charleston several times since my first visit back in 2016 and I try to stay somewhere new each time since there are loads of great options. I've stayed at Zero George, The Belmond Charleston Place, and a few Airbnb's (there are some really nice ones in perfect locations if you are going with a group!). So this time I thought Hotel Bennett seemed like a great option due to the photos and reviews I have seen online as well as its location.
The interior of the hotel feels and looks glamorous and elegant. It almost feels like you have been transported to a hotel in Paris as it has a European flair to it. There is a restaurant, a champagne bar, lobby bar, French cafe/bakery, and rooftop bar all within the hotel. It's big- lots of rooms! It truly has it all!
This lobby is circular and the murals are hand painted. The chandelier extends up through to the second floor!
The hotel is locally owned by the Bennett family and I learned (through Tammy at the King's Club) that the Bennett family owns some other restaurants and properties in Charleston. There is a beautiful hand-painted mural when you walk into the lobby of the hotel and my husband and I noticed the two cute dogs painted in the mural. We learned those are actually the Bennett family dogs. So sweet! We loved learning some of the personalizations and backstory that we learned about the hotel throughout our stay.
We stayed in a regular king room and it was beautifully appointed. The bathroom is about the size of my old apartment! There is a big soaking tub and the shower is also large and beautifully done in marble. The bathroom itself was probably as big, if not bigger than the bedroom portion of the room. As lovely as the bedroom was, the bathroom was the real show stopper. The bed was very comfortable and was made with high-end linens. The rooms also have a Nespresso machine and we used that occasionally so that was a nice touch! Bath amenities were by a brand I didn't recognize but were lovely nonetheless! The room itself was spotless just like every other inch of the hotel.
King's Club L to R: Hotel Key, Desserts, Bubbly, Outdoor patio, indoor seating
With your room, you can upgrade to 'king's club' (other hotels usually refer to it as club level). We were on the club level and it was SO nice (the price differs between weekdays and weekends). The King's Club has a lounge area and then a larger area with tables and chairs and a few banquets. There is a little food area where they present you with different food offerings throughout the day. Continental breakfast, lunch, cocktail hour, appetizers, and dessert. They have cookies, fruit, and croissants out for grabbing all day. They also have a refrigerator stocked with sodas and water and you can help yourself to any type of coffee or hot tea. Alcohol is also included. You can self-serve beer and everything else is made and brought to you by one of the staff. I usually got prosecco but one night I had a martini. They have everything you could want and if they don't have it, they will likely go out of their way to get it for you.
Tammy took this photo for us!
The club level has a big beautiful outdoor patio with sweeping views of Charleston. We sat out there a lot to enjoy the weather and rest our feet after walking so much each day. One day it was just beautiful outside so we sat on the patio to soak up the sun and enjoy cocktails. I did a little work and was glad to see that they had several outlets outside where I was able to plug in my computer. We probably sat out there for 2-3 hours and in that time, we made so many 'friends'- everyone was SO friendly in Charleston. We ate lunch there once when we first had checked in and our room wasn't yet ready. Delicious! In the mornings, my husband would go to the King's Club and grab something to eat (I'm not a big breakfast person) and bring back coffee for me while I got ready. Then we would return here and there throughout the day to grab a coffee or hot tea or water bottle. We went every evening around 5 or 6ish to have pre-dinner cocktails and enjoy the beautiful sunsets. Appetizers would be served and it was always a beautiful spread with several different options. The selection was mostly lighter canapés but there was also always at least one heavier option like mini chicken and waffles. You could have easily made a full dinner out of what they had. They set out beautiful desserts (the hotel pastry chef is from France) as the last food presentation. We would always come before our dinner reservations and the first night we said we were bummed to miss out on dessert but would maybe make it another night. The staff boxed up desserts for my husband and me to enjoy once we got back to our room after our dinner. SO thoughtful. Then, every night after that, we didn't even ask them to do it and they just did it for us. So we never ate dessert out at the restaurants that we went to. The desserts were truly incredible and it was always such a fun little treat to return to our room each night to a little box of confections!
The hotel itself is absolutely lovely but it's the employees that make this hotel even better. I've been very fortunate to stay at lots of beautiful hotels over the years but I don't know if I have ever received better overall service anywhere else but Hotel Bennett. Every single staff member we encountered was SO nice, always greeting us, always making sure we were taken care of. They were always so prompt and on top of it all. I could tell that these people truly enjoyed their jobs. The star of Hotel Bennet, though, is TAMMY! She works in the King's Club along with other phenomenal staff members but we spent the most time with Tammy. She always remembered our drink orders, she packaged up desserts for us, she gave us so many great Charleston tips, and was just overall so wonderful to chat with. Tammy is just a wonderful human being. If you go and select 'King's Club' you should see if Tammy will be working while you are there. She is a DELIGHT! Tammy once asked us how our dinner was (we had gone to 82 Queen) and we said that it was delicious but I mentioned I was bummed that they had fried okra on their lunch menu but not on their dinner menu so I missed out. I said that Okra is one of my favorite foods and that it's hard to find okra in Pittsburgh. Then, a few minutes later, Tammy came out with okra for me! A perfect illustration of how service-oriented Hotel Bennett is. I felt that the staff always went above and beyond!
Both my husband and I agreed that although we always like to try new hotels, the staff at Hotel Bennett is enough to get us to return to this hotel again! I would 10/10 recommend staying here. It's definitely a luxury hotel and priced that way but a worthy splurge!
Getting Around
Most of the time we walked. It's a very walking-friendly city. We averaged around 10-20k steps each day. To get to and from the airport, we took an Uber, and on a rainy night, we also Ubered. We even took a bike taxi one night to dinner just for fun! Overall, it's just very easy to get around if you are up for walking (on the peninsula, it's mostly all flat). The Hotel Bennett also let us know for next time that they have contacts to car service to get to and from the airport as I guess it can sometimes be hard to snag an Uber if they are really busy!
Lunch Spots
Our trip was basically a food tour of Charleston. Charleston has the BEST food and we ate and drank our way through town. If you love food, especially seafood and southern food, Charleston is for you.
We love 167 Raw. We have been several times in the past and always make sure to stop in when we are in Charleston. We've always gone for lunch but I think they are open for dinner, too. They don't take reservations but if you show up, you can put your name in and they will text you when your table is ready. We have only ever waited 20-30ish minutes max. If you've been to Nantucket you might recognize the name because they have a stand at Cisco Brewery and it actually started in Nantucket as a fish market (which is still there, I have never been to the market). This is the #1 place I would personally recommend to go in Charleston. Their lobster roll is out of this world. We love their oysters (they have a big selection), their guacamole is incredible and you really just can't go wrong with any of it. It's a very seafood-heavy menu with tons of different options from lobster to shrimp to tuna. We went for lunch twice on this trip because we just could not get enough.
This used to be One Broad if you remember that. Now, it's a French brasserie-style restaurant and is fantastic. I think this is only a year or two old. You can go for a 'fancier' dinner but lunch was on the casual side. The interior is just gorgeous and very historic looking. We got the french onion soup which was maybe the best I have ever had. I LOVE french onion soup so I have tried a lot. Then we shared a burger which was also wonderful!
My husband did deep-dive research into the Charleston BBQ scene. He loves BBQ so he had it narrowed down to Lewis and Rodney Scott's. We asked around in Charleston for recs and everyone we asked would name these two places. We ended up going to Rodney Scott's because people said that was more 'Carolina BBQ' whereas Lewis is more Texas-style. It was so delicious. I actually didn't love the sauces, but my husband loved them. They were runny and very heavy on the vinegar. I typically like a mustard-based BBQ! Anyway, even though I didn't love the sauces, the meats and everything was just so flavorful. My favorite was the ribs! As for location, this is pretty far from Hotel Bennett. We walked and it was a long, flat walk. We enjoyed the walk and needed to get our steps in with all that walking, but if it was cold or if you have someone with you who can't walk much, you might want to uber/drive! Lewis BBQ is only a few blocks from Rodney Scott's so if you wanted to do a 'crawl' you could. Home Team BBQ also has a location close by. I am actually surprised my husband didn't suggest a BBQ crawl, ha!
Home Team BBQ (on Sullivans)
Sullivans is an island about 20-30ish minutes from downtown Charleston (is that what you call it). You have to go and put your name in and on a Saturday we waited about 45 minutes and we had a lot of people with us (this was for my sister's bachelorette but I wanted to group it in this post, too). They are known for their 'game changer' drink which is a frozen cocktail that's basically a pain killer. It was delish! Their food was also really good. I actually preferred this over Rodney Scotts, although I think most might disagree with that statement. There are several Home Team locations and what is wild is that while we were there, we learned that one of the owners is from Pittsburgh and went to my high school. What a small world!
Dinner Spots
I'd definitely recommend reservations for dinner almost anywhere you go. We made reservations for all of the places that we ate.
Clockwise: Tuna, Wagyu Beef, Crab Rice, Sparkling Rosé
I have been here before with my sister but my husband had never been before. He read the menu and requested that we make a reservation here. I did not protest as this is SUCH a good restaurant. It's heavily seafood based but I do think the menu changes somewhat frequently. The restaurant itself is gorgeous and it's a good date night/fancier spot at dinnertime. We shared everything. We got the Yellowfin tuna, the wagyu tartare, and the crab rice. I recommend all of those dishes... incredible and so fresh!
Top: Gumbo
Bottom: Fried Green Tomates
This was a restaurant that came highly recommended to us by soooo many people- even my parents recommended it! It has a cozy, small-town feel to it and a beautiful outdoor patio. The food is upscale southern. There were options like fried green tomatoes (which we got- YUM), okra, etc. I got the seafood gumbo and it might be one of the best things I have ever eaten in my entire life. It was so flavorful. I will dream about this meal for years to come.
Clockwise: Tenderloin with pimento cheese grits and fried green tomatoes, Grilled Swordfish with spinach and fried okra, oysters, martini (they gave me both cucumber and olives, ha!)
This was another place that I had been to before but my husband had not. I hadn't been in many years so I figured why not. Again, it's a seafood-heavy menu. We love seafood and it's everywhere in Charleston (and definitely not everywhere in Pittsburgh, haha). I got the grilled swordfish and it was wonderful and perfectly prepared. It has an upscale vibe but also feels very 'busy' and it is loud with so many people. They made a great martini. This would be my least favorite out of all the places I have eaten in Charleston but I also need to say that it was wonderful, I just loved all of the other spots more!
Clockwise: Spicy Caesar Salad, Rigatoni, Stretch Armstrong Pizza, and my martini!
You MUST go to Melfi's. MUST. It's Italian food and has an old-school, swanky vibe to it. It felt like a place you might stumble into in New York City or where Frank Sinatra might have hung out. They call their martinis 'the coldest in Charleston'. It was a great martini. Not the best I have ever had, but great. The pizza was one of the best things I have ever eaten. Ever. We got the simple 'Stretch Armstong' pizza which was similar to a Margherita. Oh my goodness everything tasted so fresh!! The stracciatella cheese melted in my mouth. Divine. The spicy caesar salad was wonderful and a good palate cleanser before we got to the pasta. We shared the rigatoni and it did not disappoint. The pasta is all made fresh in-house. I would not miss this restaurant and next time we visit Charleston we will definitely come here again. Leon's is right across the street so you could stop there before to do a pre-game of dinner with Leon's oysters!
Row 1: Grilled fish, Fried chicken
Row 2: Siam salad, bean salad, cucumber salad
Row 3: Grilled oysters, hush puppies
Leon's is oysters, fried chicken, and overall a very casual, southern menu. The restaurant itself is also super casual but fun and unique! We went here for my sister's bachelorette and because we had a big group of girls, we had a limited menu and all of the items were served family-style. It was actually really nice because we were able to try a little of everything! This is a great spot for a bachelorette group and was really easy to work with when making a reservation for 15 girls. We had grilled oysters, hush puppies, Siam salad, fried chicken, black-eyed pea salad, cucumber salad, and grilled whole fish. It was all wonderful. Oddly enough, I think the Siam Salad was my favorite. It's a cabbage-based salad that had the most amazing light dressing on it! They're known for their fried chicken, which was good, but I preferred the whole grilled fish to the fried chicken.
Cocktails/Snacks
The darling has the best oysters, in my opinion. It's also fun for cocktails. It would be the perfect date-night spot or a get-together with girlfriends. It's so cute inside and their branding is just beautiful. I've been several times but never actually eaten a full meal here. They also get the award for the cutest matchbooks, make sure to snag some on your way out!
This was such a cute little bakery, café, and cocktail bar. I skipped the coffee and cocktails and instead, we split chocolate cake. It was soooo rich and such a delicious afternoon treat. We wanted dessert in the afternoon after we had walked a ton and couldn't find a restaurant that was serving dessert (probably around 2/3pm. ish). Carmella's has dessert all day so this was the perfect thing!
Co Op (on Sullivans)
This has a pink/girly vibe to it. It feels like a cute and casual shop you might stop in and grab sandwiches before heading to the beach. They are known for their frosé. I'm not a huge frosé gal but I did try a sip of someone else's and it was delicious! I tasted the 'original' which I think is strawberry and it really tasted fresh and not too sweet. I love a good sandwich and their menu sounded truly wonderful with lots of different options but we had late lunch plans at Home Team BBQ (down the street).
We just randomly walked into High Cotton for afternoon cocktails and oysters. We didn't realize it but it was happy hour and when we got our bill we realized our cocktails were only $7, which is very inexpensive! In most of the places that we went to throughout the week, drinks were $13ish on the low end but most were closer to $16-$20 so $7 was a great surprise! We just sat at the bar but the interior looks like an upscale steakhouse. The bar is wood-paneled and very cozy. We loved the oysters that we got. A great spot.
This is the rooftop bar of the Dewberry. I've never actually stayed at the Dewberry but I LOVE their lobby which feels very 1960's Mad Men mid-century modern. I love mid-century modern decor... not for my home, but I just love to look at it. Anyway, you must go to the lobby for a drink! Some nights they have live jazz. We went up to their rooftop since it was such a gorgeous day and had a cocktail. The menu was mostly filled with tropical-themed drinks. The outdoor space had sweeping, stunning views of the harbor and Charleston. The inside bar area still had that 1960s vibe- so cute. When we went, it was only open from 3pm-8pm so keep that in mind!
This is the rooftop bar at Hotel Bennett. It is next to the outdoor pool area. It's absolutely gorgeous. It has an outdoor lounge area but we went in later in the evening for a nightcap and it was too chilly to sit outside. The interior is very handsome with wood-trimmed walls lacquered in navy blue. The seating was done in caramel leather and plaid upholstery. It felt like a very chic, luxurious haberdashery. I got an espresso martini and it was fantastic. I don't like when espresso martinis are creamy and this one was not creamy, it was truly perfect.
This is also in the Hotel Bennett right off the lobby. If you like pink, this is your place. It's a champagne bar and is just so girly inside! They have afternoon tea and I was so bummed we couldn't find a time to fit our schedule but I have heard that is wonderful!
This is the French bakery in Hotel Bennett. The croissants are out of this world. The pastry chef at Hotel Bennett is from France and he is so talented. My favorite was the chocolate banana croissant!
We just stopped in here for one drink as we found out that one of my sorority sister's was in town for work! She had a work dinner so we met her there beforehand. So serendipitous and so fun to get together! It's a gorgeous restaurant, I just had bubbly so I can't speak to the cocktails but they had a great looking craft cocktail list. We were there for happy hour, too, and this was another great deal price-wise.
Favorite Shops
*There is a ton of amazing shopping in Charleston. We went in soooo may of the shops, these were just the ones I could remember/stuck out to me!
Croghan's// This jewelry store is just stunning. We went in once and I could not stop talking about it so we went in again and I dropped some heavy hints, ha!! I mean they have absolutely everything you could ever want. From estate pieces to engagement rings to baby gifts and even some more affordable 'costume' type jewelry. This is a store that you definitely don't want to miss. Probably my #1 favorite shop in all of Charleston. I'm a jewelry person, though!
Salisbury and Manus// This was probably my second favorite shop that we visited in Charleston behind Croghan's. It's owned by an interior designer and the entire shop was filled to the brim with home decor. I wanted one of everything. Seriously. They had such stunning, traditional decor with a bit of color and whimsy, too. Top-notch.
Shop Historic Charleston// This was my third favorite shop. It's a shop that focuses on the preservation of historic Charleston. The shop is filled with a handful of gorgeous antiques, local brands that would make good gifts, and a giant collection of blue and white things. I was in heaven- their selection was right up my alley! We bought an ornament here. We buy one wherever we travel and then I date the back and it's just so fun to look back on fun times each year when we decorate our Christmas tree! They had a small but cute selection of ornaments!
Grady Erving// This was a beautiful men's shop with such a good selection. They had everything from bigger brands like Peter Millar to smaller brands we had never heard of but loved! Lots of classic clothing and shoes and accessories. It was so tastefully curated.
Amanda Lindroth// I own a few of Amanda Lindroth's things and love them. It was so fun to visit one of her brick-and-mortar stores. She has one more in Palm Beach. This store was just stunning. I loved the draped ceiling. I made a wish list as I was running tight on suitcase space!!
Lake Pajamas// I had just purchased a few sets for myself during their most recent sale, so while I wasn't in the market for a new set of pajamas, I still had to stop in. Such a beautiful store. My husband was going around laughing saying 'you have this, this, this, this'. I swear, I might be their biggest fan!
Beau and Ro// Gorgeous selection of colorful dresses and they have their own line, too. Also lots of pretty and unique accessories and just an overall adorable vibe!
Shop in Dewberry Lobby (can't remember the name)// You can't miss this as you see it as soon as you walk into their lobby. It's a small store but they had a Hayden Lasher bag which I was so excited about. It's very artfully curated!!
Woof Gang Bakery// I feel like these are in a lot of tourist cities (but I think they are each franchised or something, not quite sure) but we always stop in to get a treat for Henry!
Peyton Williams// Gorgeous costume jewelry. I could have bought every single piece in this store!
A Few Notes...
- We were there during both the weekend and weekdays and if you are not a fan of crowds, I would try and visit Monday-Wednesday. It got noticeably more crowded the closer you got to the weekend (as any other city usually does).
- Pack walking shoes. We walked 10-20k steps each day!
- There is SO much to do but my favorite thing is just walking around looking at the gorgeous homes and popping in and out of the well-curated boutiques. There is amazing architecture and hidden gems everywhere you turn but for a large grouping of the most stunning homes, go south of Broad street (where things like Rainbow Row are located). You can also visit the Pineapple fountain. The waterfront park there is just gorgeous. I always love walking through the College of Charleston campus and if you are a big fan of The Notebook you can spot some filming locations in Charleston!
- It's totally worth it to head over the bridge to Mt. Pleasant and Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms for a different vibe but more great restaurants, shopping, and scenery! Mt. Pleasant and Sullivan's feel more residential and Isle of Palms feels very 'family week-long beach trip in a big beautiful home'. Tammy from the King's Club recommended we check out Folly Beach next time so we added that to our list!
- In terms of clothing/outfits, the vibe is casual during the day and a bit dressier in the evenings. I mostly wore sundresses and jeans during the day and then in the evening wore 'dressier' sundresses and espadrille wedges. We didn't really go anywhere all that fancy but I always like to dress up for dinner!
And, if you need more suggestions, you can check out my post from spring 2018 on where to eat in Charleston. There are many more good spots! I also did a travel guide for Charleston in fall 2018!
1 comment:
Ah so fun!! We're headed down tomorrow to do some wedding planning and I'm so excited! If you ever make it, and you love French onion soup, the French onion soup at Blackberry is to die for.
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