Best Dinner on Hilton Head Island, SC
Dinner is the meal most visitors plan their Hilton Head day around.
Dinner on the water
A glass-walled dining room and a large covered outdoor area on Skull Creek, with seafood, sushi and hand-cut steaks.
A restaurant since 1967 in a former seafood plant, with working boats at the dock. Walk in; no reservations.
Marsh views over Broad Creek from a former oyster cannery. Takes reservations online.
A covered deck under live oaks, with lawn games for kids and live music outside.
Seafood and steaks at second-floor tables and a garden-style patio above the marina.
A marsh-view deck with a fire pit area and a playground, so it works for a table with kids.
Special-occasion dinners
Small rooms, white tablecloths and long wine lists. Book these ahead, especially Friday and Saturday.
A cottage French bistro with a seafood menu hand-written every day. Dinner Monday to Saturday.
Seafood, steaks and Lowcountry dishes, with produce from its own farm. Dinner nightly from 5 p.m.
A small, dressy dinner room serving fine dining since 2002, with steaks, sea bass and nightly specials.
German at its core, with French and continental dishes. Dinner from 5 p.m., closed Sunday.
A French bistro with steak frites, mussels and beef bourguignon. Dinner nightly from 4:30.
The island’s dressy Italian dinner, with pasta and desserts made fresh every day.
Steaks and seafood in the Harbour Town Clubhouse, overlooking the golf links.
Steak dinners
A dinner-only steakhouse reached by a boardwalk over a lagoon, with white linens and a cowboy ribeye.
A churrascaria with a 30-item salad bar and meats carved at the table; formerly Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse.
Dinner with live music
Southern and Cajun dinners with live music nearly every night, and dueling pianos on Saturdays.
Casual and family dinners
Big menus, room for kids and no need to dress up. Most of these take walk-ins.
Wings, brisket and ribs at a loud, family-friendly barbecue place with a shaded patio.
Fried oysters and blackened grouper since 1982, with a dog-friendly patio.
About this list
The island’s best-known tables are on the water: Skull Creek and Broad Creek, the marinas at Shelter Cove and Palmetto Bay, and Harbour Town, where a table on the deck catches the evening light over the water. For a quieter night there are small, dressy dining rooms on the south end, steakhouses on Main Street and Palmetto Bay Road, and music rooms where the band plays while you eat.
These are the best places for dinner on Hilton Head, sorted by the kind of evening you want. Most kitchens serve until 9 or 10 p.m. The waterfront places fill up around sunset in summer, and the special-occasion rooms take reservations, so book a weekend table ahead. For an earlier meal, see lunch on Hilton Head, and for a dinner on a boat, the dinner cruises.
More ways to choose where to eat
Lunch Hilton Head guide: waterfront seafood, quick counters, beach bars and golf-club lunches, with hours notes and phone numbers for each spot.
Breakfast Hilton Head guide: all-day diners, coffee-shop cafés, marina breakfasts and Sunday brunch, with hours notes and phone numbers.
Hilton Head restaurants on the water: Skull Creek docks, Broad Creek decks, marina patios, oceanfront tiki bars and Harbour Town views, with phone numbers.
Upscale casual dining on Hilton Head Island: celebration dinners, bistros and harbor views, with what each restaurant is known for and how to book.
Steakhouse Hilton Head guide: prime chophouses, an old-school Main Street steakhouse and seafood-and-steak dinner rooms, with phone numbers.
Every place on the island that serves dinner in one list, with ratings, phone numbers and how to reserve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the best place for dinner on Hilton Head Island?
For dinner on the water, Skull Creek Boathouse, Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks and the Old Oyster Factory are the island’s best-known tables. For a special occasion, Charlie’s L’Etoile Verte, Red Fish and the Sage Room are small rooms worth booking ahead.
Do I need a reservation for dinner on Hilton Head?
For the special-occasion rooms, yes, especially on Friday and Saturday and all summer. Many waterfront and casual places take walk-ins; Hudson’s does not take reservations at all, so expect a wait around sunset in season.
What time do restaurants serve dinner until on Hilton Head?
Most kitchens close between 9 and 10 p.m. A few bars stay open later, such as Reilley’s Grill & Bar at the Sea Pines Circle and Kind of Blue.
Where can I have dinner with live music on Hilton Head?
The Jazz Corner in the Village at Wexford has live jazz with dinner every night, Kind of Blue has live music nearly every night and dueling pianos on Saturdays, and Ruby Lee’s plays blues and jazz Monday to Saturday.
Where can I eat dinner with kids on Hilton Head?
One Hot Mama’s BBQ, Fishcamp on Broad Creek (lawn games outside) and The Crazy Crab at Jarvis Creek (a playground beside the deck) are easy family dinners.
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