Fifteen minutes south of Surfside Beach, Murrells Inlet is known as the Seafood Capital of South Carolina — and Lee’s Inlet Kitchen is the restaurant locals point to when you ask where to go for the real thing. Family-owned since 1948, it has the consistency that only comes from decades of doing one thing well: fresh, simply prepared Lowcountry seafood in a setting that hasn’t needed to reinvent itself.
The menu is built around what comes off the boats. The she-crab soup, devilled crab, and fried shrimp plates have been staples long enough that changing them would cause genuine complaints. The dining room is comfortable without being formal, and the service reflects the same straightforward hospitality that built the restaurant’s reputation across generations of guests.
Go before 6pm in summer to avoid the wait, or call ahead to put your name on the list. The drive south along US-17 Business takes you through proper Lowcountry marsh landscape, which is worth paying attention to on the way. This is the kind of meal that guests tend to bring up unprompted when you ask them how the trip went.
