Johns Island restaurants: 39 places to eat and drink on the island

How we built this list

On Oct. 29, 2026, we ran 15 Google Maps searches for Johns Island using terms like “restaurant,” “bar,” “pizza,” “coffee shop” and “brewery.” They turned up 1,143 places. We checked each location against OpenStreetMap’s outline of Johns Island, and only 64 were on the island. We dropped the ones that aren’t places to eat or drink, like the Angel Oak, grocery stores and a nail salon. Then we confirmed that each of the rest was still in business through its own website, news coverage or recent Google reviews.

Six national chains are listed separately. We left out a few taco trucks and stands we couldn’t confirm. If one of them is still running, or we missed a place, tell us and we’ll add it. We update this list as places open and close, and the newsletter covers openings and closings every week.

Where the restaurants are

Maybank Highway is the island’s restaurant row: 23 of the 39 places are on it. Live Oak Square, on Crowne Commons Way just off Maybank, has five more, including Tolli’s Trattoria, KISS Cafe and The Woodruff.

The rest are spread around the island:

• Main Road: Sunrise Bistro and the Stono Market & Tomato Shed Café
• Betsy Kerrison Parkway, toward Kiawah and Seabrook: Periwinkle Kitchen, El Rincón Chiapaneco and the Maine Line Seafood truck
• Meek’s Farm Road: Estuary Beans & Barley and Charleston Distilling Co.
• Bohicket Road: Blackbird Market
• River Road: Linda’s Tienda Mexicana
• Hayes Park: Somm Wine Bar
• Kiawah River Drive: Linnette’s, at The Dunlin resort

The most-reviewed places

Review counts show which places have drawn the biggest crowds over the years. They aren’t a ranking of quality. Counts and star ratings are from Google Maps on Oct. 29, 2026.

Place	Google reviews	Rating
Tattooed Moose	2,867	4.6
Wild Olive	2,049	4.7
Stono Market & Tomato Shed Café	1,349	4.7
Sunrise Bistro	1,219	4.6
The Royal Tern	905	4.7
Cabana & Co	837	4.4
Maria’s Mexican Grill	807	4.2
Low Tide Brewing	752	4.8
Krazy Owls	728	4.2
Blackbird Market	705	4.6

Among places with at least 100 reviews, the highest rated are Somm Wine Bar and Gold Star Coffee, at 4.9 stars, followed by Seanachai, The Woodruff, Low Tide Brewing, Tacos La Familia and Gallina Loca, at 4.8.

Where to get pizza on Johns Island

Zeppelin Pizza Co., at 2817 Maybank Highway, is a full-service restaurant with pizza, subs and salads. Ji Pizza is nearby at 2770 Maybank Highway. Tolli’s Trattoria in Live Oak Square serves pizza alongside Italian dinners and pasta. There’s also a Domino’s at 1766 Main Road.

Chains on the island

Six national chains have locations on the island: McDonald’s (3575 Maybank Highway), Taco Bell (1828 Bohicket Road), Subway (1766A Main Road), Domino’s (1766 Main Road), Jersey Mike’s (1800 Produce Lane) and Tropical Smoothie Cafe (2005 Slack Tide Drive). Food Lion and Lowes Foods have grocery stores here too.

Coming soon

• Stono’s Oyster Bar, 2409 Maybank Highway. A waterfront oyster bar on the Stono River with indoor and outdoor seating, a wraparound deck and about 60 free boat slips for diners. Owner Mike Shuler told The Post and Courier it’s on schedule for spring 2027.
• Locals Sushi & Sports Pub, 1804 Crowne Commons Way. The fourth Locals, in Live Oak Square, in the space Blu Smoke Pit left. It aimed to open in September 2026 and hadn’t opened when we checked on Oct. 29.
• Asian Hibachi Grill, 3575 Maybank Highway. A Japanese restaurant that aimed to open in mid-to-late September 2026. We found no sign it had opened by Oct. 29.

Recently closed

• The Heyday, a restaurant and bar at 605 Kindred Court in Hayes Park, closed Oct. 25, 2026. It opened in April 2025. Google Maps still listed it as open when we checked, which is why we confirm closings in the news, not just on listings.
• Blu Smoke Pit, the barbecue spot at 1804 Crowne Commons Way, quietly closed in summer 2026. Its owners had run Blu Oyster Sushi & Seafood in the same space. Blu Oyster closed Nov. 18, 2024, and reopened in March 2025 before the switch.
• Bar Copa, at 3297 Maybank Highway, closed Feb. 1, 2025. Snow Monkeys opened in the space that June.
• Colectivo, a Mexican restaurant at 2901 Maybank Highway, closed Aug. 31, 2024, almost exactly a year after it opened. La Taqueria by El Molino opened there in 2025.

We log every opening and closing on the island, newest first, on our openings and closings page.

Johns Island addresses that aren’t on the island

The 29455 ZIP code covers more than the island. Kiawah and Seabrook share it, and it reaches across the Stono River onto the mainland. That’s why map searches for Johns Island restaurants turn up places that aren’t here:

• The mainland side of the Stono. Gilligan’s, at 160 Main Road, has a Johns Island address but sits north of the Main Road bridge. So do a few other places nearby on Main Road and Savannah Highway.
• Freshfields Village. Its restaurants use Kiawah Island addresses and fall just outside the island boundary we used.
• Bohicket Marina. Its restaurants, including the Salty Dog Cafe, use Johns Island addresses but also fall just outside the boundary.
• Kiawah and Seabrook. Resort restaurants on those islands share the ZIP code, not the island.