Alright Hilton Head peeps,
Wife and I are headed your way for first anniversary trip in a few weeks and we are big itinerary people. Neither of us have been to HHI. We’re staying in Coligny Beach area. Looking for local or frequent traveler knowledge on best:
-coffee
-bbq
“hole in the wall” lunch
-upscale dinner (anniversary night)
-dive bars, brewery, good vibes bar
-any other general good hangout spots
Thanks for any and all recs!
My wife and I went to Charlie’s Coastal Bistro and both really liked it. It would fall under the upscale dinner category. It is French, with a lot of good seafood options
Harbour town bakery and cafe for breakfast/coffee
Some of my favorites:
Carolina Crab Company - Great happy hour spot and 
grouper fish tacos
Smokehouse - Great all around menu and very good Sunday brunch
My suggestion for breakfast/coffee if you don’t mind driving to Bluffton would be to take her over to Old Town and go to Corner Perk and Alljoy donuts. A couple blocks from the church of the cross right on the May River where they finished a really nice sitting area last year.
Burnt Church Distillery in Bluffton is also a great spot for drinks.
Also I don’t think Salty Dog is all it’s cracked up to be but I would definitely recommend their happy hour cruise. Sells out fast though.
Java Burrito for coffee and Better version of chipotle in the same place
I was always an island guy–but when I lived there the Bluffton area had not become what it is now. For me:
-coffee—most of the upscale ones are near Coligny.
-bbq—Smokehouse on the island is reopened—not much else unless something has moved in. Jim and Nicks is in Bluffton.
“hole in the wall” lunch—Do you like burgers? Or seafood? Burgers is Harolds Diner on 278. Cash only. Seafood is Hudsons on North end or Fish Camp on Marshland.
-upscale dinner (anniversary night) Michael Anthony’s (northern italian) or Sage Room—steaks. Red Fish is good as well.
-dive bars, brewery, good vibes bar Barmuda Triangle near Sea Pines is good. Also the Harbour Town marina has some open air bars.
-any other general good hangout spots: Harbour Town—Shelter Cove is also a good low key hang…as is South Beach and the whole landing area for Dafauskie on the north end. Find The Boathouse and you’re there.
Be sure to call ahead and make reservations—so many of my restaurant clients there are making reservations mandantory due to staffing and supply issues.
I really liked One Hot Mama for BBQ when we were there. It’s definitely on the trendy/touristy side of things but the food was legit good.
Overall though, my biggest food recommendation for the area would be to take an afternoon/evening and go to Savannah. It’s 50-ish minutes away. Get some drinks and walk around the Historic District before hitting up dinner somewhere downtown - Vicks on the River, Cotton & Rye, The Grey. My favorite place to eat in the entire world is Zunzi’s even though it’s changed quite a bit from when it used to be a counter.
Reservations everywhere though…HHI or Savannah.
Thanks for all this info peeps
Coffee and chipotle style collab you say …
I haven’t been to the actual brewery but Lincoln and South Brewing Company makes some great IPAs.
Quixote was in great condition. It was firm and fast, and the wind was blowing hard all day today. It was…not easy.
I absolutely sprayed it off the tee all day long, but I didn’t lose a single ball. That part was pretty glorious.
I did feel like I got boned a time or two around the greens. I hit a few very good approach shots that went about a foot longer than I wanted and ended up absolutely dead because they bounced/rolled off the back and into some diabolical bunker or waste area that wasn’t visible from the fairway. That was a pretty tough scene, but part of that comes with playing a course for the first time and having the member be in the other cart instead of mine. The carts don’t have GPS and the course is too new to be on my Garmin, so it was a true Lewis and Clark situation out there.
I also think it will become less severe as everything grows in completely.
The greens weren’t super fast, but they were firm AF, so it was really hard to stop the ball. Pair that with the fact that only about 60% of the “green” that you see from the fairway is actually usable, hold-able green, and it was a big challenge for me.
I hit the ball extremely, ridiculously, absurdly high, but even I couldn’t keep the ball on some of the greens.
On one of the par 3’s, I hit a beautiful 7 iron that I thought would be within 10 feet of the front pin. It landed pin high, took a massive bounce forward, and rolled about another 20 feet (uphill) off the green. I ended up in a hardpan waste area chipping back to a green that was 3 feet higher than the ball and that was severely downhill all the way to the front pin location. I’m not sure I could have picked the ball up and thrown it and gotten it close.
The staff was super nice and welcoming, the pace of play was aspirational (couple of groups of old guys ahead of us were absolutely getting after it), and the post-round lunch was really strong.
It is a unique experience for a midlands golfer. It is a huge change from the typical pine tree-lined, narrow country club with thick rough that we normally all see here. The closer you get to the hole, the more difficult it gets, and that was awesome.
If you’re into this sort of thing, I am a 12.0 index and I shot 90 from the middle tees - hitting cups. I didn’t play great, but I was satisfied with that score given the conditions and my unfamiliarity.
It is definitely the type of place that makes you want another crack at it.
I used to play a ton at Crowfield.
It is owned by the City of Goose Creek, and they pump a lot of money into it. It is generally in excellent shape for a muni, but it can get busy. When I was there they had over 35,000 rounds per year, and I think that has gone up substantially the last few years (COVID).
It is a tough walk, so I’d only recommend riding there unless you’re some type of masochist and/or marathoner.
After that review I’m going to need to find a way onto this place. Thank you! Also sounded like a hell of a time.
I forgot to mention that the clubhouse is siiiiiiiiick.
They went all out. It has a strong mid-century modern vibe. It feels like the home club of Don Draper.
It sits on a little hill overlooking most of the course, and we ate lunch on the covered patio out back after the round. It’s one of those clubs I’d get in trouble with my wife with because I’d want to truly be there all day long - not just golf and bolt home.
All these things sound great and I can’t wait to see it but they logo straight up blows.
Just bought a polo…let’s fight.
I’ll tag along in the (paid for) ford escape
Disagree. I bought two Peter Millar polos…think it set me back $218, but I did a great job of acting cool when he gave me my total. The windmill kicks ass.