These restaurants in the Carolinas are among the best in the country, Yelp users say
Six restaurants in the Carolinas were named among the nation’s best places to eat — so get your taste buds ready.
In South Carolina, Yelp users say they can’t get enough of these restaurants:
- Halls Chophouse in Charleston
- Jack of Cups Saloon in Folly Beach
- Rainbow Donuts in York
And in North Carolina, three eateries made the list:
- Enat Ethiopian Restaurant in Charlotte
Ace No 3 in Charlotte
- Lang Van in Charlotte
The restaurants are all among Yelp’s “Top 100 Places to Eat in 2021.” To come up with the findings, the customer review website said it asked users about their favorite U.S. dining spots and studied the most popular choices.
“Yelp’s data science team analyzed the submissions from the community to determine the top restaurants by ratings, number of reviews, and volume of submissions, with geographic representation based on equal share of submissions of top-rated restaurants nationally,” the company said Thursday in a blog post.
The rankings were released at a time when many restaurants have had trouble staying afloat. Some businesses have relied on take-out orders or scaled back seating due to coronavirus-related rules and guidance.
As restaurants adjust to the pandemic, here’s a breakdown of the regional eateries that diners can’t wait to visit.
- Halls Chophouse is a steak restaurant with four locations across South Carolina. The nod went to the restaurant’s location on King Street in Charleston, an area that draws tourists.
- Jack of Cups Saloon makes “unexpected dishes, often inspired by Asian and Indian flavors,” according to its website. The restaurant is a few blocks from the Folly Beach waterfront and has a menu with meat, vegetarian and vegan options.
- Rainbow Donuts outside of Rock Hill has a deli and cafe, allowing people to pick up both sweet and savory foods. One of founders worked for a baking company after he emigrated from Cambodia as a teenager, The Herald reported in 2015.
Enat Ethiopian Restaurant is “dedicated to elevating the status and awareness of Ethiopian cuisine by fusing modern creativity with authentic delicious taste,” according to its Yelp page. The business on The Plaza simmers its dishes for hours with traditional ingredients, The Charlotte Observer reported in 2018.
Ace No. 3 is a burger joint that aimed to keep its menu simple when it opened two years ago. The restaurant is in the Belmont neighborhood of Charlotte.
Lang Van is a Vietnamese favorite in the Plaza-Shamrock area of Charlotte. When coronavirus-related financial hardships threatened to shutter the restaurant, donations poured in to help keep it open, CharlotteFive reported in June.
Overall, the No. 1 restaurant on Yelp’s list was Kelley Farm Kitchen in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
This story was originally published February 19, 2021 at 11:46 AM with the headline "These restaurants in the Carolinas are among the best in the country, Yelp users say."
