2023 Best "Off The Grid-Worthy" Restaurants in Greenville, SC
If we’ve done our job, our list of best restaurants for 2023 shouldn’t come as a total shock. We try to share the gems we find as we find them because sharing is caring. We care a lot.
But what may be new information about some of these restaurants is just how good they’ve proven themselves to be—consistently—during 2022. We visited, and tasted, (and tasted some more), and asked our trusted scouts to do the same to be sure all of the below qualifications were met for each of our choices.
What makes a place “Off The Grid-Worthy”?
Locally owned.
Creative signature dishes.
Memorable standout flavors.
Everyone always feels welcomed.
No matter when you go, it’s good.
Culturally diverse recipes steeped in tradition.
Must be open for a minimum of six months.
After intense debate and vetting to confirm our candidates checked all of the boxes, the selections were made for our 2023 Best Off The Grid-Worthy Restaurants. We are thrilled to present them to you with our full endorsement and encouragement to visit, and taste, and taste some more.
OTGG Team: Jackie Shapiro Brooker + Ariel H. Turner
Digital Post Production: FishEye Studios, Greenville, SC
New To The List
From veterans of the Greenville restaurant community to some fresh faces, we rank these seven among the best.
Bake Room
A carb-lovers dream. From baguettes to chocolate croissants to the thickest cubes of bread pudding you’ve ever seen, Bake Room proves its standing as the one bakery to make the list.
Located in The Commons, Bake Room is consistent with its daily offerings while throwing in some special seasonal items. Our standby favorites are the baguettes, morning buns, and perfectly laminated flaky croissants, which do tend to sell out each day.
Our tip for snagging your favorite treat: go early and often.
Maria’s Kitchen at The Drop-In Store
Maria’s Kitchen in the back of North Main’s favorite bodega turns out a wide variety of exceptionally tasty dishes. The no-frills red laminate tables between metal retail display shelves are deceptively casual considering the sophistication of flavor served.
Indian-inspired butter chicken, Brazilian Feijoada, spicy shrimp tacos, tamales (Wednesdays only), and Portuguese-influenced curry from Goa represent a sampling of the global destinations your tastebuds should expect to tour at this gem of a lunch spot. The hot dogs and burgers aren’t too shabby either.
Add this to your weekly lunch rotation.
(Check out our original story—prior to the updated exterior)
Green Lettuce
One of the possible surprises on this list, Green Lettuce quietly relocated from its formerly shuttered West End location and re-opened during summer 2022 as the anchor in a Congaree Road shopping center. From the unexpected dining room ambiance with a fitting central water feature to the flavor-bombs of the authentic Persian shareable plates, Green Lettuce is a sleeper we predict will awaken your senses upon entering. The warmth of the service is matched by the heat from the house green salsa that can be drizzled on any dish.
While the kebobs may seem the most accessible menu items, we recommend branching out to an assortment of appetizers, many of which are authentic dips begging to be ferried to diners’ mouths via fresh vegetable slices and piping hot bread. A particular stand-out is their version of kashk bademjam—a staple Persian dip made with eggplant, whey, saffron, onions and garlic. The key here is ordering to share.
Don’t skip the house-made dessert or the Persian tea served with dates.
Pizza Parcheggio
Literally “parking lot pizza,” there’s no parking lot we wouldn’t wait in for these perfect pies. How’s that for an endorsement!?!
Because, honestly, there’s pizza, and then there’s PIZZA. Pizza Parcheggio is the latter and worth the often weeks-long waiting list to take home one of these babies. And we have to admit, it’s a small thrill feeling a tad sneaky like we have a pizza dealer. You know, the kind who can really deliver the good stuff.
So what’s the deal? You sign up to pre-order. Then, pick up is Thursday- Sunday on your reserved date and time. Pizzas are classic, thin crust, 16” round with eight slices. No substitutions or half toppings. With nine pie choices, you won’t need alterations. Trust us.
Resident Diner (CLOSED DUE TO HIGH COST OF ALCOHOL LICENSE)
Owner Meredith Bost continues to surprise us. Not that we doubted the success of the brick-and-mortar location of her former food cart Resident Dogs. But the creativity of the Resident Diner menu themes—Casserole Tuesdays, Nicolas Cage’s birthday, etc.—are so off grid at every reveal, they belong on the grid, or at least this list.
We can confidently say you won’t find a more 80’s nostalgia-inducing restaurant in decor. An 8-track player has been installed and vintage crocheted blankets are available for chilly nights. But the food—hotdogs, tater tots, mountains of nachos, and all manner of hand-helds that need assistance from a fork—are reminiscent of an era where “home-cooked” dinners were served on microwaved trays or the ingredients sourced from cans and boxes. Meredith manages to convey the positives of those food memories while sourcing local, fresh ingredients and making everything from scratch.
When we say we could move in . . .
Sacha’s Cafe
Salt, fat, acid, heat. All the makings of well-balanced bites are here. With two locations now, Sacha’s bookends downtown from the east to the west. We’ve grown to love the newest addition a block beyond Fluor Field that is just as consistently delicious as the original Pleasantburg location. You can’t go wrong at either.
The extensive menu makes it difficult to recommend only a few items, but think of these as merely an introduction. First, Colombian empanadas— the bright yellow, corn-based dough filled with your choice of beef or chicken—arrive steaming, waiting to be filled with a vinegar-based hot sauce.
Ceviche de Camaron provides a palate cleanser before moving on to the heavier bowls and platters, like the traditional Colombian Bandeja Paisa—beans, rice, beef, fried pork belly, Colombian sausage, egg, fried sweet plantain, arepa, avocado.
But really, the bowls are where it’s at for us. Try the Paisa Bowl with rice, beans, steak or fried fresh bacon, fried Colombian sausage, fried sweet plantain, cabbage salad and avocado. That’s all the food groups, right?
And we can’t move on without mentioning the Perros Calientes (hotdogs) that will make you want to break out a tape measure. They’re big and topped with crushed potato chips.
The Trappe Door
Downtown’s favorite Belgian basement bar—where it’s difficult to get a seat without a reservation—is an OTGG favorite for several reasons:
The fries and dozen-plus aioli options are a major draw. As are the moules frites (fries again). And the steak frites. And the beer battered cod . . . and fries. So, clearly, there’s one main reason with many secondaries. If you haven’t also discovered Trappe Door’s fries (they aren’t really French, after all), this is your cue to do so.
We’re also big fans of the beer selection and one of the best craft cocktail programs in town. Snag a seat at the bar right after opening for a happy hour or early dinner, or make a reservation to ensure a table later in the evening.
OTGG tip: Trappe Door takes feeding kids seriously with its menu for the youngest culinarians, featuring even a smaller portion of moules frites. Afterall, they’re just mini adults.
The OG Restaurants
Consistently excellent in every way, these three exemplify the reason OTGG was started.
Our annual list wouldn’t be complete without them.
And Greenville wouldn’t be the same without them.
Asada
Mention Asada and our collective hearts swell a few sizes. Owners Gina and Roberto are the epitome of flavor-filled hospitality and never once have we received a cold dish, a taco that wasn’t just right, or a greeting that wasn’t as warm as the mole.
While we love the seasonal sangrias—which have often become an accidental excuse to ditch out early on a Friday afternoon— you can’t go wrong with any of the massive Mission-style burritos that form the core of the menu. But if you’re looking to venture further, it’s the savory fusions of Roberto’s Latin heritage with Gina’s Asian background peppered throughout the regular specials that we crave over and over:
Tacos de Camarones & Mole (Asian-inspired salt & pepper shrimp in Mexican mole served on a handmade pasilla chile corn tortilla) that are filling enough to share.
Vegan Mofongo (Roasted eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, shiitake mushrooms, homemade vegan gravy served over hand-mashed fried green plantains), which shows off their use of the freshest produce from their own garden and local farmers.
Chicken Karaage Taco (Japanese-style fried chicken marinated in sake, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, topped with Latin-Asian slaw of jalapenos, radishes, cabbage, scallions, ponzu, sesame seeds and served with fresh chips and pico) should be added to your list.
If that’s not convincing enough, you must not umami . . .
Asia Pacific Restaurant & Supermarket
Owner Alva Suk-Yin Mak is a seasoned restaurateur dedicated to serving the most authentic Chinese food in the Upstate. From our point of view, she’s succeeding year over year, and we still haven’t found a better place to get Peking duck than Asia Pacific.
Stir-fried pea tips, spicy hot pot, char siu (Chinese roast pork), and dim sum are, again, only a few items jam-packed with flavor on the extensive menu. Equal parts Asian standards and lesser-known authentic dishes, those accustomed to the typical Chinese-American takeout will discover something new here.
We encourage you to explore.
Pita House
Their cash-only status alone makes them iconic. But Pita House is so much more. The Namouz family has chosen to share not only their time and service with guests but also the matriarchal recipes, bringing their Mediterranean home here in an accessible way. Each day, they bake pita bread fresh, mix falafel and hummus and make every other item on the menu from scratch.
You will find no other example of a multi-cultural culinary experience that has become as ingrained in the Greenville community. Their commitment to quality and guest experience has brought people together over Israeli dishes for more than 30 years. That, alone, deserves an award.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
They’re new and rising stars. Keep an eye on these two in 2023. They’re the ones to watch.
Califas
We love a family feel-good story. In fact, every member of the Califas staff is family. And while all hasn’t been as storybook for owner Erika Mejia Dila as she’d prefer, having suffered the loss of her father and biggest supporter in the fall of 2022, the success of this little shop off of Orchard Park Drive is a very happy beginning.
Drawing from her grandmother’s, mother’s and aunts’ recipes, Erika recreates her familial food memories for her guests for lunch and dinner. When the aunts stop in and dip a spoon in a simmering pot, she knows she’s about to get some notes, which she welcomes. Humble and grateful describe Erika’s demeanor, and it comes through in her food.
On the menu, birria as tacos, pupusa bombs, pozole and even pho represent the many Latin and Asian influences from her family tree. The house sauces are there for the drenching, and keep an eye on the menu as it evolves to include even more of her family’s hundreds of recipes.
White Wine & Butter
A Cajun trattoria in a food hall downtown Greer? You have our attention.
Chef Michael Sibert began making flavor waves as a caterer and at local events, like euphoria, before White Wine & Butter’s brick-and-mortar restaurant opened. Now with the option to dine in, you can score fresh jambalaya pasta, seafood gumbo, and their signature Voodoo fries with crawfish etouffee gravy, which are made to order while you watch.
And let’s talk about the weekend brunch—Bananas Foster Pain Perdu, Creole Poutine and Louisiana BBQ Shrimp n Grits—that brings together Michael’s classic French technique with family New Orleans recipes.
We feel confident that the future here is bright.
Cheers to locally owneD
If you made it all the way through those descriptions without already planning your next meal out, now’s your chance. Phone a friend or several and make one of your 2023 goals to hit as many of these local gems as possible.
Bon Appetit!