My spouse and I stopped at Hyman’s Seafood for drinks on a
Thursday evening in mid-November 2016. We stayed nearby at the DoubleTree by
Hilton Hotel & Guest Suites Charleston-Historic District, and we were on
our way to a late dinner at Food Is Good (FIG) when we stopped at Hyman’s. (The
DoubleTree, Hyman’s, and FIG are all located within a 1-block radius of each
other in the historic area.) Hyman’s is open daily for lunch, dinner, and
drinks; they close only on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom
Kippur. The restaurant does not accept reservations; if you must wait for your
table, you can pass the time at the (drinks) bar or outdoors on a park bench or
a joggling board. A parking garage is located in the rear of the building.
Hyman’s Seafood is located on the main thoroughfare of
Meeting Street in the Historic District. In the 1800s, the block
that houses the restaurant contained the city’s wholesale district. WM Karesh,
a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, started Southern Wholesale in this
location in 1890, which became one of the first distributors of Union &
Hanes underwear in the Southeast. In 1924, the business’s name changed to
Hyman’s Wholesale Company, which continued as a dry goods business until 1986,
when it was renamed Aaron’s Deli. Several storefronts adjoin to provide dining
rooms for Hyman’s on both the first and second floors of the buildings. Décor
includes wood floors, brick walls, and a wrought-iron staircase. Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand, and author Pat Conroy
have eaten at Hyman's Seafood.
As its name suggests, the menu at Hyman’s focuses on
seafood. In fact, the restaurant offers seven preparation styles (including fried). Because
we visited only for drinks, we cannot comment on the food offerings, other than
to say that they looked hearty and plentiful. If you sign up for their e-mail
club, the restaurant awards you with a free meal on your birthday.
We
noticed a few things at Hyman’s that distressed us. As we sat at the bar, we saw
that the drinks cooler contained a bucket of raw oysters near open drink
ingredient containers,. We also observed an odd-looking fixture suspended from
the ceiling in the corner of the bar area above and to the left of the bottled
drinks cooler that looked as if it contained fly paper stuck with insects. We
also experienced vastly inconsistent frozen drinks when different bartenders
prepared them. Our first frozen pina colada prepared by the female bartender
was delicious. Because it was so tasty, it was very easy to drink, and we
ordered a second cocktail, but a male bartender prepared that one, and we could
not finish it because of the strong alcohol taste.
