When the temperatures dip below your comfort zone in the Palmetto State, it’s comforting to find a cozy restaurant with familiar tastes to stow away for a winter meal. In many locales, the ultimate destination may include a flickering fireplace and a nice steak or prime rib. But if you’re anywhere near the coast and there’s a chill in the air making it difficult to get outside to enjoy that salty breeze… there’s no place more comforting than a waterside restaurant with views that remind us of warmer days spent on, or better yet: in, the water.

For a meal that’ll answer that call, head to the Marina Variety Store Restaurant in Charleston. It’s found upstairs in this building perched on the edge of the Charleston Harbor.

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The views from every table in the house are spectacular.

TripAdvisor/dascamp48

Sip a hot cup of coffee, cocoa, or tea and warm your soul as the winter wind whips the water right up off the surface as it laps on the shore. You’ll love this front row seat for all of the blustery action at least as much as you love the food at the Marina Variety Store.

© Robin Jarvis

Breakfast is served seven days a week beginning at 6:30 and includes some familiar favorites and some other specialties.

TripAdvisor/Keith R There is a whole menu of Benedicts, for instance… all served with a bowl of grits or hashbrowns. The specials, omelets, wraps, and even breakfast seafood entrees (think crab cakes with your eggs, or shrimp and grits) are sure to please any seafood lover.

Lunch begins daily at 11 a.m. and dinner starts at 5 p.m.

Facebook/Marina Variety Store and Restaurant Choose from appetizers, soups, salads, burgers and steaks, chicken, pork chops, and of course, seafood! You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu — and there’s something here for everyone.

Marina Variety Store just may have the best Shrimp and Grits in southeast.

Google Local/Travis H The stone ground grits are especially creamy and paired with fresh shrimp (and possibly an added order of fried green tomatoes), it’s a meal to savor!

Visitors love the sides almost as much as the entrees.

Google Local/Liv Evans Everything is fresh and made with a southern flair. We definitely recommend the collard greens (always fresh!) and the mac and cheese.

And don’t forget to save room for dessert!

Google Local/Jay Coleman

Marina Variety Store has been serving the Lowcountry since long before Charleston became so popular (or huge). It’s been open since 1963!

Google Local/Oliver D. LONG

Have you eaten at Marina Variety Store? We’d love to hear from you! And if you have another favorite spot that’s perfect for a cozy meal on a crisp, winter day, let us know!

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TripAdvisor/dascamp48

© Robin Jarvis

TripAdvisor/Keith R

There is a whole menu of Benedicts, for instance… all served with a bowl of grits or hashbrowns. The specials, omelets, wraps, and even breakfast seafood entrees (think crab cakes with your eggs, or shrimp and grits) are sure to please any seafood lover.

Facebook/Marina Variety Store and Restaurant

Choose from appetizers, soups, salads, burgers and steaks, chicken, pork chops, and of course, seafood! You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu — and there’s something here for everyone.

Google Local/Travis H

The stone ground grits are especially creamy and paired with fresh shrimp (and possibly an added order of fried green tomatoes), it’s a meal to savor!

Google Local/Liv Evans

Everything is fresh and made with a southern flair. We definitely recommend the collard greens (always fresh!) and the mac and cheese.

Google Local/Jay Coleman

Google Local/Oliver D. LONG

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Address: 9 Lockwood Dr, Charleston, SC 29401, USA