Here are the 4 favorite long-gone Myrtle Beach area restaurants, readers say. Vote for the best

Eleanor Nash
·3 min read

Editor’s note: What Myrtle Beach people, places or things make you nostalgic? Tell us more about this story or other notable stories that our journalists should know about our community. Email us at online@thesunnews.com.

In the last week, 75 Sun News readers nominated their favorite closed restaurants from Little River to Garden City and everywhere in between.

In our form, readers shared their memories of kind staff, unforgettable flavors and irreplaceable atmospheres at 55 Grand Strand eateries.

Four restaurants rose to the top, with multiple reader nominations each. Now it’s your turn to vote for the most missed restaurant in the Myrtle Beach area. Reader submissions were lightly edited for clarity.

Honorable mentions

While they didn’t make it into the top four, each of these eateries received two nominations from Sun News readers.

  • Cagney’s

  • Collector’s Cafe

  • Outrigger

  • Prossers

  • Rossi’s

  • Slugs

  • T Bonz Gill & Grill

Finalists

Black Thai

Pad Thai at Black Thai. File photo.
Pad Thai at Black Thai. File photo.

Address: 710 Main St., Myrtle Beach

Readers enjoyed nights with friends over panang curry and drunken noodles at Black Thai. A recently departed favorite, Black Thai in downtown Myrtle Beach closed this August after 16 years in business.

Reader Alex wrote that, in addition to weekly Tuesday dinners, “every birthday for myself and my group of friends was spent here.” Tiffany of Forestbrook worked at Black Thai and fondly remembers the crispy chili chicken and her fellow employees.

Santa Fe Station

Address: 1101 Highway 17 N., North Myrtle Beach

The train car in the center of the building and a model train chugging on an overhead track made Santa Fe Station’s atmosphere unforgettable. So were the hush puppies and honey butter, said our readers.

The North Myrtle Beach restaurant was located where the Mellow Mushroom is now. In 2008, local restaurateur Ed Cribb bought the business, turning it into a steakhouse and renovating the one-of-a-kind building, according to Sun News reporting.

K&W Cafeteria

Cheesecake, lemon meringue pie, pumpkin pie and cherry cobbler are some of the desserts offered at K&W on Thanksgiving. File photo.
Cheesecake, lemon meringue pie, pumpkin pie and cherry cobbler are some of the desserts offered at K&W on Thanksgiving. File photo.

Addresses: four locations in the Myrtle Beach area

Sun News readers feasted on chicken pan pie and egg custard at K&W Cafeteria, which at its height had four locations in Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet and North Myrtle Beach. Starting in 2017, the area cafeterias gradually closed, according to The Sun News.

The low prices and kind employees stood out to our readers. Penny from Surfside Beach remembered, “At breakfast time, the wonderful lady that worked there had the best way of calling out ‘WAFFles!!’” Reader Susan loved “the little lady that called out ‘I need a shor stack.’”

You can still taste that beloved roast beef – 11 K&W Cafeterias are still open in North Carolina and Virginia, with one in Wilmington.

J. Edwards

Address: 2300 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach

For almost 40 years, owner J. Edward Fleming owned the Myrtle Beach steakhouse, which Sun News readers remember for their prime ribs. Located on South Kings Highway by the Myrtle Beach Airport, the restaurant closed in 2011 following Fleming’s passing, according to Sun News reporting at the time.

Nan went to the restaurant yearly for two decades while on vacation and remembered “meeting the owner who so graciously came to every table.” The Ohio resident described the atmosphere as “old-school” and “very classy,” while reader Les of Socastee recalled the “private gazebos for that special function with a loved one.”

Time to vote

You have until Oct. 25 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time to vote for your favorite. Please note this poll is just for fun and isn’t scientific.