Two of the best restaurants in US are found near this SC vacation destination, Yelp says
Two of the nation’s best restaurants are right here in South Carolina, new rankings show.
Jackrabbit Filly and Lola — both in North Charleston — were named among the “Top 100 Places to Eat in 2022,” according to Yelp.
The business review website said it came up with the findings after gathering user favorites and curating the list. It determined “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.”
Of the 100 restaurants named the best in the country by Yelp on Wednesday, Jan. 19, only two were in South Carolina.
Jackrabbit Filly came closest to the top, ranking No. 6 nationwide. The restaurant describes itself as a “Heritage Driven New Chinese American Restaurant” that encourages reservations and serves food family-style.
“That means everything is meant to be shared,” the restaurant said on its website. “Usually, we recommend two items more than the number of guests at the table. Nobody will stop you if you want to do the whole shebang.”
On its Yelp page, the restaurant boasts a 5-star rating, with some customers raving about the menu’s dumplings, fried rice and Sichuan Hot Karaage, a Japanese fried chicken dish. Shuai and Corrie Wang were running a food truck that focused on rice bowls before starting the restaurant in 2019.
“Named after Shuai and Corrie’s Chinese zodiac animals, Jackrabbit Filly proudly serves heritage driven New Chinese American cuisine in a fun, friendly neighborhood environment,” the business said on its website.
Also earning a spot on the nationwide Yelp list was Lola, which landed at No. 22. The restaurant said it serves “authentic Cajun and Creole cuisine” in a welcoming atmosphere.
“On our menu, you’ll find all kinds of low-country Louisiana seafood options, like our famous overstuffed PoBoys, perfectly seasoned crawfish, and our flavorful creole jambalaya,” Lola said on its Yelp page.
Some Yelp users couldn’t get enough of the restaurant’s customer service and were fans of its fried oysters, etouffee and other seafood dishes, helping it score 4.5 of 5 stars. The restaurant has a permanent location and also offers catering services.
“We first got started serving our Louisiana cuisine out of a food truck back in 2010,” a restaurant owner wrote on Yelp. “Since then, thanks to the support of our community, LoLA expanded to include the brick-and-mortar restaurant you know today.”
Both of the winning restaurants in the Palmetto State are in North Charleston, a city of about 115,000 people. The nearby vacation destination of Charleston is no stranger to being recognized on a wide scale.
In October, The New York Times named Hannibal’s Soul Kitchen among the U.S. eateries it’s “excited about right now.”
Also, the city’s Off Track Ice Cream shop was named the best dessert spot in the state on another Yelp list, McClatchy News reported in February.
On the latest Yelp rankings, top honor in the nation went to Cocina Madrigal, a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona.
