Southend Brewery & Smokehouse

This has become my favorite place to take out-​of-​town guests or grab a meal with my partner.
The building is beautiful, with multiple floors, an exposed kitchen, and the brewery running throughout.
Service is quick, friendly, and professional. Sometimes they act a bit rushed, but they are because the place is usually packed.
Reservations strongly recommended, alongside the frozen peach Bellini and pulled pork sandwich with Carolina BBQ sauce.

My wife and I went here two years ago, add we liked it. Nice environment and service. I tried the BBQ and it was good. She got the the Baked Local Brie, and we were blown away about how good awesome the Brie and tomato chutney was!
We will return!

Our nachos and crab-​artichoke dip w/​chives was excellent. Kitchen is open, so that’s neat. Pretty nice place.

Really neat brewery! The location is two blocks from waterfront park and has a great view if you score a table on the third floor. I highly recommend getting the flight of beers to try all their brews. My favorite by far was their seasonal coconut porter (tastes like a less sweet almond joy) but the other brews were great too! We had their beef brisket sandwich and pepperoni and sausage pizza both of which were on point!

Very good!!! I loved the atmosphere. Waitress was great. Always kept our drinks filled and asking if we needed anything. Had a card for a free crab app from our hotel and it was amazing my kids even liked it. The food was really good. I got the pulled pork sandwich, my husband got ribs, kids got chicken nachos. Which were huge and really good with some sour cream. (I had to take a bit or two) I posted a pic. So good. The place is clean and the manager was really nice as well.

Southend Brewery & Smokehouse
Jan 14, 2016
I wandered in here after walking around old town Charleston for a few hours. I was seated quickly as it was a Thursday and the place was not very full. I had their version of Fried Green Tomatoes, which was good. I also had their Danish barbecued ribs appetizer and those were tasty. My bowl of She Crab soup was also good, although it was served at only a few degrees above room temperature I felt. I had one of their in house brewed beers, the Rip Tide Red, which was decent.

Great nachos
Really good cheese burger sliders!
Good location on Bay Street
3 floors
First floor has better seating
Great service
Salads are great!
Ribs were pretty good
I would come here again!

I came here with my boyfriend and his family and we had a great lunch experience. I can’t imagine why this place has 3 stars!
We started with the sweet onion hushpuppies with butter as an appetizer. These are amazing. The best hushpuppies I have ever had. Everyone was in awe of how delicious they were.
I had the turkey and brie sandwich, which was also amazing. It was so tasty and presented beautifully.
This place is classy and beautiful. It is not a typical bar; their menu is fantastic and has unique sandwiches, personal pizzas, appetizers, salads and of course, beers!
I would definitely come back!

We discovered this local brewery while walking Charleston. Bypassed it a few times driving up Queen St to some other restaurants. On this day we stopped in.
Very nice surroundings. Great wait staff. All were welcoming to us.
We sampled a few of their beers. None disappointed. Had a small lunch of pizza and a salad for three. Not disappointing either.
I’ll be back when visiting Charleston. It’s a great destination.
Nice job!

Three stars is a round upward. I don’t want to come right out and label it a tourist trap but it definitely has a lot of the characteristics. My wife and I did not have any food so this is strictly an ambience and beer review.
The cool thing about this place is it’s massive, so chances are, you won’t have to wait, or won’t have to wait long, if you want a place to grab a drink or some food. Much of the brewing apparatus is exposed, so if you like looking at everything to get an idea on how it works, that part is great too. It’s three stories, and an elevator with glass walls travels up the center of the place. All in all, it’s a good look and feel, good vibe. Servers seemed nice and our bartender was attentive.
Having not had any of their beers before, we went with the sample platter which gets you six varieties. I probably should have seen it as a warning sign, but I noticed a few sampler platters that other patrons had been enjoying and several had much of the stout left, as well as other glasses randomly unfinished. I get it, not every type of beer is for every person, but this seemed like more than a simple I don’t like that kind of beer issue. We tried them all, drank them all, but I can’t say I left impressed, nor did we order more. There are numerous beer options out there, and these simply didn’t come across as memorable. Also, I really like true wheat beers and they don’t brew one of those, so keep that in mind if hefeweizen is your thing.
Third floor does have a nice view, so that’s mostly what pushed it into three star territory.

Just reviewing the bar area.
We stopped here to have a drink around 4pm. I had the sangria that was a daily special and my husband had a beer. My sangria was fantastic! A little on the citrusy side, but that’s just how I like it! The bar area is nice and large. The bartender was great, very busy but attentive. Great place to cool off and take a break from all of the shopping!
A little annoyance was the additional staff folding silverware to our right; they were gossiping about fellow co-​workers and complaining about shifts. I found this really inappropriate considering we could hear their entire conversations.

If you are looking for a casual spot to grab a beer and relatively inexpensive dinner with friends, Southend Brewery is a good bet as it is within walking distance of most major places downtown and very seldom has a wait. While the menu is heavily BBQ focused, the restaurant also serves typical American-​style bar food like pizzas, burgers, sandwiches and salads. If you plan to go for the BBQ alone, my advice is don’t, as Swig n’ Swine and Smokey Oak Taproom are much better options. With that being said, their pizzas and burgers are simple yet delicious, and relatively inexpensive at $ 10 – 12 each. All of Southend Brewery’s food is relatively simple and straightforward, with very few unique ingredients or creative twists found on the menu. They do have a large craft beer selection, which you can also choose to order in 5 oz. samples, sample trays, pitchers or fill your growler to go.
Must-​order items:
Sampler tray of craft beers
Hot Blue Crab & Artichoke Dip
Smoked Jumbo Chicken Wings
Old South Burger

I give them a four, but that has nothing to do with their beer. We will get to that in a bit.
Firstly, this building is breathtaking. The outside and every floor on the inside is gorgeous. The elevator is also extremely cool.
Secondly, the bartender we had was very nice and very attentive. Also, the appetizers we had were great especially the fried green tomatoes. The pimento with pita and onion hush puppies were not my particular favorite, but the people I was with loved them.
As far as the beer goes, I just was not a fan. The only beers I didn’t hate were the Watch it Grow Wheat (which is surprising because I never like wheats) and the Pict’s Stout. As such, I wouldn’t return here for the beer, but would for the food.

I will confess that Southend Brewery & Smokehouse was not my first choice of restaurants this past Thursday (March 19^th). However, I was with a group of 7 others, and the majority vote overruled me. Since I was one of the drivers, I pondered a line item veto, but opted to take the path of least resistance and went with the flow.
I really do not drink alcohol very frequently, but being in Charleston on business, I would have liked to try the beer sampler here; but I digress, as I was the designated driver. I started with a cup of she crab soup (with aged sherry) as an appetizer. Perhaps it was not an award winning soup, but it was good enough to leave me satiated and I wasn’t sorry that I ordered it. In retrospect, I should have gotten a bowl rather than a cup.
For my dinner, I got the beef brisket sandwich. When I tell you they pile the brisket high, I’m not kidding; as there was easily enough brisket for two sandwiches. The brisket was smoked to near perfection with a nice smoke ring permeating the meat and a nice char on the end. Instead of fries, I opted for the collard greens, which were cooked perfectly. There were not too salty, had just the right amount of smoke and were cooked just right; as I hate an overcooked and mushy order of greens. Kudos to Chef and Culinary Director Orlando Barrera for nailing this one.
The ambiance of this restaurant and the good wait staff gives Southend Brewery & Smokehouse a 4^th star in my book. The historic Wagener building is the perfect spot. This three story spot has a cool glass elevator in the middle of the dining room and a three story atrium that showcases their spotlessly clean copper and stainless steel brew tanks.
On the day of our visit, the 3^rd floor was being utilized for a private party and half of the second floor was being staged for a party later that night. The cool factor alone is reason enough to go here.
So if you’re in Charleston and want something other than seafood, stop on in.

Wow! What a great meal. Southend is a microbrewery with an outstanding restaurant. Diners can enjoy barbecue, pizza, or seafood. All of it well-​prepared and delicious. The topper is the outstanding selection of craft beer. I can personally recommend the Rip Tide Red. The brisket and pulled pork were perfect, but others will have to comment on the ribs and chicken. There were three types of sauce, a traditional tomato, a spicy tomato vinegar, and a honey. I preferred the spicy, as it had just enough bite.