New Restaurants Near Waterway Plantation in 2026

If you live inside the Carolina Waterway Plantation gates, the answer to "where should we go for dinner tonight" has quietly changed in 2026. For years the honest reply was Highway 501 chain rows or a twenty-minute run to the beach. That's no longer the shortest good option.

The reason is specific and worth naming. Carolina Forest is finally getting restaurants built for the people who live here, not for the visitors passing through on their way to the sand. That shift is showing up on Carolina Forest Boulevard, on Belle Terre, and along the 501 corridor near Tanger — all within a short drive of the River Oaks Drive gate.

The five-minute radius

Everything in this section is closer to your front door than the nearest beach access.

South Coast Beer Project, 5020 Carolina Forest Blvd

This is the one worth putting on the fridge. South Coast Beer Project is the first brewery to open in Carolina Forest, bringing around 100 jobs to the area. The scale is unusual for an inland neighborhood spot. The 9,000-square-foot brewery seats 150 to 175 people and doubles as a venue for parties and events, with space outside for around 250 to 300 people.

The design tells you who it's for. Owner Chris Evans has planned outdoor movie nights on an 18-foot screen surrounded by tables and patio chairs, along with bounce houses for kids while parents relax. Head brewer Brock Kurtzman, who has been in local craft beer circles for years, put it plainly in an interview with WMBF: "We are gonna have tourists here, and we hope that all the tourists come and find us, but we are definitely geared toward the locals in Carolina Forest."

The food program leans Detroit-style pizza and wings alongside sandwiches, salads, and full appetizers, all prepared in-house, with a beer lineup that includes a blonde ale, a raspberry wheat, a mocha white stout named after Blackbeard's ship Queen Anne's Revenge, and an American brown called Board Meeting. Hours run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

End Zone Sports Bar & Grill, 3521 Belle Terre Boulevard

A new sports bar, End Zone Sports Bar & Grill, is opening in the Carolina Forest area at 3521 Belle Terre Boulevard, taking over a former establishment. The venture is led by local entrepreneur Adam Carroll and promises sports, games, and a new food menu following extensive renovations. Practical value for a resident: it's a game-day option that doesn't require the drive to Broadway at the Beach.

O.A.K. Prime Kitchen and Bar

If you've been telling out-of-town guests there's no chef-driven food nearby, that talking point is stale. O.A.K. Prime Kitchen and Bar offers a chef-inspired menu of Southern flare and re-imagined classics, brings a "one-of-a-kind" experience to Carolina Forest, and recently earned Michelin recognition for its culinary excellence. A Michelin nod inside Carolina Forest is a real change in the local dining conversation.

The ten-minute stretch toward Highway 501

Slightly further out, but still shorter than a run to North Myrtle Beach.

Fullbelly BBQ

Fullbelly BBQ, located in Carolina Forest, serves classic Southern barbecue plates, ribs, pulled pork, and homestyle sides. A neighborhood smokehouse that isn't a chain fills a gap the area has had for a long time.

Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q, coming to Rodeo Drive at U.S. 501

Not open yet, but worth watching from inside the gates. Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q is bringing its signature slow-smoked pulled pork, Texas-style brisket, smoked chicken, St. Louis ribs, and Cheese Biscuits to a new location in Carolina Forest near Tanger Outlets on Rodeo Drive at U.S. 501. Construction is underway, with the restaurant expected to open soon. If you've done a Tanger run, you've driven past the site.

Worth the longer drive

These are outside the five-to-ten-minute radius, but they're the openings your friends will ask about, and they're all reachable without fighting through Ocean Boulevard traffic.

• 357 Brewers, 8201 Marina Pkwy at Grande Dunes. A new waterfront brewery and taproom opening in summer 2026, the $6.4 million facility features a 15-barrel brewing system, an outdoor beer garden with Intracoastal Waterway views, and an upscale pub menu. The most direct sit-on-the-water option that isn't in North Myrtle Beach.
• Guy Fieri's Downtown Flavortown, Myrtle Beach Mall, 10177 N. Kings Highway. It opened June 10, 2026, inside the former JC Penney anchor space. The 50,000-square-foot venue includes a restaurant with seating for 400, more than 100 arcade games, duckpin bowling, a Freaky Tiki bar, and private event rooms. Aimed at grandkids visiting for the week.
• Ole Smoky Distillery and Yee-Haw Brewing Co., 1214 Celebrity Circle at Broadway at the Beach. Opened in May 2026, the 40,000-square-foot space functions as a working distillery, a craft brewery, a full-service restaurant, a live music venue, and a gathering place.

What's actually different about this year

Any restaurant list can get long. The point isn't the count. The point is who these places were built to serve.

Read the openings in order and a pattern shows up. A brewery whose head brewer says on the record that he built it for Carolina Forest locals. A sports bar owned by a local entrepreneur taking over an existing Belle Terre space. A barbecue joint slotting into a neighborhood, not a tourist corridor. Even the Jim 'N Nick's site was picked for its access to the Tanger and 501 traffic loop that residents already use.

That's the shift a Carolina Waterway Plantation homeowner actually feels. As one industry summary of the season put it, local business owners across multiple new concepts have described a market that is increasingly driven by year-round residents rather than seasonal visitors, and more people are relocating permanently to the Grand Strand, creating demand for neighborhood restaurants, independent cafés, and family-friendly breweries that operate on a consistent, year-round basis. Carolina Forest is one of the neighborhoods that demand is showing up in first, because it's one of the fastest-growing residential corridors on the Grand Strand.

Practically, that means fewer nights where "let's grab dinner" turns into a forty-minute round trip on 17. It means a brewery you can walk your kids into on a Tuesday. It means a Michelin-recognized kitchen inside your own ZIP code. And it means the dining answer you give visiting family is finally a Carolina Forest answer, not a Broadway at the Beach detour.

If you're weighing what all of this means for the value of a home inside the gates, or you have friends asking what it's like to live in Carolina Waterway Plantation right now, Karen Sells the Coastal Carolinas is happy to talk through it. Start Your Coastal Home Search when you're ready.