Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
For about ten years, sports brought me to Myrtle Beach — tournaments and travel teams for kids across elementary, middle, and high school. When you’re eating with a team of young athletes, you don’t take them to the fancy places. And Myrtle Beach, as a town, leans hard into high-volume buffets and touristy restaurants built for quantity over quality. Finding something genuinely good took time.
Aspen Grill, right on Kings Highway not far from the SkyWheel, ranks among the best I’ve found. It bills itself as a steakhouse but ranges wider — exotic meats, strong seafood, a menu built by people who clearly care.
The Bar
I sit at the bar every time, and the bartender has seen me enough times now — probably ten visits over a couple of years — to know my order before I say it. He makes an excellent Old Fashioned, usually built around a rotating house-made syrup that changes the profile week to week. He also makes my favorite cocktail of all time, the Vieux Carré, the classic New Orleans drink. I have a recipe for it I’ll post separately.
This particular night I had both — started with the Old Fashioned, this time built on a rosemary simple syrup, then moved to the Vieux Carré. Properly served, as bourbon should be: a single large ice cube that melts slowly instead of diluting the drink in ten minutes.
The Appetizers
Two tonight, and admittedly bread-heavy — but their bread earns the indulgence.
The first was a bruschetta topped with smoked salmon, olive oil, and light spicing. Everything here is fresh, and the bread’s outer crust stays properly crispy. A strong opener.
Then their standard bread service — French style, crusty outside, soft and moist inside, served with real butter and three flavored salts: a spicy chili salt, a volcanic salt, and a more traditional sea salt. Butter the bread, dip it in one of the salts, and you have something almost good enough to be its own entrée. Word of caution: don’t fill up on it. That’s a real risk here.
We also ordered the French onion soup, which is better than most dedicated French restaurants I’ve had it at. Rich, built on what I believe is a wine reduction, with onions cooked down until fork-tender and falling apart. The broth alone is worth ordering on a cold day. Croutons and a proper cheese cap on top — noticing a bread theme tonight, and not complaining about it.
The Entrées
The short rib came over mashed potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and a hearty sauce, topped with two fried onion rings for crunch against the extremely tender meat. In most restaurants, this dish wins the night outright.
Not tonight. Tonight it ran into world-class competition.
The elk ribs — two small ribs on the plate, unassuming in appearance — turned out to be some of the best meat I have ever eaten. I’ve had Kobe. I’ve had Wagyu, tender and full of flavor. I think the elk might beat both. It was so good I would have defended my plate from my own date if she’d reached for a bite. I didn’t, for the record. But I understood the temptation.
The Dessert (That Wasn’t)
We had every intention of finishing with dessert — the menu is solid — but we were too full from the food that came before. Instead we stuck with cocktails as dessert. My date ordered a cucumber martini, and where a lot of bars simply pour cucumber-flavored vodka, Aspen Grill mudddles their own fresh cucumbers into it. I stick to bourbon, but even I could tell this was a cut above the usual version.
The Atmosphere
Upscale, consistently excellent service whether you’re at a table or the bar. The walls are lined with paintings of famous people — some instantly recognizable, some requiring a discreet Google Lens search to place. Half the fun of the evening becomes an impromptu round of trivia, with your table arguing over who’s actually in each painting.
The Stories
Aspen Grill has accumulated its share of stories over the years.
One night, out with a different date, I walked in and ran into a woman I’d previously dated. I only make it to Myrtle Beach occasionally, so the odds of that particular collision felt improbably specific. No fireworks, thankfully — the evening went fine regardless.
Another night, eating solo at the bar, I ended up next to four golfers well into their third, fourth, maybe fifth round of drinks. They struck up a conversation, and by the end of the night they’d picked up my check. When I asked why, they said: you’re hilarious. I don’t consider myself especially funny. I think at that point in the evening, everything was funny to them. Either way, I didn’t pay for dinner that night.
A third story, from yet another date — separate from the elk night, separate from the ex-encounter, a completely different woman entirely. (Yes, if you’re having trouble keeping the dates straight, that’s the same problem I have looking back.) We sat at a table this time. The conversation wasn’t bad. But this is, by now, an established fact: Aspen Grill is a genuinely excellent restaurant. And as she sat there scanning the menu — looking, looking, looking — she ordered a salad and the chicken dish.
I said nothing. Their salads are quite good. The chicken exists on the menu for people who are picky and don’t particularly care about fine dining, but that’s not my call to make out loud on a date. Our waiter, however — sharp as the rest of the staff — gently rested a hand on her wrist and said something to the effect of: isn’t tonight the night to experiment a little? The chicken, frankly, is one of the blander things we serve. I’d encourage you to step outside your comfort zone.
She upgraded to the salmon. Slightly more adventurous than plain chicken, at least. I tried a bite — genuinely good, though not in the same class as the elk or the short rib. That night’s order, in full: salad, salmon, bread.
The conversation was fine. But I’m enough of a foodie that this kind of pickiness is close to a dealbreaker for me. There wasn’t a second date.
The Verdict
Aspen Grill has given me great meals and better stories over the years, and I look forward to going back — for the elk, for the Vieux Carré, and for whatever happens next time I sit down at that bar.
The Menu
Aspen Grill — Myrtle Beach, SC Cuisine: Steakhouse Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
