Hot Fish Club — Restaurant in Myrtle Beach

The freshest shrimp and oysters in town! Plus the lobster pot pie=Exquisite! The only negative is that sometimes when you’re sitting outside they allow smokers to be too close to the area where you are eating.

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed Hot Fish Club. We’ve been coming here for years, and we just arrived at the beach a couple of days ago, and we both chose this as our first seafood meal of the visit. We often come during odd times, because we do maintenance on a condo down here in the off-season. So we will come in December etc. And it’s so nice to just be here with the locals and not have a long wait. But every once in a while, we have the opportunity to come here during the actual high season, and of course there’s a long wait, but you can grab a drink from the bar nearby. But here’s the secret: this is one of the few places in Murrells Inlet that faces the water that allows you to make reservations! So you’re not waiting for two hours if you make reservations in advance. It’s usually just 10 minutes or so before your table is ready. That’s quite a triumph!

During our recent visit, my husband had the Caesar salad with fried oysters, and of course, we shared Bam bam shrimp as an appetizer; I had the Seabass, because I love Seabass, but I regret it, because I forgot how fresh the oysters and shrimp were. I should’ve just had those. The Seabass was good, but I can get that anywhere. Our server brought our food out quickly, because we told her we had an evening reservation for an event. Also, don’t skip on the cocktails; my Mezcal old-fashioned was very...

45 Minute wait which was normal, but first seating was literally in front of speakers where the band was playing. Hostess knew it was a long shot and we ended up waiting again. On the second seating attempt, we were seated on the upper enclosed deck. No breeze or ceiling fans whatsoever and within 5 minutes, we were soaked and swatting mosquitoes. We got through our first round of drinks when appetizers showed up. They were delicious and I was willing to put aside the horrendous heat and skeeters until we realized none of the lighting around us was functional. Pretty soon we were eating in the dark. I put my phone over a cup of water to create a lantern effect, and my husband did the same, but it was still hard to see our food and eating crab legs in the dark became impossible. Additionally, we noticed several tables came up and abruptly left after realizing there were no fans and little lighting provided. We asked our server (who provided good service) about both issues and he said that it’s a common complaint he hears from guests. I’m not quite grasping how a restaurant as busy as this could not afford to place a few extra lights and maybe two ceiling or outdoor fans to create a 100% better environment for its guests. We ultimately had to have our dinners wrapped to-go after about two bites. When you leave a restaurant drenched in sweat, itching from numerous bites AND hungry, there’s a big problem. Of all the dining options on the inlet, this one was the worst experience in quite a while. Two stars for decent service and what was probably some very...

The food was good but I would not say outstanding. There were 5 of us and we ordered the Hot fish sampler, the fried green tomatoes, the crab Mac and cheese (not again, tasted like the crab was not fresh) and the fried Mozzy wedges. My husband ordered the chicken fried chicken. He said it was very good. Two friends ordered the oysters on half shell, they said they were excellent. My other friend ordered the fried shrimp and she was very pleased with it. I had one of the fried shrimp and it was good. The atmosphere in a gazebo that is very rustic, not the cleanest looking and used as a dining room/bar. We were seated at a table right by a freezer and/or fridge on one side (the servers kept going to) and the stage. No one told us a band would be playing before we could finish our meal or we would have waited for another table. There's no way you can have a conversation with your dinner partners when the band is playing ACDC! 😜 My biggest issue-we were by the back door, employees kept propping the door open and there was a very cold breeze blowing right directly on us. I had to ask three separate times to close the door. One person working there told me no he was not going to shut the door because there would be a lot of people coming in to see the band. There was no one outside and the band hadn't even started yet. We never saw anyone coming in that door to see the band. I finally got the door shut. I'm not so sure I'll be back and if I do it will be in warmer weather and will not be sitting close...