we now have outdoor seating

At Toomer’s, seafood is as fresh and local as it gets!

The Bluffton Sun 2/3/16

“Are you the restaurant related to the seafood company?” or “Is this the Toomers’ restaurant?” were questions Tina Toomer and her daughter Jessica, the general manager, would hear all the time. “Tying the oyster factory into the restaurant was always our goal,” said Tina, whose husband, Larry Toomer, carries on the work of his father and grandfather at the Bluffton Oyster Co., just blocks away at the end of Wharf Street.

The iconic concrete-block building on the banks of the May River – the last hand-shucking house in South Carolina – is strikingly depicted in paintings by local artist Kelly Graham in the main dining room.

If the heart of this restaurant is its kitchen, the oyster factory is its soul. The menu and seasonal specials – oysters, shrimp, crabs, clams and mussels – are harvested primarily from the May River. With the emphasis on fresh and local, Larry Toomer prides himself that “nothing arrives or leaves here by truck.”

With the oyster factory one of Bluffton’s primary tourist attractions in all seasons, Tina Toomer believes visitors in search of seafood are looking for honesty and authenticity. “What we feature is what we catch,” she said, “and sometimes we don’t know until we go out there.”

Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Toomer’s accepts reservations for groups of eight or more. Call 843-757-0380.

Freelance writer Pam Gallagher was a copy editor at USA Today and a staff writer and fashion editor for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press.