Poogan's Porch

72 Queen St, Charleston, SC

Last updated 8/27/2026

Poogan's Porch, operating since 1976 out of a converted Victorian house on Queen Street, has served traditional Lowcountry cooking for nearly five decades, making it one of the longer-running traditional Southern restaurants in a Charleston dining scene that has otherwise shifted substantially toward newer, more experimental concepts. Its shrimp and grits sticks closely to a traditional, comfort-food-forward preparation, reflecting the restaurant's broader identity as a preserver of classic Lowcountry cooking rather than a venue for reinterpreting or modernizing the dish the way some of the city's newer restaurants have. The restaurant's name comes from a stray dog who wandered onto the property's porch during its early years and became something of an informal mascot, a bit of local restaurant lore that's remained part of Poogan's identity across its nearly 50 years of continuous operation. For a Charleston shrimp and grits list, Poogan's Porch is the essential "old-school Southern comfort" entry — a nearly 50-year-old Victorian-house restaurant serving traditional Lowcountry shrimp and grits largely unchanged from the dish's classic homestyle roots.

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Top 6 Shrimp and Grits in Charleston
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