Every bar on this list claims a little history, but Big John's has receipts: it's Charleston's oldest tavern, opened in 1955 by a man named Big John Cannady who spent the late 40s and early 50s playing for the New York Giants before coming home and putting up the sign. The room is all that old, honest dive energy - red leather bar stools, pool, pinball, darts, and a speakeasy off the main room that people keep telling you about in exactly the way you'd expect. Their website says it straight: "an unapologetically delicious... homestyle cooking" in a "rustic bar full of history." Local beer, classic martinis, and some genuinely good craft cocktails hiding in there.
We came in to watch a football game on a Tuesday and stayed for the karaoke night we didn't know we'd found. The crowd is the whole appeal - locals who have been coming for thirty years, Citadel cadets when the school's in session, a few tourists who wandered off East Bay and are now permanently changed. No underage scene, no pretense, and the food is way better than it has any right to be. The turkey burger made me reconsider my entire position on turkey, and if you don't know what the Grand Ma is yet, that's a problem I won't diagnose. Walk-ins only, no reservations, which is correct.