Restaurants in Anderson

The chefs at Harbor Inn Seafood cast a wide net across America’s vast waters, hauling up recipes for seafood standbys ranging from river-dwelling catfish to Atlantic denizens such as scallops and crab. Undersea eats arrive fried and boiled, taking their place at the table with terrestrial delicacies including juicy cuts of prime rib and filet mignon.

At Smoke & Blue, diners pile plates high with buffet-style barbecue in a family-friendly setting. The cavernous wood-paneled dining area seats 300 people at long tables with checkerboard tablecloths, and the eatery welcomes buses, RVs, and large spaceships. On the weekends, family-oriented bluegrass, country, and rock bands take the stage as patrons dig into plates of smoked chicken, pulled pork, and spare ribs with sides of sweet-potato soufflé, creamy coleslaw, and collard greens.

Mark Bucher still remembers from childhood the enticing aroma of burgers being grilled by Mr. Kaufman, his neighborhood butcher. For years, Bucher tried to find a burger that would match up to those memories, but never did—so he founded BGR The Burger Joint and started making his own.

BGR’s burgers start with high-quality ingredients—most importantly, all-natural beef from grain-fed cattle, free to run in the fields and given zero hormones, fillers, or antibiotics. The prime beef is dry-aged, blended, and ground fresh to form patties that are grilled over an open flame, and then placed atop buttery, locally made brioche buns delivered fresh each day. For nonbeef eaters, the menu's selection of burgers also includes turkey and veggie varieties, as well as The Greek, a seasoned lamb patty topped with tzatziki and feta, a combination that won out on the Food Network's Throwdown With Bobby Flay.

Diners can request all of BGR The Burger Joint's freshly made fries—from thick-cut yukon gold potatoes to asparagus fries—be topped with parmesan, rosemary, roasted garlic, or a tiny tiara. The staff hand-spins shakes with Gifford's or Breyers ice cream to create extra-thick treats for finishing off meals, and some shops curate their own selection of bottled vintage sodas.

Sweet Grass Diner's mission to help keep neighboring businesses thriving holds strong in its menu, which bursts at the seams with home-cooked meals comprising eggs, dairy, and fresh produce supplied by local farms. Helmed by Ray and Karan Stratford of Brioso Fresh Pasta, the diner’s kitchen turns a cheek to the owners' usual Italian fare and instead churns out breakfast all day, sating appetites with fresh-made pancakes, waffles, and farm-fresh eggs. Grilled-chicken sandwiches, hearty chili, and chicken-fried steak doused in sausage gravy all vie for palate popularity from visitors hungry for lunch and dinner. Bread pudding and lemon-meringue pie meet diners at meals' end, granting a sweeter farewell than an unexpected hug from the ice-cream man

In 1964, brothers Leroy and Forrest Raffel banded together to come up with a new restaurant concept. Arby's took off almost immediately on the coattails of its hallmark roast-beef sandwich and the founders’ idea of providing customers with fast, quality food. Over the company's 48-year franchise history, its foundational pièce de résistance of thinly sliced, juicy beef has been served in a many permutations, and continues to be popular today, served at more than 3,500 stores in North America. Today’s menu still ignites appetites with traditional beef sandwiches, plus hot and seasoned curly fries, fresh-chopped salads, and desserts good for richly capping off meals or bribing any bridge trolls on the way home.

Owner Lazaro Montoto maintains a healthy diet, and doesn't believe in sacrificing flavor to do so. That's why he opened Tropical Grille as an alternative to the nation’s preponderance of greasy fast-food dives. Natural light pours from wall-length windows onto his steaming grill, where the smell of sizzling chicken and steamed veggies mingle with the aromatic release of Lazaro's flavor-packed spice rubs. He puts those blends to good use; in addition to spicing up the grill, they also infuse his signature pork, which marinates for 12 hours before taking a trip to the slow-roaster for inclusion in thick sandwiches and hearty wraps.