Right off the bat, I'll say that the Variety Restaurant is not for everyone. The place has a bit of a 'dive' vibe but the food more than makes up for the atmosphere. It's a local place with a lot of history! The food is excellent with giant steaks, huge portions of freshly caught seafood, the biggest baked potatoes I've ever seen. The salads are fairly plain jane but the homemade Bleu Cheese dressing is arguably one of the best in town. The owner takes his own boat down to Charleston and catches some of the fist on specials himself and buys directly from other SC fishermen as well. If you are in Aiken and want to eat at a local restaurant without having to get dressed up and eat some high quality surf n' turf, this is the place to go. read more

The Variety Restaurant - They have huge salads! - Seafood Near Me - Aiken, South Carolina

the restroom was gross-no soap and filthy! Food was disgusting! DO NOT GO! it there were negative stars this place would qualify!

The food was great, the service was excellent and the atmosphere was good~it's a older establishment worth the visit

Ok first the food was good BUT this is the most overpriced place we've ever been. For it to look so dumpy where is the money going? We got a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Fries are extra. Now to be fair the burger is gigantic and could easily serve two people. Easily. I wish they'd told me that. And it was done well. The bacon, cheese and tomatoes were good. The burger tasted very good. The fries are hand cut. But the prices for other entrees are unbelievable for a restaurant last updated in about 1982. Bathroom not nice at all. Whole place smelled like my husbands grandmas house. $5 for adding grilled onions to a dish, $4 for adding feta cheese. They could have a lot more business if they either cleaned and spruced the place up or lower their entree price by a third. Probably won't return. read more

If you like fried (baked?) frozen seafood, this is the place. Service was nice, so three points instead of two. read more

Over priced. Great meal. Large quantity. Over all decent quality. Poor selection. Unattentive wait staff. Dive bar atmosphere. 5 star prices at a 1 star location. Too noisy. read more

The food is really good and the service is always good too. Friendly atmosphere. Fresh seafood!!

The food used to be wonderful, but the original chef no longer works there. So the quality of the food there has diminished like day and night. I would not recommend this place to anyone who values the top notch service of quality seafood and steak, and great service. Plus, the ambience of the place needs some serious renovations. And the owner of the establishment was unfriendly in all manner of the word. He enabled servers there to be obnoxious and rude to in-coming patrons, thereby demonstrating lack of leadership to take control of the situation. Not to forget to mention that the sky-rocketing food price is not worth the cost of the little portion that they serve, especially when it comes to the steak, shrimp and crab legs. I don't think the restaurant owner knows what he is doing when it comes to food quality and food cost. read more

Great food and huge portions; some things are on the expensive side, but they have specials Mon-Thu with reduced prices. (Fried shrimp, steak, etc.) The fried shrimp and fried oysters are the best I have had around this area, as well as the fried chicken livers. It is loud, crouded, lots of kid, and the ambiance is 50's, but the food is great. Wine, liquor and beer, but nothing special (I think the only import beers are Corona and Heineken, and I would pass on the wine unless you have a taste for white zin or generic chard... Mon-Wed 4:30p-10p, Thu-Sat 4:30p-10:30p read more

Down and dirty...good food...like time stopped in 1962...in a good way though..it used to be a gas station read more

The Variety Restaurant - booths, tables, and chairs - Seafood Near Me - Aiken, South Carolina

Very good and has a delicious taste and not to greasy and just a cute little place filled with delicious food

I must admit, if this restaurant had not been recommended, I would not have stopped. However, when the meals my wife and I ordered arrived, we were both pleasantly surprised. My wife ordered the seafood platter. Everything was fresh and plentiful. I ordered the hamburger steak. I haven't had one that good since my grandmother passed away. It was tender, fresh, covered in onions, and as big as my hand. As the old saying goes, "Don't judge a book by its cover". read more

A little pricey, but huge portions. Great oysters and calamari. 20oz ribeye is what I go for. Kinda crowded seating. read more

This is the most famous for its seafood I really enjoy it when in town . Food is great, service is fantastic, no complaint ever I always recommend it to everyone read more

Just came home from my second time at this establishment, because my husband's friends like it. Last time I had fried shrimp and got very sick. Tonight I opted for the Shecrab soup and the appetizer of Calamari as my meal. My stomach is already grumbling - oh joy! Never had a very spicy, thin as milk Shecrab soup in my 11 years living at the SC coast. The breading of the calamari was crispy and well fried, but the inside was way too soft, not completely cooked and some were slimy. I ate it, because I didn't want our friends to feel bad, since they think this is the epitome of fine dining in Aiken. I would suggest that the owners take a trip to Pawleys Island and eat at Hanser House, in my humble opinion THE best seafood restaurant at the beach, Murrells Inlet (the seafood capital of SC) to eat at Lee's Inlet Kitchen or try the calamari at Salt Water Creek Cafe. They might actually learn something. You don't need to serve massive amounts of food to make your customers think you're good - Quality over Quantity!! BTW, our waitress was very nice! P. S. It's after midnight now. I've been terribly sick for the last 2 hours. Yuck!!! read more

Good food and friendly staff! Portions are large on most specials. My daughter and I can split an order! A little pricey, but they makeup for this in the quality of the food. Do not have a large vegetable selection. read more

This place was recommended by a coworker. He said its a plan old building, great food bit little pricey. Perfect description. I don't know why the prices are so high. The place is a hole on the wall, mix match chairs some even folding. Old cheap decor. The wait staff is great. And then you get your food! Huge portions. And great tasting! Try this place its wonderful, but bring you grown up wallet! read more

For a hundred dollars - I could have eaten at a finer establishment. Not impressed at all. Servers were nice but establishment was very run down and needed a good cleaning. DHEC gives it an A, but I felt 5.95 for a side salad or 5.50 for a baked potatoe seemed excessive. Literally the salad was nothing more than lettuce an a diced tomato. Maybe this is the slice of heaven to some but left me desiring more for the money. read more

The steak is great! Also, the seafood platter is wonderful. Always a pleasure to eat here, The portions are large and the food is always consistently good. If you want seafood, go to the Variety. read more

The Variety always gives large portions. Enough to share. They offer broiled seafood as well as fried, but their fried shrimp is the best around. We usually order takeout but it is a great place to go for lunch. The staff is always friendly and provide great service. My favorite is their stuffed flounder. I wish they would offer it for lunch more often. The Variety offers various delicious sides as well. If you haven't been in while, check them out. They have nightly specials during the week and their fresh fish is so yummy. read more

This looked like a run down building. Looked clean for the atmosphere. Ordered the specials, prices were a bit high for specials. My opinion was the food had a blan taste ( no flavor ) to it. Staff was friendly, but only received refills after we finished meal. Over all, I would go back. Just some things need to improve. read more

Salad was only lettuce and tomato, entree was great with the exception of oyster shells in the breading. I won't patronize the restaurant again due to the owner referring to blacks as "monkeys" while sitting at the booth next to us entertaining a Caucasian couple without regard as to whether his comments were heard. read more

Everyone I work with raves about this place; apparently none of them season their food at home and when they get it that way out it's a major big deal. That's about all I can say about our steaks...they were seasoned. You better like ribeye b/c that's the only cut they had the night I went. We got seated in the back room which was akin to eating in my dad's backyard shed. read more

A very local restaurant! Was recommended by a customer at a gas station. Really good food! Not cheap and Not fancy! We checked out the parking lot it was packed! That many local people would be spending $18 plus on dinner if it was bad! Glad we stopped! Great waitresses! read more

I just rediscovered this restaurant a week ago after eating there 25 years ago while my husband and I were dating! I thought they closed! It is a dive and if you didn't know what was inside it might look a little sketchy but their food is delicious! It is definitely not an inexpensive restaurant, a steak and seafood dinner is $30 which is sort of odd when you look at the decor and how run down the building looks but it is delicious! Their baked potatoes are some of the softest I've ever had and their salad that comes with an entree was large, and it actually taste like they use real seafood and not the imitation stuff and that's probably where the high price comes from. The ribeye steaks were delicious. I'm so excited that we discovered this place is actually still open after enjoying it so many years ago and it will definitely be a nice place to splurge a couple times a year for us. We're in Augusta so its about a 50 min drive or we'd probably go more often! Call them to see what their special is each day. read more