Hilton Head - which time frame is better

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

Ok, so planning has started 2020
Months were looking at are:
End of April , First of May
OR
End of Sept, First of Oct
Have never been to HiltonHead , DH loves seafood, I can't eat it do to allergies. So is there a restaurant that has outside dining? that doesn't have a strong fishy smell?
What are the must see when there.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I would personally choose end of April/first week of May because of the hurricane risk in Sept./Oct. We do not stay at Disney when we are there because we have family in HHI and we stay with them - but we always stop by the resort to shop at the Mercantile and get a Dole Whip!

Skull Creek Boathouse and Coast at the Sea Pines beach club have great seafood and huge outdoor seating areas with gorgeous views. Very open air, no fishy smell.

Poseidon is close to Disney but their outdoor seating is covered so you may get more of a fish smell.

 

[Tigger2ntinkerbell]

I would personally choose end of April/first week of May because of the hurricane risk in Sept./Oct. We do not stay at Disney when we are there because we have family in HHI and we stay with them - but we always stop by the resort to shop at the Mercantile and get a Dole Whip!

Skull Creek Boathouse and Coast at the Sea Pines beach club have great seafood and huge outdoor seating areas with gorgeous views. Very open air, no fishy smell.

Poseidon is close to Disney but their outdoor seating is covered so you may get more of a fish smell.

Thank you.
I'll start making a list of restaurants

 

[lovin'fl]

Are you an owner? Though those times you mention shouldn't be tough to get at 7 months. Sept-Oct has hurricane risk but should not be super busy then and warm still. End of April could have chilly spell and water might still be chilly. I'd do May. We went mid May last year and it was nice. I went for Easter one year and it was cold. We did one night mid Oct last year too and that was nice.

Food options are plenty. You can walk to marina and there is a place called Scotts that has patio seating (and then walk around marina and there are like 5 other places too...we only have ever eaten at Scotts and it is good). You can get 10% discount by showing the room key. Here is link to these...
https://www.sheltercovehiltonhead.com/shopping-dining


You can drive, or walk even, about 1-2 miles into the plaza, also part of Shelter Cove, with Kroger. There is a ton of food and shopping there. Place called Poseidon is good and also has outdoor seating. Beer World is good too. Here is link for these....
http://www.sheltercovetownecentre.com/dine

Right by the town center is also 2 restaurants not listed in link...Giuseppis and Hickory Tavern. We have been to Giuseppis and it is very good.

In the Coligny Plaza, a good drive (like 8 minutes) , is a big beachy shopping plaza with dining and they have a place called Frosty Frogg which we go to every trip. Very good food and yummy frozen drinks.

There are many others on the island. A big one folks like is called Skull Creek Boat House. We tried to go in January (over MLK weekend) and it was a 2 hour wait. So, no thanks (we left). But they have patio seating. It is a big busy compound with live music sometimes.

 

[lovin'fl]

Also beware...some places you have to pay to get in gate and park...there are a lot of gated communities. We went to Salty Dog in Sea Pines and had 2 cars...each had to pay $5 to go in. ANd the wait was long, service meh and food meh.

A lot of places will have early bird specials. We did the Black Marlin and it was pretty good. And Frankie Bones and that was very very good.

Other places we went to but don't recommennd...Il Carpiccio (terrible service, wrong food brought and pricey), Crane's Tavern (too pricey for meh food), Nick's (just nothing memorable).

Stack's pancakes is a good breakfast. But busy to get in. Don't do Sat or Sun morning.

 

[Simba's Mom]

The CMs who work there have told me that Sept/Oct is the best time to go. However, we've been there at the end of April and really enjoyed it. The hurricane risk in the fall is an excellent point. Hurricane Matthew hit in early October.
Another 2 places with outdoor seating are Hudson's and Old Oyster Factory. Oh-and I just realized Black Marlin does. We go in late November, when it's too cold to sit outside, but I've seen the tables.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Thank you.
I'll start making a list of restaurants

No problem! Also, some restaurants we love that are not seafood focused are San Miguel’s (walking distance from the Disney resort), Santa Fe Cafe, Chow Daddy’s, One Hot Mama’s, Reilley’s and Char Bar.

ETA: The outdoor seating at these places isn’t particularly scenic except for San Miguel’s - the outdoor seating is right on the marina.

 

[crisi]

We just got back from a February visit - and its all relative. Compared to Minnesota, the weather was wonderful. Personally, I'd also avoid hurricane season, because evacuating for a hurricane off that island is one of Dante's circles of hell - and we've already had vacations that have involved tsunami evacuations, complete reroutes of vacations due to storm systems, a airplanes with mechanical failure (that didn't involve crashing, which is good - but made for a very uncomfortable flight). My luck is bad enough with travel that I'm best off keeping it low risk.