Snow Monkeys

So excited to have this spot right down the road! Every plate was so beautifully presented and creatively constructed. The French-Japanese fusion concept could have felt like a gimmick in less capable hands, but here it was anything but - the fusion aspect came through in both the flavors and techniques of each dish in subtle and interesting ways (especially the gnocchi and croquettes). Every dish felt like it could be part of an elegant tasting menu, but the vibe was still laid back and approachable, like a neighborhood joint. Can't wait to visit again and work our way through the menu!

Wonderful experience and even better food! The menu is unique, flavorful, and everything tasted delicious. The open kitchen concept is a fun experience and the staff are phenomenal. The brussel sprouts were amazing so I had to snap a picture. Adding this restaurant to our weekends as much as possible!

1st time in, such a great experience. Food is meant to be shared but seemed to me the portions were perfect for 1. Noah was great behind the bar and took great care of us. Pleanty of gluten free options. Will be back soon

🌟 NEW FAVORITE SPOT ALERT 🌟 Snow Monkeys just opened on John’s Island and it is phenomenal! From the minute we walked in, Noah—the bartender and part-owner—made us feel right at home. Super attentive, incredibly knowledgeable, and clearly passionate about the food and drinks they’re serving. 👏 We tried: 🦪 Oysters – bright, fresh, and full of flavor 🐟 Citrus-Cured Salmon – melt-in-your-mouth amazing 🥗 Tokyo Salad – perfectly balanced with a little crunch, a little spice, and a lot of yum To sip, we had two standout cocktails: 🍸 Kyoto Highball – clean, citrusy, and just the right amount of sparkle 🍹 Monkey Nomu – tropical and playful, like vacation in a glass The vibe is stylish yet relaxed, the menu is creative without being fussy, and the team is clearly on a mission to deliver something special. So glad they’ve joined the neighborhood!

OMG! Pinch me I think I’m dreaming. What a gem on John’s Island. Only their 4th week open and the best food we had yet on JI. The staff was very knowledgeable of each delicious dish and smiled from ear to ear. The presentation and quality of the food rivals a Michelin star sushi restaurant we were at in Italy earlier this month. Every dish was exploding with flavor and we savored the flavor long after each dish was finished. The salmon starter melts in your mouth. Time to swarm this place, but please leave two seats for us. We will be there frequently!

I don’t think that I have posted a Google review of a restaurant in years, but here it is. We were staying at a hotel on Kiawah, and we were given the suggestion to try a brand new restaurant on John’s Island called snow monkey. We were also told that it is walk-in only (no reservations). So we arrived early on a Friday night. The waitress explained that the menu is small plates and meant for a sharing. She suggested we order at least 5 items for our table of 2 people We started with the raw oysters with meyer lemon snow We also had the beef tartare and bigeye tuna tataki from the raw menu 4th course was the pistachio dip Then the seared bay scallops with roasted mistake mushroom, and finally the roasted duck breast with charred plums In review of the food. The food was exceptional. I felt like this was a “fine dining” experience….yet we were in this “casual” little restaurant. Also note : those Meyer lemon raw oysters were probably the best raw oysters I have ever had. They were so refreshing and bright. and for me; sets a new standard for how I want all raw oysters to be served….in my future. The owner talked with us and thanked us, on our way out, which I also thought was exceptional

Noah and staff were knowledgeable and gracious, the meal was complex and delicious, and the wine was outstanding. On par with our favorite places in Chicago! Echos Le Grande Maison Tokyo. Don’t miss it!!

The entire concept of the restaurant was very cool and unique, the food was incredible (best short ribs I’ve ever had), and the staff was so friendly and knowledgeable about the menu!! We talked with one of the owners, Noah, and we’re definitely coming back again!!

Awesome start, thrilled to have another top notch spot on John's Island. Go try it. Pictures of some of my favorites

Hands down, some of the best hospitality I’ve experienced.

This is a fun and innovative addition to Johns Island! The food is unique and all in shareable plates. For anyone who is Gluten Free each dish is clearly marked GF and there’s a lot of options! It’s a great date night spot because you can actually hear each other :) Highly recommend the oysters and the duck! The service was also wonderful.

Wow! We went Tuesday night and had three dishes and shared a desert. Each dish was meticulously curated, presentation, fresh ingredients and THE FLAVOR! So unexpected and delicious! Going back tonight to continue through the menu.

Food was fabulous! Lively atmosphere. Service was attentive, friendly, professional. Amazing, would have not put up a review so I could keep place to self - but with food this good - I want this team to wow others. Highly recommend I had croquettes and later the seared scallops- exceptional!

Blown Away! From the moment we walked in the door, the experience was phenomenal. The menu is interesting and beautifully curated. Our server helped us navigate the menu and everything we ordered was better than anticipated. The ambiance is casual luxury- fancy but not ostentatious. We met one of the owners and he was super knowledgeable. It was a fun experience and we'll be back soon. We ordered Citrus cured salmon, Hamachi,Beef and Potato Croquettes, Pistachio Dip and Mapo Tofu- A-Maz-ing!!! The cocktails and liquor selection was also super impressive. If you have a discerning palette and like a chill lux vibe-y atmosphere, you'll love Snow Monkeys.

Had a great experience at Snow Monkeys. Sat at the bar. Eric was very knowledgeable and helpful. Everything I had was delicious. Scallops, salmon, short ribs and octopus...will definitely be returning...

WOW!! What a great experience!! This chef is next level. A true work of art with the food and drinks! We loved everything we had . The staff is also extremely Amazing! I have eaten in some of Los Angeles, New York, and Vegas best restaurants and I will def be coming back to SnowMonkeys !! I didn’t even get a picture of my food it was so delicious !! 🤤

"My friends and I had a truly delightful evening last night at Snow Monkeys, a new Japanese restaurant that just opened off Maybank. Their menu is wonderfully unique, embracing authentic Japanese cuisine with a creative twist. We decided to share a few dishes: a fantastic pistachio dip, a vibrant vegetable salad, exquisite salmon poached in citrus, and melt-in-your-mouth black cod. Everything was absolutely delicious and beautifully presented. The service was equally impressive. Our servers, Tess and Rachel, were incredibly considerate and attentive throughout the meal. We also had the pleasure of meeting Noah, one of the four owners and the talented barkeep, who was both delightful and entertaining. His cocktails were superb – a testament to his three years of training in Tokyo! Josiah, another owner, was also very hands-on, ensuring our menu choices were perfect. I wholeheartedly recommend you visit Snow Monkeys for a memorable dining experience."

Snow Monkeys restaurant has excellent food. Their food looks like a piece of artwork and the taste is amazing. High quality ingredients paired with unique flavors. this is my new favorite place.

This is one of those places that no matter what you order, it will be amazing! My favorites were the beef tartare, ricotta gnocchi, chilled corn soup, seared scallops, and blackberry cobbler! I will be going back very soon :) staff and atmosphere was great too.

The duck and short ribs are a must! Also, Noah was a wonderful bartender! 10/10 will go again

Absolutely outstanding restaurant. Chef Zach and team deliver creative and delicious food, carrying forward the same brilliance he brought to the Warehouse tasting menu days. The space is warm and beautifully designed, the staff are knowledgeable and genuinely welcoming, and the experience as a whole is one of the best in Charleston. And whatever you do, do not skip dessert. A must go.

Every dish was tantalizing. A true culinary experience. The level or food that this restaurant is putting out is of the highest quality. It may be one of the most flavor packed meals I've had in my life. A true gem for the John's island area. It rivals any restaurant downtown and may be better than anything on the peninsula. If you have the opportunity to check out this restaurant I highly recommend you allow the highly trained culinary staff to lead you on journey that your taste buds will never forget.

Noah served us and was awesome. The food was as good as it gets I’m so pumped to have it on the island. If you haven’t eaten here you are missing out. Michelin star quality and creativity with reasonable prices and great vibes

This is a top notch Charleston foodie restaurant on John’s Island. My 6th visit and always a culinary adventure. Tonight’s best offerings: orchard salad- amazing!!!!! And octopus- marvelous flavors. The pistachio dip is a must and the chocolate sesame ‘crème puff’ is divine!!!! Kudos to Tess- a wonderful server and Eric- a creative mixologist. Fantastic, elegant evening!

The Tokyo salad though…may be the best salad I’ve ever had in my life. And the pistachio dip and scallop entree!? AMAZING We are SO HAPPY that this restaurant is on Johns! We will be returning probably too often. 1000% missing out if you don’t try this place!

10/10 experience! We ordered several things on the menu and would order them all again! Honorable mentions are the beef tartare, octopus, duck breast and blackberry cobbler! We sat at the bar. Eric was helpful with food suggestions and made great cocktails on and off the menu. We will definitely be back!

We recently had dinner at Snow Monkeys on Johns Island. This new restaurant will not disappoint. The restaurant has a elegant, minimalist vibe. The entire menu is a shared plate concept. Our waitress encouraged us to order 2 to 3 plates per person. The four of us decided to order all of the Street offerings and two Signature plates. The pistachio dip with seed crackers was a herbaceous explosion of beautiful flavors. Other top picks were the croquettes filled with beef and beet salad. We ordered two Signature plates, seared scallops and steak with mushrooms. Both were full of flavor and beautifully plated. We never felt rushed. So happy to have another wonderful restaurant close by.

Our first time at this restaurant was such a fantastic experience from start to finish! The chef here is so creative and talented, and everything we ate was absolutely delicious (including dessert!). Our server, Tess, was so welcoming and knowledgeable about the menu. The bartender was also very friendly and was able to teach us some about Sake! The design of the interior is beautiful, making the atmosphere while dining here even more enjoyable. We felt like we were eating at a nice restaurant in Japan. Definitely check it out!

This was our first visit and will not be our last. We had a variety of foods... the stars of the night: oysters with delicious pear ice; Japanese salad; pistachio dip; scallops, tuna, and short ribs. ALL were amazing! The specialty cocktails and desserts were noteworthy as well. Service from Tess, owners Noah and Josiah was top notch. This was NY level cuisine... so glad we snagged a reservation!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Snow Monkey’s on John’s Island is an absolute standout. Chef Zach and Chef Brandon are straight-up wizards in the kitchen — every dish feels creative, intentional, and full of flavor. You can tell they actually care about what they’re putting out, and it shows in every bite. The entire experience was exciting from start to finish, and genuinely one of the best meals I’ve had in months. Every single dish was perfect. I’m already excited to go back and try more. Snow Monkey’s is a must-visit.

We had a lovely experience dining here! The food was delicious and the service was very polite and professional. The tofu with pork belly was A+. Between two hungry adults we had 6 dishes and it was a perfect amount of food. Our only thing was that the cocktails weren't anything special, but no big deal there. We definitely want to go back and try the brunch when we can, that menu looks amazing!

Snow Monkeys on John’s Island absolutely floored us last night. The place nails the vibe the second you walk in — the lighting, the music, the whole aesthetic — all dialed in. And the food? Next-level. These are layered, complex flavors that don’t happen by accident. You can taste the intention and the skill in every dish. Creative, nuanced, and punchy in all the right ways. It’s the kind of cooking that reminds you someone in the kitchen is really paying attention. Service was on point too — attentive without hovering, and they actually understood the dishes well enough to explain the “why,” not just the “what.” We eat out a lot around Charleston. We keep a running list. Snow Monkeys didn’t just make the list — it rocketed to the top. Highly recommend.

Went to Snow Monkey with my husband and mother-in-law and chose the tasting menu. The chef tailored it seamlessly for one vegetarian in our group, and those dishes often stole the spotlight each course. The cocktails were just as thoughtful. The bartender came over, learned what we liked, and recommended an off-menu option that suited us perfectly. A small interaction that made the experience feel genuinely personal. After visiting Charleston regularly for the past decade, this easily ranks among the top three meals we’ve had here. Creative, polished, and truly memorable. We’ll absolutely be back.

We were greeted quickly by our waitress. Her service through the evening was exceptional. She was attentive without becoming overbearing and had a great personality. The decor and layout are both nice. Unfortunately there was no air conditioning the evening I attended so the atmosphere is a 3 because it was uncomfortably humid and hot at the table. There are both positives and negatives regarding the cuisine. I found the dishes to be inconsistent; several were excellent and others complete misses. The pistachio dip is an absolute must order. It’s creamy and nutty with some light citrus notes from the yuzu. The “from scratch” seed crackers were fantastic. I was also impressed with the oysters. The sake and lemon snow paired well. The other show stopper was the braised pork belly and silken custard dish. This had complexity in flavor and lots of texture. The aromatic notes were perfect as well. I could’ve ordered this dish 3x The black cod was a great piece of fish. Buttery. Velvety. Excellent The duck was a complete miss. The accompanying sauce was good but the duck itself was mediocre. It was gamey in flavor. None of the fat was rendered, and this left a fairly large deposit of chewy fat beneath the skin. The skin also had a fairly chewy texture. I was unimpressed. It was disappointing because I often gravitate toward duck on a menu. The hamachi was also somewhat mediocre. It didn’t have the cleanest flavor - I’ve had better hamachi at both 167 and chubby fish. Its accompanying sauce was ok - nothing that was “knock your socks off”. It’s worth a visit but is not worth the 4.8/5 rating. I’d settle on 4.4-4.5/5

Ooof- rough start - we were really excited about this place We do plan to come back and try again - never want to give a new place a hard time, just really overpriced, NY/Miami prices vs too small portions in the almost still humbled >>Johns island nook in the country …just out of place, a bit too abstract for area…. we usually order a little bit of everything and after 6 super mini oysters for $25 and a beef tartar with more than half cherries - this all kind of steered us out the door prematurely. :( Will try again and hope for the best! Photos: pistachio dip, beef tartar, and oysters

My first experience at Snow Monkey last night. Chic minimalist decor fits well with the menu. Interesting selections and very nicely prepared. Do not go hungry to this restaurant, though. The delicately prepared portions, whether starters or entrées, called signatures, leave you wanting the other half of the portion that wasn’t served.

My husband and I had great expectations for a new restaurant on John’s Island but unfortunately we came away seriously disappointed. My husband is hungry and I’m nauseous. We were told that we should order two or three dishes each, which we did. I requested the dressing and sauces on the side but was informed that “the chef won’t do that”. So I asked that they be lightly dressed. My salad with tuna was literally drowning in a heavy dressing, probably used to disguise the fact that there was no discernible tuna to be found. My fish dish was also drowned in a cream sauce that could easily have been on the side had they wanted to be accommodating, but apparently the “chef refuses to do that” according to our very sweet and apologetic server. I tried to wipe away as much excess sauce as possible but I am still feeling this over-sauced, undersized and overpriced fish repeating on me as I write. My husband is still I shock over the 3/4 empty plate of gnocchi that he was served. It was tasty, but the portion even for an appetizer was embarrassingly small. Needless to say we are heading home for a snack for him and some Alka-seltzer for me.

I really wanted to like this restaurant as it’s so close to my house and we are big fusion Asian restaurant fans. The first time my husband and I sat at the bar and had mostly items from the raw menu. Drinks were decent but the bill was well over $220 and we left somewhat unsatiated. I appreciate the gluten free crackers served with the pistachio dip but their chewiness and seediness overpower the dip which is actually quite good and savory. We’ve had far better experiences for less of a cost in Johns and James Island but I decided to give it another shot. I brought my parents back last Saturday night, our server was great, and we tried other hot items, but still left just as unsatiated. Portion size is extremely (another reviewer said embarrassingly) small. My dad got the pistachio dip and croquettes, I got the gnocchi and my mom got the sea scallops. My dad didn’t even eat his after trying one of the chewy fish flakes. My mom’s dish had good flavor but the scallops were the size of a dime. The gnocchi in my dish was bland and had an odd consistency. Pricing is exorbitant and I feel like the dishes and ambiance were trying too hard. We love to support new local restaurants and gave this one a fair shake but it’s not for us.

I really wanted to love Snow Monkeys and gave it a full chance — we ordered nearly the entire menu. While the staff was lovely and the presentation was beautiful, the food was a disaster. We were served spoiled oysters to start, and later encountered old, smelly yellowfin and rancid squid. The chef "disagreed" the food was spoiled — a shocking response. Dish after dish came out unseasoned, overcooked, or inedible. A few dishes were good — the octopus, stone bowl, and pork belly — but they were rare bright spots in a deeply flawed meal. At these prices, it’s unacceptable to send out food this inconsistent and unsafe. I’ve never seen such a disconnect between plating and flavor. Until someone in the kitchen starts tasting the food, this is a restaurant to avoid.

The seared scallop main dish consisted of bay scallops. Do I really need to write anything else for the review? This one comment should tell you everything you need to know. Not that this place will survive very long, but don't waste your money, time, or date night. You have been warned.