This new restaurant brings upscale brunch to Grande Dunes, emphasizes affordable prices
New restaurant Drift Coastal Eatery joined the ever-competitive Grand Strand brunch market with its opening near the Grande Dunes late last month.
Located off of U.S. 17 Bypass and 82nd Street, the restaurant opened in the new Grande Dunes Marketplace shopping center and shares its building with the yet-to-be-opened US Foods Chef Store.
The business emphasizes its upscale offerings while still striving to maintain affordable prices. Few items on the extensive menu cost more than $15, with many offerings under $10.
Along with traditional breakfast items like pancakes, Drift offers eight different kinds of eggs benedict, a variety of sandwiches and even some more unique items like a flame-roasted fuji apple topped with caramel sauce and whipped cream.
Operations partner Carlos Ramirez grew up in Mexico City and managed restaurants there before moving to Myrtle Beach to continue working in the food service industry. Even though the restaurant opened in a tourist town, Ramirez said he really wants Drift to be “local-oriented” and have a strong customer base that continues to come back during the offseason.
“One of our main things is the quality of the food, the customer satisfaction,” Ramirez said. “And of course, we’re trying to keep a very interesting menu and keep the public interest in our different items that we offer.”
Ramirez and his partners have been in the Myrtle Beach food scene for more than a decade, and he said he hopes that Drift brings something new to the area.
“We decided to start this adventure because we know we like what we do,” Ramirez said. “Well, we got together, and we decided maybe Myrtle Beach needs different concept with something very affordable, but very nice, in a very nice atmosphere.”
The restaurant already has a few regulars, with one woman on a Sunday afternoon telling her friends she had been there three times. And despite seeing a lot of turnover in restaurants in the area in the last few years, she said she felt like Drift had a really good chance at lasting.
The woman’s sentiments are shared by nearly a dozen people on Drift’s Facebook page, who have shared lavish praise of the restaurant’s food, drinks and service.
