This new sushi restaurant in Myrtle Beach features a longtime chef from Soho and CO
Matthew Tang has spent the past several years as a sushi chef at Soho Steak & Seafood Sushi Bar in Myrtle Beach and CO Sushi in Market Common.
He will now be the head sushi chef at a restaurant where he has more of a personal investment.
Manta Steak & Seafood Sushi Bar, whose managing partner and kitchen manager is Tang’s mother, Ruizhen Wu, has a soft opening on Friday and a grand opening next Monday. The restaurant is located at 1206 South Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach in a former Shoney’s eatery.
“I want to open a good place for sushi,” Tang said. “I want to have really fresh fish.”
The name was chosen because Tang’s wife likes manta rays, and it’s an ocean theme.
Manta’s operating hours will be 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily. The kitchen closes at 11:45 p.m., sushi is served until 1 a.m., happy hour specials are 5-8 p.m. daily, and sushi is half off all day every Tuesday and Thursday. Manta can seat up to 158 and offers takeout.
What’s on the menu?
Manta will also offer hibachi, pad thai, and asian noodle dish options. Several appetizers include skewers, salmon carpaccio, fried buns, tacos, crab rangoon and coconut shrimp.
Entrees include steaks that are cut in-house, lamb chops, Chilean sea bass, a seafood platter including haddock, grilled salmon, grilled ahi tuna, ribs, and bang bang chicken and shrimp.
There will be a daily chef’s choice sushi platter that will be served as a surprise for diners.
Happy hour will have an additional menu with drink and food items including blackened beef tips.
Manta will have six beers on tap — two domestics, the Japanese beer Sapporo, and three Myrtle Beach-area craft beers are planned — and several varieties of sake. Four TVs at the bar will feature sports.
An active restaurant
General manager Chris Smith plans to have a DJ Thursday through Saturday playing jazz and dinner music. Valet parking will be available six days per week.
Smith said he’s considering using the parking lot for fall events such as chili cook-offs and oyster roasts.
“We’ve got some plans we’re going to try to put together,” he said.
Smith spent 10 years as the head server at Bonefish Grill and, more recently, spent six years at Soho as an assistant manager, bartender and server. Wu has worked for several years in the Soho kitchen.
Manta is awaiting a liquor license, so it may open without one for a short period.
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 9:42 AM.
