Star-Studded Late-Night Bar from 'Southern Charm' Celebrities Attracts Crowds with Caviar Bumps and Pornstar Martinis - lulu

Craig Conover and Austen Kroll have partnered with Uptown Hospitality to open By the Way.

Downtown Charleston’s newest party spot is drawing lines for caviar bumps, Pornstar martinis, and the chance of a celebrity sighting to excite reality television fans. Stars of Bravo TV’s Southern Charm, Craig Conover and Austen Kroll, have teamed up with Uptown Hospitality Group to open By the Way, a new restaurant and bar at 45 ½ Spring Street in Cannonborough/Elliotborough.

The group behind Charleston hotspots Uptown Social, Bodega, and Share House is hoping to appeal to a (slightly) more mature audience with By the Way, billed as a neighborhood den for customers who want to avoid the King Street crowds. It’s the restaurant group’s first collaboration with Conover and Kroll, longtime friends and Southern Charm rascals that viewers love, and sometimes love to hate. “Timing is everything,” says Keith Benjamin, a partner at Uptown, of working with Kroll and Conover. “Would I have wanted to partner with them five years ago? Maybe not. But the version of who they are today is exactly who we want to partner with,” he says.

Benjamin first became friendly with Kroll after moving to Charleston to open Uptown Social in 2017. “Over time, Craig and I became buddies as well, and the friendships just kind of evolved.” A golf trip in the summer of 2023 spurred more serious conversation, and when the space became available, “the groundwork had already been laid,” says Benjamin.

Fried oysters and a pornstar martini. Lawson Builder/By the Way

The result is an upscale lounge with an intimate, genteel atmosphere catering to the evening and late-night crowd. The menu, (served until 10 p.m., with a late-night menu forthcoming) is a hit list of trendy items like burrata, ’nduja deviled eggs, poutine, Caesar salad, and steak frites. The remaining items are pub fare like wings, burgers, and fried oysters, but with a luxury twist — like the caviar and citrus creme fraiche that comes with the fried oysters, or the Normandy Farms baguette that surrounds the French onion chicken sandwich.

The menu will change seasonally, according to Benjamin, and the plan is to expand hours in early 2025 to include weekend brunch, a weekday happy hour, and a Wednesday steak frites special.

The large-format Old Fashioned. Luke Higgs/By the Way

The drinks menu, focused on martinis, is its own draw. The Freezing Cold martini, made with vodka, gin, or Vesper-style, is all about the “accessories” — with the option of olives, a lemon twist, a cornichon, or pearl onions, customers can also opt to add a caviar bump (for $12) or a chilled shrimp ($4) on the side with their cocktail. There is a trio of espresso martinis made with vodka, bourbon, or coconut tequila, and a Pornstar martini, the internet’s favorite drink. Other house cocktails already earning mentions in By the Way’s reviews include a hot honey margarita and the large-format Old Fashioned for six to eight people that’s served in a crystal decanter ($110). The seasonal zero-proof drinks menu, which currently includes a nonalcoholic grapefruit and basil martini, lines up with Conover’s newfound embrace of “moderation” on this season of Southern Charm.

The interior, created by Home Studios, evokes an old-world tavern with leather, marble, brick, dark wood, and beveled ceilings. “The space is intimate, and we’re proud of that,” says Benjamin. By the Way has about 80 seats, with a large, central skylight that Benjamin calls an “amazing” addition to the space.

The bar at By the Way. Lawson Builder/By the Way

Benjamin sees By the Way as the next step in the lifecycle of Uptown Hospitality, as well as for himself, Kroll, and Conover. “As we grow up in Charleston, By the Way just lends itself to a space we want to spend time in,” he says.

By the Way is open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays and from noon until 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Outside By the Way. Luke Higgs/By the Way