What Kind of Lunch Did You Actually Come Here For?

A Myrtle Beach lunch stop comes down to one question: do you want to feel like you're somewhere, or do you want to feel like yourself? River City Cafe answers the first one. The walls hold license plates brought in by patrons over the years. The tables are covered in paper you can draw on — crayons provided. Peanut shells land on the floor and nobody minds. The burger that comes out is the one this town built its midday reputation on. You know before you sit down that this is a place people come back to, not a place they stumble into once. Then there's the other path — where comfort means knowing exactly what you're going to get before the menu opens, and the sandwich stacked on bread baked in-house that morning arrives the way it always does, in a room where the game is always on and the order feels like yours before you've placed it. Dagwood's Deli has run that version since 1988.

River City Cafe has seven locations running from Surfside Beach to North Myrtle Beach, which tells you something: this isn't a place that survived on novelty. The room has a personality before the food arrives. License plates cover the walls and ceiling, brought in by guests over the years. Crayons sit on paper-covered tables. Order peanuts and toss the shells on the floor. The whole setup signals a deal — you bring yourself, it brings the energy.

The burger is the center. Over twenty versions, all built on fresh, never-frozen beef. The Palmetto Cheeseburger comes topped with house-made pimento cheese — a regional call that either confirms something you already knew or teaches you something new. The Peanut Butter Banana Burger is the one that gets mentioned in reviews without prompting. You sit, you order, and the room does some of the work for you.

For a midday stop on a beach trip — when the sun is already doing its thing and the afternoon still needs to go somewhere — this is a lunch that holds.

Dagwood's Deli has been baking sub rolls in-house since it opened on Mr. Joe White Ave in downtown Myrtle Beach in 1988. That detail isn't incidental. The bread is the claim — the thing the operation is built around, the reason regulars arrive knowing exactly what they want before they get there. Current locations are in Surfside Beach and North Myrtle Beach.

The menu runs wide: cold subs, hot subs, Reuben, French dip, Philly, Cuban, meatball. The Jogger — rare roast beef stacked with toppings of your choosing — comes up in reviews from people who've been returning for years. The Dagwood's Dipper arrives on a sub roll with a dipping sauce alongside. More than 50 TVs across locations, and a room that asks nothing of you except to eat and watch.

This is a lunch where comfort means removing variables. You know what a good sandwich tastes like. You want one. Dagwood's exists so you don't have to negotiate that.

In the middle of a summer beach day, the case for a low-friction lunch gets stronger. Both of these places move efficiently — neither requires a reservation, and neither is trying to be dinner. But the texture of the experience is different.

River City Cafe draws you into its room. It has gravity. You sit longer than you planned because the atmosphere invites it. That's a feature for some trips and a friction point for others.

The pattern repeat visitors tend to follow: Dagwood's when the afternoon has somewhere to go, River City when it doesn't. One lunch is a stop. The other is the plan.

What do you tell guests about these two places that they wouldn't find online — timing, which location, which item to order, whether one gets more crowded at a specific hour?

River City Cafe Seven locations across the Grand Strand, including spots in Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, and North Myrtle Beach. Find the location nearest your stay at rivercitycafe.com. Generally open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week — confirm current hours for your specific location before going.

No reservations required. Walk-in.

Dagwood's Deli Two active locations: Surfside Beach (600 Hwy 17 N) and North Myrtle Beach (4200 Hwy 17 S). Hours and current details at dagwoodsdeli.com. Both locations open for lunch, with service continuing through evening.

No reservations required. Walk-in or order online.

Parking: Varies by location. Both sit in active commercial areas — check conditions at your chosen spot before arriving.

Timing note: Either of these works cleanly as a midday anchor. Neither asks much of your afternoon — you get in, you eat well, you move on.

Both lunches land in roughly the same time and spend. The question isn't which is better — it's which version of comfortable you're after today.

One lunch makes you feel like you found the place locals come back to. The other makes you feel like you knew exactly what you needed and got it. On a beach trip, both of those are real wins. The one that fits depends on what the rest of your afternoon needs from you.