Chimney Sweep in Charleston, SC

CHARLESTON — A high-end interactive chef’s tasting experience in the heart of the peninsula's tourist district will serve its last customers on Dec. 31.

Kevin Joseph, who calls himself a “Master Mermmelier” — an expert in all things seafood — has been the one-man force behind Raw Lab, a three-night-a-week omakase-style raw bar tucked into a 242-square-foot room at Port of Call, where Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. once stored T-shirts along the historic City Market at 99 S. Market St.

Since opening in late 2021, Joseph has transformed the pint-sized space into an intimate dining room and prep kitchen, serving up a rotating eight-course menu of mostly raw dishes that gained traction on social media and added to Charleston’s growing chef’s table experiences.

“It was the most lucrative 242 square feet in Charleston,” he often told guests. “We’re a raw bar in a storage room.”

Guests seated around a U-shaped bar topped with shaved ice enjoy several rounds of freshly shucked oysters with inventive accoutrements plated tableside, courses such as tartare, beet-soaked salmon with shrimp chips and bumps of high-end caviar. The cost: $250 per person, before gratuity.

Each night began at 6:30 p.m. for no more than 12 diners, with Joseph orchestrating every element — plating dishes in rhythm with reggae, obscure jazz and lo-fi beats pumped through the speakers, sharing deep seafood knowledge with guests.

The concept grew to include LTLE FISH, an a la carte spinoff, and Joseph once had plans to host nautical tastings aboard a barge. But he now says it’s time to move on.

“I feel like I’ve been on tour for four years and I don’t want to be on tour anymore,” Joseph said.

With about 30 service evenings left in Charleston, he’s now eyeing larger markets that can support daily service and possibly lunch. Jupiter, Fla., near West Palm Beach, and a suburb of New York are on his short list.

He envisions daily lunch service, LTLE FISH for weeknight dinners and Raw Lab as a chef’s tasting available on the weekends.

If all goes well, he plans to take 10 months off before relaunching, spending that time traveling and gathering inspiration for his seafood menus, which often incorporate worldly ingredients such as fresh wasabi.

Joseph, who had a short-lived raw oyster bar at Holy City Brewery in North Charleston, said he was proud of steady stream of local supporters who embraced his unconventional dining format he discovered while touring the Port of Call food hall space, initially to consider renting a stall.

“I looked at the room and said, ‘What are you going to do with that?’ They said, ‘We don’t know, we’re fixing it up,’ ” Joseph said. “It just popped into my head — a raw bar. Looking back, it’s been the most unique dining experience I’ve ever had.”

Port of Call did not comment on Raw Lab’s closing or the future of the space.

Joseph cautioned that Charleston’s independent restaurant scene is at risk from rising rents and the dominance of larger hospitality groups.

“The independent operators make up the charming character of Charleston,” he said. “In 10 years, when all of the current leases are up, except for whoever was smart enough to buy their building, what’s going to happen with these interest rates and property values?”

Beyond opening a new location, Joseph is also considering writing a book to cement himself as a foremost authority on caviar and possibly launch an e-commerce platform for responsibly sourced seafood, connecting fishermen directly with restaurants and retail.

“I don’t want to make the mistake of turning into a (traditional) restaurant,” he said. “The dream is always food — to be the Martha Stewart authority on seafood.”

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Charleston businesses are grappling with the aftermath of a widespread internet outage that left hundreds without service for hours.

The outage, which affected areas from Mount Pleasant to Johns Island, was attributed to fiber cuts in a third party's network, according to AT&T.

Thierry Chateau, owner of Saveurs du Monde Café, expressed frustration over the lack of communication from AT&T.

"It's a little bit frustrating. I don't know where the issue is coming from," he said. "But at this point, as a business owner, we still have no explanation."

The outage impacted various sectors, including the Charleston County School District, Target, Uber Eats drivers, and local businesses.

In Beaufort County, the sheriff's office advised residents to use an alternative number for emergencies. AT&T's outage map reported over a dozen outages within hours.

WOW! Care, another internet provider, announced on X that they worked overnight to restore service.

For businesses like Chateau's café, the outage caused significant disruptions.

"Ninety percent of our clients are paying with a credit card," Chateau said. "We have to figure out how we can help them to go through to the orders paying in cash for the ones we can and for the other one, it was like an improvisation."

Employees also faced challenges, as they were unable to print receipts or collect tips. Chateau noted, "So for some people they were losing probably 50% of their revenue coming from tips, so the company is covering because we pay our employees with a guaranteed hourly wage."

AT&T has since restored internet service for Charleston customers.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Charleston County Council is considering a future transportation sales tax that would extend a current half-cent tax.

If council members approve the plan considered at Tuesday night’s meeting, it would continue the current half-cent sales tax that has helped the county pay for transportation, infrastructure and greenspace projects since 2004.

That tax is set to expire in 2027.

“County council is considering extending the local option sales tax so that we can continue to invest in our infrastructure and preserve our quality of life here in Charleston, whether that be with traffic, green space or transit,” Eric Adams, Charleston County Public Works Director, says.

to help guide the future of the county’s transportation funding. The committee, made up of the nine current council members, will look back at the sales tax program’s success, what remains to be done, and what the future could bring. Their main goal is to seek community input for the potential future sales tax. Over the next few months, the county will host meetings, sessions and collect feedback through surveys.

This approach also comes after community members voted a referendum when the transportation sales tax was on the November ballot in 2024.

“The community said no, and so we heard that and we respect that,” Rev. Kylon Middleton, Charleston County Council Chairman, says. “We work for them right, and so we had to go back to the drawing board, trying to figure out how we could better, more robustly engage the community so that they are able to be aware of the things that we have done well and the things that we intend to do so that we can improve the quality of life for everybody.”

Officials say they don’t want to move forward with the sales tax without first hearing from the community.

“We’ve started a new process as we move forward into November of 2026 to be very transparent and also seek public input on what the public wants to see as far as investment categories, but also projects that they would like to see,” Adams says. “We’re going out to our municipal partners, to stakeholders and to the public at large.”

County officials say the sales tax would be the same as it has been, and the only thing that would change is what projects it would fund.

Since 2004, two different transportation sales taxes have directed 62% of funding to infrastructure projects, including bike and pedestrian improvements, 25% to public transit and 13% to greenbelt preservation.

Some of the major infrastructure projects include resurfacing roads, creating bike and pedestrian paths and improving intersections. The tax is also helping fund the Lowcountry Rapid Transit system and the Palmetto Commerce Interchange.

A recently released revealed that all the funding generated from taxes led to a total of $4.56 billion in community infrastructure investments.

Officials say the transportation sales tax must continue because of the population growth throughout Charleston County. The population has grown more than 50% since 2004, and it’s projected to increase by over 42,000 in the next decade.

“The population is increasing significantly, which also means we need to keep up with our infrastructure so that we can preserve that quality of life that we enjoy so much,” Adams says.

Officials say this is just the beginning of a potential future transportation sales tax, and their priority is to hear from the community before an official decision is made.

“I know everybody doesn’t want to fill out a survey, but fill that survey out so that we might be able to hear your voice,” Middleton says.

CHARLESTON — Telecommunications company AT&T internet customers are back online Oct. 1 after a nearly day-long outage caused by a cut in a fiber line caused by a third party provider.

Widespread internet outages were reported by multiple broadband providers throughout the Charleston area Sept. 30, especially by customers of AT&T.

The issue was blamed on damage to a fiber line caused by a third-party provider.

AT&T service was restored overnight on Oct. 1 after customers experienced interruptions for most of the day Sept. 30.

Outage maps show that AT&T internet, digital phone and U-verse TV offerings were out for likely thousands of customers in areas that included nearly all of the Charleston peninsula; much of James Island and Mount Pleasant; parts of North Charleston, including an area near Charleston International Airport; and West Ashley near Citadel Mall and portions of Johns Island off Main Road.

“We’re aware of a broadband issue affecting some customers in the Charleston area due to fiber cuts in a third-party’s network. We’re actively communicating with this provider to resolve the issue so that service can be restored as quickly as possible,” an AT&T spokesperson said in a written statement. “We understand how important these services are and appreciate the patience of our customers.”

A large orange triangle appeared on AT&T’s online outage map around 3:30 p.m., showing South Carolina and four other states were affected: Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.

By 5 p.m. just South Carolina and North Carolina were shown with outages, yet the company stated late Sept. 30 that the two outages were not related and the issue did not extend statewide.

Other providers said the fiber-line damage extended beyond AT&T and was disrupting their customers as well.

WideOpenWest Inc., or WOW, a smaller internet provider that serves parts of the Charleston region, reported some of its local subscribers were offline.

“We are aware of a fiber cut that is affecting multiple internet service providers in the area,” said Debra Havins, vice president of corporate communications. “(Our) teams are actively working to restore services to our customers. At this time, I don’t have an estimated time for restoration of services.”

An Xfinity online map showed a small outage among customers in Mount Pleasant near Interstate 526 Tuesday afternoon.

The last local major broadband outage caused by a cut line was in 2019.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Drivers downtown will see some parking garage rate increases starting Oct. 1.

Charleston County officials announced price changes to county garages, including locations in the downtown area, on .

Current rates at the King and Queen Garage along King Street are $1 for every 30 minutes, with a daily maximum price of $20. Drivers who lost their parking ticket would pay $30 per day.

Monthly rates include a $145 fee on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The monthly fee for drivers with 24/7 access is $195.

The price changes below will begin on Oct. 1:

County spokesperson Chloe Field says the changes come after a comprehensive market analysis that found the prices were inconsistent with market value.

“Charleston County is committed to keeping our parking garages safe, reliable, and well-maintained for everyone who uses them.” Field says. “These updates will not only create consistent pricing across all downtown garages but also provide the revenue needed to sustainably cover operating costs and critical maintenance, ensuring we can continue to offer dependable parking options for residents and visitors alike.

Downtown service industry workers, including Duke Kroger, feel the increase in prices adds to the hurdles workers face.

“It’s already hard enough being in the industry downtown and then knowing that the rates are going up, it makes it even harder,” Kroger said. “There’s less and less places to park. It’s very oversaturated as it is, even on the weekends when it’s free parking, it’s almost impossible to find something,” Kroger continues. “So you’re kind of left to pay for parking, and now even that’s going up. So, it’s just another hurdle in the industry.

Reilley Siroys made the recent decision to leave the downtown area service industry as a result of parking fees.

“I used to work at the Mill’s House, and I changed because parking just got too much,” Siroys says. “I spend probably like $200 on parking. I live in Summerville, and it’s going to be well worth it in Summerville. I think the money is nice down here, but it’s not worth it for the parking.”

Siroys believes more price increases could lead to other workers making the decision to relocate as well.

“I think a lot of people are going to start moving away from the tourism business and probably go to other places like West Ashley or Summerville just because the parking is just so much for employees,” Siroys says. “We just don’t get that luxury of not paying for it.”

She feels parking discounts would be helpful in keeping service workers in the area.

“We should get a little bit of discount at least for employees, that way we can feed the tourism instead of going away from it,” Siroys says.

Kroger agrees on the solution.

“I think at least for industry workers downtown,” Kroger says. “I mean, we make a huge percentage of downtown workers. Hotels, independent restaurants, there’s really nothing where a lot of cities like Savannah have incentives for workers. Pipe dreams.”

Patrons with questions can contact the Parking Office at .