Take your money and run toward Park Avenue

On a boulevard that’s a downtown Aiken Restaurant Row, Park Avenue Oyster Bar and Grill is debonair and genial. It boasts of a “casual bistro vibe.” Casual, yes. Cheap? Not necessarily. A single person easily can spend $100 for a deluxe—dare I say gourmet?—dinner.

That said, it also is possible to come for a platter of fried shrimp, oysters, and/or flounder that is as unpretentious as what you’d hope to find in a beachside seafood joint.