RuRu's Tacos & Tequila: Charleston — A Girl's Guide to Drinking Alone

159 E Bay St, French Quarter, Charleston SC

By Nora Kaye, Guest Writer

The Place: A charmless, Chili’s-esque taco emporium with a 360-degree bar essential for bachelorette party watching. I call this venture Charleston: Here We Go Again, a nod to the questionable Mamma Mia sequel and an affront to Samuel Katz and her slam of Bonny’s Hideaway. I am here trying to give drinking alone in Charleston a second chance. I am also getting some liquid courage before I join a bachelorette party myself.

The Time: It’s Friday. It’s August 19th. It’s 3 in the absolute afternoon and do you know where your bride-to-be is? I don’t. I don’t even know where any other solitary soul of this bachelorette extravaganza is. I know it sounds like I have been ostracized already. But actually no, I am just part of the day-late, dollar-short crew who are each practicing some post-plane self-care by either getting a drink, taking a run, or buying a blow-up mattress from Target. (Eventually you realize that 3-to-a-bed is no longer Tetris-able. We are growing “girls.”)

To get myself in best behavior mode, I know I need food, so it seems like divine intervention when RuRu’s presents itself 400 feet from our Airbnb on Bay St in the French Quarter. I have hunger. They have tacos. You might say it’s taco time. If you hate yourself, you could say it’s taco’clock. I lull myself into a fake sense of self-control. I will just have a taco. But if tequila sneaks her way down my gullet…when in Rome, right?

The Vibe: Is absolutely nothing to write home about, which is why my mother is not getting a postcard. The circular bar sits at the front of the restaurant, with a dining area in the back. Everything is finished in the same maple-ish stain, with hard corners. The red and orange sign with the playful, droopy R’s of Ru suggests a place with a bit of fun, but where is it? This restaurant feels like a chain, but upon a quick Google search, I realize that RuRu only has a single sister in Charlotte, NC. It’s the premise of The Parent Trap! I wish with my whole heart for a Parent Trap-themed bar as I click my overworn sandals together from the barstool. However, I remain at RuRu’s.

I would like to set the record straight: I don’t dislike chains. I LOVE Chili’s. They know who they are. They give you UNLIMITED CHIPS. They wine-and-dine you with 2-for-1 margaritas. That’s hot. But RuRu’s has no uniqueness and gives off a one-of-8-kids energy. Perhaps the interior designer was drinking at 3pm. If that is the case, I totally understand.

The Bartender: She gives me water, a kind smile, and doesn’t seem to mind when I waffle about what to get. Tacos or guac? Frozen or shaken? We are out here trying to make executive decisions but it’s hard. As I consider my options, a group of bachelorettes in matching tanks stroll up to the bar and try to cram in since they are “just 10.” A host quickly marshals them off to a table in the back. When the bartender returns, we both find the same relief in each other’s eyes. It’s almost that Parent Trap cabin moment but better; because I-Spy’d with my little eye a frozen margarita machine.

The Drank: I “Say Yes to The” frozen margarita with a salt rim and the Lookin’Good Louis shrimp taco. Yes, all of the tacos have “fun” names. We have found where RuRu spent her budget.

However, with the black and white salt garnishing the rim and chipotle mayo adorning my taco, I feel like I might be finding love in a hopeless place. Also one of the servers makes extended eye contact as he drops off the taco but maybe I’m trying for a Chessie/Martin romance subplot* that isn’t in the cards. With each straw’d sip, I like RuRu’s more and more.

Was I Hit On?: I am learning, as I navigate this new life of (occasionally) drinking alone, that although I’m not hit on, I can sniff out random conversations with random gents. Today is with two pilots who tell me that they are in Charleston for a conference because they sell “a variety of things.” Amateur-hour fib, not specific enough. Once we get “down to the truth,” we talk about photography (one snapped pictures for National Geographic before becoming a pilot…maybe another lie), 9/11, and how the youth are taking the cockpit these days. It’s my social preparation for the bachelorette party that this margarita has almost made me forget I am part of.

As I get the check to close out, I realize my sleeper crush of a bartender hasn’t charged me for the marg! I overtip and venture into the merriment singing L.O.V.E by Nat King Cole in my head.

Should You Drink Here Alone?: RuRu’s is, in a word, normie. It’s Chili’s-lite. But it’s the place I found to kill time and kill a taco. No one really needs to go here. But looking back, I don’t regret spending the hour before happy hour with Miss RuRu.

*This is a deeper Parent Trap reference…so if this didn’t phase you, call me!

Nora Kaye is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, writer, and performer, passionate about telling comedic stories about the messiness of humanity. She recently fell in love with sours after a lifetime of being a "cider gal.” Growth: it can happen, in mysterious and glutenous ways. norakaye.com