Marcus Webb, whose Augusta Street restaurant Watershed has held a James Beard Award nomination for three consecutive years, has opened a second concept a few blocks away — a wood-fired Southern kitchen called Ember House that occupies a renovated 1940s textile building on the northern end of Greenville’s West End corridor.
The restaurant opened quietly last Thursday with a limited dinner menu and filled to capacity within the first hour of service. Webb says he chose soft-opening over a splashy launch intentionally.
“The food needs to speak first,” he said. “Once the kitchen finds its rhythm, the word spreads on its own. Greenville doesn’t need hype — it needs something worth coming back to.”
The Concept
Ember House seats 68 inside and an additional 24 on a covered back patio overlooking a small herb garden that supplies the kitchen. The menu centers on dishes cooked entirely over live fire — whole animals, cast-iron vegetables, and a rotating whole-fish program sourced from Lowcountry suppliers.
The wine list is compact and South American-heavy, a reflection of Webb’s travels. The cocktail program, led by bar director [Name], emphasizes house-made shrubs and locally distilled spirits.
Prices run $18 to $48 for mains at dinner service.
“We wanted a place that felt like Greenville — unhurried, rooted, a little proud. Something you’d take a visitor to and know they’d leave understanding why you stayed.” — Marcus Webb, chef-owner
West End Growth
Ember House joins a cluster of independent restaurants and retailers that have taken hold in the West End over the past four years. The neighborhood, once home primarily to warehouses and light industrial operations, has been remade around the RiverPlace development and the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which passes within a block of the new restaurant.
Property values along Augusta Street’s commercial corridor have risen sharply, a dynamic that Webb acknowledges brings complicated pressures for longtime residents.
“I grew up in Greenville and I remember this part of town differently,” he said. “We try to hire locally and source locally because that’s how you keep something real.”
Hours and Location
Ember House is open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner, 5 to 10 p.m. Reservations are available through the restaurant’s website, though Webb is holding back a portion of tables each night for walk-ins.
What’s Next
A weekend brunch service is planned for launch in early May, pending final staffing. Webb said a lunch counter concept — a more casual, counter-service format — could follow later this year in an adjacent space he has optioned.