Farace's Finest: A Restaurant Week Spotlight

Restaurant Week has eight participants this year, and most of them have been part of the island's dining scene for years, sometimes decades. Farace's Finest has been open since March 2025. It earned its spot on the list anyway, and once you know what's happening in that kitchen, it's not hard to see why.

We're a few blocks north on Butler Avenue, and Farace's isn't a next-door neighbor — it's a genuine walk or a short golf-cart ride down toward Inlet Avenue. We still send guests there regularly, Restaurant Week or not, because a to-go pizza counter with house-made everything and a patio worth sitting on is a rare enough combination on a small island that it's worth the walk.

What it is

Farace's Finest is a pizza, sandwich, and salad counter on Inlet Avenue, on Tybee's south end a few blocks from the pier. It's counter-service and to-go — no inside seating — with an outdoor patio that's grown since opening into one of the better hangout spots on the island. It's dog-friendly, which matters on a street where most of the other Restaurant Week stops are a walk or a cart ride away.

It's also new by Tybee standards. Some of the other spots on this year's Restaurant Week list — Sugar Shack, Nickie's — have been around for decades and are practically part of the island's identity at this point. Farace's has been open a little over a year. Getting invited into that same lineup this fast says something about how quickly it's built a following, and it's worth understanding why before you write it off as just another pizza counter.

The SweetWater background, and why it matters

The founder spent 20 years at Atlanta's SweetWater Brewery before moving to Tybee and opening Farace's. That's not a resume line you can fake, and it's not a small detail either. Two decades inside a working brewery means two decades of thinking about consistency batch after batch, sourcing ingredients you can actually trust, and building something people choose to come back to on a Tuesday, not just a special occasion. Beer and pizza aren't the same product, but the discipline behind them is the same discipline — get the fundamentals right every single time, and let the fundamentals do the talking instead of a gimmick.

That background shows up less as a marketing story and more as a set of quiet choices in how the kitchen runs. This isn't a first business figuring itself out in real time, and it isn't someone's retirement hobby, either. It's someone who spent two decades in food and beverage professionally, then decided to do the next chapter on a barrier island, on their own terms, with a small counter and a menu built around a handful of things done properly rather than a long menu done adequately.

Why it's worth the trip

The dough and the marinara are both made in-house — not a small commitment for a young, to-go-only operation, but the kind of choice that separates a genuinely good pizza place from one that's just fine. Making your own dough means owning the fermentation, the texture, and the bake every single day instead of thawing something that showed up on a truck. Making your own marinara means the base of every pizza tastes like a decision, not a shortcut. Every pie gets finished with fresh-grated parmesan reggiano rather than the pre-shredded stuff, which is a small thing that adds up over a whole pizza — better melt, sharper flavor, less of that waxy aftertaste the bagged stuff leaves behind.

The sandwiches and salads round out the menu for anyone who isn't in a pizza mood, so it's not a one-trick counter — useful if your group can't agree on dinner, which on a family beach trip is basically guaranteed.

The patio project

For a spot that opened without a single indoor seat, the outdoor space has become the actual draw. It's expanded since opening and is genuinely one of the better places on the island to sit outside with a slice and a drink, dog at your feet, in no hurry to be anywhere else. That's a real accomplishment for a business that started with zero seating at all — it means the patio wasn't an afterthought bolted on to satisfy customers who wanted somewhere to sit, it's become a deliberate part of what Farace's is.

On an island where a lot of dining is either beachfront-casual or sit-down-formal, Farace's patio splits the difference: relaxed, unpretentious, and built for lingering rather than turning tables fast. It's the kind of place where a slice turns into an hour without anyone planning it that way.

How it fits into a Restaurant Week built for local businesses

Tybee Island Main Street organizes Restaurant Week across the whole island, and the lineup this year mixes decades-old institutions like Sugar Shack and Nickie's with a business barely 18 months old. That's actually the point of a promotion like this one — it's not just a spotlight on whoever's already famous, it's a nudge to get visitors and locals alike walking into the newer spots they might otherwise not think to try on a short trip. Farace's is the clearest example of that on this year's list: no long track record to lean on yet, just a founder's background, a deliberate menu, and a patio that's done the rest of the convincing on its own.

If you've already got your regular Tybee rotation — StingRay's, Huc-A-Poos, whatever it is — Restaurant Week is a built-in excuse to break it for one meal and see what a newer kitchen is doing instead.

Practical details

Farace's Finest is at 1605 Inlet Ave, (912) 428-8311, on Tybee's south end — several blocks from the pier cluster, not next door to it, so budget real walking time or take a golf cart if you're coming from Butler Avenue. It's open Monday, and Wednesday through Saturday, 11:30am to 9pm, and closed Tuesdays. There's no inside seating, so plan on the patio or taking it to go — both work well with a beach day.

Parking on Tybee is metered island-wide in season, including around Inlet Avenue, so factor that in if you're driving rather than walking or carting over. If you're staying with us on Butler Avenue, it's a genuine several-block walk south, not a next-door stop — worth knowing before you set out in the August heat.

Tips locals know

Go later in the afternoon if you want the patio to yourself before the dinner rush fills it in — early evening tends to be the busiest window once the beach crowd clears out for the day. Bring the dog; it's one of the more genuinely dog-welcoming setups on the island, not just tolerant of one tied up out front. And because it's to-go by design, it also works well as a beach-day pickup: grab a pizza on the way to or from the sand rather than treating it strictly as a sit-down dinner destination. Since there's no phone-in seating to manage, calling ahead for a pickup pie is also worth doing if you're trying to time it around nap schedules or a sunset walk.

What's nearby that pairs well

Inlet Avenue sits within a short walk of several other Restaurant Week spots — Sugar Shack on 1st Street for dessert afterward, or Sand Cat Coffee, also on 1st, if you're swinging by earlier in the day. If you want the full rundown of everyone taking part in the event, we put together a complete list of Restaurant Week participants worth reading alongside this one, and our dining page covers the rest of the island's regular restaurant scene beyond what's running Restaurant Week specials.

Don't miss it

Restaurant Week runs through August 17, and Farace's has already built a genuine following in under a year and a half — the kind of place that's worth getting to know before the promotion wraps rather than after. With only three open weekdays and no Tuesday, the closing days go fast; plan the visit rather than assume there's always next time. A business that's earned a Restaurant Week invitation this early in its life is worth the short walk down Inlet before the window closes.

Counting from August 12, that leaves Farace's open Wednesday the 12th, Thursday the 13th, Friday the 14th, Saturday the 15th, and Monday the 17th before Restaurant Week wraps — five open days, with only a Sunday closure sitting in the middle of that stretch. If your visit lines up with one of those five, it's worth building the walk down Inlet Avenue into the day rather than leaving it as a maybe.

Sandcastle Inn is part of the Tybee Lodging Group family of inns, alongside Admiral's Inn, Sea and Breeze Hotel and Condo, Dunes Inn & Suites, and Atlantis Inn — each a different base on the island if Inlet Avenue is closer to one than another.

We're a five-minute walk from the beach, dog-friendly ourselves, with free parking so Inlet Avenue's meters aren't your problem at home base — check availability before Restaurant Week ends.