Ocean Blue Prime Steak House opens Nov. 9 in Market Common, betting on fine dining in a district that’s had a rough year

Posted Thursday, November 5, 2026 8:57 am

David Hucks (via MyrtleBeachSC)

Nov 5, 2026 · @ https://x.com/myrtlebeachnews

MYRTLE BEACH — The south end is getting its own prime steakhouse. Ocean Blue Prime Steak House is scheduled to hold its official grand opening Monday, Nov. 9, in The Market Common, moving into the Deville Street storefront that was home to Crepe Creation Cafe for years.

Discover the Ocean Blue Prime Steak House Experience

On paper, it’s a simple restaurant opening: steaks, seafood, cocktails, dessert. But the timing and the location tell a bigger story. The restaurant is the second concept on the same block from the operators of Travinia Italian Kitchen, it’s opening in a shopping district that spent much of this year explaining empty storefronts, and it’s walking into one of the most crowded fine-dining categories on the Grand Strand. Here’s what locals need to know — and what’s still unanswered.

What’s opening, and where

Ocean Blue Prime sits at 4012 Deville St., in the space Crepe Creation Cafe long occupied near the movie theater. The building had been under renovation through the summer, with the restaurant originally targeting a “mid-fall” debut [The Market Common, 2026].

The menu leans classic steakhouse with a few modern touches. The shopping center’s tenant listing highlights a New York strip with house-made sauces, mustard-crusted lamb chops, pan-seared scallops, tare-glazed pork belly and a dark chocolate soufflé [The Market Common, 2026]. A July report added a blue cheese wedge salad and signature cocktails to that list [Sun News via AOL, 2026]. WFXB’s preview describes the broader lineup as prime steaks, fresh seafood, handcrafted cocktails and upgraded appetizers and desserts.

One point worth clearing up early: the name. Grand Strand diners already know Ocean Blue, the oceanfront restaurant at Springmaid Beach Resort on South Ocean Boulevard [OpenTable, 2026], and there’s an unrelated Ocean Blue Prime steakhouse in Rye, New York [OpenTable, 2026]. The Market Common restaurant is not connected to other businesses with similar names, according to a July report. Expect some confusion on Google and social media for the first few months.

That clears up what the restaurant isn’t. What it is comes down to the business across the street.

The Travinia connection

Ocean Blue Prime is billed as a sister restaurant to Travinia Italian Kitchen, which sits directly across Deville Street at No. 4011 [WFXB, 2026; Visit Myrtle Beach, n.d.]. Visit Myrtle Beach describes the new steakhouse as coming from the team behind Travinia [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2026].

Travinia has deep South Carolina roots. The brand was founded in Greenville in 2002 by Mark Craig and Kevin Cox [Aiken Standard, 2016]. It also has a history of contraction: by late 2016, several Travinia locations had closed in Florida, Kentucky and Aiken, and the original Greenville restaurant had shut down in 2015 [Aiken Standard, 2016]. The Market Common location outlasted that shakeout and remains part of a smaller footprint that includes Lexington and locations in Virginia and North Carolina [BizBash, n.d.].

Our analysis: That history matters for reading this opening. A restaurant group that has already pruned underperforming locations is now putting a second, higher-priced concept on the same block as its Italian restaurant. That’s a vote of confidence in Market Common’s dinner crowd specifically — not in the Grand Strand generally. It also gives the operators practical advantages: shared management, shared suppliers and a built-in overflow option when one kitchen is booked.

What the public record we reviewed does not show is who exactly owns Ocean Blue Prime today. None of the announcements name the ownership group, the chef or the general manager, and older profiles naming Travinia’s founders date back more than a decade [The Coastal Insider, n.d.]. That’s a fair question for the restaurant to answer as it opens.

The ownership question is about who is behind the restaurant. The building it’s moving into has a history of its own.

A space that already tried steak

Crepe Creation Cafe was a fixture at 4012 Deville St. for years. A local magazine profile said owner and chef Larry Cauble built the business around residents, not only tourists, and later expanded it into a full-service restaurant with a bar, breakfast and dinner [The Coastal Insider, n.d.]. That expansion even put steaks on the menu, with NY strip, filet and ribeye offered with a choice of sauces [The Coastal Insider, n.d.].

Our analysis: In other words, the room has already tested whether Market Common diners will order a steak there. Ocean Blue Prime is taking that idea from a side item at a crepe café to the whole concept. The sources we reviewed don’t explain when or why Crepe Creation closed, and that’s a gap worth filling before treating this as a straightforward upgrade.

That turnover isn’t unusual this year. It’s part of a larger pattern at The Market Common.

Opening into a choppy year at The Market Common

Myrtle Beach Attractions — The Market Common is the shining example of what Myrtle Beach could entirely be.

In February, WMBF reported that a string of closures at The Market Common had shop owners worried. The list included the Southern Living Store, Allbright Cleaners, the Korean barbecue restaurant Mura, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop and Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux [WMBF, 2026]. Most of those businesses didn’t say why they closed. Business owners interviewed pointed to high operating costs, rising rent and fewer tourists, and the station cited city figures showing tourism down 3% [WMBF, 2026]. Market Common management did not comment on the closures or its plans [WMBF, 2026].

The rest of 2026 has looked more like turnover than collapse. Aura Indian Kitchen opened in mid-July in Mura’s former Farrow Parkway space, run by operators with Masala Mantra restaurants in Florida and on Hilton Head [Myrtle Beach Megan, 2026]. CK’s Bistro, from former Scatori’s owner Mike Ott, brought another chef-driven option to the district [Myrtle Beach Megan, 2026]. Now Ocean Blue Prime fills the Crepe Creation space. In announcing the steakhouse, the center framed it as part of its commitment to a varied mix of shopping, dining and entertainment.

Our analysis: There’s a pattern here. Departing tenants include national and regional chains. Incoming tenants are mostly regional operators with a track record somewhere else, who are betting on Market Common’s year-round residents. That’s a reasonable strategy for a district surrounded by homes and apartments. But it also means the district’s health depends more on locals’ spending than on beach traffic — and those are the same locals who were told in February that rent and costs were squeezing their favorite shops.

If Market Common is the bet, the competition is the risk. And on steak, the competition is heavy.

A crowded steak field

The Grand Strand doesn’t lack high-end steakhouses. New York Prime on 28th Avenue North is one of the most-booked restaurants in the area on OpenTable [OpenTable, 2026]. Ruth’s Chris, 21 Main at North Beach Plantation, Bistro 90 and Clark’s Seafood and Chop House in Little River all draw steady reservations [OpenTable, 2026]. Newer entries include UPTWN Prime, which promotes dry-aged prime steaks [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2026], and Oak Prime on River Oaks Drive, which carries a Michelin Guide listing [Michelin Guide, 2026].

Market Common has tried this before. A 2012 golf-travel guide pointed visitors to Divine Prime as the district’s answer to the big-name steakhouses [Golf Myrtle Beach, 2012].

Our analysis: Look at the map and Ocean Blue Prime’s real pitch becomes clear. Most of the area’s top steakhouses are clustered from central Myrtle Beach north. For residents of Market Common, Surfside Beach, Socastee and the south end, a special-occasion steak dinner usually means a drive up Kings Highway. Ocean Blue Prime is betting that a closer, walkable option — next to a movie theater and a sister restaurant — can capture birthdays, anniversaries and business dinners that currently head north. It doesn’t need to beat New York Prime. It needs to be good enough that south-end diners stop making the drive.

The restaurant already has an OpenTable listing, which suggests reservations will run through that platform [OpenTable, 2026]. OpenTable’s own description characterizes the kitchen as applying French-inspired techniques to prime cuts and seafood, though the restaurant itself has not described its menu that way in the announcements we reviewed [OpenTable, 2026].

So what should locals watch for once the doors open?

What’s Next

The grand opening is set for Monday, Nov. 9 [WFXB, 2026]. Several basics haven’t been published in the sources we reviewed:

Hours and days of service. No hours have been announced. Travinia’s Market Common location serves lunch and dinner daily [OpenTable, 2026], but the steakhouse may be dinner-only.
Prices. No menu prices have been released. Expect them to land in line with the area’s other prime steakhouses, but confirm before you book.
Who’s running it. The ownership group, chef and general manager haven’t been named publicly.
The former tenant. Why Crepe Creation left the space remains unexplained in the record we reviewed.
Jobs. A new full-service steakhouse typically means dozens of hires; whether those positions are filled locally is worth tracking.

The Market Common has said updates will come through its social media channels. We’ll follow up after opening week with details on hours, pricing and who’s behind the restaurant.

The bigger test comes later. If Ocean Blue Prime is still busy on a Tuesday night in February — the slowest stretch of the Grand Strand year — that says more about The Market Common’s comeback than any ribbon-cutting will.