There is a restaurant in North Myrtle Beach where you feed racoons. What you need to know

Joe’s Bar and Grill has been a local favorite in North Myrtle Beach for decades.

But over the years, it’s not just the dishes of steak and seafood that bring the diners to this casual fine dining restaurant at 810 Conway St. There are also the raccoons.

It’s not something usually seen at a restaurant and owner Joey Arakas has built on the critters’ popularity by establishing a special place for customers to see them.

Under a large oak tree draped with lights, the raccoons can dine on bread provided by the restaurant and leftovers offered by customers. There is a stand with a tray on which employees place loaves of bread for the raccoons.

Arakas has even built a small swing bridge behind the restaurant that overlooks the saltwater marsh for the raccoons.

Arakas, who has owned the restaurant since 1992, said feeding the raccoons began years ago when customers would give them food from the original deck. It got to a point that the raccoons would come up on the deck looking for food, so Arakas enclosed it with glass.

However, it prevented customers from seeing the raccoons so he put up the trays and filled them with bread so the animals wouldn’t be around customers.

“(I had) to come up with something so you can see them,” Arakas said.

They live out in the marsh, said manager and server Pam Wilcox. The raccoons have grown from just a couple to now more than a dozen or more, she said. They have had babies, so there are actually families.

They have become a diner favorite, Wilcox said. People can see the raccoons from the glassed-in area or the outdoor Raccoon Cove Deck Bar.

“Oh, please yes,” Wilcox said of the masked critters’ popularity. She said customers are always asking, “What time do the raccoons come out? What time do the raccoons come out?”

Arakas said he thinks it’s funny that people ask when the raccoons will come out. “I don’t know,” he said. “They don’t have a set schedule.”

Raccoons are nocturnal, so they generally come out at night. However, Arakas said they also have been out during the day.

Wilcox suggests getting to the restaurant about dusk or later for a chance to see them.

Arakas has not had any complaints about the animals or any issues regarding health concerns, he said.

But according to wildlife biologists, feeding raccoons might cause problems, including them becoming too cozy with people and raccoons can become aggressive, according to a National Geographic story . In addition, raccoons can carry diseases that can be passed along to humans and pets.

Arakas has previously relocated the animals by trapping them and taking them elsewhere. He said at one time there were about 40 raccoons.