Where to Eat Southern Food in Atlanta

The ultimate list of Southern dishes and restaurants in Atlanta.

Photo credit: James Camp

From Southern Art and Bourbon Bar - 2011

By CL Staff Tuesday January 1, 2019 02:02 pm EST

The Best Southern Food in Atlanta according to our Critics is:
The Best Southern Food in Atlanta according to our Readers is:
Last Year's Reader's Choice for Best Southern
Southern Dishes from our 100 Dishes List
CL Recommends: Southern Restaurants

Southern food tends to be defined as anything dusted in flour and fried. It is vegetables cooked in all manner of animal fats to give it a distinct flavor. Atlanta chefs offer their own unique take on what is defined as "Southern Cuisine". Here's our list of current and past winners of the Best Southern awards.

The Best Southern Food in Atlanta according to our Critics is:

Miller Union Business

Longtime Watershed sous chef Steven Satterfield and Sotto Sotto manager Neal McCarthy have come together to deliver a personal-feeling, truly regional restaurant, serving Southern food without shtick or embellishment among the warehouses and train tracks of the Westside. | more...

The Best Southern Food in Atlanta according to our Readers is:

Mary Mac's Tea Room Business

Atlanta's best-known home of soul food, Mary Mac's delivers quality Southern favorites like fried chicken, collard greens, hoppin' John and fried okra. Fried food is the order of the day so people with an aversion to crunchy, crispy goodness probably should find other places to be. | more...

Last Year's Reader's Choice for Best Southern

The Colonnade Business

The overt country-club feel meshes with a distinct undercurrent of mellow booziness at this Southern-style restaurant that stands out from its surroundings on one of Midtown's seediest strips. Don't be daring. Go for the basic meat-and-two and choose the hot vegetables for sides. The fried chicken i... | more...

Southern Dishes from our 100 Dishes List

Comfy Chicken Biscuit at Home Grown

Available at Home grown GA Restaurant

Don't let the name fool you. This open-faced take on the classic Southern breakfast sandwich is an all-out knife-and-fork affair. Crispy, deep-fried chicken breasts sit atop a fluffy biscuit split open and slathered with a peppery punch of hearty sausage gravy. Get comfy and loosen your belt a notch, or maybe two.

Breakfast southern

Country-Fried Tempeh And Gravy at Ria's Bluebird

Available at Ria's Bluebird

This vegetarian take on country-fried steak and gravy hits all the recognizable pleasure points: solid golden crunch, smooth white gravy, and salty satisfaction. The surprise is that the nutty flavor and texture of tempeh fits right in. This isn't decadence with a vegetarian asterisk; it is an unqualified pleasure.

Breakfast southern vegetarian

Folk Southern Fried at Folk Art

Available at Folk Art Restaurant

Need a little hangover relief? At Folk Art, a fried chicken breast hoisted atop a huge flaky biscuit smothered in hearty-but-not-overwhelming sausage gravy topped with eggs might do the trick. Opt for fried eggs to add the luscious trickle of runny yolk. The Folk Southern Fried, as it's called, won't cure your hangover, but the pleasure that follows each glorious, gooey bite just might make you forget about it.

Breakfast southern

Fried Chicken at The Colonnade

Available at The Colonnade

Some things must be eaten for the same reason certain movies must be seen ? because they are classic. The Colonnade has been serving gigantic portions of batter-fried chicken since 1927. It's super crispy, steaming hot, juicy, and served in a dining room full of gays and greys by servers with major mother complexes.

southern fried chicken

Fried Chicken With Peanut Butter And Sriracha Sandwich at Banshee

Available at Banshee

This sandwich comes with a distinctly Southeast Asian kick. From the shape and color of the meat, we presumed it was a breast — a remarkably moist, juicy breast in a crunchy coating. Our servers told us it was actually a boneless thigh. We didn't argue because our mouths were too busy devouring the sandwich, made with a sesame bun lightly smeared with a blend of peanut butter and Sriracha. Pickled carrots garnished the chicken. Yes, alright, it was a thigh.

burger southern

Jalapeno Cornbread With Honey Butter at Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

Available at Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

The Fox Brothers’ jalapeño cornbread — golden brown on the outside with corn kernels and bits of jalapeño nestled inside a crumbly, pillowy center — is good enough on its own. But a smear of homemade honey butter adds another dimension of sweet-meets-savory, melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

appetizer southern

Krispy Kreme Original Glazed at Krispy Kreme

Available at Krispy Kreme

So what if the North Carolina-based Krispy Kreme doesn't originally hail from the ATL? It's been a Ponce de Leon Avenue institution for almost 50 years now. All it takes is the neon glow of that "Hot Now" sign to conjure a Pavlovian response from late-night passersby drawn, like moths, to the 24-hour drive-thru window. And the fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness of a warm glazed original still runs circles around the newfangled doughnut competition.

dessert southern

La Poutine De Georgia at The Imperial

Available at The Imperial

The South has adopted this dish, for sure. The Imperial’s fries, covered in beef gravy with melted pimiento cheese over it all. You can use yer fingers, but a fork or a spoon is advised. Add the diced bacon and you’ve added another food group. This dish is certainly at the top of the USDA Food Pyramid!

appetizer southern

Mac and cheese with pot roast at Carver's Country Kitchen

Available at Carver's Country Kitchen

Go ahead and unbutton your pants now. Fork-tender chunks of salty beef and soft carrots swim in a savory, beefy gravy that would make Gramma proud. A creamy side of Velveeta-rich mac and cheese is the stuff food comas are made of. $11.95.

macaroni and cheese pot roast southern

Pecan Waffle at Waffle House

Available at

What? That waffle is damn good and you know it. And if you don't know it you should. It's nutty and crispy and golden ? and a damn institution. There's a reason this place is called the Waffle House.

Breakfast Waffles southern

Pimento Cheese Sandwich at The Garden And Gun Club

Available at Garden & Gun Club

From the very same people who gave us the Charleston-based magazine of the same name. This restaurant in The Battery, the OTP complex where the Braves play baseball, offers really interesting takes on classic Southern cuisine. Garden & Gun, the magazine, has been fascinated with pimento cheese as an art form since it first started publishing — and has chosen the best of all its recipes for this notable sandwich.

burger southern

She-Crab Soup at The Optimist

Available at The Optimist

This piping hot bowl of buttery froth is packed with crabby ocean flavor. Humming with sweet and salty notes of emulsified crab roe, heavy cream, and a dash of sherry, and served with a few chewy sticks of garlicky toast on the side, each spoonful will transport you to the sea.

soup southern

Twisted Soul Salad at Twisted Soul

Available at Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours

Invented back in the late ’90s, this healthful yet quintessentially Southern salad is a generous pile of mixed greens and local veggies. It comes topped with creamy nuggets of pecan-crusted goat cheese, house-made cornbread croutons, and zingy cranberry peppercorn vinaigrette.

salads southern

CL Recommends: Southern Restaurants

Garden & Gun Club Bar or Pub

From Garden Gun Club: Our premier restaurant brings the defining Southern lifestyle brand to life with a curated menu of elevated cocktails and a modern take on some of our favorite classic Southern dishes. Whether you unwind in the warmth of the Club Bar, reserve a table in the elegant Dining Room ... | more...