1540 Room is the dining room of The DeSoto hotel on Madison Square. The name points to Hernando de Soto's expedition through the Southeast in 1540 and the spice trade that followed. Chef Collin Clemons cooks seasonal Lowcountry menus from local farms, and the hotel says he was named the city's best chef less than a year after opening. Savannah Magazine readers voted it the best fine dining room in the city for 2026.
An inn with a dining room and a separate tavern that keeps its own hours. The inn says the tavern opens daily at 4pm and closes by 11pm, with food during kitchen hours.
A Bay Street wine bar named for its street number. The bar adds that 208 'symbolizes manifesting wealth and abundance' and then admits, 'It's also our address.' Wednesday nights are Bubbles & Blues with singer Laiken Love, and Tuesdays bring five dollar tapas toppers. Readers voted it best wine bar in Connect Savannah (2022) and in Savannah Magazine (2026).
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
45 Bistro has been the dining room of The Marshall House hotel since 2001, the third home of a restaurant Sandy Hollander has run since the mid 1980s. Eat It and Like It reported on September 14, 2026 that it will leave the hotel when the year ends ... the last service is December 31, 2026. The hotel sold on June 1, 2026 and its new owners plan to remake the space in 2027. The team has said it hopes to reopen elsewhere in Savannah. 45 Bistro is open now and has said it will leave The Marshall House on 31 December 2026.
BellyUp Savannah / Over 50
Good places to eat and drink in Savannah, minus the nightclubs. When a spot gets loud later or draws a lot of kids, the card tells you.
The same over 50 spots, sorted by the reasons people actually pick them.
43 spots
45 Bistro has been the dining room of The Marshall House hotel since 2001, the third home of a restaurant Sandy Hollander has run since the mid 1980s. Eat It and Like It reported on September 14, 2026 that it will leave the hotel when the year ends ... the last service is December 31, 2026. The hotel sold on June 1, 2026 and its new owners plan to remake the space in 2027. The team has said it hopes to reopen elsewhere in Savannah. 45 Bistro is open now and has said it will leave The Marshall House on 31 December 2026.
A Starland wing shop founded in 2011 by Savannah resident Gary Gordon and named for his birthday, May 20th. Savannah Magazine readers voted it Best Wings in 2026, as they did in 2024. A local notes it stays open until 3am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Open late. Go earlier if you want a calmer room.
A family-owned Southside pizzeria that has been on Montgomery Crossroad since 2001. A local calls it consistently excellent.
Katie Bryant and Mark Ekstrom, both from Pennsylvania, opened Auspicious in Sandfly in 2017 as a Sundays-only bakery. In March 2024 they bought the former Paula Deen's Creek House on Whitemarsh Island, announcing it with 'We bought a restaurant, y'all ... a big one'. That building now holds a second bakery counter and their brunch restaurant, Bread & Butter. Sand Cat Coffee on Tybee sells their ice cream, by one account.
A burger shop on Habersham that calls itself Savannah's late-night burger spot and posts hours until five in the morning. It is the first local name people give when someone asks where to eat after midnight. Opinion on the food is split ... fans go for the oddities like fried sandwiches, and a few commenters are blunt that they do not rate it.
Open late. Go earlier if you want a calmer room.
Joyce and Jim Shanks opened Bella's in 1993 and named it for Joyce's grandmother, Bella. The recipes came down through the family, including the marinara and alfredo sauces, the manicotti and a pasta and bean soup. The house motto is Bella's own: 'A tavola non s'invecchia' ... at the table, one never gets old. Savannah Magazine readers named it runner-up for Italian in 2026.
Kay Heritage started Big Bon in 2016 as a wood-fired pizza pop-up and grew it into a bodega serving scratch-made bagel sandwiches, Korean-inspired pizza and bowls. The shop calls itself veteran-owned and says it bakes with non-GMO flour and local honey and uses no seed oils. Its site carries a '2026 Georgia Small Business ROCK STAR' badge, and Savannah Magazine readers named it runner-up for Bagel in 2026.
The venue calls itself the oldest restaurant on River Street, open since 1959, in a refurbished 18th century cotton warehouse. It prints a Lincoln Street address because the door sits on the ramp, and adds 'Located On River Street' beside it. The site describes it as locally family owned.
Bread & Butter is the brunch restaurant Auspicious Baking Co. opened inside the former Paula Deen's Creek House on Whitemarsh Island, which closed in January 2023 and sat empty until Katie Bryant and Mark Ekstrom bought it in March 2024. It shares the building with a second Auspicious bakery counter and has what the site calls a creative bar menu. A fall festival is on the calendar for Friday, October 23.
Andrew and Sophie Brochu opened this room with partners Georgia and Dave Baker and Jessica Kimbrough. Andrew came back to the Southeast after more than a decade running Chicago kitchens, and Sophie is a Savannah native who came home after 13 years away ... the two met working in a Chicago restaurant. The site says the place is modeled on the family gatherings Andrew grew up with. Savannah Magazine readers named it best Oysters and runner-up for Fried Chicken in 2026. Walk-ins are welcome and it opens every day at 5.
Carey Hilliard hitchhiked to Savannah from Jesup and opened his first restaurant in 1960 in a converted root beer stand, where he and his wife Kathleen kept curbside service going instead of switching to a drive-thru. The company calls itself Savannah's oldest family-owned restaurant. This Southside room opened in 1976 near Savannah Mall, with tall booths, a neon sign and a banquet hall behind it for 60 to 250 guests. It serves until midnight every day.
Mike and Bee Vaudrin own Common, with Sean Freeman as executive chef. It is the sister room to The Ordinary Pub, which the same owners ran a few blocks west until its building failed in the fall of 2024. Common pours more than 30 wines by the glass that rotate with the season, and Savannah Magazine readers named its wine list a 2026 runner-up.
Desposito's is the fish shack under the Thunderbolt bridge, serving since the 1960s. Connect Savannah traces it to a market run by the Walton family that Carlo Desposito bought in 1968 and put his name on; after he died in 1982, Walton Boone ran it with his son David for more than 30 years. Michelle Smith bought it in October 2020, rebuilt it over two years and reopened on August 28, 2023 with a riverside pavilion and room for about 130. The front bar is still lined with beer bottles found during the renovation. In December 2025 it closed after a staff walkout over unpaid wages, and parent company River Street Hospitality set a reopening for January 10, 2026 with new management and a menu it says goes back to fresh, local seafood.
Driftaway has been in Sandfly since 2001, run by the husband-and-wife team of Robyn and Michele Quattlebaum. They call the cooking 'Casual Coastal Cuisine' ... fresh catch specials with some Caribbean influence ... and the motto is 'good food, good company, Savannah style'. There are patios, live music, brunch, and a private room for gatherings.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
Erica Davis Lowcountry is a dine-in and takeout room on East Victory Drive that grew out of a catering business. The family's seafood trade goes back to 1946, when Erica's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Russo, sold fresh seafood to Savannah. Erica and Dwight carry it on with Lowcountry boils, oyster roasts, barbecue and Southern home cooking, and the site lists Best of Savannah awards for 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Farace's Finest is a pizza shop a block off the pier, owned by Steve Farace. For Tybee Island Restaurant Week in August 2026 he teamed up with the Slow Fire Barbecue food truck on a limited-release pizza, WTOC reported.
Fiddler's has been family owned and run since 1999 and belongs to Live Oak Restaurant Group, the Savannah company Ansley Williams started when he co-founded Spanky's on River Street in 1976. The oysters are shucked by hand to order, and the outdoor balcony looks over the river. Savannah Magazine readers named Live Oak the best hospitality group and Williams the best restaurateur in 2026.
Savannah native Mike McMahon opened the Flying Fish in 2007 after years in the seafood business, aiming for local traditional flavors in a relaxed room. It sits on US 80 on the way to the beach with a patio and live music on weekends. Savannah Magazine lists it for families whose children are happy with fried shrimp, the screens and the patio.
Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.
FraLi is an Italian restaurant and grocery on Liberty Street that makes its pasta from scratch and sells fresh pasta, sauces and imported Italian goods to take home. It keeps market hours and closes by early evening. Savannah Magazine readers tied it for best specialty food store in 2026.
Libby Miller and Gay Fortson started Friendship Coffee in 2013 as a wholesale roaster and later opened the cafe on Wilmington Island. It serves locally roasted coffee, pastries baked that day, breakfast and lunch, with recipes the site says are made from scratch daily. There is a small shop of local goods inside. Closed Wednesdays.
A soul food cafe opened by four siblings in memory of their mother, Kimberly, who died in 2021. The venue calls itself the home of the Oxtails and Grit Bowl and says it looks out for homeless families in the community. A local's post about the meatloaf drew one of the bigger food threads of the year, with others chiming in on the oxtails, shrimp and grits, and spaghetti made on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Limani is where the Olympia Cafe family landed. Olympia served Greek food at 5 E. River Street for more than 30 years and closed in mid May 2026; the Varlagas family opened Limani a few blocks east on July 11, 2026, in the former Lizzy's space. The name is Greek for a harbor. WTOC reports a second floor, a balcony, a bar and a bigger kitchen, with head chef Blake Mabry keeping the menu close to Olympia's. The opening night dinner raised money for Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia.
A dessert bar that pairs baking with bartending: cakes, chocolates, coffee drinks and cocktails late into the evening. Rebecca Radovich and Janine Finn opened it in 2007, and the bar says it has won a local best desserts award 16 years in a row. A second, smaller Lulu's is on Whitemarsh Island at 4700 US Hwy 80 E.
Open late. Go earlier if you want a calmer room.
In 1943 a young Sema Wilkes took over a boardinghouse on Jones Street and began feeding lodgers Southern food served family-style. The lodging is gone but the lunch table is not ... guests are seated at large tables for ten and share the platters with strangers. It is lunch only on weekdays, dine-in only, and the house takes cash or checks, with an ATM on site. Savannah Magazine readers named it the 2026 winner for both fried chicken and Southern cooking.
Noble Fare is run by Chef Patrick McNamara and Jenny McNamara, a husband and wife team, and its site copyright runs back to 2007. Eat It and Like It describes it as fine dining with 38 or so seats, popular with the crowd headed to a show. It serves dinner five nights and keeps Sunday and Monday for private events.
A small Irish pub owned by Dan O'Connell. Savannah Magazine describes a room built for talking, with no TVs and no DJ, Gaelic football jerseys and Irish road signs on the walls, a five dollar pint of Guinness and visits from traditional fiddle players. Visit Savannah points to its 'traditional snugs and an impressive display of Irish sports memorabilia.'
Open late. Go earlier if you want a calmer room.
Pier 16 is a family-owned seafood restaurant that opened in September 2020, one block from the beach. Visit Tybee describes two outdoor decks and a rooftop bar looking over Tybrisa Street, with cornhole and giant Jenga. The menu runs from Georgia shrimp and fresh fish to USDA Prime steak, and the listing says it serves in biodegradable cups, straws and to-go boxes.
Owner Keith Latture describes the style as Savannah barbecue with Memphis influences. Meats are smoked over pecan and hickory and come with three sauces: a sweet Memphis-style, a mustard-based Savannah sauce and a spicy vinegar sauce in the western North Carolina manner. The Brunswick stew gets singled out in the reviews the site quotes. The site notes that its downtown Streamliner diner location has closed and points everyone to Ferguson Avenue.
Founder Christine Cutlip built the Shack around one idea ... a Lowcountry boil served as a bag for one person instead of a table-wide spread, with peeled shrimp for anyone who wants less mess. The site lists features on Food Network, Cooking Channel and Travel Channel, including Ali Khan's Cheap Eats.
Savannah Square Pops makes small-batch ice pops named for the city's historic squares. Founders Judd and Mark left careers in law and technology to start it, and Eat It and Like It marked the shop's ten-year milestone in September 2026. None of the pops contain nuts, and there are vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free flavors. The shop also runs tours and pop-making demonstrations.
Kenneth and Vicky Brown founded Sisters of the New South in 2009 on Skidaway Road. The site says the cooking is built on family recipes passed down for generations ... Vicky's sisters helped shape the idea and her mother, Johnnie Mae Bing, guided the kitchen in the early days. A second room is open on the Southside at 8820 Abercorn St., phone (912) 208-8065.
Pitmaster Terren Williams is a Savannah native who cooked in Atlanta kitchens, then spent ten years in Dallas, Texas learning to smoke meat before coming home. His site says he burns a blend of oak and pecan and buys from local farmers. After about three years as a food truck and a short stay on Waters Avenue, Slow Fire is building a permanent room in a former gas station at 37th and Habersham, the old Baby's space, and serves from the truck there Thursday through Saturday in the meantime.
A neighborhood restaurant and wine bar in the Starland District. Ryan Ribeiro and Jason Restivo became partners here in September 2023 ... the site says Ryan had been one of the most loyal customers at Jason's restaurant Atlantic, which closed in 2020. Ryan, who is of Portuguese descent, chose the name, a word for the time spent lingering at the table after a meal. Savannah Magazine readers voted it best wine list in 2026.
Strangebird started in 2019 as a food truck in a 1967 Airstream Ambassador and moved into the restored Streamliner diner car on Barnard Street in July 2023. Chefs Daniel 'Nilo' Aranza and Felipe Vera of the FARM Hospitality team cook what they call casual plates with a Mexican flair ... smokehouse tacos on nixtamalized tortillas, burritos, and a Birria Burger that Eat It and Like It counts among the city's best burgers. The diner car was Sandfly BBQ's downtown outpost before this.
Johno Morisano and chef Mashama Bailey built The Grey inside a 1938 art deco Greyhound bus terminal that they restored. Bailey won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2019, as the restaurant's own site records. Savannah Magazine readers named her Best Chef again in the 2026 Best of Savannah issue.
Kelli Pearson and Kristin Russell opened The Sentient Bean in 2001 at the south end of Forsyth Park, and the cafe's motto is brewing coffee and community since then. All of the coffee is organic and fair trade, the kitchen buys from local farmers, and the shop composts, recycles glass and is an EPA Green Power Partner. At night it turns into a small stage for live music, drag and burlesque shows, film nights, and an open mic on the first and third Tuesday run with Savannah Pride Center.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
Brothers Joshua and Michael Sexton opened this Irish pub on 10 October 2025 in a 1930s house that used to hold Troupial Cafe. The kitchen cooks Irish street food ... fish and chips, bangers and mash, sausage rolls, pasties and a spice bag of fried chicken, fries and vegetables tossed in a curry five-spice mix. There is a smaller room upstairs and a big backyard. The pub says it cooks without seed or vegetable oils.
Open late. Go earlier if you want a calmer room.
Tortuga's has been family owned in Thunderbolt since 2008, on the Intracoastal Waterway. Its line is 'Southern Fare with a Caribbean Flare'. It serves dinner Wednesday through Saturday, lunch on Thursday and Friday and brunch on weekends, and has a banquet room for private parties.
Trick's is on its third address in two years. It cooked for years out of an old gas station at 2601 Bull Street in Starland, moved to 1902 Bay Street after that property sold in summer 2024, lost that lease at the end of December 2025, and reopened in 2026 at 1218 Waters Avenue at Henry Street. Eat It and Like It says it is cash only and sells until the meat is gone, usually before dinner. No source read here names the wood or the style.
Belinda Baptiste, a self-taught baker, has run Unforgettable Bakery in the Forest Park Shopping Center since 2009. The bakery draws on her Haitian-American heritage and sells breads, cakes and home-brewed juices. The site says it works with local youth, young adults and people without housing. Baptiste was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery in 2023, according to the bakery.
The room's line is 'Where Soul Meets Seoul'. It was founded by Tanika Hamilton, who was born in Seoul, and Chef Romie Cummings, who cooks from his Gullah Geechee roots. The name looks back to West Broad Street, the old name of this boulevard: the restaurant says it sits 'on ground that once served as the heartbeat of Black commerce, culture, and community'. The menu runs from KTX Chicken and house dumplings to seared shrimp and grits.
This is a music venue. It is loud when a show is on.
Wiley and Janet McCrary spent nearly two decades on the competition barbecue circuit before opening in a strip mall on US 80. The site describes the style as St. Louis-style barbecue. Rachel and Eric Traub and their team run it now. The site cites a Southern Living readers' poll that ranked it first in Georgia and second in the country, and Savannah Magazine's Best Savannah BBQ seven years running.
Yia Yia's says it set out to be a neighborhood Greek restaurant that feels like Grandma's house on a Sunday. The kitchen serves gyros, Greek lasagna, spanakopita and falafel, and the market side sells Greek wines, olive oil, coffee and jams beside a bakery case. Savannah Magazine readers named it runner-up for Mediterranean in 2026.
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