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.
16 spots
A family-owned Southside pizzeria that has been on Montgomery Crossroad since 2001. A local calls it consistently excellent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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