Allyanna's Pizzeria
A family-owned Southside pizzeria that has been on Montgomery Crossroad since 2001. A local calls it consistently excellent.
Over 50 Savannah: Southside
The Abercorn Street corridor and the neighborhoods around it, south of DeRenne Avenue. It is strip centers and long drives, and it is where locals said to go when someone asked for the best places that are not chains and not downtown.
BowTie Barbecue Co.
BowTie calls itself a scratch kitchen, a whiskey bar and a neighborhood institution, and says the sauces, rubs and sides are all made by hand on Waters Avenue. It carries forward recipes from Johnny Harris Restaurant, the Savannah barbecue house with roots going back to 1924 ... including a batterless fried chicken the venue describes as naturally gluten-free. It opens at 7am daily and runs food trucks for events. The site does not name the wood.
Carey Hilliard's Restaurant
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.
Cohen's Retreat
Cohen's Retreat is a campus on Skidaway Road with a Lowcountry restaurant and bar, a market, a bakery called The Little House and four cottages to rent. It also has a string of event rooms, among them the Art Tank, the Atrium, the Chef's Table and the Clubhouse. Savannah Magazine readers named it runner-up for Happy Hour in 2026.
Taqueria El San Luis
A taqueria on Hodgson Memorial Drive. It was the top answer when r/savannah was asked for the best non-chain restaurants away from downtown, and it shows up in seven separate 2026 threads. Locals mention burritos on house-made tortillas, tortas, and the red and green hot sauces.
Toni Steakhouse
Toni Steakhouse is an independent steakhouse on Eisenhower Drive with dinner, cocktail and wine menus and a private dining option.
Troy Mediterranean Cuisine
A Southside Mediterranean room on Abercorn. Savannah Magazine readers voted it Best Mediterranean in 2026, and locals on r/savannah list it as a go-to when asked for non-chain places away from downtown.
Unforgettable Bakery
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.
Vincenzo's Pizzeria
A dinner-only pizzeria far down White Bluff Road on the Southside. It drew 17 votes in the year's big pizza thread, the most of any Southside name.