184 Best Restaurants in USA

Down-home Southern cuisine with modern flourishes remains the mission of this retro-yet-au-courant roadside restaurant whose vineyard-view outdoor patio has a backyard-party vibe. Try the biscuits and gravy, hash-brown casserole, and the fried-chicken waffle for breakfast, with more fried chicken, multiple burgers and barbecue dishes, and fried catfish among the lunchtime attractions.

Southwest of Nashville on Highway 100, The Loveless Cafe serves up its famous scratch-made biscuits and country ham every day of the week. Long waits for a table are typical, so be prepared to do some shopping and play a round of cornhole while you wait. When the café opened in 1951, it was just chicken served at picnic tables on Lon and Annie Loveless’s front porch. But over the years, the restaurant has expanded to include every iteration of Southern breakfast and supper. In 2004 the remainder of the on-site motel was converted into quaint country shops—chief among them the Hams & Jams Country Market, where you can get free coffee all day, Southern-inspired home goods and gifts, and barbecue to go.

This unassuming little restaurant located off Palmetto Bay Road in a little outdoor shopping center (the Village Exchange) serves excellent seafood dishes with Southern flavor in a laid-back setting with indoor and outdoor seating. Don't ignore the full bar that serves South Carolina moonshine. The outdoor area also has games for kids, as well as a water feature and quirky decor. 

This lively French Creole brasserie is a popular go-to on game days, given its proximity to both the French Quarter and the Superdome. The Gulf-centric seafood lineup includes oysters, boiled shrimp, Peruvian scallops, and Maine lobster. The dark chocolate mousse with toffee is a treat.

Lulu's feels old-school—there are old-timey quilts hanging from the walls—but the food is decidedly forward-thinking, from the Thai chicken soup to the savory meatloaf Manhattan. Vegetarians also feel right at home, thanks to options like a marinated tempeh sandwich with kimchi and Szechuan sauce at lunchtime. 

This low-key and unassuming restaurant used to double as a weekend night hot spot. Nowadays "the Mag" attracts St. Francisville locals with its wide selection of sandwiches, pizza, burgers, and southern and Mexican dishes.

The theme at this extremely popular—and worthy—tourist destination is evident in the vivid paintings of white magnolia blossoms that adorn the walls. The menu pays homage to classic dishes like fried green tomatoes with white cheddar grits, caramelized onions, and country ham. Lunch is a more affordable way to sample the best of Lowcountry cuisine.

This carry-out-only spot closes early (5 pm, except Sunday when it closes at 2 pm), but it's a great place to pick up a large order of fried chicken and sides for a party or group. The chicken is some of the best in the area, and the mac and cheese is also excellent. On a nice day, pick up an order and walk to Bayou St. John for a picnic.

Along with po'boys, you can find just about every type of grilled, fried, and gravied specialty famous in New Orleans here, served with plenty of sides, 24 hours a day. Not everything is the best in town, but the food is cheap and fresh at any hour. Late night, you’ll be in good company among locals coming in for a hot plate.

"Born, bred, and buttered in Harlem" is how founder Melba Wilson describes herself. After working at New York City mainstays like Rosa Mexicano and the legendary Sylvia's, she decided to venture out on her own, opening Melba's in 2005. Here, she doesn't serve appetizers, but rather "comfortizers," like spring rolls stuffed with rice, black-eyed peas, collard greens, and cheddar cheese. The portions tend to be large enough to almost spill over the edge of the plate, so feel free to go straight for entrées like the Jamaican oxtail, country-fried catfish, or the food-coma-inducing fried chicken and eggnog waffles with strawberry butter and maple syrup.

The owner of Marsh Hen Mill co-owns this breakfast joint that caters to the white-collar Broad Street crowd, balancing blue plate breakfasts with fancy morning entrées like lobster toast on house-baked brioche. It's hard to choose between the biscuits loaded with pimento cheese, fried chicken, or country ham with fig jam. There's a second location on James Island that's not as busy as downtown.

From uptown church ladies to former president Bill Clinton, Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too attracts a diverse clientele with a common goal—to enjoy a hearty helping of comforting soul food. The uncluttered interior is mostly beige, with family portraits hanging on the walls, and former model and best-selling cookbook author Norma Jean Darden uses passed-down recipes to create mouthwatering dishes like fried or smothered chicken, fried or baked catfish, barbecue ribs, collard greens, and baked macaroni and cheese. Save room for dessert like sweet potato pie and homemade peach cobbler.

Much of the dining in Germantown is high-end and experimental, making longtime local favorite Monell's Dining and Catering a welcome dose of Southern comfort food, all served family-style. Visit for breakfast, lunch, or dinner to fill up on Southern favorites like skillet-fried chicken, home-style meat loaf, and delicious biscuits. Just be sure to save room for dessert.

Who knew that barbecue sauce could be the base for such tasty salad dressing or that pimento cheese could elevate a fillet to near perfection? Appetizers of fried pickles and country ham–spinach dip only add to the creative thinking that makes Mr. Friendly's such a local treasure. The ever-changing wine-by-the-glass menu is another.

This plain yellow building has been the best place in town for true Southern cooking for more than 50 years. The humble lunch counter and few surrounding tables are the setting in which to enjoy rich entrées, including fried chicken, catfish, and oxtail. The portions are hearty and might convince your sweet tooth to order some sweet tea or Kool Aid to make the meal complete. Get here early: the restaurant closes at 7 pm.

With multiple bars ringing the dance floor and stage area, this is more of a "beer-and-a-shot" place where the focus is on the music. Enjoy bar bites while listening to old-school country from singer-songwriters and bands who play in the afternoons and evenings. The walls are adorned with 20th-century country album covers and promotional photographs of country's founding fathers (and mothers) like Vern Gosdin, Hank Williams, and George Jones. Maybe you'll discover the next star before they hit the big time.

The Jonas Brothers have captured the hearts of a generation of music fans, and Nellie’s has claimed dominion over their stomachs. Named after their great-grandmother and an offshoot of the original in North Carolina, the restaurant serves appropriately Southern riffs-on-classics at lunch and dinner. You can start with a basket of biscuits with cinnamon butter and jam, pimento cheese or collards and artichoke dip, or fried green tomatoes, and proceed to dishes like fried chicken with four-cheese mac and drunken collard greens, a waffle with lobster tail dipped in Nashville hot sauce, meatloaf, or a rib-eye steak. Live music is, as you might expect, a staple.

Located within the Camel's Garden Hotel at Chair 8, Oak serves mouthwatering barbecue and southern fare. Fill up on the likes of gumbo or a Carolina-smoked pulled pork shoulder sandwich, along with creative salads, veggie dishes, and southern sides like fried okra and red beans and rice.

If your idea of homestyle Southern cooking includes entrées like chicken and dumplings, sugar-cured ham and turnip greens, or chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes, you're in the right spot. The grains and grits originate next door at the mill that has been in continuous operation since the 1830s. Think about that while you're chewing a chunk of corn bread, or watching a baseball-size scoop of ice cream melt on top of a made-from-scratch pie while listening to an old-timer pick his guitar on the porch.

No-frills soul food is what you'll find at this friendly eat-in or take-out place, where the price is right, and the food is delicious. Ultrarich macaroni and cheese, succulent chicken and waffles, and teriyaki salmon just beg to be devoured, and collard greens are cooked with vinegar and sugar rather than the traditional salt pork. Save room for the hummingbird cake (pineapple with banana–cream cheese frosting). Smack in the middle of the U Street area, the place is both a neighborhood hangout and destination for those missing the perennial dishes that Mom always made best. And best of all, it's open until 4 am on Friday and Saturday.

Set in a charming 1861 farmhouse just "over yonder" from Mast General, this approachable restaurant serves inspired takes on Appalachian food like tomato cobbler, grilled meatloaf, and pan-fried rainbow trout with sweet potatoes. Sit inside the historic rooms or on the wraparound porch.

The original Hillsboro Village location opened in 1961, but this newer SoBro location brought the Pancake Pantry's signature scratch-made breakfasts—pancakes, omelets, and waffles—closer to the Downtown masses. Don't miss the irresistible homemade maple syrups; if you're not in the mood for breakfast, there are a range of sandwiches and salads, too.

Celebrity television chef Paula Deen brought her country cooking to Nashville with this all-you-can-eat restaurant where meals are served family-style to your table. Choose from two to four classic Southern main dishes, like fried chicken, pork chops, or chicken and dumplings, along with four side dishes that would be at home on any Southern grandma's table, like green beans, broccoli casserole, and baked mac and cheese. The serving staff will keep the food coming until you say "whoa," and everybody gets a dessert—Paula is partial to her Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, but the cobblers and banana pudding are also great options.

This acclaimed corner restaurant takes its name seriously, specializing in sweet dessert pies—apple, pumpkin, and banana cream, to name a few—and the fried chicken thighs to eat before them. Amid vintage decor, diners enjoy Southern-style meals that include catfish, burgers, pulled pork, and, of course, fried chicken (the other parts, too). Sides and breakfast items also abide by the Southern-inspired fare, including biscuits and grits.

This funky, down-home diner with graffiti-covered brick walls serves hearty Southern food throughout the day, starting with fried chicken and biscuits and ham hash in the morning and moving on to catfish and chips and brown sugar–and–maple barbecue pork sandwiches later in the day. Save room for the beignets or cinnamon biscuits for dessert, and snag a jar of pineapple-lemon-rosemary or blueberry-lavender jam on your way out.

Loosen your belt a notch or two before venturing inside this down-home Southern restaurant that's especially beloved for its over-the-top breakfast biscuit fare. Pat yourself on the back, or belly, if you can polish off the Reggie Deluxe (a fluffy homemade biscuit topped with fried chicken, bacon, cheese, an egg, and sage gravy), a masterful mélange of calorie-laden ingredients, or the gut-busting smoked-brisket-club biscuit sandwich, shrimp and grits, and andouille corn dog featuring locally made Otto's sausage. You'll find several additional locations around town.

If SunDrop and fried chicken set your heart aflutter, this Southern grocery store/restaurant combo is not to be missed. The cherrywood smoker out back churns out piles of pork, chicken, and brisket every day, and you can buy their signature barbecue rub and sauce at the register. On your way out, after you’ve polished off a slice of fruit cobbler with homemade ice cream, shop the produce section for local eggs, milk, and greens. There’s live music every night of the week except Sunday.

It may be worth hopping the Amtrak to San Juan Capistrano just for the chance to have breakfast or lunch at one of Orange County's most beloved restaurants, located in a historic board-and-batten home dating back to 1881. This café sits practically on the railroad tracks across from the depot—nab a table on the patio for cinnamon apple beignets, hush puppies with avocado aioli, and spicy crab salad on the à la carte breakfast and lunch menu. On weekends, there is a set two-course menu for $45 per person.