Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Auburn by diners

Written by:
May 13, 2025
Mohamed-Kareem Mohamed // Shutterstock

Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Auburn by diners

When you travel below the Mason-Dixon Line, you'll find some of the most mouthwatering, comforting cuisine in the U.S.: Southern food.

Southern dishes are a vital part of American cuisine, from hushpuppies to ham hocks and beignets to barbecue. It's impossible to define a classic Southern meal, but a solid one starts with the sharp savory flavor of pimento cheese dip, followed by the delicious crunchiness of fried chicken or a spicy Louisiana étouffée, culminating with a sugary slice of chess pie that's best washed down with a tall glass of sweet tea.

What's unique about Southern fare is that multiple ethnic and cultural groups have influenced it. Spanish staples, such as potatoes and cocoa, are in many Southern dishes; the Acadians, who traveled to Louisiana from Nova Scotia and later became Louisiana Creoles, contributed their seafood to many Southern meals; African ingredients—okra, sorghum (an ancient grain), and black-eyed peas—became a part of the cuisine through the forced labor of enslaved people; French cooking methods, like braising and sautéing, are used for many Southern recipes; and Native Americans introduced corn to Southern recipes, yielding dishes like succotash and grits.

The Southern culinary scene is an explosion of cultures. To find out where you can sample some Southern offerings, Stacker compiled a list of the highest-rated Southern restaurants in the Auburn area using data from Yelp as of May 2, 2025. Businesses were selected using Yelp's ranking system, which calculates an adjusted rating value that takes into account the number of ratings as well as the rating score itself. Only restaurants with at least 20 reviews tagged as "southern" on Yelp within a 10-kilometer radius of Auburn were included. As a result, some restaurants featured may serve other food items.

Read on to find the perfect spot to get a taste of the South near you.

#11. Full Moon BBQ

- Rating: 2.9/5 (96 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 2494 Enterprise Drive Opelika, Alabama
- Categories: Barbecue, Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#10. Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q

- Rating: 3.1/5 (182 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1920 South College St. Auburn, Alabama
- Categories: Barbecue, Southern, Sandwiches
- Read more on Yelp

#9. Veggie's To Go

- Rating: 3.2/5 (26 reviews)
- Price level: $
- Address: 1630 South College St. Auburn, Alabama
- Categories: Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#8. Vintage 2298

- Rating: 3.6/5 (66 reviews)
- Address: 2298 East University Drive Auburn, Alabama
- Categories: Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#7. Bow & Arrow

- Rating: 3.9/5 (250 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1977 East Samford Ave. Auburn, Alabama
- Categories: Southern, Barbecue
- Read more on Yelp

#6. The Flying Biscuit Cafe

- Rating: 4.0/5 (75 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 2524 Enterprise Drive Opelika, Alabama
- Categories: New American, Breakfast & Brunch, Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#5. Café 123

- Rating: 4.3/5 (86 reviews)
- Price level: $$$
- Address: 123 South 8th St. Opelika, Alabama
- Categories: New American, Southern, Seafood
- Read more on Yelp

#4. Acre

- Rating: 4.3/5 (523 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 210 East Glenn Ave. Auburn, Alabama
- Categories: Bars, Southern, New American
- Read more on Yelp

#3. Pannie-George's Kitchen

- Rating: 4.5/5 (170 reviews)
- Price level: $
- Address: 2328 South College St. Ste 6 Auburn, Alabama
- Categories: Southern, Soul Food
- Read more on Yelp

#2. The Waverly Local

- Rating: 4.6/5 (85 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1465 Patrick St. Waverly, Alabama
- Categories: Southern, American, Cocktail Bars
- Read more on Yelp

#1. Botanic

- Rating: 4.7/5 (135 reviews)
- Address: 1702 Frederick Road Opelika, Alabama
- Categories: Southern, American, Beer Gardens
- Read more on Yelp

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