Highest-rated Southern restaurants in San Francisco by diners
Highest-rated Southern restaurants in San Francisco 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 San Francisco 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 San Francisco 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.
#14. Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers
- Rating: 3.0/5 (155 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 123 Colma Blvd. Colma, California
- Categories: Southern, Chicken Wings, fast food
- Read more on Yelp
#13. Bubba Gump Shrimp
- Rating: 3.0/5 (2470 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: Pier 39 San Francisco, California
- Categories: Seafood, Southern
- Read more on Yelp
#12. Tupelo
- Rating: 3.4/5 (320 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1337 Grant Ave. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Southern, Bars, Music Venues
- Read more on Yelp
#11. Queen's Louisiana Po-Boy Cafe
- Rating: 3.7/5 (755 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 33 The Embarcadero Ste 100 San Francisco, California
- Categories: Cajun/Creole, Southern, Seafood
- Read more on Yelp
#10. Biscuits & Blues
- Rating: 3.8/5 (538 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 401 Mason St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Jazz & Blues, Southern, Lounges
- Read more on Yelp
#9. Hard Knox Cafe
- Rating: 3.8/5 (2008 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 2448 Clement St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Soul Food, Breakfast & Brunch, Southern
- Read more on Yelp
#8. The Front Porch
- Rating: 3.9/5 (3314 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 65 29th St. Ste A San Francisco, California
- Categories: Southern, Cajun/Creole, American
- Read more on Yelp
#7. Brenda's Meat & Three
- Rating: 4.2/5 (1627 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 919 Divisadero St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Breakfast & Brunch, Southern, Cajun/Creole
- Read more on Yelp
#6. Brenda's French Soul Food
- Rating: 4.2/5 (12592 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 652 Polk St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Breakfast & Brunch, Southern, Cajun/Creole
- Read more on Yelp
#5. Prelude
- Rating: 4.3/5 (46 reviews)
- Address: 333 Battery St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Southern
- Read more on Yelp
#4. Keith's Chicken N Waffles
- Rating: 4.4/5 (1000 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 270 San Pedro Road Daly City, California
- Categories: Southern, Soul Food, Waffles
- Read more on Yelp
#3. PoBoys Kitchen
- Rating: 4.5/5 (301 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 317 Connecticut St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Southern, American, Cajun/Creole
- Read more on Yelp
#2. Minnie Bell's Soul Movement
- Rating: 4.6/5 (115 reviews)
- Address: 1375 Fillmore St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: Soul Food, Chicken Wings, Southern
- Read more on Yelp
#1. Da Boot To Da Bay
- Rating: 4.6/5 (26 reviews)
- Address: 1379 4th St. San Francisco, California
- Categories: American, Asian Fusion, Southern
- Read more on Yelp
