Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Philadelphia by diners

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

Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia 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.

#9. McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks

- Rating: 2.7/5 (505 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1 South Broad St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Seafood, Steakhouses, Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#8. D'S Caribbean And American Food

- Rating: 3.0/5 (22 reviews)
- Address: 3009 North 22nd St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Southern, Cajun/Creole, Caribbean
- Read more on Yelp

#7. Amina

- Rating: 4.1/5 (224 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 104 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#6. Interstate Drafthouse

- Rating: 4.1/5 (279 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1235 East Palmer St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Southern, Dive Bars, American
- Read more on Yelp

#5. South

- Rating: 4.2/5 (775 reviews)
- Price level: $$$
- Address: 600 North Broad St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Southern, Jazz & Blues, Bars
- Read more on Yelp

#4. New Amazing Crab House

- Rating: 4.2/5 (86 reviews)
- Address: 604 South 2nd St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Seafood, Sports Bars, Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#3. Honey's Sit-N-Eat

- Rating: 4.2/5 (1524 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 800 North 4th St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Southern, American
- Read more on Yelp

#2. JiangNan -- Philadelphia

- Rating: 4.2/5 (68 reviews)
- Address: 927 Arch St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Chinese, Southern
- Read more on Yelp

#1. Rex at the Royal

- Rating: 4.3/5 (620 reviews)
- Price level: $$$
- Address: 1524 South St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Categories: Southern, New American, Seafood
- Read more on Yelp

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