
Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Waco by diners
Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Waco 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 Waco 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 Waco 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.
#7. Cotton Patch Cafe
- Rating: 2.8/5 (112 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 5501 Bosque Blvd. Waco, Texas
- Categories: American, Southern, Comfort Food
- Read more on Yelp
#6. Bush's Chicken
- Rating: 3.5/5 (30 reviews)
- Price level: $
- Address: 1301 Hewitt Drive Woodway, Texas
- Categories: Fast food, Southern, Chicken Wings
- Read more on Yelp
#5. Jake's Texas Tea House
- Rating: 3.9/5 (318 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 613 Austin Ave. Waco, Texas
- Categories: American, Southern, Sandwiches
- Read more on Yelp
#4. Milo
- Rating: 3.9/5 (680 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1020 Franklin Ave. Waco, Texas
- Categories: Breakfast & Brunch, Bars, Southern
- Read more on Yelp
#3. Brown House Cafe
- Rating: 4.0/5 (223 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 9110 Jordan Lane Woodway, Texas
- Categories: American, Burgers, Southern
- Read more on Yelp
#2. Sascees Southern Style Eatery
- Rating: 4.5/5 (267 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 719 South 11th St. Waco, Texas
- Categories: Southern, New American, Comfort Food
- Read more on Yelp
#1. Cajun Craft
- Rating: 4.6/5 (713 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 601 South 11th St. Waco, Texas
- Categories: Cajun/Creole, Southern, Seafood
- Read more on Yelp