People living in the southern suburbs of Atlanta have long coveted this gem of a restaurant in Peachtree City, often raving as much about the lovely hospitality received during meals here as they do about the food. Owned by Hadi Rabai and Fatima Hojaij, the Beirut has served classic Lebanese dishes with fine dining touches for nearly a decade in Peachtree City. Try the foul mudammas (fava and garbanzo bean salad), Kefraya (Lebanese wine)-marinated steak tips, or lamb and beef shish kaftas. Order a grand feast for dinner that includes three mezzes, three kebabs, and dessert or coffee.

The Gullah and Lowcountry dishes at Virgil’s, owned by Gee and Juan Smalls, are not to be missed. Order the she-crab soup or Gullah egg rolls stuffed with red rice, cabbage, and shrimp; the crab rice mixed with sauteed bacon, onions, and peppers; a side of greens; and the brownie-based Chucktown Chewie sundae for dessert. A second location is now open along the Marietta Street Artery near Georgia Tech.

Summerhill Thai restaurant Talat Market opened in spring 2020 inside an old neighborhood market on Ormond Street. Each week, chefs Parnass Lim Savang and Rod Lassiter create around a dozen or so Thai and Thai-influenced dishes for the menu, featuring soups, salads, relishes, curries, stir-fries, and desserts, along with a couple of larger entrees, like yum khao thawt (crispy rice salad) and whole fish preparations. Head here for happy hour specials, fresh oysters, off-menu dishes, and crushable cocktails, including a Thai twist on the pina colada. Talat Market is Michelin-recommended and a James Beard finalist for 2024 Best Chef: Southeast.

Located in West End, Tassili’s is a haven for people seeking raw and vegan food dishes that not only taste good, but are filling and satisfying. Owned by Tassili Ma’at, the restaurant offers various wraps and salads, including a wrap boasting Southwestern flavors made from chiles stuffed with black-eyed pea puree, couscous, tomatoes, and avocado. The Tassili original kale salad comes with red onions, sun-dried tomatoes, and spices, paired with freshly pressed carrot juice.

Forged from a pop-up launched by owners Sophia Marchese and Reid Trapani just before the pandemic, La Semilla is a triumph of vegan dishes with Latin flavors, like the jackfruit Cubano, croquetas de jamon stuffed with vegan ham, and al pastor tacos made with mushrooms. Start off with sikil pak (spicy pumpkin seed and tomato dip) served with fresh tortilla chips. A zero food waste policy means unused ingredients are incorporated back into sauces and salsas for dishes at La Semilla or made into tinctures or syrups for riffs on classic cocktails. The couple doesn’t see La Semilla as a vegan restaurant, they see it as a restaurant that happens to serve vegan food that unless you were told, you might not suspect otherwise.

Kara Hidinger and chef Ryan Smith took ownership of the restaurant in 2020 and created the national nonprofit Giving Kitchen, which aides restaurant workers with financial and resource support in a crisis. The restaurant functions as a tasting menu restaurant to a neighborhood market with food served daily from the back counter near the kitchen. The food remains as seasonal, creative, and thoughtfully composed as ever. For lunch, don’t skip the Grinder — a meaty and mighty sandwich with milk bread, pepperoni, mortadella, and olive tapenade, easily shared between two people. Dinner is a prix fixe five-course seasonal menu about $200 a person on Fridays and Saturdays. Reservations for dinner are required. Check out Staplehouse’s melon salad, which made our Best Things Eater Atlanta Ate roundup.

In business since the 1940s, this Michelin-recommended Vine City soul food institution on Atlanta’s Westside serves some of the city’s best fried chicken, alongside an assortment of other Southern meat-and-three staples. The fried chicken at this James Beard America’s Classics award winner is marinated for 12 hours, hand-breaded, and fried. If that isn’t enticing enough, get the smothered version, which is topped with pan gravy.

Open since 2013, Michelin-recommended Italian American restaurant Bocca Lupo has become both a neighborhood favorite in Inman Park and one of Atlanta’s must-go destination restaurants. Order any of the fresh pasta dishes on the menu — the black spaghetti and the 20-yolk tagliatelle are classics. Make sure to check out the well-curated wine list and cocktails here, too. Reservations are encouraged and outdoor seating is available.

Housed in the former Decatur train depot, the menu at Kimball House is an ode to elegant dining and drinking all experienced in a dimly lit, laid-back dining room. Kick off the night with Southern and Gulf water oysters paired with cocktails or Champagne at happy hour. The Caviar and Middlins is a must order, with Carolina gold rice grits topped with egg yolk and polanco Siberian reserve caviar. Continue the evening by sharing local vegetable and fish dishes or a three-course steak dinner for two. Beyond its award-winning cocktails, the Decatur restaurant features a wine list that is equally impressive, including muscadet, chenin blanc, and big, bold reds as well as sherry, Madeira, and vermouth. Reservations are highly encouraged and outdoor seating available.

Chef Arnaldo Castillo opened his first restaurant in Poncey-Highland with Atlanta restaurateur Howard Hsu of neighboring Sweet Auburn BBQ back in 2022. Tio Lucho’s (“Uncle Luis”) is an ode to Castillo’s father, who was known for his ceviches when he worked at Peruvian restaurants around Atlanta years ago. At Tio Lucho’s, Castillo mixes traditional Peruvian recipes with Southern and local ingredients, resulting in dishes like papas fritas tossed in furikake seasoning, red snapper ceviche with cornmeal fried calamari, and a vegetarian ceviche using local mushrooms layered with grape tomatoes, red peas, and sweet potatoes. Make sure to try the lomo saltado, too, or any of the whole fish specials at Tio Lucho’s. Pair your meal with a pisco sour or tamarindo caipirinha.

A great soundtrack and a menu filled with “authentically Atlanta” dishes set the mood at chef Joey Ward’s Poncey-Highland restaurant, Southern Belle, which is refined without being pretentious. This is how Atlantans like to dine, and Ward leans into it. Expect creative dishes such as the cornmeal fried Carolina trout with lemon grits and marinated tomatoes. Adding a bit of theater to dinner, some cocktails are prepared table side from a Delta beverage cart, complete with smoky magic and garnished with a Biscoff cookie. For a truly spectacular dining experience from Ward and his team, make a reservation at Georgia Boy — the intimate tasting menu restaurant hidden behind a bookcase in the back of Southern Belle. The hot dog ice cream from the tasting menu made our Best Things Eater Atlanta Ate roundup. Reservations encouraged.

This Michelin-recommended Indian restaurant in Decatur is owned by chef Meherwan Irani, led by chef de cuisine and James Beard Best Chef: Southeast finalist, Sahar Siddiqi. Expect creative riffs on Indian street food, including corn or the seasonal peach bhel chaat, pani puri, and okra fries. The paneer or chicken kathi rolls are flavorful hearty meals on their own, but do end with gulab jamun and chai. The restaurant launched a lunch buffet in 2022 that features their most popular dishes, including kale pakoras, saag paneer, bhel puri, and butter chicken. There’s also plenty of naan, as well as an assortment of chutneys and hot chai. Sit inside with Indian nostalgia murals and photography on the walls, or head outdoors to their renovated patio, which feels like you’ve entered a Bollywood wedding with its garlands of flowers and lamps. Along with its location in Asheville, Chai Pani is expanding to Washington D.C.

Owned by chefs Ron Hsu and Aaron Phillips, Michelin-starred Lazy Betty offers fine dining at their new location in the heart of Midtown at 999 Peachtree (the former Empire State South space.) The tasting menu is ever-evolving with six to eight courses for $225 a person with optional wine or nonalcoholic pairings, and a vegetarian menu. There’s also champagne and caviar service, which comes with steamed milk buns and scallion pancakes, and an a la carte food menu at the bar lounge (walk-in only). The foie gras donut with raspberry coulis, which made our Best Things Eater Atlanta Ate in June video, for an umami, unexpected treat. Reservations are required for the dining room, though walk-ins are welcome to enjoy the tasting menu at bar seats.

No matter the day of the week, locals love to meet up for steak and martinis at the Tap. Lovingly referred to as “steak basement” or “steak cellar”, as the Virginia-Highland restaurant institution is located below street level, Highland Tap serves heaping platters of old-school cuts of steak and starchy sides. Look around the dining room and you’ll likely see multiple tables filled with people sipping the generously poured martinis served here, which come with a sidecar to refresh the drink. There’s no need to dress up at Highland Tap. Just come as you are and enjoy the low-key atmosphere, comfort food, and amazing people-watching. Check out brunch on the weekends, too.

Built around an intimate and highly personalized dining experience between diners and the sushi chef, Michelin-starred and 2022 Eater award winner Mujo is a splurge-worthy destination for omakase. Reservations go fast when released each month, but for those who secure a seat at the sushi bar, patience (and the hefty price tag) pay off thanks to the attention to detail and personalized touches they experience throughout the meal. Led by chef J. Trent Harris, who trained under master sushi chefs at Michelin-star establishments Sushi Ginza Onodera and Shuko in New York and Tokyo, this 15-seat omakase restaurant is a master class of its own in hospitality and the nuanced art of Edomae-style sushi. A meal here begins with cocktails at the small bar reserved for guests of the restaurant. Then, during dinner, Harris and his team wow exquisite courses of nigiri, beautiful dishes like hakurei turnip tartlets, and nods to other Japanese culinary traditions, including tamagoyaki (Japanese shrimp and egg cake similar to an omelet) and konacha green tea served with dessert.

Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours in Westside is where the South’s most loved dishes meet the minds of chef Deborah VanTrece and chef de cuisine Robert Butts. VanTrece brings her extensive travel knowledge along with three decades of professional cooking to drive the menu and the service here, while Butts pushes the boundaries further with his dishes; together the pair strikes a balance between casual and fine dining with ease. Expect dishes like mole sous vide short ribs, a smoked salmon croquette sandwich, cornmeal-crusted catfish goujonnette, and crispy confit duck with chevre scallion Johnny cakes.

This cafe from chef Julia Kesler Imerman features coffee, protein breakfast bowls, and shakshuka in the morning, followed by rotisserie chicken pitas and salad and grain bowls in the afternoon, all leaning into Imerman’s Jewish and South African roots. For lunch, order the grain bowl, made with hummus, quinoa, greens, broccoli, asparagus, house pickles, shut, and lentil salad. Or try the generously stuffed rotisserie chicken pita with labneh, greens, lemon-herb artichokes, feta, pickled onions, and tahini. Make sure to order the za’atar fries and one of the cafe’s fresh-pressed juices.

Owners Ash Nega and Titi Demissie, who were both born and raised in Ethiopia, first opened Desta in 2006 along Briarcliff Road. Since its opening, Nega and Demissie have turned Desta into one of Atlanta’s premier Ethiopian restaurants, landing it on several “best of” lists over the years. With two locations open in Atlanta, this restaurant institution focuses on traditional Ethiopian dishes like goden tibs (short rib), dinech wot (potato stew), beef or salmon kifto wraps, fish dulet, vegetarian specialities like shiro fir fir (stewed chickpeas), and sambusas stuffed with beef or lentils. Want to try it all? Order the meat platter, which comes with three meat and three vegetable options and is big enough to share with at least three people. There’s also a full vegan menu and a variety of drinks to choose from, including Ethiopian tea and beer. 

Owners Katie Barringer and Jordan Smelt merge their love for books, wine, food, and London at bookshop and wine bar Lucian. Located at Modera Buckhead, Lucian specializes in titles centered on art, design, food, and culture and carries nearly 400 wines by the bottle and 15 wines by the glass. Food here is approached with the same thoughtfulness and care that Barringer has with books and Smelt with wine. Nothing is an afterthought, right down to the sauces composed for each dish. Standouts on the menu are the raw hamachi with seasonal fruits, the gnudi, and duck. Be sure to order a glass of Champagne with crisp polenta and a bowl of crispy fries, too, which comes with a chef’s choice aioli, like horseradish or chile-spiced. Reservations for lunch and dinner are highly encouraged.

Chamblee’s international spectrum shines ever-brighter with Oaxaca. Helmed by the owners of El Valle in Midtown, and the newest addition of Casa Balam in Decatur, Oaxaca brings the southwestern Mexican state’s ingredients and techniques (think smoke, moles, and fresh masas from ground corn for all tortillas and adjacent breads) to Metro Atlanta’s forefront. Standouts include the tetela de pato (duck confit and Oaxaca cheese), seasonal vegetable tlayuda (a group-friendly flatbread in the vein of a Mexican-style pizza), the flor de calabaza (squash blossom, Oaxaca cheese, sauteed mushroom, and roasted onion quesadilla), and the whole wood-fired branzino with black garlic. The restaurant also carries one of the largest selections of Mexican wines. Snag a reservation here.

Owned by Mia Orino and Carlo Gan, Michelin-recommended Kamayan ATL brings Buford Highway a restaurant offering the vast range of dishes and cuisine styles found throughout the islands of the Philippines. This includes traditional dishes like bistek silog, lechon sisig, and hearty bowls of kaldereta (tomato-based broth beef stew with peppers, potatoes, and olives garnished with jalapenos, chilis, and fresh herbs), as well as elaborate kamayan feasts meant for sharing that cover the whole table. The restaurant tends to be busy any day it’s open, but especially on the weekends when families and friends gather together for one of its famed kamayan spreads. A new location is expected next year.

This Cobb County barbecue spot has limited seating, but chefs Cody Taylor and Jiyeon Lee bring more than enough flavor to compensate for the cramped quarters or a ride home with a to-go box. Taylor and Lee’s Southern-meets-Korean barbecue restaurant offers a must-try spicy Korean pork sandwich on its menu with chopped rib meat marinated in fermented chile paste, topped with kimchi coleslaw, black sesame seeds, and a sliced scallion. Order the sandwich with a side of Brunswick stew or collards.

Michelin-recommended and ever-popular Snackboxe Bistro has moved from its Doraville location in the H Mart complex to Duluth. Since opening in 2018, the Lao restaurant has gained an avid following — and for good reason. Chef Thip Athakhanh mixes traditional Lao dishes and street foods with beloved home recipes passed down from her family. Expect plates of larb (meat salad), khao poon (spicy rice noodle soup), and the popular mok pha (steamed fish) with street foods such as fried garlic-pepper wings, lemongrass spare ribs, and tapioca pearl dumplings here.

The critically acclaimed restaurant, owned by chef Brian So and partner Daniel Crawford, features a tight, seasonally inspired menu of dishes paired with a curated list of natural and biodynamic wines. Start with foie gras terrine and sockeye salmon crudo before moving on to entrees like grilled wagyu flatiron steak and braised short rib or a whole fish course. Never skip the desserts at Spring, which change often and incorporate herbs, fruits, and other ingredients of the season. The small dining room lends itself nicely to both intimate dinners as well as larger groups catching up over bottles of wine and a meal. Reservations are highly encouraged.

Atlanta has a serious love affair with Korean barbecue. What makes 9292 Korean BBQ especially good is that it uses traditional charcoal table grills rather than electric ones. The unmistakeable smokey flavor the grill produces in the meats here, along with the quality of the meats used, makes all the difference. Order the Special #2 with seasoned pork, pork belly, beef short ribs, rib eye, beef bulgogi, and brisket. It comes with banchan, including kimchi fried rice. Be sure to order some sparkling rice wine like the Kooksoondang to share. Open late night.

The small operation from Suwanee has expanded to a second location in Midtown. It’s all in the name, because this restaurant packs a flavorful punch. Founded as a food truck in 2018 by chef Christopher Fletcher and Angelica Finley (both formerly Ritz-Carlton Atlanta), regulars and newcomers to Flavor Rich have been flocking to the restaurant since it opened in 2020. Expect everything from fried chicken sandwiches, burgers, and wings to fried shrimp, blackened salmon sandwiches, and a must-order Cajun shrimp po’boy. If it’s on the menu, order the poached lobster roll topped with lemon aioli on a soft hoagie roll. Try the bananas foster French toast or crab cake benny with sauteed spinach, poached eggs, and Cajun lump crab sauce on an English muffin during breakfast.

Owned by chef Soraya Khoury, those seeking a delicious variety of dishes during breakfast and brunch should head straight to Hen Mother Cookhouse in Johns Creek to indulge in dishes such as brisket hash loaded with seasonal vegetables, tomato gravy and grits bowls, or savory lobster quiche. There’s typically a daily omelet special on the menu, too, along with brioche French toast and fresh pastries. Make sure to order a cinnamon roll.

Kimchi Red is a standout among all the awesome Korean fried chicken restaurants in the city — They secured the title of 2023’s “Best Fried Chicken in the Nation” by the folks at Yelp. Owner Joy Lee and the team make all their toppings and sauces in-house and fry up perfectly juicy and crisp chicken that packs quite a punch on texture and flavor. The chicken is cooked fresh to order, so be sure to budget extra time or call ahead. The fried chicken made our Best Things Eater Ate roundup.