Highest-rated Southern restaurants in Boston 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 茅touff茅e, 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鈥攐kra, sorghum (an ancient grain), and black-eyed peas鈥攂ecame a part of the cuisine through the forced labor of enslaved people; French cooking methods, like braising and saut茅ing, 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, compiled a list of the highest-rated Southern restaurants in the Boston area using data from 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 Boston 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.
#15. Nash Bar And Stage
- Rating: 3.1/5 (121 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 253 Tremont St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, New American, Venues & Event Spaces
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#14. Savvor Restaurant & Lounge
- Rating: 3.2/5 (105 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 180 Lincoln St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Lounges, Southern, Soul Food
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#13. Down Home Delivery & Catering
- Rating: 3.3/5 (180 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 2 Bowdoin St. Dorchester, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Soul Food
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#12. Tasty BBQ
- Rating: 3.3/5 (39 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 417 Washington St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Barbecue
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#11. The MIX
- Rating: 3.5/5 (36 reviews)
- Address: 555 Talbot Ave. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Breakfast & Brunch, Southern, Seafood
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#10. Loretta's Last Call
- Rating: 3.5/5 (391 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1 Lansdowne St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Music Venues, Beer Bar
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#9. Sweet Cheeks Q
- Rating: 3.6/5 (1802 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 1381 Boylston St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Bars, Barbecue
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#8. Park 54 Restaurant & Lounge
- Rating: 3.6/5 (182 reviews)
- Address: 81 Fairmount Ave. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Lounges, Southern, New American
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#7. Grace By Nia
- Rating: 3.6/5 (219 reviews)
- Address: 60 Seaport Blvd. Floor 3 Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Jazz & Blues, Southern, Cocktail Bars
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#6. Bacco
- Rating: 3.8/5 (438 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 107 Salem St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Italian, Wine Bars, Southern
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#5. Hunter's Kitchen & Bar
- Rating: 3.8/5 (124 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 110 Dorchester St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Bars, Southern, Comfort Food
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#4. Southern Kin Cookhouse
- Rating: 3.9/5 (1417 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 500 Assembly Row Somerville, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Cocktail Bars
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#3. The Smoke Shop BBQ - Seaport
- Rating: 3.9/5 (480 reviews)
- Price level: $$
- Address: 343 Congress St. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Barbecue, Whiskey Bars
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#2. Buttermilk & Bourbon
- Rating: 4.0/5 (1208 reviews)
- Price level: $$$
- Address: 160 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, Massachusetts
- Categories: Southern, Bars, Tapas Bars
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#1. The Smoke Shop- Harvard Square
- Rating: 4.1/5 (88 reviews)
- Address: 8 Holyoke St. Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Categories: Barbecue, Southern
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