Abel Brown
CITY GUIDES | THE SOUTH
A Food-Obsessed Guide to the Best Restaurants in Augusta, Georgia
By Eric Barton | Feb. 6, 2026
AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.
I stop in Augusta as part of a pilgrimage I make several times a year between Asheville and Miami. There are other places to stop that make more sense on a map, not requiring a bit of a detour and a few surface streets and an extra hour or two. But then, I wouldn’t have Augusta.
This is a city that has enough chef-driven menus, smart bar programs, and quietly ambitious dining rooms to turn a “quick stop” into “let’s stay for the weekend.” And now it has me doing something I did not expect during that first stop years ago: detouring on purpose.
When I’m back now, I keep a running list of my favorites, while also making room for the new spots. So here then is my current list of the best restaurants right now in Augusta, a city that’s always worth the detour.
Abel Brown
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Abel Brown Southern Kitchen & Oyster Bar is chef-owner Todd Schafer’s very personal project, and it wears that identity like a pressed white shirt. The menu opens with a raw bar built around daily rotating cold-water oysters, then keeps going with baked oyster options like oyster rockefeller, for anyone who prefers their brine with butter and heat. The room has the confident hum of a place that has a loyal following, which is exactly why it feels like a good idea.
Best for: Oysters and a dinner that feels like a proper night out
Beck’s
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Beck’s is a “casual fine dining spot” that makes its intentions clear with a dedicated oyster section: raw, baked, and variations like “Hunt’s Style,” baked oysters with jalapeño and a three-cheese blend. The rest of the menu leans into seasonal seafood and wood-fire grilled steaks. It’s relaxed, but the food choices keep it in the grown-up lane.
Best for: Oysters first, steak second
Bodega Ultima
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Bodega Ultima is Cary Goldsmith’s all-day café-wine-bar that opens early and leans hard into coffee, wine, and a long list of daily specials. The idea is that the glass you have there might turn into a bottle to take home, because it carries a retail license alongside on-premise service. The vibe is casual and welcoming, the kind of place that can handle a long lunch that becomes the end of the day.
Best for: A daytime stop that turns into a glass of wine
Cork & Flame
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Cork & Flame is a fine-dining-plus-wine-market setup in Evans, and it requires business-casual clothing, which is a very efficient way to set expectations. The kitchen leans progressive American, and the night is built to unfold slowly, one plate and one pour at a time. It is designed for people who like dinner to turn into an evening.
Best for: A wine-forward night out
Craft & Vine
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Craft & Vine is a Broad Street anchor built around craft cocktails, small plates, and wood-fired pizzas, plus a by-the-glass wine program that is intentionally expansive. The menu is organized for sharing, which makes it easy for a table to keep ordering until the food starts looking like it was planned that way. It is a high-functioning “one more thing” restaurant, and that is a compliment.
Best for: Cocktails and wood-fired pizza
Finch & Fifth
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Finch & Fifth is the kind of place that telegraphs its personality through the cocktail list, which includes drinks like the Cranberry Social (tequila, cream of coconut, agave, lime, cranberry jam) and the Mrs. Applebottom (peanut butter tequila, apple, lemon, tonic). The menu leans Southern-contemporary, with charcuterie and the kind of day-to-night structure that makes it easy to start with happy hour and end up staying for dinner. It is social without being chaotic, which is rarer than it should be.
Best for: Cocktails that feel like their own event
Frog Hollow Tavern
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Frog Hollow Tavern is chef Adrian Baer’s downtown spot, and it balances restaurant seriousness with tavern ease. The kitchen emphasizes seasonal cooking and local sourcing, which keeps the menu moving instead of calcifying into a greatest-hits album. It works for celebrations, but it also works for a weeknight when the goal is simply to eat well in a room that knows what it is doing.
Best for: A downtown dinner with chef-driven ambition
Manuel’s Bread Café
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Manuel’s Bread Café in North Augusta is a neighborhood spot with French-bistro instincts and a menu that takes local sourcing seriously. I’m partial to the brunch lineup, which includes crème brûlée French toast and shrimp and grits with sausage and garlic butter. It’s a place that immediately feels warm and familiar, which is why it works as a repeat stop.
Best for: French bistro dishes with a neighborhood vibe
Pho Augusta
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Pho Augusta does not pretend anyone is here for a “light bite,” and that honesty is part of the appeal. The menu is built around Vietnamese comfort food, with pho as the anchor and enough supporting choices to justify coming back when the craving shifts. It is inexpensive, filling, and exactly the kind of place a road-trip schedule appreciates.
Best for: A legit bowl of pho to battle a cold Georgia winter day
Salt + Marrow Kitchen + Bar
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Salt + Marrow is built around wood-fire cooking, and it is not shy about using that grill for more than the usual rotation of steaks. The menu can include kangaroo or ostrich when available, which gives the place a slightly adventurous streak without turning it into a gimmick. It feels like a “let’s go somewhere” dinner even though it is close enough to count as practical.
Best for: Wood-fire cooking and a little culinary risk
Trattoria Polipo
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Trattoria Polipo is Kevin Goldsmith’s Italian swing, with chef Nate Lindsay running a menu that veers from the standard. I start with the octopus escargot, tender chunks in butter, garlic, herbs, breadcrumbs, and a hit of sambuca, then move to the bucatini frutti di mare that arrives with a deep-fried soft-shell crab. The vibe lands grand and bustling, with crisp white table coverings, indoor-outdoor dining, and the kind of setup that quietly announces this can be a date night or a family night without changing its personality.
Best for: A meal that can feel both celebratory or just a Tuesday night
Whiskey Bar Kitchen
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Whiskey Bar Kitchen is built around two anchors—Japanese cuisine and craft burgers—and it backs them up with over two hundred whiskeys. That combination makes it easy for the night to go in more than one direction, from ramen-and-whiskey energy to burger-and-bourbon comfort, without the place feeling confused about what it is. It is a downtown spot where the bar is not a side feature, it is part of the identity.
Best for: A Deep whiskey list with burgers and ramen
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