Tropical Smokehouse

CITY GUIDES | PALM BEACH

The Best Restaurants in West Palm Beach, From Florida BBQ to a Parisian Brasserie

A bacon-wrapped era this isn't: West Palm's tables now run from Florida barbecue and El Cid tacos to a full Parisian brasserie in the Nora District.

By Eric Barton
Updated Oct. 22, 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.

Back when I lived in Flamingo Park—West Palm's most walkable old neighborhood not named El Cid—I could count the city's good restaurants on one hand, with fingers to spare. I'd walk to dinner, usually to City Cellar or Bradley's, then maybe to O'Shea's if things got late and weird.

In the years since shows me a restaurant scene that keeps improving. There are serious chefs opening seriously good restaurants now, not copy-paste concepts trying to survive on brunch. There's a Parisian brasserie anchoring a new hotel district north of downtown, a barbecue joint on Dixie Highway smoking mahi and gator sausage, and kitchens pulling off dishes that would've felt out of place here a decade ago.

These are the tables I keep going back to, the ones that make the case that the best restaurants in West Palm Beach belong in any Florida food conversation.

Adrienne’s Pizza Bar

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Adrienne's brings a New York pizza shop's instincts to CityPlace: the Original Square, a thin-crust Sicilian pan pie, plus Neapolitan and classic New York rounds, with specialty pies in both shapes. The smoked ham pie is where the speck and ricotta meet. There are meatballs and a proper lasagna for anyone who insists on a fork, but the pizza is the point here.

Best for: New York-style pizza in the middle of CityPlace

The Blue Door

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The Blue Door doesn't fuss with garnish or plating theatrics—just straight-up Mediterranean flavors done right. Chef and co-owner Nano Crespo mixes a bespoke salt blend for each protein, and it shows in a tomato salad that's simply dressed, local tuna carpaccio, a whole branzino, and lamb chops worth braving the heat for. Most tables are outside, so the patio's the move in winter—but even in August, this place earns its sweat equity.

Best for: A patio dinner of lamb chops and branzino on the Dixie corridor

Cholo Soy Cocina

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Chef Clayton Carnes runs this Antique Row counter like a scratch kitchen that happens to serve tacos—practically everything made in-house, right down to the margaritas, which come on draft. The brisket nachos are fully loaded, the pork belly taco gets pickled green papaya, and the pescadito frito—lager-battered local fish—is still the order. Fair warning: the vibe draws crowds fast on weekends, but the service is quick, and the payoff is worth it.

Best for: Tacos and a margarita at a counter in El Cid

Elisabetta's West Palm Beach Best Restaurants

Elisabetta's Ristorante

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Elisabetta's is proof that chef Lisabet Summa knows exactly what she's doing. The pasta's made in-house—cacio e pepe, radiatori in vodka sauce—the pizzas come blistered from the oven, and the burrata arrives like it owns the place. It's near the water, but the real view is whatever's coming out of the kitchen next.

Best for: House-made pasta and a long Italian dinner by the water

Estiatorio Milos

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You walk into Milos expecting a design statement—and you get one: two floors of soft marble, olive trees, and Greek restraint dressed as luxury. But it's chef Costas Spiliadis' seafood display, iced and glistening like a fine jewelry case, that steals your attention. The fish arrives daily from the Mediterranean, whole fish like lavraki and tsipoura are priced by the pound and grilled simply, the Milos Special stacks zucchini and eggplant with cheese, and the Athenian-style lobster pasta—Nova Scotia lobster, whatever the name suggests—is unapologetically rich. West Palm has its grown-up, fine-dining showpiece.

Best for: Whole grilled fish and a special-occasion splurge

Felice

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Felice feels like it was airlifted in from Florence, down to the handmade pasta and polished wood accents. Chef Tate Lumb keeps things rustic but focused—cacio e pepe done right, and an espresso martini tiramisu that lands soft but hits hard. It's tucked into CityPlace, but inside, it's all Tuscany.

Best for: Cacio e pepe and tiramisu in the middle of CityPlace

Grato

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Grato is Buccan's louder, rowdier sibling, a place that took some time to catch its footing but is now humming with just as much culinary might as anywhere else in town. Chef Clay Conley's house-made pastas—tagliatelle “carbonara,” paccheri with Maine lobster—and his wood-fired pizzas compete for your attention. It's a scene, sure, but a fun one—just expect to fight for a bar seat and shout over the din while nursing a frozen Moscow mule.

Best for: A loud, pasta-and-pizza night on the south end

Howley’s

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Howley's has been slinging eggs and sass on South Dixie Highway since 1950, with just enough of a retro facelift to make you forget people once smoked in here over pancakes. The motto still holds—cooked in sight, must be right. The fried chicken comes with a side of homemade applesauce, the toast is reliably white or wheat, and on Fridays and Saturdays the kitchen stays open until midnight. It's where you go late for cake, caffeine, and the illusion that your life might secretly be a noir film.

Best for: A late dinner and a slice of cake at the counter

Isla & Co.

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In the Warehouse District, Isla & Co. adds an Aussie accent: specialty coffee and a serious brunch by day, a cocktail-driven dinner by night. The Fisherman's Basket—tempura fish, fried prawns, and crispy squid—comes with the yuzu kosho tartar, kangaroo skewers are there if you're curious, and the espresso martini is the signature pour. It's casual, sunlit, and just polished enough to feel like you've discovered something.

Best for: Brunch and an espresso martini next to Grandview Market

Pastis

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Pastis landed on the ground floor of The Nora Hotel as a full Parisian brasserie with 13,300 square feet of red banquettes, white subway tile, and a curved zinc bar. Just like the New York original and the Miami outpost, a raw bar and a menu of the classics done straight: escargots, onion soup gratinée, moules frites, duck confit, and a steak frites section of its own. Pastis gives the billion-dollar Nora District development an anchor from day one.

Best for: A Parisian brasserie dinner in the Nora District

Pink Steak

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Pink Steak is what happens when chef Julien Gremaud decides a steakhouse should also be a fever dream of pink flamingos. Gremaud owns the place as well as cooks in it, and he delivers on the Miami-style flash with serious food—tuna cones with caviar, and a prime hanger steak under the house coffee rub. It's loud, luxe, and unapologetically extra, but underneath all the velvet and torches is a kitchen that knows exactly what it's doing.

Best for: A steakhouse night that doubles as a scene

Proper Grit

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Proper Grit in The Ben hotel leans into Southern comfort without getting hokey about it, in a room the hotel calls a whiskey library and supper club—velvet barstools, leather banquettes, and a deep bourbon list. Chef Daniel Pundik's kitchen turns out polished American cooking from breakfast through dinner, with a weekend afternoon tea that has become a local ritual. It's part hunting lodge, part hotel lobby, and exactly where you want to end up when you're hungry in West Palm.

Best for: Bourbon and polished American cooking at The Ben

RH Rooftop

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RH Rooftop feels like dining inside a design magazine—marble tables, olive trees, and skyline views from the top of Restoration Hardware's palatial flagship. The menu keeps things tight and polished: a proper burger, a lobster roll, and a roasted half chicken that makes a strong case for simplicity. It's one of the few spots where the setting competes with the food—and neither loses.

Best for: A rooftop lunch where the view is half the order

Table 26

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Table 26 serves the kind of dressed-up comfort food that lets you pretend you're behaving while chasing lobster mac and cheese with a negroni. Chef Levi Baker swings between sweet corn shrimp and grits, a lamb curry, and buttermilk fried chicken so juicy it should come with a poncho. It's global in scope, polished in presentation, and playful enough that dessert might arrive looking like it was plated by your inner child with a trust fund.

Best for: Dressed-up comfort food downtown

Tropical Smokehouse

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Chef Rick Mace spent years in fine dining before turning his attention to barbecue, and it shows in every precise, smoke-kissed bite at Tropical Smokehouse. The menu leans Florida: Cajun gator sausage, a spicy wahoo dip with Scotch bonnet heat, smoked mahi, and prime brisket by the half pound. If you're in a hurry, the jerk turkey sandwich might ruin you for all other turkey sandwiches.

Best for: Florida-style barbecue on Dixie Highway