Restaurants in Savannah

In 1999, the two brothers-in-law who founded Main Street Cafe & Pub aimed to create a down-to-earth neighborhood restaurant that evoked a sense of luxury with its menu of seafood and upscale pub food. Today, their restaurant hosts throngs of devoted locals, as well as shrewd tourists who can smell the all-you-can-eat crab legs.

The dining room's tall bay windows shine light onto a black-and-white checkerboard floor and tables groaning under a mix of casual pub eats and homestyle entrees. Distinctive dishes such as parmesan-encrusted grouper and a fried tilapia melt—complete with housemade jalapeño tartar sauce—balance out familiar blackened-chicken wraps and fish ’n’ chips. The seafood chowder and other housemade soups are prepared fresh daily.

Famulari's Pizzeria doesn’t play favorites when it comes to tossing dough and slathering on sauce. The eatery instead lets diners choose between New York–style and Chicago-style crusts, both of which are made by hand and can be topped with the same gourmet ingredients. Crowned one of Charleston City Paper's staff picks, Famulari's deep-dish measures about three inches high and “ooz[es] with meat and cheese.” To enhance pizzas, diners can choose from a library of meats and veggies, eight different cheeses, and eleven sauces, including Thai peanut, hot sauce, and secret-recipe red. Guests can also nosh on pasta and sandwiches.

Red umbrellas and baskets of flowers dot The Red Pepper’s outdoor patio, drawing diners into the fresh air for alfresco meals composed of classic Italian cuisine. In the kitchen, chefs craft sweets and savories from fresh ingredients such as tomatoes, basil, and ricotta cheese. During the evening, the head chef showcases his expertise with specialties such as canguro e speck saltimbocca, a kangaroo tenderloin scaloppini layered with sage, prosciutto, and a splash of cherry marsala sauce. The dinner menu also abounds with seafood and pasta dishes, which come with focaccia bread ideal for soaking up sauce or rolling into a straw for a cool soft drink. For dessert, the owner’s wife handcrafts chocolate-hazelnut tortes from an Old-World recipe her family has cherished for generations. Instead of grilling burgers atop their cars’ radiators, on-the-go diners can retrieve take-and-bake pizzas at the restaurant’s reception desk.

Tangerine's menu collects dishes from all across Asia with an emphasis on Thai recipes and fresh sushi and sashimi. Large prawns are stir-fried in garlic sauce and tender raviolis are stuffed with lobster and dungeness crab meat then covered with a rich shitake-mushroom sauce. The sushi chefs make classic salmon and rainbow rolls in addition to specialty maki, such as the Tangerine roll filled with crab and five types of fish or the Millipede roll topped with avocado and cut into 1,000 pieces.

Fresh flowers and elegant linens help create a calming, upscale atmosphere in the saffron-hued dining room. An aquarium glows behind the sushi chefs as guests sit around the marble-topped bar, and parties slide into booths tucked in private alcoves lined with white drapery.

Chefs at King and I inject spice into dinnertime by preparing authentic Thai cuisine with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and artful presentation. Each of the menu’s stir-fry, noodle, and curry entrees may be customized with a choice of chicken, beef, seafood, or tofu before being tossed with such tempting morsels as snow peas, ginger, or bamboo shoots and seasoned to taste with spices ranging from mild to thai hot. Seeped in soft lighting from sparse lamps and a small fish tank, the dining room gives off an air of understated elegance by balancing rich red walls with crisp white tablecloths and a thankful absence of tap-dancing balloon artists.

As nighttime falls on Bonna Bella Waterfront Grille, its glowing patio heat lamps cast shimmering reflections in the tranquil waters of the marsh. Come daytime, the sun warms the expansive wooden patios and two outdoor bars that won the restaurant the title of "Best Waterfront Dining" from Savannah Magazine four years in a row. There, cheerful umbrellas shade guests as they sip colorful cocktails and watch nearby games of corn-hole.

Meanwhile, inside the restaurant, chefs fire up grills in the kitchen while executive chef Roberto Leoci examines deliveries of freshly caught seafood. The internationally renowned chef and his crew then fold local ingredients into the fresh-seafood dishes, sandwiches, and fish tacos that earned them a feature on the Food Network's Chefs vs. City in 2010.