16 Incredible Restaurants in Auburn, AL You Need to Try
Auburn eats around its football calendar. Auburn University has more than 34,000 students, Jordan-Hare Stadium seats 88,043, and home weekends in the fall often bring more than 100,000 visitors, so downtown tables fill early. The center of it all is Toomer’s Corner, where Magnolia Avenue meets College Street. Toomer’s Drugs, founded there in 1896, is known for fresh-squeezed lemonade, and fans still roll the oak trees with toilet paper after wins. The downtown restaurants cluster within a few blocks of that corner, while family favorites such as Byron’s, Niffer’s and Savanh sit out along Opelika Road, and Lucy’s and One Bike Coffee are on Moores Mill Road.
This guide covers 16 places, from a chef-driven Southern restaurant on a gardened acre and a seafood brasserie in a historic train depot to a student-run teaching restaurant, a family-run Thai kitchen, a tiny downtown bao shop and a coffee shop that funds bikes for people with multiple sclerosis. Local cooking leans on Alabama farms, Gulf seafood and Southern tradition, with newer kitchens adding Italian wood fire and Texas smoke. Ratings and review counts come from each restaurant’s Google listing in October 2026.
Acre
Acre sits at 210 East Glenn Avenue, about three blocks from Toomer’s Corner, in a stone building with a big front porch, a hearth-style fireplace and a lofted dining room. Chef David Bancroft opened it in 2013, and the grounds hold a vegetable garden, fruit trees and a clone of the Toomer’s oak grown from a root shoot. Inside, the ceiling beams came from a 100-year-old general store.
Rated 4.6 stars from more than 1,500 Google reviews, Acre cooks modern Southern food with Gulf seafood, produce from local farms and meat from nearby ranchers. Its website counts five James Beard semifinalist nominations for chef Bancroft in Best Chef: South. The autumn dinner menu lists lacquered cornbread with hot honey butter, fried green tomatoes with blue crab salad, charcoal grilled oysters, Gulf shrimp pappardelle and a “Black Hawk” wagyu burger.
Reserve on Resy, and call for parties of eight or more. Dinner is served Monday through Saturday, with lunch Wednesday through Friday and brunch on weekends, so check hours before you go. It is one of the pricier tables in town, with a 24-ounce ribeye and a Gulf seafood plateau at the top of the dinner menu. The menu adds a 3 percent surcharge to credit cards, and home football weekends book up well ahead.
Address: 210 E Glenn Ave, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: acreauburn.com
The Depot
The Depot serves seafood in a restored train depot at 124 Mitcham Avenue, about a five-minute walk from Toomer’s Corner. The restaurant dates the depot to 1847, and the renovation kept the original black-and-white tile floors. Pine from the old train platforms became the bar, the chef’s table and the host stand. It is a sister restaurant to The Hound, and chef Scott Simpson is a co-owner.
With 4.7 stars from more than 800 Google reviews, The Depot calls itself a Gulf-coastal brasserie. It was the first restaurant in Alabama to receive the James Beard Smart Catch Leader award for sustainable seafood, and its wine list has earned the Wine Spectator Excellence award six times. Look for diver sea scallops and jumbo red shrimp over grits, grilled oysters, spicy blue crab dip, crab-stuffed Carolina rainbow trout and the bananas Foster French toast bread pudding.
Reservations open about 60 days ahead through the restaurant’s website, and graduation weekends follow their own booking schedule, so plan early for those. Parties of seven or more should call. An online waitlist can get you a table on the patio or at the bar. Dinner and a bar happy hour are listed Tuesday through Saturday, with brunch on Saturday and Sunday, so check hours.
Address: 124 Mitcham Ave, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: allaboardauburn.com
The Hound
The Hound is a family-owned restaurant and bar at 124 Tichenor Avenue, opened in 2012 by Matt and Jana Poirier, who moved back to Auburn to start it. Jana’s brothers and parents are involved too. The dining room has a hunting-lodge feel, and the bar pours top-shelf bourbon and 28 craft beers on tap. The same group also runs The Depot and the café Corner Office.
Rated 4.7 stars from more than 2,000 Google reviews, The Hound builds its menu around bacon and bourbon, and its website says the bacon comes from heritage-breed pork. Start with the bacon flight, a chef’s selection of house-made and artisan bacons, or the Conecuh queso, made with smoked Conecuh sausage, a south Alabama staple. Mains include the bison burger with tobacco onions (thin, crisp fried onions), shrimp and grits with andouille cream, and Korean fried chicken with a waffle.
Book through the website or by phone, and reserve ahead for football weekends. The Hound is closed on Mondays, serves lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch on Saturday and Sunday, and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Thursday brings a pint night with the bar opening early, and Wednesday is whiskey night. The prime ribeye and Berkshire pork chop are the priciest dinner plates, while the burgers and small plates cost less.
Address: 124 Tichenor Ave, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: thehound-auburn.com
Lucy’s
Lucy’s opened in June 2018 on Moores Mill Road and is named for the childhood nickname that owner Lisa Van der Reijden’s late father gave her. The modern American menu is built around shared plates, with a light, California-inspired style and a nod to a Parisian bistro. The dining room has dark wood tables, woven chairs and a white marble bar.
Lucy’s holds 4.7 stars from more than 1,300 Google reviews, and the menu changes often, so ask what is new. Current menu items include the Juicy Lucy burger, stuffed with sharp white cheddar and topped with bacon and onion marmalade and poblano aioli, plus Gulf oysters, Gulf shrimp aguachile (raw shrimp cured in lime juice with chiles) and green chile mac and cheese. Brunch brings Meyer lemon ricotta hotcakes and Turkish eggs.
Reserve on Resy, especially for weekend brunch and dinner. Brunch runs Friday through Sunday, and dinner is served seven nights a week. Fried chicken is a Sunday-only dinner dish, and prime rib appears only on Mondays. Wine is on tap, and the cocktail list includes zero-proof drinks. The restaurant is a short drive from downtown, so plan on driving rather than walking from Toomer’s Corner.
Address: 2300 Moores Mill Rd, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: lucysauburn.com
Olivine
Olivine is a rooftop Italian restaurant at 146 North Gay Street, on top of the AC Hotel in downtown Auburn. It is one of the city’s newer restaurants, built around a wood-fired hearth and a menu that blends Neapolitan cooking with Alabama ingredients. Executive Chef Rick Yockachonis leads the kitchen, and seating includes a bar and an open-air patio.
Google reviewers have given Olivine 4.7 stars across more than 200 reviews, and the dinner menu follows classic Italian courses: antipasti, primi and secondi. Start with burrata di Puglia and wood-fired bread, saffron arancini (fried risotto balls) or rosemary focaccia with whipped ricotta herb butter. Primi include spicy rigatoni alla vodka, pappardelle with blue crab and shrimp, and lamb lollipops, and secondi include scallop risotto and the catch of the day.
Book on OpenTable. Dining room seating ends at 9 p.m. on weeknights and 10 p.m. on weekends, after which guests are seated at the bar on a first-come basis. Brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday. The dress code is upscale casual, guests must be 10 or older, and parties of six or more have a 21 percent gratuity added. Read the house rules on its website before you go.
Address: 146 N Gay St, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: olivineauburn.com
1856 Culinary Residence
1856 Culinary Residence is a teaching restaurant at 205 South College Street, inside Auburn University’s Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center. Students from the Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management cook and serve alongside professional chefs, and the menu is shaped by Chef in Residence Joël Antunes. The name honors 1856, the year the university was founded.
Rated 4.7 stars from more than 80 Google reviews, 1856 serves a Kaizen lunch, a four-course meal that arrives in under 40 minutes. The menu changes daily and includes a soup, an appetizer, an entrée with a choice of protein, a French baguette and dessert. One recent visit brought chilled gazpacho, smoked salmon, chicken tikka masala meatballs or seared scallops, and an orange cupcake. The kitchen also hosts Tea on Thach, a monthly Sunday afternoon tea.
Reservations are recommended and are made through Tock, though walk-ins are welcome. Valet parking is available at The Laurel Hotel and Spa entrance on East Thach Avenue. Dietary restrictions can be accommodated with at least 24 hours’ notice. There is no dress code, though most guests dress smart casual. Check Tock for days and times, and for the dates of the themed teas.
Address: 205 S College St, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: auburn1856.com
Amsterdam Cafe
Amsterdam Cafe has been serving Auburn since 1991, which makes it a fixture of the local dining scene. The main dining room is at 410 South Gay Street and has event space and a full bar, and the group has added two fast-casual locations. Chef David Bancroft, who later opened Acre, once ran its kitchen as head chef.
Amsterdam Cafe earns 4.5 stars from more than 1,200 Google reviews with a broad Southern menu that leans Creole. Start with the Creole crab and shrimp dip, lobster egg rolls or fried green tomatoes topped with West Indies crab salad, a marinated lump crab dish from the Alabama coast. Entrées include shrimp and grits with tasso cream sauce, pan-seared grouper, and fried chicken with white cheddar mac and cheese.
Reserve on Resy, particularly for Sunday brunch and football weekends. The South Gay Street location serves lunch and dinner, plus a Sunday brunch menu with peach cobbler buttermilk pancakes and fried chicken biscuits and gravy. The other two locations are fast casual with a shorter menu, which helps if you want something quicker. There is a gluten-free menu, and prices run from sandwiches at lunch to ribeye and filet at dinner.
Address: 410 S Gay St, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: amsterdamcafe.com
Venditori’s Italian Restaurant
Venditori’s is a locally owned Italian restaurant at 2575 Hilton Garden Drive. It opened in 1993 as Provino’s Italian Restaurant, part of a small Atlanta-based family franchise, and owners Kim and John Sellers renamed it in 2012 when they went independent. Venditori means “sellers” in Italian, a nod to their last name. The dining room is casual and suits families and groups.
A 4.5-star rating from more than 1,500 Google reviews backs up the kitchen, which makes all of its sauces in house. Every entrée comes with the house salad and garlic rolls. Order the cioppino, a seafood stew of clams, shrimp, crab claws, mussels, scallops and snapper in spicy red sauce over linguine, or choose chicken parmigiana, lasagna or eggplant parmigiana. Tiramisu and cannoli are on the dessert list.
The restaurant recommends booking ahead by phone, and an online waitlist handles walk-ins and future tables. It serves dinner every night, offers pickup and delivery, and has gluten-free and vegetarian menus, including a gluten-free pasta. Private party bookings and catering are available too. Plan to drive, since it is not in the downtown core.
Address: 2575 Hilton Garden Dr, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: venditoris-auburn.com
Savanh Thai Kitchen
Savanh Thai Kitchen is a family-run restaurant at 1750 Opelika Road, opened in 2018 by head chef Phounsavan and her sister Phousone, who left her job at Boeing to help launch it. The recipes come from the family’s Lao heritage, and the menu mixes familiar Thai dishes with Lao favorites. There is one location, serving Auburn.
Savanh has 4.5 stars from more than 400 Google reviews. This is the place to try larb, a Lao salad of minced meat with lime, herbs and toasted rice, along with papaya salad and the beef jerky street food served with sticky rice. The menu also covers pad Thai, pho, spicy basil fried rice, crispy Thai wings, crab rangoon made with Gulf blue crab, and mango sticky rice for dessert.
The restaurant is closed on Mondays and serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, with a break in the afternoon. It is vegetarian and vegan friendly, and the menu marks gluten-free dishes. You can order online for pickup or delivery. No online reservation system is listed, so walk in or call ahead if you have a large group.
Address: 1750 Opelika Rd Bldg b, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: savanhthaikitchen.com
Bow & Arrow BBQ
Bow & Arrow is chef David Bancroft’s South Texas smokehouse, opened in 2018 as his second restaurant after Acre. Bancroft was raised in San Antonio, and the menu mixes barbecue with Tex-Mex, including enchiladas, fajitas and soft tacos on flour tortillas made in house. This location is at 1977 East Samford Avenue, with a dining room and a to-go window. A second location is on East University Drive.
With 4.4 stars from more than 1,100 Google reviews, Bow & Arrow is best known for its Texas-style brisket. Barbecue plates come with two sides, so order sliced brisket, ribs, jalapeño cheddar sausage or pulled pork with hashbrown casserole, collard greens and brisket beans. Sweet corn rice is another side. For Tex-Mex, try the wood-grilled fajitas or the Bexar Co. nachos piled with chopped brisket and chili con queso.
The restaurant does not take reservations, and parties of 10 or more get an automatic gratuity. The dining room is open Monday through Saturday, with shorter hours on Sunday, and the to-go window and online ordering close earlier in the afternoon. The Lonestar platter, with brisket, turkey, pulled pork, sausage and a full rack of ribs, serves eight to 10 people if you are feeding a group.
Address: 1977 E Samford Ave, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: bowandarrowbbq.com
Niffer’s Place
Niffer’s Place is a burger and wings restaurant at 1151 Opelika Road, founded in 1991 and still owned by Keely Beasecker, an Auburn University swimming alumna. The room is full of colorful chalkboards and fish decorations, and each employee decorates and hangs a fish of their own. Niffer, the character on the sign and menu, stands for regular food at regular prices. A second location is at Lake Martin.
Niffer’s is rated 4.6 stars across more than 2,200 Google reviews. It serves half-pound burgers made from fresh, never-frozen beef that is hand-pattied and seasoned with a house recipe. The Loaded Niff comes with four cheeses, bacon and a fried egg, and any burger can be “Nifferized” to double the meat. Try the homemade potato chips, Niffer baked beans and Mexicali dip, and the menu also has wings and large salads.
Niffer’s is casual and family friendly, with a kids’ menu, and it is open every day from late morning. Its website does not mention reservations, so plan to walk in and expect a wait on busy nights and football weekends. Burger night and happy hour specials have drawn regulars for years, and you can order ahead through Toast.
Address: 1151 Opelika Rd, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: niffersplace.com/auburn
The Irritable Bao
The Irritable Bao is a tiny storefront at 127 East Magnolia Avenue in downtown Auburn, serving handmade Chinese bao, the steamed filled buns. It began as a food truck called Dumps Like a Truck, moved to a first Auburn location and opened downtown in June 2020. Whitley Dykes and his wife, Kunyu Li, run it. Li makes the food by hand, and Dykes greets customers.
Rated 4.8 stars from more than 160 Google reviews, the shop has no fixed menu. The offerings change daily and are posted on its Instagram and Facebook pages. Local coverage names buns, a shrimp bowl and Brussels sprouts among the dishes. Bao are the specialty, so start there, and add whatever else the day’s menu lists.
Lines form quickly and can stretch toward Toomer’s Corner, but the owner says the longer the line, the faster the service. The room is small, decorated with customer photos and hand-painted bamboo steamer lids. Check its Instagram and Facebook pages for hours as well as the menu. Ten percent of profits go to a nonprofit that supports children in extreme poverty in the Philippines and Cambodia, and another ten percent to local causes.
Address: 127 E Magnolia Ave, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: theirritablebao.com
Pannie-George’s Kitchen
Pannie-George’s Kitchen serves home-style Southern cooking at 2328 South College Street, with a second location in Montgomery. The restaurant is named for the founders’ grandparents, Mary “Pannie” and George Taylor, and its cooking grew out of what the Taylors’ children learned in a large family’s kitchen. Food is served cafeteria style, with a changing selection of meats and vegetables.
Pannie-George’s has 4.5 stars from more than 900 Google reviews. The meat and vegetable choices change daily, except for the fried chicken, which is always available because of its popularity. Build a plate with one meat and two vegetables, or go all vegetable with three or four sides, and pick the largest plate if you want a dessert too. Bread and a drink come with each plate.
Check the website for the day’s menu before you go, since the offerings rotate. Plates are modestly priced for a sit-down meal, and the all-vegetable plates suit vegetarians. The restaurant is on South College Street, a short drive south of Toomer’s Corner, so plan to drive. Hours are not listed on the site, so check before you go.
Address: 2328 S College St Unit 6, Auburn, AL 36832
Website: panniegeorgeskitchen.com
Byron’s Smokehouse
Byron’s Smokehouse has been serving Auburn since 1989 from 436 Opelika Road, and a second location at University Station shares the same menu. It covers three meals in one place: a hearty breakfast, a quick lunch and smoked favorites. It is known for generous breakfast portions, and the kitchen pit-cooks pork and smokes chicken, sausage and ribs.
Byron’s holds 4.6 stars from more than 800 Google reviews and is known for big breakfasts and Alabama barbecue. For breakfast, order a biscuit with egg, cheese and a choice of meat, or an egg plate with grits. At lunch, go for chopped or sliced pork, smoked half chicken or sausage with two sides such as Brunswick stew (a thick Southern meat and vegetable stew), turnip greens, baked beans or fried okra.
Byron’s keeps early hours. Breakfast runs until mid-morning and lunch until 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday is breakfast only until noon, and no Monday hours are listed, so check before you go. Ribs are only offered Thursday through Saturday. Plates are modestly priced, and you can order online through Toast. Pecan pie is on the dessert list.
Address: 436 Opelika Rd, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: byronsmokehouse.com
The Bean Coffee Shop
The Bean Coffee Shop has served coffee, brunch and desserts since 2015 from 140A North Dean Road. It uses fair trade coffee, and the shop says each purchase helps farmers in Rwanda. Breakfast and lunch are served all day, and the in-house bakery turns out fresh desserts daily from family recipes. The shop describes itself as a place to study, socialize or enjoy coffee and dessert.
The Bean’s 4.3 stars from more than 300 Google reviews reflect a menu built on crepes, both sweet and savory. Try the Chicken Ranch or Greek crepe, or a sweet one such as Blueberry Cobbler or Heavenly Chocolate. Breakfast casseroles, waffles, French toast, cinnamon rolls and acai bowls are on the all-day menu, and desserts include cheesecake and chocolate peanut butter pie. Specialty lattes include Turtle Delight and Wild Lavender.
The shop is open Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday, with an early weekday opening for the breakfast crowd. You can order ahead for pickup through its online ordering site or have it delivered by DoorDash. Coffee comes as machine drip, 24-hour cold brew or Chemex pour over, and loose-leaf teas and chai lattes are on the menu for non-coffee drinkers.
Address: 140 A N Dean Rd, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: thebeancoffeeshop.com
One Bike Coffee
One Bike Coffee is a family-owned coffee shop and nonprofit at 2415 Moores Mill Road, with a second counter inside James Bros. Bikes on South College Avenue. Founded by the Jack and Amy Fisher family, it has donated all of its profits to local charities and to the One Bike Foundation since 2017. The foundation gives road bikes, gear and cycling instruction to people living with multiple sclerosis, and the first bike went out in 2018.
Rated 4.8 stars from more than 160 Google reviews, One Bike Coffee leads with one signature cake, which the shop calls famous and always fresh. It comes as Tiny Treats (a box of nine mini cakes), a personal-size Happy Medium or the 10-inch Original, with icing in French vanilla, chai or espresso. Coffee and lattes are on offer too, so order a drink to go with the cake.
Cakes can be ordered online for pickup, with the earliest pickup the next day, and shipping and delivery are not offered. Pickup windows are limited, so check the details when you order. For a cake right away, visit the South College shop inside James Bros. Bikes during its operating hours. Hours are not listed online, so check before you go.
Address: 2415 Moores Mill Rd Unit 130, Auburn, AL 36830
Website: onebikecoffee.com
Final Thoughts
Book ahead for dinner at Acre, The Depot, The Hound, Lucy’s, Olivine and Amsterdam Cafe, especially on home football weekends, when much of town fills up. 1856 takes reservations through Tock. Bow & Arrow does not take reservations, and the line at The Irritable Bao can stretch toward Toomer’s Corner, so go early or expect a wait. Several places close one or two days a week, and some serve brunch only on weekends, so check hours before you go. The downtown spots are an easy walk from Toomer’s Corner, but most of the others are a short drive away. Save time for a lemonade at Toomer’s Drugs.
Planning the rest of your trip? See our guide to the best things to do in Auburn, AL.
Main photo, from left: Clint Bustrillos, Charity Beth Long and nobleseed / Unsplash
