File Under: Bakeries, Something Different, Vegetarian Friendly. Features: Beer and wine, catering, counter service, outside seating, delivery, Wi-Fi. Hours: Breakfast and lunch. • Long-time Athens favorite has a great patio popular with dogs and kids and lots of things on the somewhat French-accented menu that use the bread it bakes in-house. Biscuits, French toast, continental breakfast, omelets, great sandwiches, quiche, soups, burgers, small but good selection of beer and wine. Baked goods galore, including for special order.

File Under: Something Different. Features: Full bar, reservations, catering, outside seating, take-out, vegetarian friendly. Hours: Dinner. • Celebrity chef Hugh Acheson's flagship restaurant, in a historic house on Milledge Avenue with a big covered porch and proof of COVID vaccination required. The menu is southern-ish but chef-driven and up to date, changing weekly depending on what’s in season. Wine list by James Beard nominee; unpretentious but smart cocktails; excellent after-dinner drinks. Look out for specials, including picnic stuff during football season.

File Under: Something Different. Features: Take-out. Hours: Dinner and Sunday brunch. • Mexican-accented fusion restaurant does a not inexpensive but very popular all-you-can-eat brunch (with waffle and omelet station), plus dinner with steaks, seafood, pasta, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, escargot, chicken in a roasted garlic mushroom cheese sauce and more along the same lines. Specials change weekly. 

File Under: American, Bars, Vegetarian Friendly. Features: Full bar, take-out. Hours: Breakfast, lunch and dinner. • Family-friendly tavern is all things to all people, with lots of food for all three meals (including a kajillion vegetarian and vegan options) as well as a major bar selection. Noodles, fish and chips, chili, hot dogs, fried cheese, frittatas, coffee, pastries. Great beers; also whiskeys, classic cocktails and juice for kids.

File Under: American, Bars. Features: Reservations, live music, full bar, outside seating. Hours: Lunch and dinner, Tue–Sun. Monday dinner. • Country club-ish place does classic American food with a bit of a Southern accent, like meatloaf, steak sandwich, crab cakes and gumbo. A fair amount of fried stuff but salads, too. Big desserts. Nice patio. Earlybird specials.

File Under: American, Vegetarian Friendly, Bars. Features: Outside seating, art, curbside pick-up. Hours: Dinner and weekend brunch. • Crowd-pleasing restaurant mixes Southern and Southwestern cuisine; veggie and vegan choices, plus fish and seafood are highlights. Large dessert case. Plan ahead for lines at brunch. Good bar, with American vodkas, gins and vermouths, as well as Armagnac, ice wine, Madeira, sherry and a long list of wines. Large outdoor dining area.

File Under: American. Features: Delivery, full bar, trivia. Hours: Lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. • Fancy-ish sports bar promotes itself as "a guilt-free place to say, 'I'm at the Office.'" Burgers, wings, pork chops, steakhouse sides. Breakfast burger at brunch. Domestic and craft beer, specialty cocktails named things like "the Sexy Intern."

File Under: Bars/Clubs, Something Different. Features: Full bar, outside seating, trivia. Hours: Dinner and weekend brunch. • Part bar, part tapas restaurant, with small plates like hot chicken bao, Thai chicken salad, Wagyu sliders, charcuterie and chipotle hummus. DJs, cornhole on the patio, tequila specials, giant TV for sports.

File Under: American, Bars. Features: Full bar, outside seating. Hours: Dinner and weekend brunch. Occasional lunch. • Mostly a bar, with a nice wine list, regular wine tastings and discounts for members of its wine club, but also a restaurant. Champagne brunch on weekends has egg dishes, hash and gougères. Oysters and cheese plates, plus lunch pop-ups.

File Under: Downhome, Bars. Features: Outside seating, full bar, take-out. Hours: Lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. • More refined takes on Southern standards, like shrimp and grits with gouda. Big salads, chicken and waffles (not just at brunch), shrimp burger, collard spring rolls. Cocktails that play on things like peanuts and Coke.

File Under: American, Vegetarian Friendly. Features: Full bar, Wi-Fi, take-out, delivery. Hours: Lunch and dinner. • UGA Hotel restaurant has been around for ages, serving strawberry ice-cream pie and celestial chicken, but also does shrimp and grits, salads, meatloaf, southern vegetables and more.

File Under: American. Features: Full bar, outside seating. Hours: Dinner and Sunday brunch. • Seafood, both on the raw bar (oysters, seafood tower, tuna tartare) and cooked (blackened salmon, étoufée, snow crab clusters). Also land-based choices, wedge salad. Brunch includes omelets, fish tacos and oyster shooters. Good, refreshing cocktails.

File Under: Something Different, Vegetarian Friendly, Bars. Features: Full bar, outside seating, Wi-Fi. Hours: Lunch, dinner and late night, seven days. Sunday brunch. • Big menu of food and beer with lots of vegetarian choices: loaded mac and cheese, southern fish and chips, tabbouleh salad, housemade pickles, a vegan Reuben, buffalo tofu taco, plus scores of unusual, well-described beers in the bottle and on tap. There's also wine and nice cocktails.