What to Eat in Savannah

June 27, 2020.

As I write this post, I’m sitting at the Savannah airport waiting out a 5-hour delay, and I’m stuffed! I’m totally, completely, up-to-my-eyeballs stuffed with good, sweet, rich, beautiful Southern food! Savannah now holds the top spot in my travels as the most surprising foodie city. Can you believe it? Here’s proof!

Gryphon Tea Room

I’m obsessed with afternoon tea. Obsessed! So when I read that Savannah has a fancy tea room, I knew I needed to make it part of my trip. You can certainly get a sandwich, salad, soup, or other more American-style lunch food here, but why would anyone pass up tea?

The Tea Room is run by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and many of the waitstaff are students. The building itself has a fun and varied history that includes being the Scottish Rite Temple (they still meet upstairs!), the Solomon Apothecary, the SCAD Bookstore, and now it’s the Gryphon Tea Room. There are gryphons holding the light fixtures around the Tea Room, and there is a gryphon clock inside as well. It was given to the Solomons back when it was still an apothecary, and it was the first electric clock in Savannah!

Read on: The Ultimate Guide to Afternoon Tea
and Afternoon Tea at the Titanic Hotel Belfast

The Pink House

Another restaurant I was really excited for was the Olde Pink House Restaurant! It’s the oldest Colonial structure left in Savannah, due to a fire in 1779 that roared through the city. It was built for one of the city’s founding families, the Habershams. It’s pink because the red color from the bricks bled through the white plaster, creating a pink color. Whether the bricks or the plaster were bad is a mystery, but now it’s pink because it’s always been pink! It’s also haunted because, why not?

Oh, and they have pretty amazing food, too!

More here: Savannah’s Historic Homes and Museums

Savannah’s Bed and Breakfast Inn

If there is any place to eat well, it’s at a Southern bed and breakfast! This one is actually quite large (31 rooms over several connected historic buildings!), and I don’t think I was actually hungry the whole time I was there. I was too busy feeling full of the delightful things they offered! Not only is breakfast included, guests can also enjoy afternoon sweets around 4:00, and milk and cookies before bed!

Breakfast

Y’all, this girl knows grits. I know good grits, I know bad grits, and I know so-so grits that I could take or leave without a second thought. The grits here at the Savannah Bed and Breakfast Inn are amazing grits! Seriously, the best grits I’ve ever tasted, and they didn’t even have cheese in them! They were cooked in chicken broth and milk, and maybe a little of that Savannah voodoo magic. Do not skip the grits!

I have kind of an unfortunate confession: I forgot to take a photo of my second morning’s breakfast. I was too busy eating it! The main difference was instead of frittatas, they served triple berry French toast casserole. It was awesome! But the real star was–you guessed it–the grits!

Afternoon Sweets

I cannot explain just how moist these lemon petit fours were! It was truly one of the best things I ate during my whole trip. And the brownies weren’t bad either… they had chocolate chips in them!

Bedtime Cookies

Because how else could you sleep, right? These were soft, chewy, perfect chocolate chip cookies!

More here: Staying at the Historic Savannah Bed and Breakfast

Savannah Coffee Roasters

This coffee shop was highly recommended by a local friend, and she definitely led me in the right direction! I love supporting local businesses in all the cities I visit, but perhaps I appreciate their efforts most in the South. They have everything from humongous pastries to incredible, house-roasted coffee. I had a fun flavored latte!

More here: Things to Love about Savannah

Leopold’s

Leopold’s has been pleasing people in Savannah with their homemade ice creams since 1919! The location has changed, but many of the fixtures from the original location made their way over to its current shop. Savannah is hot almost all year round, so an ice cream stop should always be on your list!

Pro Tip: You will likely have to wait in quite a long line, unless you’re a little flexible. I peeked at the line around 3:00pm, and it was out the door and down the sidewalk as expected! But when I stopped by at 11:45am the next day, I walked right in and was just third in line to order! I have also read that there is little to no line if you go just before closing time. Be flexible!

The Cotton Exchange

I wanted to eat down on River Street while I was in town. Sure, it’s a little touristy, but you know what? I’m a tourist! River Street is definitely charming with its historic structures and cobble stone streets, complete with trolly tracks still intact.

The Cotton Exchange Tavern (and most of the buildings around it) are inside the old store houses used for cotton in 1887, back when Savannah was the largest cotton seaport in the country, and second in the world! You won’t find anymore cotton, but you will find exposed brick, original woodwork, and view of the river! Oh, and pretty good food, too!

Pie Society

There are a surprising number of British-themed restaurants and such in Savannah, including Pie Society! It’s a British bakery and pie shop. I decided to stop in for a quick pastry on my way back to my B&B. Because a girl needs dessert after walking all day! And since I was in Georgia, I needed something peachy.

Mirabelle Cafe

I needed to get some photo editing done, and I also needed to check out my my B&B that last morning in Savannah, so I decided to check out another nearby cafe. This one is right across the street from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, so the view out the window was pretty nice.

Pro Tip: This cafe is cashless! Credit cards and debit cards only.

Zunzi’s

This South African-inspired take-out restaurant was recommended to me by locals not once, but twice! They make huge sandwiches on French bread with fastastic sauces. They are famous for their Conquistador Sandwich with three types of meat, but I opted for their vegetarian option (the Rising Sun), and added chicken for protein. Way healthier right? Ha!

I am already planning some foodie adventures for when I return to Savannah! Which one of these looks the best to you? Tell me below!

Need more? Check out my World Foods Page! And for all things all-American, explore my United States Page!

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