Listed amongst Livability’s 10 Best Small Towns in America, Oxford, Mississippi boasts an impressive dining scene that surely contributes to this ranking with restaurants offering everything from top-class breakfasts, to contemporary Southern cuisine and pizzas with a Creole twist. With our updated guide to Eating Out in Oxford, you won’t miss out on the city’s top ten cultural restaurants.
Ajax Diner
Ajax Diner is a casual, laidback restaurant serving soul food with a mix of Southern, Cajun, Creole and Tex Mex influences. Renowned throughout the city for its hearty, home-style cooking and good eats, the diner has a brightly coloured, yellow-painted exterior and equally warm interior illuminated with strings of twinkling coloured lights adding an easy-going, welcoming ambience.
Big Bad Breakfast gives guests the chance to start their day in the best possible way with a morning repast with a difference. With its chic and stylish, but casual and welcoming, atmosphere and guests raving about its plentiful menu packed full of Southern comfort food breakfast classics, Big Bad Breakfast has quite rightly gained itself a spot amongst Oxford’s top eateries.
Bottletree Bakery
Bakery, Deli, Pastries, Dessert, Gluten-free, American, Fast Food
Bottletree Bakery is an eatery popular with local residents. Open for breakfast and lunch, the café and bakery features a spacious interior with a central deli counter showcasing its tasty pastries, but guests also have the option to sit outside on Bottletree Bakery’s sidewalk patio when the weather is nice while watching the hustle and bustle of downtown.
Bouré
Restaurant, American, Vegetarian
Bouréis an ideal destination for diners who like to combine the comforts of wholesome, down-home cooking with an upmarket edge. Open for lunch and dinner, the restaurant invites guests to take a seat in its vibrant, welcoming dining room or slip outside to its second-floor veranda overlooking the town square.
City Grocery
Restaurant, American, Vegan, Gluten-free
City Grocery was established in 1992 and has become a popular destination for diners with a discerning palate. With its quintessentially Southern front and interior featuring exposed brick walls and beautiful pinewood floors, City Grocery exudes rustic charm. While the restaurant may be more pricy than some in Oxford, its tempting dishes make the extra spend all the more worthwhile.
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McEwen's
Restaurant, American
McEwen’s interior is absolutely stunning with gorgeous hardwood floors and exposed brick, intimate seating, eye-catching artworks and avant-garde ambient lighting. Not only beautiful, the restaurant is also a proud and certified member of the Project Green Fork initiative which helps restaurants in the mid-South lessen their environmental impact.
Ravine
Ravine resides in a picturesque log chalet hidden away in a verdant forest of oak and pine just three miles south of downtown Oxford. Stepping through Ravine’s doors, diners are instantly pulled in by its cosy but modern interior and the heart-warming scent of locally grown, seasonal Southern cuisine, which Ravine cleverly updates with quirky details.
Oby’s
Restaurant, American, Cajun, Fast Food, Vegetarian
Oby’s started out back in 1976 when the first Oby’s was established in the neighbouring city of Starkville. Since then the popular restaurant has grown to a further two branches including the Oxford branch which, with its proximity to both the University of Mississippi and downtown, makes Oby’s a popular eatery with both students and local families.
Old Venice Pizza Co
Old Venice Pizza Co spices up the classic Italian dish with an innovative, tasty Southern Creole twist. On Old Venice Pizza Co’s menu you will find the predictable margheritas and pepperonis upstaged by creative pizza pies such as the Daddy Crawdaddy. Not in the mood for pizza? Fear not – Old Venice Pizza Co offers a number of appetisers, sub sandwiches and pasta dishes too.
Snackbar
Bistro, Brasserie, French, Cocktails, Wine, Beer, Fast Food, American, Gluten-free
French bistro and the northern Mississippi café, Snackbar has created a whole new class of French-tinged Southern cooking which it endearingly refers to as ‘Bubba Brasserie Cuisine’. Snackbar’s dessert menu is especially tempting with options such as ginger pot du crèmewith pecan biscotti and cinnamon chantilly.
Helen Armitage lives near Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England where she recently graduated with a Masters in Magazine Journalism. She enjoys writing about culture, pop culture, feminism and film and her favourite destinations are New York City and Dublin. She is about to embark on a three-month placement in Seville, Spain and in the future would love to visit Reykjavik, Vancouver and New York (again).
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