Where To Eat Well In Oxford MS: The 10 Best Restaurants You Should Try

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.

University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi

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.

Ajax Diner, 118 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS, USA, +1 662 232 8880

1. Big Bad Breakfast

Big Bad Breakfast

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.

Big Bad Breakfast, 719 North Lamar Boulevard, Oxford, MS, USA, +1 662 236 2666

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Ravine

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.

Ravine, 53 Pea Ridge Road, Oxford, MS, USA, +1 662 234 4555

7. 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.

8. Old Venice Pizza Co

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.

Old Venice Pizza Co, 1112 Van Buren Avenue, Oxford, MS, USA, +1 662 236 6872

9. 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.

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