Michelin just revealed its 2026 Guide to the American South at a ceremony in Nashville.
Tipsy Thaiger, one of Rough Draft’s Best New Restaurants of 2025, along with So. Fox, Spring 2nd Branch, Summerland, Pink Lotus, and Uberto, located more than 50 miles south of Atlanta, are all new entries to the guide. Both So. Fox and Uberto earned one star.
A handful of restaurants dropped off the recommended list in the guide this year, including The White Bull, Masterpiece, and Marcel. Previously listed Nadair closed in June, following news that chef and owner Kevin Gillespie had stepped back from the kitchen months earlier. Gillespie has since announced his departure from the restaurant industry due to health issues. However, he retains an ownership stake in Glenwood Park restaurant Gunshow, which also dropped out of the 2026 guide.
Superica and Table & Main changed designations this year from Bib Gourmands to recommended restaurants.
Michelin officially retired its Green Star designation in June. The organization replaced it with Mindful Voices, highlighting forward-thinking chefs, bartenders, wine producers, and hoteliers reshaping the restaurant and hospitality industries.
Atlanta restaurants The Chastain and Bacchanalia received Green Stars in 2023, 2024, and 2025. During the ceremony in Nashville, Michelin honored Chef Ryan Smith with a Mindful Voices award for his work at Uberto Restaurant in Gay, Georgia. Smith also co-owns Staplehouse in Atlanta with wife and business partner Kara Hidinger.
The American South guide features restaurants in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Atlanta, and metro Atlanta.
Related story:
Rough Draft’s Best New Restaurants of 2025
Check out the Atlanta and Georgia restaurants part of the 2026 Guide to the American South.
Mindful Voices
Chef Ryan Smith, Uberto Restaurant in Gay, Georgia
Bib Gourmand
New in 2026
Summerland
Tipsy Thaiger, Roswell
Maintained for 2026
Antico
Arepa Mia, Avondale Estates
Bomb Biscuit Co.
The Busy Bee
Estrellita
Fishmonger
Fred’s Meat and Bread
Heirloom Market BBQ, Vinings
Little Bear
Whoopsie’s
One Star
New in 2026
So. Fox
Uberto, Gay, Georgia
Maintained for 2026
Atlas
Bacchanalia
Hayakawa
Lazy Betty
Mujo
O By Brush
Omakase Table
Spring, Marietta
Recommended Restaurants
New in 2026
Pink Lotus
Spring 2nd Branch, Marietta
Maintained for 2026
Avize
Banshee
Best BBQ, Buford Highway
BoccaLupo
Chai Pani, Decatur
Delbar
Fawn, Decatur
Food Terminal
Georgia Boy
Han Il Kwan, Buford Highway
Hen Mother Cookhouse, Johns Creek
Home Grown
Kamayan ATL, Buford Highway
Kimball House
LanZhou Ramen, Buford Highway
Little Sparrow
Lucky Star
Lyla Lila
Madeira Park
Miller Union
Nam Phuong, Buford Highway
Pho House in Duluth
Poor Hendrix
Ryokou
Snackboxe Bistro, Doraville
Southern Belle
Staplehouse
Storico Fresco
Superica
Table & Main, Roswell
Talat Market
The Alden, Chamblee (currently closed due to fire)
The Chastain
The Deer and the Dove, Decatur
The General Muir
Ticonderoga Club
Tomo
Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours
Woo Nam Jeong (Stone Bowl House), Doraville
Xi’an Gourmet House
Michelin changes and criticism
Last year marked a significant change in how the French tire company recognizes Atlanta-area restaurants, folding the previous Michelin Guide to Atlanta into its new guide to the American South.
Michelin, which awards stars, Bib Gourmands, and other distinctions, first featured Atlanta restaurants in 2023. While anonymous dining inspectors focused on restaurants within the Perimeter that year, Michelin broadened its scope in 2024 to include restaurants in metro Atlanta’s northern suburbs.
For 2025, Michelin expanded the guide a second time, encompassing more Southern states. But the guide didn’t go beyond the boundaries of metro Atlanta in Georgia, excluding cities like Savannah and Athens with award-winning restaurants. Although, those boundaries stretched into Meriwether County in 2026 for newly minted one-star restaurant Uberto.
The decision to cap the boundaries in Georgia is due to a tourism partnership between Michelin and Travel South USA and the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. The current partnership expires at the end of 2027.
Criticism regarding a lack of diversity in its restaurant guides has plagued Michelin over the years. This includes favoring fine dining over more casual restaurants, gender biases, and underrepresenting Black chefs and Black-owned restaurants in its guides.
Michelin’s rating credibility was called into question recently after an investigation by D Magazine in Dallas raised concerns that the organization used AI to write the Dallas restaurant descriptions for the 2026 Texas guide. Michelin has denied those claims.
Did Michelin get it right this year? Let us know your thoughts on the 2026 Michelin Guide to the American South and the Atlanta restaurants included and snubbed. Email Beth McKibben at beth@roughdraftatlanta.com.
