Louisville has gained a reputation for being a foodie town, so when you’re hosting out-of-towners, you know they’re going to be expecting a good meal… or two or three.
And that’s a good thing! Because you’ll be able to be right there with them, sampling some of Louisville’s best.
But, the downside of our city having a roster of good restaurants is that it’s hard to choose where to go.
There are a couple things to consider: You want to be sure that your guests are going to have a good experience and you want to know that you’re taking them somewhere that embodies the city in some way.
These restaurants check all the boxes!
Chik’n & Mi
1765 Mellwood Ave.
I know at least one chef in town who counts Chik’n & Mi as their favorite Louisville restaurant. You can take it from them. This Clifton neighborhood restaurant makes Asian-inspired comfort foods, and its fried chicken sandwich is one of Louisville’s best. It also boasts an extensive sake menu.
Photo via facebook.com/chiknandmiVietnam Kitchen
5339 Mitscher Ave.
Vietnam Kitchen is the longest-standing Vietnamese restaurant still open in Louisville, and it’s stuck around for a reason. The menu is extensive, with more than 100 dishes, categorized by an easy-to-use letter-and-number system. The most popular dish is the K8, a spicy rice noodle dish with saté chili oil sauce, broccoli florets and your choice of meat or fried tofu.
Photo by Robin GarrNew Wave Burritos
3311 Preston Highway
You won’t find a more stuffed burrito in all of Louisville than at New Wave Burritos. This Preston Highway restaurant features seven burritos, which you can also get in bowl form or with the delicious contents poured over fries. New Wave always has a weekly special burrito, too. Even if its ingredients sound questionable, like potato salad or corn dogs, don’t question it. I’ve never been disappointed.
Photo via facebook.com/newwaveburritosRed Hog Restaurant & Butcher Shop
2622 Frankfort Ave.
Arby’s may have the meats, but Red Hog has the really good meats. This butcher shop also has a restaurant with carefully crafted eats attached, including one of the best burgers in Louisville. Much of the bread you’ll find is from Blue Dog Bakery down the street, by the same owners, and one of the best bakeries in Kentucky, according to Food & Wine Magazine. Their drinks are solid, too, with a menu of craft cocktails.
Photo via facebook.com/redhogbutcherRamsi’s Cafe On The World
1293 Bardstown Road
Ramsi’s cafe is a Bardstown Road staple, with a stacked menu of international favorites and plenty of vegetarian options (over half of the menu doesn’t contain meat.) Ramsi’s calls its cuisine “global comfort food,” and the restaurant’s interior is just as cosmopolitan as its menu, with art collected from around the world. Sit out on its trellised patio to feel like you’re truly dining in a different country.
Photo via facebook.com/ramsiscafeontheworldCon Huevos!
2339 Frankfort Ave., 4938 U.S. Highway 42, 210 W. Liberty St.
Meaning “with eggs,” Con Huevos delivers on the name, with a Mexican brunch menu that includes huevos rancheros with avocado mousse; enchiladas con huevos with a small spread of chips and guac; a mucho huevos sandwich with three scrambled eggs, caramelized onions and chipotle-red pepper aioli… and if that isn’t enough to have you sprinting to your nearest location.. much, much more. Including tres leches pancakes, aka, the best idea ever.
Photo via facebook.com/ConHuevosRestaurantUpland Brewing Co.
707 W. Riverside Drive, Jeffersonville, Indiana
For the best views in Louisville, everyone knows you don’t stay in Louisville. You head across the river to Indiana so you can gaze at the city’s skyline. And, Upland Brewing Co., which opened last year, has one of the more enviable views. Luckily, they also have good beer and food to match.
Photo via uplandjeffersonville/FacebookJack Fry’s
1007 Bardstown Road
For a fancy spot, you can’t go wrong with Jack Fry’s, a longtime Louisville restaurant that was first established in 1933: Jack Fry was a “rambling, gambling kind of guy who loved amateur boxing and race horses,” according to the restaurant’s website. Their menu contains the American staples you’ve come to assume from a classic restaurant (ribeye, pork, chop, salmon), with the quality that you would also expect.
Photo via facebook.com/jackfryslouisvillebar Vetti
727 E. Market St.
For an upscale, modern, Italian experience, bar Vetti is the place to go. This place has the classics that will make your mother happy (pasta, pizza and chicken parmesan) and the dark, almost clubby atmosphere that your cool cousin will appreciate. It’s also a great place to go for a semi-late night bite. Open on Fridays and Saturdays until midnight, come for pizza and dessert.
Photo via facebook.com/barvettiDasha Barbours
217 E. Main St.
There’s debate over whether Louisville is a Southern or Midwestern city, but its cuisine definitely leans toward Southern. And, if you’re looking for Southern food in this in between place, Dasha Barbours is the place to go. You’ll find fried chicken, mac and cheese, collard greens and more.
Photo via dashabarbours/InstagramDistrict 6
3930 Shelbyville Road
District 6 is exactly how you’d imagine a trendy restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The dark, intimate eatery features a modern, gray aesthetic with hanging red lanterns. The restaurant is a gastropub, so expect elevated food, including the short rib pho, featuring a massive “dino beef rib” in a seemingly bottomless bowl of comforting broth and noodles.
Photo via facebook.com/EatDistrict6Dragon King’s Daughter
1126 Bardstown Road; 129 W. Market St., New Albany, Indiana
For a different kind of sushi experience, go to Dragon King’s Daughter where you’ll find rolls wrapped in prosciutto or stuffed with bacon or added mango. If you want tried and true, DKD has that, too, including several types of simple sashimi. There’s also bibimbap and Asian-inspired quesadillas and tacos on the menu.
Photo via facebook.com/DKDHighlandsEden & Kissi
3912 Bardstown Road Suite 101
Eden & Kissi creates Afro-Caribbean food with a French touch, and the best wings in the city, according to LEO’s Arts and Entertainment editor Erica Rucker. She described their Peri-Peri wings as “ordained by the heavens and ebony gods of quality chicken wings and seasoning.” We’ve also heard their oxtail is worth the trip.Copper & Kings Rooftop Bar & Restaurant
1121 E. Washington St.
For a view on the Kentucky side of the river, Copper & Kings’ rooftop bar is a solid choice. Plus, it’s right above this brandy distillery’s facilities, so you can visit after going on a tour. The menu is Southern inspired, with classics such as cast iron cornbread served alongside farm-fresh burgers and a fried pork sandwich. And, of course, there’s a large selection of Copper & Kings liquor, including the distillery’s gin and absinthe creations. In case you’re bored of bourbon.
Photo viaGrind
829 E. Market St.
Arguably Louisville’s best burger restaurant, Grind’s food will impress your carnivorous guests. And your vegetarian ones, because the restaurant doesn’t skimp on its veggie burger, either. Don’t trust us? Guy Fieri’s a fan, having featured the spot on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
Photo via Grind Burger KitchenIndi’s Fast Food Restaurants
Multiple Locations
Indi’s is an ubiquitous Louisville fast food chain with a loyal fan base. At their six restaurants across town, you’ll find rib tips, jack fish, soulful sides and — their most popular dish — spicy fried chicken. Just look out for the red, turquoise and yellow roof.
Photo by James BarberMayan Café
831 E. Market St.
The Mayan Cafe is one of Louisville’s OG foodie restaurants. It started in the 1980s as a food truck and opened as a brick and mortar on Market Street before it became part of the trendy NuLu neighborhood. And throughout all that time, it’s been regarded as one of the city’s best places to eat. Chef Bruce Ucán cooks up Yucatan-style Mexico food in an intimate atmosphere. The tok-sel lima beans are a favorite.
Photo via facebook.com/TheMayanCafe/Nord’s Bakery
2118 S. Preston St.
Every city has a beloved donut shop, and Nord’s is Louisville’s (or, at least, it’s one of the city’s most popular and long-standing shrines to fried dough.) Its glass display cases are filled with long johns, cream-filled delicacies, fritters and more.
Photo via facebook.com/nordsbakeryPayne Street Bakehouse
225 S. Spring St.
At Payne Street Bakehouse, you can pick from 10 styles of bagels and seven types of spreads — or select one of the bakery’s special bagel creations. Whether you make up your own combination (like a rosemary parmesan bagel with lox cream cheese) or let the Payne Street geniuses choose for you, just know that your bagel will be piled high with goodies.
Photo via facebook.com/PayneStreetBakehouseMike Linnig’s
9308 Cane Road
Louisville loves fried fish, and we especially love fried from Mike Linnig’s, which has been in operation in the city’s Southwest end since 1925. Here, you’ll find the battered white cod that Derby City is known for, as well as other fried delights like the restaurant’s famous homemade onion rings and hush puppies.
Photo via facebook.com/mikelinnigsProof on Main
702 W. Main St.
Your guests are going to expect bourbon on their trip, and Proof on Main will grant that wish. This upscale restaurant’s spirits list is eight pages long, six pages of which are filled with bourbons and whiskeys. Proof’s food menu, however, is trim — obviously catering to quality over quantity. A massive plus is that this restaurant is located in the 21c Museum Hotel, perhaps Louisville’s best free art museum.
Photo via .facebook.com/proofonmainBandido Taqueria Mexicana
423 University Blvd, 905 E. Liberty St.
A California-style Mexican restaurant in Louisville, Bandido sells some of the best burritos in the city, including a Cardinal Burrito the length of your forearm. We also recommend their California burrito, which comes filled with french fries.
Photo via bandidotm/InstagramStevens & Stevens Delicatessen
1114 Bardstown Road
Stevens & Stevens is as close to a New York-style deli as you will find in Louisville, although some of its sandwiches have a distinctly Kentucky flavor like the pimento cheese or the benedictine & bacon. The restaurant is also a tribute to New York and its celebrities, with sandwiches named after Jerry Seinfeld and comedian/musician Henny Youngman that you can eat while surrounded by memorabilia honoring them and their contemporaries.
Photo by Robin GarrThe Eagle
1314 Bardstown Road
This one of the few restaurants on the list that wasn’t started in Louisville. But, The Eagle serves fried chicken (a Kentucky legacy) on one of the city’s most active, local commercial strips, Bardstown Road. And, it makes a mean bourbon punch. So we’ll accept it as one of our own. We’d also be remiss if we didn’t suggest you try their macaroni and cheese. Creamy deliciousness.
Photo via facebook.com/TheEagleRestaurantV-Grits
1001 Logan St.
V-Grits makes vegan food but not that healthy stuff. Instead, it’s a Southern vegan restaurant, made to taste as close as possible to your guilty pleasure favorites like fried chicken (actually oyster mushrooms) and loaded mac and beer cheese. While you’re there, enjoy a pint from Chimera, the resident brewery.
Photo via ofacebook.com/vgritsYummy Pollo
4222-B Bishop Lane
You didn’t think you’d find Peruvian food in Louisville did you? But it’s here, and it’s delicious. Yummy Pollo slowly char-broils its chicken on a rotisserie. Eat it with the restaurant’s bevy of sides, featuring yuca fries, cilantro lime rice, pasta salad and more.
Photo via facebook.com/Yummy-Pollo-744499698920470labodeguitademima/FacebookThe Post
1045 Goss Ave.
The Post is arguably the best pizza restaurant in a city of great pizza restaurants. It serves up New York-style pizza with unique flavor combinations in a casual setting.
Photo via louisvillepost/FacebookHammerheads
921 Swan St.
Hammerheads is the perfect place to take the carnivores in your life — even this place’s fries can be cooked using duck fat. There are also lamb ribs, elk burgers, duck tacos and chicken and waffles made with sweet potato batter. Oh, and Beyond and mushroom burgers if you really want to go that route.
Photo via facebook.com/LouisvilleHammerheads
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