(Photo courtesy of Thirty-Two)
- Nineteen of Mississippi’s fine restaurants were selected as winners of the 2025 Restaurant Awards, presented by Wine Spectator magazine.
Mississippi is known for down-home Southern cooking. Who doesn’t love fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and cornbread with a glass of iced sweet tea? However, as Mississippians travel more and are exposed to fine dining in other places, their palates evolve, and along with that, so have many Mississippi restaurants.
These days, the Magnolia State has a plethora of restaurants that will easily stand up to places better known for fine dining.
This year, nineteen of Mississippi’s fine restaurants were selected as winners of the 2025 Restaurant Awards, presented by Wine Spectator magazine, recognized as the world’s leading authority on wine.
This year’s awards program recognized 3,811 restaurants worldwide, with dining destinations from all 50 states and more than 80 countries internationally.
The awards are based on a restaurant’s wine list, which Marvin R. Shankin, editor and publisher of Wine Spectator, says it is “a restaurant’s identity in print. This year’s Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winners reflect both deep knowledge and a passion for discovery. We raise a glass to all our winners.”
The Restaurant Awards were launched in 1981 and represent the world’s only program focused exclusively on restaurant wine service. Awards are assigned on three levels: the Award of Excellence, the Best Award of Excellence, and the Grand Award.
The nineteen Restaurant Award winners in Mississippi include:
- CAET Seafood/Oysterette – Ridgeland
- Koestler Prime – Ridgeland
- Phillip M’s – Philadelphia
- The Manship Woodfired Kitchen – Jackson
- Thirty-Two – Biloxi
- Walker’s Drive-In – Jackson
- BR Prime Steakhouse – Biloxi
- Bravo! – Jackson
- Char Restaurant – Jackson
- Coraline’s – Biloxi
- Estelle Southern Table – Jackson
- Jia – Biloxi
- Local 463 – Ridgeland
- Morton’s, The Steakhouse – Biloxi
- Shapley’s – Ridgeland
- Stalla Italian Kitchen – Biloxi
- The Sipp on South Lamar – Oxford
- Weidmann’s – Meridian
- White Pillars Restaurant and Lounge – Biloxi
The Wine Spectator brand is anchored by the magazine, a print publication that is considered the world’s leading authority on wine, reaching around three million readers worldwide. There is also a comprehensive wine site as well as a series of signature events.
Susan Marquez
