Highlands Bar & Grill Review

Non-negotiable, and it’s the fancy one: Highlands Bar & Grill is the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant in America, cooking chef Frank Stitt’s French-technique-meets-Alabama food since 1982. Not everything great in this state is fried and cheap — this is the proof, and it’s the meal you save up for.

Why it earns the drive

The national recognition is earned and specific. After roughly a decade as a finalist, Highlands won the James Beard Outstanding Restaurant award in 2018 — the top honor for a single American restaurant — and the same year, longtime pastry chef Dolester Miles took the Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, a rare double out of one Birmingham kitchen. Stitt opened the room on the Southside in November 1982 after training in California and France, and he’s widely credited with putting Southern fine dining on the map.

Three things the accolades don’t capture. First, the cooking is genuinely of-this-place: classic French technique applied to Alabama’s seasonal produce, Gulf seafood, and local meats, not imported luxury for its own sake. Second, the stone-ground baked grits are the dish that carries the legend — a savory signature Stitt has served for decades, and the thing regulars refuse to skip. Third, it anchors a small Stitt family of Birmingham rooms — Bottega and Chez Fonfon — so a great meal here opens a whole city’s worth of good eating.

The move

Reserve weeks ahead — prime weekend tables go early, and this is the marquee dinner reservation in the state. Dress like you mean it; think smart-casual to a jacket, not shorts. Order the baked grits, add the house-made charcuterie or raw oysters at the bar, and save room for Dolester Miles’s desserts. No reservation? The bar seats are first-come and the quiet way in — arrive right at opening for a seat and the full menu.

The honest catch — what to skip

This is a $$$ splurge, roughly $70–120 per person with wine, so don’t wander in expecting meat-and-three prices — treat it as the special-occasion night it is. It’s closed Sundays and Mondays, and holiday hours shift, so confirm before you drive. And skip the impulse to “just pop in” on a Friday without a plan; without a reservation you’re gambling on the bar, and with a big group you’ll wait. Book it, or come solo/for-two and take the bar.

Nearby

Make a proper Birmingham food day of it off the central Alabama hub, pairing the splurge with the cafeteria-line institution Niki’s West, the century-old Greek-Southern room The Bright Star, or a barbecue counter like Dreamland Bar-B-Que. It’s the fine-dining flagship of the whole Alabama guide.