Highlands Bar & Grill Review

Closed, and honest about it: Highlands Bar & Grill won the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant award in 2018, then went dark when the pandemic hit in 2020. As of October 2026 it is still closed to the public, and its own website says a reopening date has yet to be determined. Don’t drive to Birmingham for it. Eat at its siblings instead.

Why it still matters

Chef Frank Stitt opened Highlands in 1982 in Five Points South, cooking classic French technique with Alabama produce, Gulf seafood, and local meats. He won the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2001. In 2018 Highlands took the Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant, and longtime pastry chef Dolester Miles won Outstanding Pastry Chef the same year, a rare double for one kitchen.

The pandemic closed the dining room in 2020, and it never came back. In a March 2026 Alabama Public Radio interview, Stitt confirmed Highlands has been closed since COVID and said he still misses it. The Stitts have said they hope to reopen one day, possibly as a reimagined space, and the room has occasionally hosted private events. No date or format has been announced.

The move

Eat at Chez Fonfon or Bottega, the two Stitt restaurants the Highlands website points guests to, both near the Highlands space in Five Points South. That’s where the Stitt cooking lives now. Check highlandsbarandgrill.com before you assume anything changed; this page gets updated when it does.

The honest catch

There is no Highlands meal to book right now. Older guides and reviews still read like it’s open, with reservation tips and price ranges. Ignore them. Until the restaurant announces a reopening, treat Highlands as Birmingham food history, not a dinner plan.

Nearby

Make a Birmingham food day of it off the central Alabama hub 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 all part of the full Alabama guide.