Alabama Steakhouses | SteakMap

The Best Steakhouses in Alabama

Alabama has 12 steakhouses across 7 towns — Birmingham and Huntsville hold three each, Mobile two, with single rooms in Cullman, Madison and down on the Gulf at Bon Secour and Gulf Shores.

The most famous thing served at an Alabama steakhouse is not a steak. It is a bread roll.

The Alabama Eight

1. All Steak Restaurant (Cullman) — founded in Tennessee in 1934 by Millard Buchmann and moved to Cullman in 1938. People drive here for the prime rib and they leave talking about the orange rolls. More on those below.
2. Le Moyne’s Chophouse (Mobile) — the port city’s serious room, named for the French founder of Mobile.
3. Tom Brown’s (Huntsville) — the independent that locals name ahead of the brands in a city now full of them.
4. Connors Steak & Seafood (Huntsville) — a southern regional group rather than a national one, and reliably good.
5. The Tin Top Restaurant & Oyster Bar (Bon Secour) — a fishing village south of Foley, steaks alongside Gulf oysters, and far better than the building suggests.
6. Jesse’s on the Bay (Gulf Shores) — the beach-season option on Little Lagoon.
7. Perry’s Steakhouse (Birmingham) — known for a pork chop rather than a steak, which is a very Alabama outcome.
8. Stoney River (Madison) — covering the Huntsville suburbs out toward Research Park.

The orange rolls

Cullman sits between Birmingham and Huntsville, population about 20,000. Millard Buchmann started his restaurant in Tennessee in 1934 and moved it here in 1938, and the place has been called All Steak ever since — which is funny, because the item it is genuinely famous for statewide is a roll.

The orange rolls are soft and chewy, glazed with sugar, butter and orange peel, and the recipe is a closely guarded secret. They are on the official list of 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die. People order them by the dozen to take home, and the restaurant ships them.

It is a useful reminder that a steakhouse is rarely only about the steak. The mutton chop at Keens, the hash browns at Gorat’s, the onion rings at RingSide — the signature dish is often the thing beside the beef.

The national chains

Alabama carries a reasonably heavy brand presence for its size. Ruth’s Chris runs four locations in the state — Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile — alongside Fleming’s in Birmingham.

Browse by city: Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile.