10 Alabama restaurants to get the best mac and cheese

When it comes to iconic Southern food, macaroni and cheese is certainly near the top of the list.

That’s likely why you can find it on the menu at a lot of restaurants throughout Alabama, which can make choosing where to eat when you’re craving the Southern dish a difficult choice.

Lucky for us, This is Alabama recently asked its followers on it’s Facebook page which restaurants in the state served the best mac and cheese. From off-the-beaten-path barbecue joints to iconic meat-and-threes and more, the answers did not disappoint.

You can read 10 of them below, and you can read all of them on the This is Alabama Facebook page.

Scruggs BBQ

Scruggs BBQ in Decatur, Ala., is known for serving up some seriously good barbecue, but that doesn’t mean you should sleep on the sides it offers. It’s macaroni and cheese being proof of that. It’s the perfect mix of melted cheese and soft noodles with that ooey-gooey factor every great mac and cheese out there has to have.

Real and Rosemary

While a lot of the restaurants readers suggested have been around for years (and even decades), that doesn’t mean you should count out some of the state’s newer recipes. With three locations in the Birmingham area, Real and Rosemary is a great place to get a mac and cheese fix made using simple, who ingredients for that home-cooked flavor that’s hard to beat.

New Market BBQ

New Market BBQ’s smoked mac and cheese is so good that it even made the Alabama Department of Tourism’s list of “100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die” in 2019. As the name suggests, the mac and cheese is smoked in the restaurant’s barbecue pit and topped with their signature rub for a one-of-a-kind flavor you’ll only find at the Madison County eatery.

Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q

One restaurant that came up early and often when readers were asked about where to find the best mac and cheese in the state was Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, which has two locations in Decatur. It seems that during the restaurant’s nearly 100 years in business, it’s learned a thing or two about how to make a classic Southern side like macaroni and cheese stand out -- even when served next to some award-winning barbecue.

Filet and Vine

Filet and Vine in Montgomery, or Derk’s as many locals call it, is a lot of things, including a bottleshoppe, quick market, deli and home to a meat-and-three hot bar serving up some of the best Southern cooking in the Capital City. While it offers more than seven meats and a dozen sides that rotate daily, the homemade mac and cheese, served every day, is one dish you can expect to be a popular pick among hungry diners no matter what else is on the menu.

Pannie-George’s Kitchen

Speaking of meat-and-three spots that know their way around a pan of mac and cheese, Pannie-George’s Kitchen, with locations in Auburn and Montgomery, is certainly one. In fact, we’d say the only bad thing about the restaurant’s mac and cheese is that the dish isn’t offered daily, so you have to keep a lookout for when it makes the menu (and get there early on those days so you don’t miss out on that gooey goodness).

SAW's sides — Side dishes, including coleslaw, turnip greens, grits, mac and cheese, and banana pudding from SAW's BBQ. Photo by Tamika Moore.

Saw’s Soul Kitchen

There are a lot of reasons to love Saw’s Soul Kitchen, from its funky atmosphere to its amazing barbecue, and it seems its macaroni and cheese, offered as a premium side at most of its six locations in the Birmingham area, is another one to add to the list. So next time you’re headed to Saw’s to get your fix of their signature pork n’ greens, maybe get a side of mac and cheese on the side too. Soon, you might be craving it just as much.

City Cafe

With more than 80 years in business, City Cafe has become a beloved staple in Northport, Ala., since opening its doors in 1931. A classic meat-and-three, offering a wide range of homecooked, Southern mains and sides that change daily, it’s likely that many of its loyal customers plan their visit around whether its delicious mac and cheese is on the menu that day.

Niki’s West

With so many tasty offerings to choose from, it says something that the mac and cheese served up at Niki’s West, an iconic meat-and-three in Birmingham, is an easy and obvious choice for many of its regulars. That’s probably why while its menu might change daily, macaroni and cheese can always be found among the sides -- unless, of course, they run out due to high demand.

Jim 'N Nick's Community Bar-B-Q 141124 — Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q was founded by the father-and-son team of Jim and Nick Pihakis in Birmingham, Ala., in 1985. Jim 'N Nick's now has 48 locations in six states, including 17 in Alabama.(Ben Flanagan/bflanagan@al.com)

Jim and Nick’s Bar-B-Q

Jim ‘N Nick’s might have locations in six states these days (including 17 throughout Alabama), but it got its start in Birmingham, and clearly its macaroni and cheese left a mark. Offered on its own as a side or loaded up with pork and served as a meal, Jim ‘N Nick’s mac and cheese was a popular pick among readers, and it isn’t hard to see why.