USA TODAY Network food journalists from across the country pooled their expertise to select the USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year 2025 list, which include the places they know, love and recommend.
Pensacola’s Pearl & Horn, championed by owner and executive chef George Lazi, made the list. This is the second time a Pensacola restaurant received USA TODAY’s recognition, as Brother Fox, an old-world, Spanish inspired restaurant led by executive chef Darian Hernandez, was selected as a USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year recipient in 2024. However, there are still many other restaurants worth celebrating in the Pensacola area.
Here are six other spots that we wish were on this year’s Restaurants of the Year list.
Pensacola restaurant named one of best in U.S.
How many have you been to? Check out USA TODAY’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year.
Restaurant IRON
22 N. Palafox St., Pensacola; 850-476-7776; restaurantiron.com.
Restaurant Iron in downtown Pensacola offers its diners a unique and varied menu with culinary treats like this Foie Gras, PB & J.
Restaurant IRON’s little slice of North Palafox Street delivers big-time on innovative flavor profiles, handcrafted cocktails and culinary professionalism you can watch fist-hand from a seat at the coveted chef’s table. Executive chef Alex McPhail leads the helm of team IRON, executing a “refined Southern” dinner menu on Tuesday through Saturday nights. While the menu changes seasonally, some of the IRON menu items have become staples including the black garlic butter gnocchi and escargot, foie gras “PB & J” and their spin on chicken and dumplings. Each dish is made to order, but while you’re waiting for your meal, you can indulge in a house cocktail, such as the Iron Goddess topped with elderflower egg white foam. The carefully curated menu offers plenty of opportunity for a meal unlike anything else in the city.
How did we do it? Inside look at how USA TODAY chose its Restaurants of the Year for 2025
Union Public House
36 E. Garden St., Pensacola; 850-607-6320; unionpensacola.com.
North Carolina Sunburst Trout entree at the new location of the Union Public House at 36 East Garden Street in Pensacola on Friday, Aug, 25, 2023.
When Pensacola chef Blake Rushing opened a little public house in a former 1934 Salvation Army building in 2016, little did he know it would evolve into one of the most visually striking restaurants in downtown Pensacola. Rushing reopened UPH in its brand-new location in 2023, offering more opportunity for menu items and an increased dining area. While the sparkling new restaurant appears to be straight out of a magazine, it is filled with little quirks that affectionately nod to the outlandish spirit of the original location – including a graffiti painted refrigerator, dessert cookie jar and floral artwork affectionately alluding to local dive bars. UPH offers lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. You can choose your own adventure when it comes to your order, whether you would prefer a plate of collard-wrapped, pot liquor-poached Gulf fish or an open-faced brisket patty melt. Either way, you’re stepping straight into Rushing’s imagination.
See last year’s list Check out USA TODAY’s 2024 Restaurants of the Year.
Agapi Bistro + Garden
555 Scenic Highway, Pensacola; 850-813-5683; myagapi.com.
An Herb Crusted Lamb Rack at Agapi Bistro + Garden at 555 Scenic Highway in Pensacola on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021.
Despite being open for over three years, Agapi Bistro + Garden is still a true Pensacola hidden gem nestled in the East Pensacola Heights neighborhood. The Mediterranean-inspired restaurant, led by owner and executive chef Gus Silivos, is filled with whimsy, charm and little delights at every corner with the staffs’ sole mission being to ensure their guests have a special experience. The heart of the restaurant is playing off the Greek idea of community and love, and the menu reflects that. Fresh loaves of sourdough and baguettes are baked daily, waiting to be shared amongst friends with whipped sweet cream butter, pesto Genovese, olive oil and fresh herbs accompanying them on the side. Cocktail samplers allow you to choose three handcrafted cocktails to taste and compare. A monthly special menu allows you to taste something unique and seasonal every visit. The dessert “chocuterie” allows you to indulge in a tasting board of house-curated chocolates and mixed fruits. It’s more than a meal at Agapi, but truly an experience.
McGuire’s Irish Pub
600 E. Gregory St., Pensacola; 850-433-6789; mcguiresirishpub.com.
McGuire’s Irish Pub has a storied past in Pensacola. To paint the picture – the words “feasting,” “imbribery” and “debauchery” are tied to the restaurant’s namesake by the company itself. The Irish pub is nothing new to the Panhandle, as it first opened in 1977 as a neighborhood pub before moving to its current location in 1982. However, the restaurant is on every tourist’s bucket list and is the backdrop of at least one of every local’s stories. While the 615-seat pub offers top-of-the-line, prime steaks, pastas and seafood dishes – it’s done in a high-energy, borderline rambunctious fashion, often with loud, live entertainment, low red lighting and thousands of dollar bills pinned to the ceiling. If you’re leaning into the Irish spirit, don’t forget to a try a signature Irish Wake cocktail or their original Reuben egg rolls.
The Burrow
1010 N. 12 Ave., Pensacola; 850-512-7095.
Executive chef Amy Potmesil fills a pot of mussels with hickory smoke at The Burrow, the new Odd Colony Biergarten, at the old Sacred Heart building in Pensacola’s East Hill on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024.
The Burrow, which opened earlier this year, is the newest restaurant on the list, but has quickly secured a place for good reason. From the makers of Odd Colony Brewing Co. came their sister project, The Burrow, which transformed the basement of the former Sacred Heart Hospital into an eclectic gathering space with a killer food and drink menu. Chef Amy Potmesil expertly designed a menu that matched the bar and restaurant’s intrigue. The smoked mussel starter for example, doused in a drinkable broth using the brewery’s original beer, is served in a cast iron pot that ejects a hickory smoke when opened, resembling a campfire that matches The Burrow’s logo and theme. The menu is also filled with plenty of other showstoppers that nod to the Southern region, including the massive hot honey fried chicken sandwich and seared Gulf shrimp and grits dressed atop a bed of white cheddar heirloom grits with smoked ham hock, tomato pan jus, roasted play of sunlight mushrooms and crispy onions. While the restaurant was designed by beer brewmasters, don’t sleep on the handcrafted cocktails.
Atlas Oyster House
600 S. Barracks St., Pensacola; 850-470-0003; atlasoysterhouse.com.
New to the Atlas Oyster House menu is the Girl Next Door. Great Southern Restaurant Group and Executive Chef Jason Hughes have revamped the menu at Altas and renovated the dining room.
When looking to eat where the locals do in Pensacola, Atlas Oyster House couldn’t fit the bill more. Established in 2002, Atlas was the place locals would flood for fresh oysters and waterfront views without the hustle and bustle (and traffic) of Pensacola Beach. When the restaurant was renovated in 2023, it carried over that same trusted reputation but added creative new menu items championed by executive chef Jason Hughes and a fresh set of thoughtfully curated nautical décor. Not only will you find some of the freshest seafood around, but with a playful twist you may not have tried before. Take the Maine lobster tail, for example. One of the ways Hughes serves it is in a blanket of C & D Mill cornmeal tempura served with a side of tangy slaw and cane syrup creole mustard for a spin on a comforting lobster corn dog. Other noteworthy items include crawfish pot pie, firecracker calamari and Hughes’ signature entrée: the Girl Next Door prepared with jumbo Gulf shrimp, brie rice grits, roasted local corn, tomato, house-smoked tasso and lemon leek cream.
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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: 6 Pensacola restaurants we wish made USA TODAY Restaurant of the Year
