Diners' Choice: Best Food restaurants in South Suburbs

OpenTable

Updated May 05, 2025

Looking for restaurants with the best overall cuisine in South Suburbs? You’re in the right place. Each month, OpenTable analyzes nearly 2 million global diner reviews from the past four months. We sort the results by location and category to help you discover new favorite restaurants. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

Maple Tree Inn

4.8

4.8 (4826)

$30 and under

Creole / Cajun / Southern

Homewood

About the restaurant

Maple Tree Inn was awarded the very prestigious honor of being named in the Top 50 Southern Restaurants In America by OpenTable in 2018. We are proud to announce that the Maple Tree Inn has permanently relocated to Homewood, IL. We have maintained almost 100% of our staff and they have made the move with us.
We are still committed to the art of Cajun/Creole cooking & maintaining our status as the first and longest-running Cajun/Creole restaurant in Chicagoland. We are featuring a menu of our signature dishes including our Hickory Buttered BBQ Shrimp, Country Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Étouffée, and many more! We have boutique wines on draft, signature hand crafted cocktails, and an impressive craft beer list. Our hand crafted, premium cocktail menu highlights the very best of our repertoire. We look forward to hosting you & providing you with all the comforts of New Orleans, just a little closer to home.

Top review

Marco

Dined 1 day ago

Excellent experience!! Great staff and amazing food!!

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Southern Fried Catfish

Bella Mia

4.8

4.8 (2331)

$30 and under

Italian

Midlothian

About the restaurant

From the Italian Specialties to the Steaks and Chops Bella Mia is sure to put a smile on your face. That downtown feel right here in the Suburbs!

Top review

Terry

Dined 2 days ago

Bella Mia is one of our favorite restaurants. It’s always a delicious and enjoyable dining experience, with kudos to the excellent chef and serving staff. I recently celebrated my birthday here and Bella Mia made it a truly memorable, happy event for me and my family.

Sorriso Ristorante

4.7

4.7 (857)

$30 and under

Italian

Frankfort

About the restaurant

Bringing Southern Italian to the South Suburbs of Chicago

With a long standing tradition of bringing quality Southern Italian cuisine to the south side of Chicago, The Greco family is well known for their classic dishes as well as always having exciting, eye-catching, and taste-bud tantlizing specials.

Since 1975, the Greco Family has always been a name synonymous with Fine Italian dining and Sorriso Ristorante continues this tradition of quality and comfort.

Top review

AmberVIP

Dined 3 days ago

The portion sizes are amazing. My filet dinner was cooked perfectly. Thank you for your incredible service.

Palermo's 95th Fine Italian Cuisine

4.7

4.7 (1264)

$30 and under

Italian

Oak Lawn

About the restaurant

For outstanding Italian cuisine, look no further than Palermo's 95th. This family run, award winning restaurant specializes in authentic veal, steak, pasta, and fresh seafood creations for lunch and dinner. Established in 1961 by Ben and Nina Calderone, the family tradition still continues thru their sons, Anthony and William. Sherman Kaplen of WBBM radio says, "Palermo's 95th is a true diamond among the southwest side Italian restaurants!" The grilled shrimp and calamari and the 8-finger cavetelli are outstanding. Plus check out their extensive wine and martini list. Featured on WTTW Check Please!

Top review

DanielVIP

Dined on May 2, 2025

Amazing food as usual! The sautéed chicken is so delicious and my husband’s veal dish was wonderful as well. This is an incredible restaurant that has stood the test of time. Can’t wait to go back!

Francesca's on 95th

4.7

4.7 (1375)

$30 and under

Italian

Oak Lawn

About the restaurant

Francesca’s on 95th is located in vibrant downtown Oaklawn. A restaurant with a contemporary, casually sophisticated trattoria ambiance, rustic cooking, friendly service, and fair prices.

Top review

KatieVIP

Dined 3 days ago

Always a great experience, friendly and delicious!

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Experience

Happy Hour

Dancing Marlin

4.6

4.6 (3290)

$30 and under

American

Frankfort

About the restaurant

The Dancing Marlin is all about small plates, sharing & great wines and cocktails on tap! There also is a full bar. The menu has something for everyone with fresh seafood being a specialty. The culinary team has created a small plates menu that is both affordable and amazing! We feature a communal dining table for up to 14 guests and the suburbs most creative Sunday Brunch. Our bar features 16 wines on tap and 8 "made from scratch", crafted cocktails. The bar also features 30 craft beers in bottles and cans. The restaurant features (3) private dining rooms that can accommodate up to 120 guests. All of this is packaged up in a modern restaurant design, produced by award winning design team. Knauer Inc!

Top review

PaulVIP

Dined 6 days ago

Excellent service from Elsa and a delicious variety of small plates made our experience memorable. Good wine selection too. We also sampled some nicely crafted cocktails.

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Popular dish

General Tso's Cauliflower

Ken's on Western

4.7

4.7 (469)

$30 and under

American

Burbank

About the restaurant

We are about family, tradition, food, libations, classic favorites, great times with close friends. New ideas collide with old school class. Enjoy!

Top review

JudihVIP

Dined 7 days ago

Our server was very good! We had a wonderful dinner

Lou Malnati's - Midway

4.8

4.8 (27)

$30 and under

Pizzeria

Midway

About the restaurant

Whether you’re coming or going, our location near Midway airport is a great destination to grab your slice while in Chicago. At Lou Malnati’s, you can get one of the most authentic Chicago pizza experiences from one of the oldest in the game. Experience Legendary Chicago Deep Dish and thin crust at the place that’s been perfecting it for 50+ years, with family recipes and high-quality ingredients that you just don’t find everywhere.

Top review

Leisly

Dined on May 10, 2025

We had reservation at 8pm on a Friday and the staff was super great in getting us in early (we arrived at 7pm after finishing errand early). The food was AMAZING. We all order personal pizzas and had wings as appetizers. The wings were perfectly crispy and their ranch was the good kind of ranch. The pizza did take a bit longer to arrive. I know deep-dish pizzas probably require longer time to make but the restaurant wasn't too busy but it wasn't a crazy time. We did order cocktails and the ratio of alcohol to mix was well done. Would definitely recommend coming for that Chicago deep-dish pizza experience!

Krapil's Steakhouse & Patio

4.7

4.7 (51)

$31 to $50

Steak

Worth

About the restaurant

Krapil's the Great Steak, a Worth, Illinois staple, serves sumptuous steaks and other classic American fare. It is simply a suburban oasis. An unexpected serene outpost that transports you away from the city hustle and bustle to an old school Northwoods supper club surrounded by giant pine trees. The food is classic supper club fare with some modern twists. The Prime Rib dinner and The Fish fry are staples that will not disappoint. The menu is rounded out with steakhouse specialties and is supplemented by a hospitality level you more commonly found in a downtown restaurant

Krapil's also has the premier patio n the south side with live music on the weekends. There are plenty of private event opportunities available both inside and outside and Krapils has menus to accommodate every occasion and budget.

Top review

Ellen

Dined 1 day ago

Went with a group of 6. Ate inside. Great food, service a little slow but it was busy. Overall a great dinner. One downside is the bathroom situation. There had to be 300 people inside and out and the bathrooms had 2 stalls and were as small as an airplane’s. Wish I was joking. Deceptively large parking lot, which helped.

The Barrel Club

4.6

4.6 (2354)

$30 and under

American

Oak Lawn

About the restaurant

"The Barrel Club invites you to experience a fine collection of spirits in a comfortable yet classy atmosphere to compliment our mouth-watering menu - an experience you are sure to enjoy"

Top review

Felicia

Dined 1 day ago

Phenomenal experience! My family and I had a wonderful and the food was amazing.

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