RFK Rankings · Savannah
Best Rooftop Restaurants in Savannah 2026
Rooftop & riverfront terraces · Savannah · 6 tables ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published April 18, 2024 · Updated June 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Savannah does not have a rooftop scene the way Atlanta or Miami does, and the reason is written into the zoning. The historic district's 1996 height map keeps almost everything below five stories to protect the squares and the skyline, so there are no fortieth-floor terraces here. What the city has instead is a clutch of low hotel roofs, and the great majority of them are cocktail bars that happen to serve snacks rather than kitchens that happen to have a view. The six below are ranked on the plate first, which in a bar-led rooftop town quietly disqualifies most of the famous names and rewards the few roofs that actually cook.
1.Lavender Rooftop Kitchen & Bar
Savannah's newest rooftop is the one with a real kitchen on River Street. Book it for the best rooftop plate in town.
Lavender opened atop the AC Hotel Savannah Historic District at 601 East River Street as the most food-driven rooftop in a city full of cocktail terraces, and the name says it plainly: this one is a kitchen first. The menu reads Mediterranean, with house croquettes, a High Summer Peach salad at sixteen dollars and a grilled romesco steak among the shareable plates, served over a sweep of the Savannah River. In a town where most roofs send out chips and dips behind the drinks, Lavender actually cooks. Sit on the river side an hour before sunset, and order the croquettes and the steak to share rather than grazing only on snacks.
Book on OpenTable; take a river-side table near sunset and share the croquettes and romesco steak.
2.The Fitzroy
Chef Todd Harris runs Savannah's only Melbourne-style rooftop gastropub. Reserve weeks ahead for the wagyu tartare and a patio table.
The Fitzroy at 9 Drayton Street, off Reynolds Square, is the rare Savannah rooftop built around a kitchen rather than a bar program. Modeled on the pubs of Melbourne's Fitzroy neighborhood and run by chef Todd Harris, it sends out Australian wagyu beef tartare with bone-marrow aioli at eleven dollars, a fennel-flecked lamb burger and a proper fish and chips, eaten either in the moody interior or up on the open-air rooftop patio. The food is the reason to climb the stairs here; the view is a bonus, not the pitch. Go for an early dinner on the patio before the bar crowd arrives, and start with the tartare.
Book on OpenTable; request the rooftop patio for an early dinner and open with the wagyu tartare.
3.Bar Julian
The tallest roof in a five-story city, with chef Victoria Shore's mezze. Come up to graze at sunset, not to dine.
Bar Julian opened in 2021 on the thirteenth floor of the Thompson Savannah on the eastern riverfront, and in a historic district capped near five stories it is, by a wide margin, the tallest rooftop in town. Thompson executive chef Victoria Shore oversees a Mediterranean menu of mezze, whipped feta and a monthly Collaborative Pizza developed with a different local chef, alongside the strongest skyline-and-river panorama Savannah offers. It runs as a bar with food rather than a destination dining room, so the move is to graze. Come up for sunset, order the mezze and whipped feta to share, and let the view do the heavy lifting.
Book on OpenTable; arrive before sunset, claim a terrace lounger and graze the mezze.
4.Rocks on the Roof
Savannah's original rooftop, perched over the river since 2009. Try it once for the crab cake sliders and a captain's-chair sunset.
Rocks on the Roof sits atop the Bohemian Hotel Savannah Riverfront at 102 West Bay Street, the Kessler Collection hotel that opened in 2009, which makes this the original Savannah rooftop and still the one with the best straight read of the river traffic. The kitchen runs a globally inflected New American small-plate menu shaped by the port's history: jumbo lump crab cake sliders at twenty-eight dollars, blackened fish tacos at twenty-one and Georgia beef sliders at twenty-three, plus black-eyed-pea hummus. It is a lounge with real food rather than a formal room. Take a rail seat at dusk, order the crab cake sliders and watch a container ship slide past City Hall.
Book on OpenTable; grab a river-rail seat at dusk and order the crab cake sliders.
5.Peregrin
A conservatory-style roof at the Perry Lane, rebuilt with SCAD in 2024. Pencil it in for botanical cocktails and globe-trotting bites.
Peregrin crowns the Perry Lane Hotel, the Luxury Collection property that opened downtown in 2018, and it was rebuilt from the ground up in March 2024 in partnership with SCADPro into a conservatory-inspired indoor-outdoor room. The kitchen sends out globe-trotting small plates, Indian samosas and Spanish patatas bravas among them, alongside the botanical cocktails the room is known for and an unobstructed read of the Historic District rooftops. It leans more toward a stylish drinks-and-bites perch than a full dinner, which suits the menu's grazing format. Come at golden hour, settle into the conservatory side if the weather turns, and order across a few countries.
Book on OpenTable; arrive at golden hour and order the samosas and patatas bravas to share.
6.Myrtle & Rose Rooftop Garden
The prettiest rooftop garden in Savannah, an OpenTable Diners' Choice room. Save it for the three-course weekend brunch.
Myrtle & Rose tops the JW Marriott Savannah Plant Riverside District at 500 West River Street, the riverfront complex that opened in 2020, and it is the most beautiful rooftop in the city, an actual planted garden of olive and lime trees over the water. An OpenTable Diners' Choice room, it is built around botanical cocktails and shareable bites by day and a three-course rooftop brunch at thirty-eight dollars per person on weekends, with a gathering board and a tower of petit fours from its pastry team. The cooking plays second fiddle to the setting and the drinks. Book the weekend brunch with a reservation, and add the bottomless mimosas if the occasion calls for it.
Book on OpenTable; reserve the weekend rooftop brunch and request a table by the garden rail.
Avoid for a rooftop dinner
Great view, wrong room for dinner
The Lost Square at The Alida Hotel. The Lost Square is a cocktail-led rooftop on Williamson Street with shareable Mediterranean plates and river views, built for drinks and a crowd rather than a sit-down dinner. Go up for a sundowner, then eat elsewhere.
Pendant Terrace at The Drayton Hotel. Pendant is an event-and-cocktail terrace over City Hall with small plates and a wedding-venue calendar, not a dinner kitchen. The City Hall view is the draw; the food is an afterthought.
How to book a Savannah rooftop
Savannah rooftop dining clusters along the river, from River Street up to Bay Street and across to Plant Riverside, and the line between a kitchen and a cocktail deck matters here more than almost anywhere. The food-led seats are Lavender's river side on the AC Hotel and The Fitzroy's patio off Reynolds Square; the view-led ones are Bar Julian's thirteenth floor at the Thompson and Rocks on the Roof's river rail at the Bohemian. Myrtle & Rose's weekend brunch at the JW Marriott needs a reservation, and Peregrin's conservatory at the Perry Lane is the weatherproof choice when a summer storm rolls in off the coast. Everything takes bookings on OpenTable. Aim for a seating about an hour before sunset for the light on the water, confirm the open-air decks are running if the forecast looks unsettled, and book ahead on a weekend when the historic-district crowd fills every riverfront table.
Frequently asked
Which Savannah rooftop restaurant has the best food?
Lavender Rooftop Kitchen & Bar atop the AC Hotel on River Street and The Fitzroy off Reynolds Square are the two strongest rooftop kitchens in Savannah. Lavender runs a Mediterranean menu of croquettes and a grilled romesco steak with a High Summer Peach salad at sixteen dollars. The Fitzroy, run by chef Todd Harris, sends out Australian wagyu tartare and a lamb burger. Both cook rather than just pour. Book either for an early dinner.
What is the highest rooftop in Savannah?
Bar Julian, on the thirteenth floor of the Thompson Savannah on the eastern riverfront, is the tallest rooftop in the city. Savannah's historic district caps most buildings near five stories under its 1996 height map, so there are no skyscraper terraces here. Bar Julian's Mediterranean menu from chef Victoria Shore comes with the widest river-and-skyline panorama in town. Come up about an hour before sunset for the best light.
Why does Savannah have so few rooftop restaurants?
Savannah's historic district height ordinance, formalized in a 1996 height-development map, keeps most downtown buildings below five stories to protect the squares and the skyline. That means almost every rooftop sits atop a low hotel rather than a tower, and most run as cocktail bars with snacks rather than full kitchens. The handful that genuinely cook, led by Lavender and The Fitzroy, are the ones worth ranking for dinner.
Which Savannah rooftop is best for a view of the river?
Rocks on the Roof at the Bohemian Hotel on Bay Street has the most direct read of the Savannah River and its ship traffic, and it has held that perch since the hotel opened in 2009. Bar Julian, thirteen floors up at the Thompson, offers the widest panorama, while Lavender and Myrtle & Rose sit right on the water at River Street and Plant Riverside. Take a rail seat at dusk.
Is Bar Julian a restaurant or a bar?
Bar Julian runs as a rooftop bar with a food menu rather than a full dining room. Thompson Savannah executive chef Victoria Shore oversees a Mediterranean lineup of mezze, whipped feta and a monthly Collaborative Pizza made with a guest local chef. It is best treated as a place to graze over cocktails with the city's tallest view, not as a sit-down dinner destination. Go for sunset and share plates.
Do Savannah rooftops take reservations?
Most do. Lavender, The Fitzroy, Bar Julian, Rocks on the Roof, Peregrin and Myrtle & Rose all take bookings on OpenTable, and Myrtle & Rose's weekend rooftop brunch specifically requires a reservation. Walk-ins are easiest on weekday evenings; weekend sunsets fill fast across the riverfront. Aim for a seating about an hour before sunset, and confirm the open-air deck is running if the forecast looks unsettled.
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