The Top 25 Places to Eat Near Salt
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A wall of windows faces the Atlantic, which does a lot of the heavy lifting at this fine-dining room inside the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island. The contemporary tasting menu threads European and Asian influences, and the service team remembers returning guests by name, a small touch that lands bigger than it sounds. Book an early table if you want the sunset doing its thing behind your wine glass. AAA Five Diamonds.
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Rank 4. Eggboy
American
A breakfast sandwich counter in Atlantic Beach with a bodega looseness and zero apology for going big. The move is egg-focused sandwiches on brioche French toast or fat flaky biscuits, loaded until structural integrity becomes a distant concern. Cinnamon rolls and loaded spuds round out a menu that treats restraint as someone else's problem. The kind of place where the line moves fast and everyone's wearing the same sandy flip-flops.
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The line out the door before noon tells you everything about how Jacksonville feels about this barbecue joint. It's an industrial space that fills fast, all smoke and noise and long communal tables, with platters of brisket, ribs, and sausage that emerge from the pit with enough seasoning and patience to make the bottle of sauce beside you feel a little embarrassed. An old-school institution in the best sense, without the sentimentality.
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Rank 10. Rue Saint Marc
French
A husband-and-wife team runs this dinner-only French restaurant at the edge of San Marco Square, where the open kitchen keeps things convivial without tipping into theater. The menu runs both à la carte and tasting formats, and the cooking leans seasonal and precise, the kind of place where the sauces are taken seriously and the plating follows suit. Selected by the Michelin Guide.
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Rank 21. Lucky Cat Dim Sum
Chinese
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Rank 23. Colt & Alison
Steakhouse
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Rank 25. Bar Citra
Roman-style Pizza
Coffee shop, wine bar, bakery, and kitchen folded into one room on Ponce de León, Bar Citra leans into a quirky vintage feel without trying too hard about it. The menu is shared plates built for grazing, with Roman-style pizza on a daily rotation and ricotta dumplings swimming in Parmesan broth. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which tracks for a place where the pastry case and the natural wine list coexist without anyone raising an eyebrow.