Wondering where to eat in Evansville, Indiana?
We know a thing or two about the best restaurants in Evansville. We lived in Evansville for about 8 years, and still live close enough that we’re in Evansville regularly.
During our time there, we did our fair share of eating and learned what is (and isn’t) worth the visit.
Evansville has no shortage of restaurants, both chain and local, so picking where to eat while you’re visiting the area can be overwhelming.
In this post, we’re going to give you our local recommendations for nearly every type of restaurant, based on our actual experience! We’ll also recommend specific items from those restaurants if we have them!
If you choose to eat at any of these restaurants, we’d love to know what you thought about it!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products that I personally would use or do currently use. Please read full disclosure for more information.
How Evansville is laid out:
We’re going to give you the area that each restaurant is in so you know what’s near you. But overall, most of these places will be within a 20-ish minute drive or less, no matter where you are in Evansville.
Evansville is basically sectioned into an east side, west side, north side, and downtown area. We have one big main road that runs east to west- the Lloyd Expressway- that takes you from Newburgh to east side, through downtown, and then to west side.
Newburgh is a separate town from Evansville, but is very close and has a few of the restaurant recommendations on this list.
Henderson is across the bridge in Kentucky, but is actually super close.
Breakfast in Evansville, Indiana
Kite & Key (downtown-ish)
What to know: This place is small and on busy weekend mornings, so it can be hard to get into. We recommend going early or being prepared to wait a bit. It’s a small restaurant with not a ton of seating, but is so worth the wait!
Menu Recommendations: Our go-tos for breakfast here are the Country Ben or the Breakfast Croissant, and make sure you try the german potatoes!
Nellie’s (Newburgh)
What to know: There are two Nellie’s locations in the area- one in Newburgh and one on north side of Evansville. We’ve only been to the Newburgh location, and it has higher reviews on Google, so we would recommend that one. This place does get really busy on weekend days so we recommend going early or being okay with waiting a bit!
Parlor Doughnuts (downtown or east side)
Parlor Doughnuts is now a chain that has a ton of locations around the US, but did you know that it all started here in Evansville, Indiana? So if you’re a Parlor Doughnuts fan, or if you’ve never tried it before, why not try it in the place it all started?
What to know: There are two locations in Evansville, one downtown in a building near the very first Parlor location, and one on east side. Both are great options!
Menu Recommendations: Our go-tos are the Blueberry Hill and the French Toast doughnuts.
Coffee Shops in Evansville, Indiana
We have our fair share of chain coffee shops, like Starbucks, Dutch Bros, Scooters, and Dunkin. But we also have a ton of great local coffee shops, which is what we would recommend checking out!
Honeymoon (multiple locations around the area)
We love Honeymoon, and so does all of Evansville!
What to know: There are a few locations in the area, one kind of between downtown & east side, one on east side, one towards west side, and one in Newburgh. We recommend the one on east side (Burkhardt Rd.), but they’re all great!
Menu Recommendations: If you’re here at a meal-time, they have really good food too! Their bubble waffles are SO good, and we’ve even had lunch items there we’ve enjoyed! For coffee, we like the cold brew with heavy cream & your choice of flavor, but they also cycle through seasonal drinks that are usually pretty good!
River City Coffee & Goods (downtown)
What to know: This place has great drinks, but also a ton of locally made goods!
Menu Recommendations: We really enjoy the chai lattes here! We would say Honeymoon has better coffee, River City is good for chai and things like that!
Lunch/Dinner in Evansville (by genre)
Let’s get into some of the best restaurants in Evansville by food type.
La Campirana (authentic Mexican food- east side)
This place is our go-to for authentic Mexican food. It is incredibly good!
What to know: They’re closed on Mondays. It’s a walk up and order-at-the-counter type place.
Menu recommendations: We usually go here for their tacos, which are unmatched in the area, but Will has also had things like Flautas which he enjoyed. For tacos, our favorites are grilled chicken, al pastor, chorizo, and chipotle chicken. We also have been getting an agua fresca lately, which are always good. If you have room for dessert, they have a great tres leches cake!
Los Bravos (Mexican food- north, west, or east side)
Los Bravos is a local chain Mexican restaurant that is very popular!
What to know: There are multiple locations throughout the Evansville area. We like the west side one the best, but all are good!
Menu Recommendations: Our go-tos are chimichangas, chicken on the beach, or choripollo.
Fiesta Acapulco (Mexican food- Newburgh)
What to know: This place is in Newburgh and a great option for good Mexican food!
Menu Recommendations: Chicken on the beach is usually our go-to here, but they also have great street tacos. Pretty much everything we’ve tried on their menu is great!
Azzip (Pizza- east, west, north, & Newburgh)
Azzip is a local chain that started in Evansville and we love it!
What to know: It’s basically a build-your-own pizza style restaurant. They have seasonal & monthly pizzas, and a few restaurant favorites, or you can make your own the way you want it. There are 4 locations in the area, and all are good!
Menu recommendations: Will’s go-to is the Triple Double, and mine is a garlic butter based pizza with chicken, spinach, and tomatoes.
Tin Fish (seafood- Newburgh)
What to know: We love Tin Fish! It has great seafood, especially for the Midwest. When you go in here, you’ll order at the counter and then pick a seat, just a heads up!
Menu recommendations: We love the grilled salmon, fried oysters, scallops, swordfish, or snapper. They also have great waffle fries!
Gerst Haus (German food- downtown)
If you want some German food while you’re in Evansville, Gerst Haus is for you!
What to know: This place can get somewhat busy, so there may be a small wait during peak times like Friday/Saturday nights.
Yak & Yeti (Himalayan/Indian- east side)
What to know: This place has arguably the best Indian and Himalayan food in the Evansville area. Very authentic and yummy!
Menu recommendations: Our faves are the chicken tikka masala and the chicken chilly, along with vegetable pakora!
Mister B’s (wings & bar food- east side)
What to know: Mister B’s is a local chain known for their wings & pizza, and a sports-bar type vibe.
Menu recommendations: We’ve tried almost the whole menu here and like quite a bit of it. We always get fried pickles as an app (they are the best!), and we usually opt for wings (sweet & spicy bbq or buffalo) and waffle fries. We also like their buffalo chicken mac & cheese, the Mister B’s club, or the Italian ham & cheese.
Homer’s BBQ (barbeque- Henderson)
What to know: This is in Henderson, just across the bridge into Kentucky. You sometimes order at the counter, or sometimes get seated an order, depending on the time of day.
Menu recommendations: Sweet tea, the pulled chicken plate, or the brisket/pulled pork. They have great mac & cheese and fries too!
Wasabi (sushi- east side)
What to know: This is (in our opinion) the best sushi in the Evansville area, especially for the price! All of their sushi is always 50% off.
Menu recommendations: Will switches up which rolls he gets every time, but I have a shellfish allergy, so I cycle between the three non-shellfish rolls I can get, which are the Blue Moon, the Gyoza Roll, or the Happy Sunday. They also have great hibachi meals!
Ma T 888 China Bistro (Chinese- east side)
When we lived in Evansville, we tried a lot of places, and this was hands down the best option we found.
What to know: This is not a buffet, so you’ll have to order by the item.
Menu recommendations: We love their sweet & sour chicken, lo mein, and their dumplings!
Miller’s BBQ (food truck)
What to know: If you want some great bbq in Evansville, you can try to find out where the Miller’s BBQ food truck is!
Menu recommendations: We love their pulled pork mac & cheese bowls! They also have great potato salad and baked beans.
Prime Time Pub & Grill (steak & pub food- Newburgh)
What to know: We’ve only tried this place once but really enjoyed it! If you want a steak but don’t want a chain like Texas Roadhouse or Outback, this is a great option!
Restaurants in Evansville that are recommended by others
There are a couple of restaurants that we have not personally tried, but come HIGHLY recommended by others, so we wanted to mention those too!
Chopstick House (Chinese- east side)
This is a Chinese restaurant that we have heard so many people talk up over the years, but never got around to trying, unfortunately. It doesn’t seem to be a buffet, so you can count on fresher food made to order.
2nd Language- (upscale southeast Asian- downtown)
This is place downtown that has been on our Evansville restaurant bucket list, but we still haven’t gone! They have a ton of unique items, especially for the Midwest, and people around Evansville love it.
You can view their site/menu here.
And that’s the list of the best restaurants in Evansville, Indiana! We hope you find smoething you really enjoy, and we would love to knwo if you stop in any of these places!
If you’re heading to Evansville, what else would ou like us to write a guide for? Let us know!
And if you want to join our newsletter where we share tips for traveling around the U.S., we would love to have you!
Leave a Reply