The Atlanta Cornbread Power Rankings

These muffins are cloud-soft and melt in your mouth like warm honey. Buttery and thick, they’re almost cake-sweet, but not so sugary it’ll start a turf war with TDH’s honeyed baked beans. The muffins are only available as part of a BBQ plate for takeout orders, or you’ll have to dine in if you just want the muffins. We know this because we do it regularly.

Though not your traditional cornbread, Southern National’s johnny cakes have a nutty cornmeal flavor but with the chewy softness of a griddle bread. The jalapeño gives the perfect kick to balance the syrup-sweetened butter.

Lickety Split’s cornbread muffins have a crunchy crust and pancake-like texture. And as the aunties would say, they’re sugar-kissed—just the right amount of sweetness to sop up your savory soul food sides.

While it’s on the appetizer section of the menu, this sweet, cake-like cornbread is damn-near a dessert. It comes fresh from the oven in a skillet topped with a scoop of butter and a blueberry compote.

Order this skillet cornbread as a starter, and then order it again to eat with your main entrees. And hell, order one to-go. If you’re like us, you’ll find the buttery, pillowy bread too comforting to separate from.

Crispy-edged cornbread muffins come free at South City Kitchen, which is great because they’re honey-sweet with a bouncy, moist interior. Order a peach mint julep too, and prepare to talk like Leghorn Foghorn for the rest of dinner.

The cornbread is the best thing (by far) on the menu of this hotel restaurant in Midtown. But you'll need to keep an open mind. They're made with blue corn, look like brownies, but lean savory. The triangles come out moist, steaming hot, and will melt on your tongue, especially if slathered in the whipped honey butter.

The subtle sweetness of Paschal’s cornbread muffins work well to balance out the restaurant’s heartier sides like sweet candied yams or earthy collard greens. They're moist with crisp edges, and won’t fall apart like the Falcons’ fourth quarter lead.

The cornbread muffin at Busy Bee rides the middle lane between sweet and salty. It’s soft but still sturdy and works well for sopping up smoky, savory greens.

If you’re judging these room temperature, pre-sliced slabs by their extremely average appearance, don’t. The super moist, sticky-sweet bread is worth every ounce of effort it takes to unwrap it from its cellophane chamber. Just prepare for a lap full of crumbs since the delicate cornbread breaks up like a ’90s boy band.