Best Brunch Spots in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina — updated August 24, 2026
Raleigh's strongest brunch rooms are all-day breakfast counters and sit-down kitchens that stop serving in the early afternoon. Here's where the biscuits, the gyro Benedict and the Sunday tables are, plus what closes when.
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Brunch in Raleigh is less a late-morning ritual than an all-day breakfast habit: several of the city's best-reviewed rooms serve eggs and biscuits from opening until 3pm, then close for the day. That also means the busiest ones are dine-in only, take no reservations, and fill on weekend mornings well before noon. The list below runs from the most heavily reviewed Southern breakfast counters to the sit-down kitchens with a defined brunch menu.
1. State Farmers Market Restaurant
The most settled rating on this list: 4.6 across 4,600 reviews, which is a lot of consensus for a breakfast room. Breakfast is cooked to order and served all day until 3pm, and the kitchen's reputation rests on its biscuits. Practical notes matter here more than most places: reservations are not accepted, service is dine-in only, and no to-go orders are taken on Saturday or Sunday. Hours run 6am to 3pm Monday through Saturday and 8am to 3pm on Sunday, and the restaurant is open 362 days a year, closing only for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
2. Big Ed's City Market Restaurant
A downtown institution with 4.6 stars from nearly 3,000 reviews, and breakfast is served all day, so the brunch window is whenever you turn up. The City Market location at 220 Wolfe Street runs Tuesday through Sunday, 7am to 2pm, which means two things: no Monday service, and a hard stop at 2pm rather than the mid-afternoon close common elsewhere. Lunch and dinner items come out from 11am on weekdays. There is a second Big Ed's on Falls of Neuse Road; the Wolfe Street room is the original downtown address.
3. Taverna Agora
The Greek option, and the one with an actual named brunch menu rather than an all-day breakfast list. Brunch runs 11am to 3pm, and the specialties section covers loukoumades doughnuts, baklava sticky buns, gyro Benedict, gyro hash, baked eggs with pita, a feta tomato scramble and a Greek omelet. If you want brunch that isn't biscuits and country ham, this is the clearest alternative on Hillsborough Street. The rating is 4.5 from more than 3,800 reviews, so the number is well tested. Hand-crafted cocktails and a gourmet marketplace round out the operation.
4. Irregardless
A long-running West Morgan Street restaurant holding 4.6 stars across more than 3,200 reviews, one of the highest ratings in this group at that volume. Fair warning: the brief we worked from carries no menu or hours detail for Irregardless, so we can't tell you what the brunch service looks like or which days it runs. The score is the evidence, and it is a strong one. Check the restaurant directly for weekend brunch times before making the trip, particularly if you are coming from outside the Boylan Heights and Warehouse District area.
5. Relish Craft Kitchen & Bourbon Bar
North Raleigh's entry, out on Creedmoor Road, with 4.5 stars from more than 3,600 reviews. That is a well-established rating rather than an early one. As with Irregardless, we have no confirmed brunch hours or dishes to report, so treat this as a place worth calling ahead about rather than one we can describe plate by plate. The bourbon bar in the name suggests the drinks side is taken seriously, and the Creedmoor Road location makes it the most convenient option here for anyone north of the Beltline.
What we left off
The Flying Biscuit Cafe on Clark Avenue has been removed as a chain: it operates multiple locations in the area, including Brier Creek, and this guide sticks to independents. Beasley's Chicken + Honey on South Wilmington Street has also been dropped. Reporting indicates it served its last day downtown after 14 years, so it is no longer a working brunch option in Raleigh.