Milton picked. Here are all 29 winners.

Best of Milton 2026

Best of Milton is settled.

Voting closed last week: 3,534 ballots cast by 346 of your neighbors across 29 categories. We did not nominate anyone, and nobody could buy a spot. Every name below is here because readers put it here.

Here is what surprised me.

Showing up beat being biggest.

CHS JamBEARee won Best Local Festival by five votes over Crabapple Fest, which is far and away the most attended annual event in this town. Smoke on the Farm, one of the newer kitchens in Milton, walked off with two awards.

Neither result is an upset once you see what this ballot actually measured. It was never a survey of what is largest here. It was a count of who cares enough to say so.

And Milton does not read the signs.

Best Coffee Shop went to Whitetail Bicycles & Coffee Company, which is also where you go for a bike. Hyde Brewing, a brewpub, finished second for Best Tacos. Best Nail Salon went to POSH Nails, Spa & Coffee.

A good business in this town just becomes the place people go, whatever it says on the door.

One more, for anyone who figures a single vote does not move anything. Best Burger came down to two votes out of 160, with Olde Blind Dog that close behind SmashBurger by Vice.

All 29 winners and 26 honorable mentions are below. Every one of them got here the same way. Now go be a regular somewhere.

At the table

Best Overall Restaurant Smoke on the Farm Honorable mention: Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails Add to my list

Best Pizza Campania Honorable mention: Vintage Pizzeria Add to my list

Best Burger SmashBurger by Vice Honorable mention: Olde Blind Dog Add to my list

Best Steak Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails Honorable mention: New York Butcher Shoppe & Wine Bar Add to my list

Best Sushi Lily Sushi Bar Add to my list

Best Tacos / Mexican Tres Lunas Infused Tequila Bar Honorable mention: Hyde Brewing Add to my list

Best Sunday Brunch Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails Honorable mention: B&B Tavern Add to my list

Best Coffee Shop Whitetail Bicycles & Coffee Company Honorable mention: The Nest Add to my list

Best Bakery Alpine Bakery & Pizzeria Honorable mention: Theo's Brother's Bakery Add to my list

Best Ice Cream / Frozen Treat MilkShake Factory Add to my list

Best Patio Dining Smoke on the Farm Honorable mention: The Union Add to my list

Best Date Night Spot Lily Sushi Bar Honorable mention: Vice Steakbar Add to my list

Best Bar to Watch Sports Suite 200 Grille Honorable mention: Mazzy's Sports Tavern Add to my list

Out and about

Best Park Bell Memorial Park Honorable mention: The Green in Crabapple

Best Walking Trail Birmingham Park Honorable mention: Providence Park

Best Scenic Road Birmingham Hwy Honorable mention: Wood Road

Best Local Festival or Annual Event CHS JamBEARee Honorable mention: Crabapple Fest

Best Place to Take Visiting Family Scottsdale Farm Honorable mention: Downtown Crabapple

Best Kids' Birthday Party Spot The Painted Horse Winery & Vineyards

Best Golf Course Atlanta National Honorable mention: White Columns

Horses and pets

Best Equestrian Stable / Barn Seven Gables Farm Honorable mention: Fortitude Farm

Best Vet Crabapple Knoll Veterinary Clinic Honorable mention: Family Tree Animal Clinic

Best Pet Groomer Dog Wash Cafe Honorable mention: Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming

Best Dog Boarding Facility Pet Lodge Pet Resort Honorable mention: Ruff House Dog Resort

Looking after you

Best Hair Salon / Barber Reesha Barber Honorable mention: Davao Hair Salon

Best Nail Salon POSH Nails, Spa & Coffee Honorable mention: L’Amour Nails & Beyond

Best Dentist Crabapple Family Dentistry Honorable mention: North Fulton Smiles Dentistry

Best Fitness Studio Onelife Honorable mention: Horsepower Fitness

Best Florist For Something Beautiful Honorable mention: The Wagon at Bethany Bend

Every winner has a permanent page with their award, and the full results with runners-up are on the results page.

See all 29 winners →

Honorable mention is listed where second place was clear. Where a category ran uncontested or second place was tied, we left it off rather than invent a runner-up the votes did not choose.

One favor: when you visit one of these places this week, tell them Milton voted for them. That is the whole point of a local award.

House-hunting after all that eating? Every active Milton listing is on our directory, sorted by school zone, neighborhood, or price, and updated nightly.

Top of Mind

Superintendent Mike Looney announced at the Fulton County Board of Education's Aug. 11 work session that he'll propose a one-mill tax increase at the board's next meeting. For a Milton home assessed at $800K (roughly median), that's an extra $200/year in school taxes. The hike is meant to ease the district's deficit, though Looney didn't specify the deficit's size at the work session.

The board meets next week. If approved, the increase would take effect for the current tax year , meaning the bill you get this fall. Milton schools (Cambridge, Milton High, Birmingham Falls, Crabapple Crossing, Summit Hill, Hopewell, Northwestern) are all Fulton County Schools, so this applies across the city regardless of which school your kids attend.

Watch the board calendar for the vote date. FCS Board District 1 (Sara Gillespie) covers Milton High and Summit Hill; District 2 (Lillie Pozatek) covers Cambridge, Birmingham Falls, Crabapple Crossing, and Hopewell.

Source: Fulton County schools eye 1-mill tax hike to ease deficit

The Drive

Weekend road work hits SR 8 eastbound at Morris Avenue, left lane blocked through the weekend. Minor delays expected, but it's one of several closures around the region if you're heading out: GA 400 northbound has shoulder work near Holcomb Bridge, SR 20 eastbound sees intermittent lane shifts near Canton Street, SR 140 westbound has right-lane closures approaching Cogburn, and SR 9 northbound carries shoulder repairs near Haynes Bridge.

The usual disclaimer applies: if you're doing the Heritage Walk school run tomorrow morning, none of this matters more than leaving five minutes early.

Source: Construction on Road construction on SR 8 Eastbound at MORRIS AVE. Left lane blocked. ew

Council Watch

Council meets Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, and Deerfield runs through most of the agenda. You can sit in Council Chambers or watch the stream.

The centerpiece is a progress update on the South Deerfield Parkway Urban Design Master Plan. Council hired the Canvas Planning Group earlier this month to draw up a framework for the parcels on the southern end of Deerfield Parkway and specific lots along Highway 9, and Monday is the first look at how that fits the larger Destination Deerfield effort.

Alongside it, staff walk Council through the Comprehensive Plan five-year update, including the Future Land Use Map and a new short-term work program naming priority projects for the next five years. That is the document that governs what can be built where, so it is worth more attention than a routine agenda line suggests.

Also up: a public hearing on an alcohol license for the Chevron Food Mart at 13021 Deerfield Parkway, and a resolution sending the draft 2026 Capital Improvements Element, the impact-fee program, to the Atlanta Regional Commission for review.

One more, and it is the good kind. Council will recognize the Cambridge Youth Track team, which trains out of Cambridge High and has built itself into one of the stronger programs in north Fulton in five years. This past season produced 16 USATF and AAU Junior Olympic qualifiers, three USATF Junior Olympic All-Americans, and three New Balance National qualifiers.

Before they vote, you can. We put one real agenda item to you ahead of every meeting, and this month it is whether Milton should activate a Deerfield-focused development authority. Cast yours, and we will print the council's result next to the town's.

You be the council →

Source: City of Milton, August 14

The Roundtable

• →A heat advisory runs through 8 p.m. Sunday, with heat index values up to 109 and the worst of it from late morning through late afternoon. Overnight temperatures and humidity stay elevated too, which is what makes a stretch like this harder on older neighbors than the daytime number suggests. Drink water, stay out of the sun where you can, and check on the people nearby who will not ask. Per NWS Peachtree City.

Calendar

Every meeting below is at City Hall and open to the public.

• →Mon, Aug 17 · 6:00 PM: City Council Regular Meeting
• →Tue, Aug 18 · 6:00 PM: Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA)
• →Wed, Aug 19 · 6:30 PM: Milton Equestrian Committee
• →Thu, Aug 20 · 6:00 PM: Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Meeting
• →Wed, Aug 26 · 6:00 PM: Planning Commission Meeting
• →Thu, Aug 27 · 4:45 PM: Milton Trails Advisory Committee (MTAC) Meeting
• →Tue, Sep 1 · 6:00 PM: Design Review Board Meeting
• →Tue, Sep 8 · 5:00 PM: Milton Sustainability Advisory Committee Meeting

This Week in Milton

• →Sun, Aug 16: Best of Milton 2026: winners revealed , Online at readroundabout.com (free)
• →Sun, Aug 16 · 2:00 PM: Plant Bingo at Six Bridges , Six Bridges Crabapple
• →Mon, Aug 17 · 6:30 PM: Cookbook Club: My Greek Table , Poe & Company Bookstore
• →Tue, Aug 18 · 7:00 PM: Killer Reads thriller book club , Poe & Company Bookstore
• →Thu, Aug 20 · 5:00 PM: Crabapple Summer Stroll , Six Bridges Crabapple, 1850 Heritage Walk
• →Fri, Aug 21 · 6:00 PM: Live Music at Six Bridges , Six Bridges Crabapple (free)

See the full Milton calendar → · Got an event? Submit it

One More Thing

The list is out, the arguing starts now. That is the fun part.

Results, as always, at readroundabout.com/polls.

New this week: a crossword shaped like a football, with clues only Milton would get. It is on the back page with four other games. Play it here.