What are the highest rated restaurants in the US?
There is no one definitive answer to this question, as there are many different ways to rate restaurants. However, some popular methods of rating restaurants include customer reviews, expert opinions, and food critic ratings. Some of the highest rated restaurants in the US according to these criteria include The French Laundry in Yountville, California, Eleven Madison Park in New York City, and Alinea in Chicago, Illinois.
6 Highest Rated Restaurants in The U.S. (Make Your Reservations Today!)
How Does a Restaurant Make it to the 'World's Best' List?
You're planning an anniversary dinner with your partner, and you want it to be an outing of a lifetime. The atmosphere, the setting, everything should come together nicely. And of course, the food and wine should be perfect.
Now, in order to hit bullseye, you've got to set your sights on the target. Look up frontline food magazines, ask friends and family for recommendations, and comb the internet. Review the best restaurants of 2022 according to Tripadvisor, OpenTable, and Yelp. Look up detailed ratings and customer reviews on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Or you can simply scan through the World's 50 Best Restaurants rankings!
The ultimate merit card in food service, this is a ranking of the 50 best restaurants from around the world. The list is produced by the 50 Best brand, which is owned by UK media house William Reed Limited.
Here's how it's done . . .
The 50 Best list is put together by members of the World's 50 Best Restaurants Academy. These 1,080 experts from the global Food Industry include restaurateurs, chefs, food critics, and well-traveled gourmets. Restaurateurs and chefs have the largest representation in the voting panel (34%), followed by gourmets and food writers (33% each).
The voting academy is divided into 27 different regions across the globe. Each region is allocated its own voting panel, with 40 members and a chairperson. Every year, new voters are brought in from each region, making up at least a quarter of the quorum. Each member holds 10 votes.
It is mandatory for voters to have dined at their selected restaurants in the 18 months preceding the poll. It is imperative for the dining experience to have taken place at the restaurant itself. Votes cannot be cast for businesses that have closed down, or are slated to shut shop within three months of the rankings being published.
Neither the members of the 50 Best group, nor the sponsors, have any say in the matter, and the voters have to be anonymous. Eateries cannot request to be included on the list, nor can they be nominated by others.
There are no specific criteria of eligibility. However, restaurants that have bagged the top rank and were previously placed in the 'Best of the Best' hall of fame are not allowed to re-enter the contest. The voting process and final list are independently reviewed by Deloitte.
The 50 Best Restaurants Brand and its Offerings
The diversity of the global culinary landscape is reflected in The World's 50 Best Restaurants list. And if you're looking for a place that can give you a distinctive, memorable culinary experience, look no further than the ultimate barometer of global gastronomic trends -- the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants list is much more than a simple ranking. It's an all-round celebration of the culinary arts that encompasses under its broad umbrella events like the
You're looking for restaurants that set the gold standard in dining in the US.
This article rounds up the 6 best eateries in the country right now.
No. 1 - Cosme New York
Cosme, located in the Flatiron district of New York City, tops the 2021 list of Best Restaurants in the US, according to the 50 Best ranking. This high-end restaurant is the brainchild of celebrated Mexican chef Enrique Olvera, who set it up in 2014.
The type of cuisine Cosme serves is contemporary, influenced by Mexican flavors and customs. It seeks to showcase seasonal ingredients from the Hudson Valley and its surrounding areas.
The menu includes such wonders as scallops and bass with shasta tangerine aguachile and octopus tostada with chintextle and sorrel. Corn omelette, quelites; lamb barbacoa; mushroom birria; herb guacamole, corn tostadas; soft-shell crab, avocado, chile morita; and pan dulce are other favorites. The Michelin Guide makes special mention of Cosme's duck carnitas, cobia al pastor, and husk meringue, filled with corn mousse. Desserts include rhubarb tamal with lemongrass, and chocolate flan with tonka bean.
The beverage menu focuses on artisanal spirits like Mezcal. These shape many of the cocktails here, including Cosme's Margarita, Cadillac, El Ninja, Una Noche, and Strawberry Frozen Royale.
Cosme is one of Manhattan's hippest restaurants, and it ranks among the top 25 of The World's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2021. Going by this list, it is the Best Restaurant in the US. Also rooting for it are OpenTable, which gives it 4.5/5, and Tripadvisor, where it scores 4/5.
No. 2 - Benu California
This three-Michelin star restaurant in California's San Francisco epitomizes friendly fine dining. It was launched in August 2010 by chef Corey Lee, a James Beard award winner.
The restaurant makes use of regional ingredients, even as it draws from different culinary traditions, including Cantonese and Korean. The result is a fusion of culinary styles that characterizes modern American food.
The restaurant serves a fixed menu with a large selection of vegetables and seafood, some meat courses and desserts. Benu's star performer is its 1,000-year-old quail's egg dish with cabbage and ginger. Other top acts include beef and oyster saengchae with oyster leaf and radish, and delicate mussels with vegetables and glass noodles.
The service, which is amiable and laid-back, is quintessentially Californian. The layout is relaxed. A tranquil courtyard leads to a ryokan-like facade covered with jasmine. Inside is a modern fusion of maximalist American and minimalist Asian styles, with gilded accents and an earthy color scheme.
Lee, the force behind Benu, has worked at some of the most illustrious restaurants in the world, including Thomas Keller's The French Laundry, where he was head chef. "Benu is open to the influence of all different kinds of cultures," says Lee, "We have Asian influences, of course. We have Western influences. We have influences that are technique-driven. Some are flavor-driven. Some are ingredient-driven. But it accepts all those things and it defines the kind of food we serve."
The restaurant is highly decorated. Apart from its Michelin rating, Benu has won four stars from the San Francisco Chronicle, awards from the James Beard Foundation, Esquire, Eater, the AAA Five Diamond Award, and 5 stars from Forbes Travel Guide. It ranks 28 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2021, and has received 4.7/5 on OpenTable and 4.5/5 on Tripadvisor.
No. 3 - Single Thread California
This restaurant, inn, and farm in Healdsburg, in northern California's wine country, has a husband-and-wife duo offering hospitality and cuisine with a Japanese touch. Single Thread, situated on five acres of land, features a greenhouse, olive trees, chicken coops, and bee hives. The restaurant is steered by chef Kyle Connaughton and his horticulturalist wife Katina, whose farm sustains the restaurant. Katina cultivates specialty vegetables, concentrating on items that are difficult to find in the area, such as Japanese eggplants and carrots, lily bulbs, and ginger.
Single Thread opened in December 2016, and soon caught the attention of food lovers everywhere. It won two, and then three Michelin stars, making it part of an ultra-elite club of only 13 US restaurants that wear this badge.
The Connaughtons have traveled widely. They moved to Japan, where Kyle worked with renowned chef Michel Bras, while Katina learned sustainable farming methods. Then the Connaughtons relocated to England, where Kyle joined The Fat Duck in Berkshire as a chef, working with Food News headliner Heston Blumenthal.
With fresh ingredients provided by Katina, the menu at this restaurant is tuned precisely to each micro-season. So while a smoked Ora king salmon dish with myoga and arctic char roe is a major attraction in spring, pumpkin tartare may be served with Dungeness crab and with a miso-makrut lime foam topping in winter. The chef is a master of the donabe style of cooking (that uses the Japanese clay pot), and showcases his prowess with fish dishes like fukkura-san, which is black cod served over a soup made from ember-grilled fish bones. Delicate buttermilk-thyme sherbet and Japanese cheesecake are some of the dessert options.
The restaurant is artistically designed. Everything in the 55-seat dining room, from the lighting to the furniture, is entirely custom-made. Ceramics from Japan's famed Nagatani family cover the tables, while the donabe (earthenware cooking containers), vases, plates, and other serving items, are made by master potters. Even the insulated water cups are hand-hammered double titanium.
Single Thread won the One To Watch Award in 2018. It has a 4.5/5 rating on Tripadvisor and has received 4 stars from the San Francisco Chronicle.
You're looking to up your restaurant game.
Take a leaf from the playbook of the best restaurants in the country.
No. 4 - Atomix New York
This New York restaurant is also anchored by a husband-and-wife team, Chef Junghyun 'JP' Park and his wife Ellia. Located in Manhattan's NoMad area, not far from Koreatown, Atomix is a Michelin-star restaurant noted for its New Korean cuisine.
Diners are led through the lounge to a 14-seat, three-sided counter, where they can sample signature dishes like mumallaengi-seasoned rice, smoked bonito with abalone, foie gras, and doenjang, and makgeolli ice cream.
A distinctive feature of the restaurant is that every dish you order comes with a brilliantly illustrated card in tow. Inside, you have a translation of the name of the dish from Korean, and also a note on the origin of the dish, its significance, and the ingredients used. Everything in the restaurant, from the bowls and chopsticks to the colors and outfits, has been meticulously thought out.
Apart from Atomix, the Parks also established the family-style restaurant Atoboy. Atoboy is a casual progressive Korean eatery that turns the focus on little Korean side-dishes called banchan, and on the use of French cooking methods in Korean cuisine.
Interestingly, both restaurants carry the word Ato, which has deep significance. In ancient Korean 'Ato' translates to 'gift', and that is exactly what the Parks are looking to give to the world.
The restaurant has a 4.5/5 rating on Tripadvisor, and four stars on OpenTable.
No. 5 - Le Bernardin New York
Le Bernardin is a French fine dining restaurant in New York. Its classic four-course menu is divided into three parts- 'Almost Raw', 'Barely Touched', and 'Lightly Cooked', combining influences from France and other parts of the world, particularly Asia.
The Le Bernardin kitchen excels at cooking fish and crustaceans, and poached halibut, baked striped bass, pan-roasted monkfish, and seared tuna feature in several dishes.
Le Bernardin was originally set up in Paris in 1972 by the brother and sister, Gilbert Le Coze and Maguy Le Coze. At the time the restaurant only served fish. It received its first Michelin star in 1976 and won two more stars four years later. Le Bernardin came to New York in 1986. For the past two decades it has been run by renowned New York chef Eric Ripert.
While seafood continues to be Le Bernardin's specialty, its vegetarian tasting menu has also won acclaim. It includes dishes like warm artichoke panache with Perigord black truffle vinaigrette and vegetable risotto; Himalayan morel; and fava bean and spring pea casserole.
Having won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Service in 2009, Le Bernardin's longtime wine director Aldo Sohm has now established himself as one of Manhattan's finest sommeliers.
Le Bernardin received a four-star review from The New York Times merely three months after it opened. It is the only restaurant in New York that has maintained its four-star status for over three decades. In addition, it received more James Beard awards than any other eatery in New York City, and the New York Zagat Guide has consistently rated it highly. It is ranked 44 on World's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2021. Le Bernardin scored 4.7/5 on OpenTable and 4.5/5 on Tripadvisor.
No. 6 - Atelier Crenn California
Perched on a steep hillside in Cow Hollow, Atelier Crenn provides a tranquil setting away from the rush and din of San Francisco city. Dominique Crenn is the captain of the ship, delivering a multi-course experience in a warm and opulent dining space. Paintings by Crenn's father contribute to the restaurant's aura of warm intimacy, even as its pescatarian menu composed as a poem adds a sense of whimsy.
Crenn's tasting menu, which is based on the idea of Poetic Culinaria (or menus crafted in the form of poems, with every line of the poem symbolizing an individual course), guides diners through a series of mouthwatering dishes like abalone with smoked mussels and cabbage, and spiny lobster with warm ginger-whey foam and dots of apple butter.
Director of Operations Maxime Larquier oversees wine pairings and service, while pastry chef Juan Contreras creates iconic desserts. Everything is served in a balanced manner so that customers are happy, but never overstuffed.
Crenn is the first American woman chef to receive three Michelin stars. A campaigner for LGBTQ and women's rights, she was presented the Icon Award for 2021 by 50 Best. Crenn established her reputation at the fine-dining restaurant, Luce, at the Intercontinental Hotel, where she received her first Michelin star in 2009. She earned two stars in 2012 and was named The World's Best Female Chef in 2016.
Atelier Crenn has been awarded four stars by the San Francisco Chronicle, and has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation. It has a 4.5/5 rating on Tripadvisor and 4.6/5 on OpenTable.
You want to know what makes a restaurant really great.
These restaurants have made it to the top of the charts. They'll show you how it's done.