9201 Best Restaurants in USA

Old-timers will recognize the building as a vintage Taco Bell, but for years it has been the grounded location of a popular food truck. The burgers have that adventurous food-truck flair, and all come with one modest, uniform price, they're topped with fusion combinations such as wasabi mayo and pickled red ginger. A lively little place (open until 1 am), it's adorned with Japanese pop-art, and seems to sell as much beer as soft drinks. There's another location in the Southwest part of town (7365 Buffalo Dr.).

Get a taste of local Japanese culture at this family operation on the main thoroughfare in Moiliili, a mile or so mauka (toward the mountains) out of Waikiki. Open since 1939, the delicatessen offers take-out breakfasts and lunches, Japanese snacks, noodle dishes, and confections—and it's a local favorite for catering, from parties to funeral gatherings. If you're going on a round-the-island drive, this is a good option to pick up a picnic lunch. Try mochi (sweet rice-flour cakes), shoyu chicken, hash patties, garlic chicken, and Asian-style salads. The folks here are particularly patient and helpful to visitors, but it's only open from 6 to 2.

The selection of authentic Chinese restaurants continues to dwindle in the neighborhood, but Full Kee remains a local's favorite. Overlook its unassuming exterior and interior and sample its addictive shrimp or scallops in garlic sauce or try the wide assortment of Cantonese-style roasted meats. Tried-and-true dishes include dumplings, crispy duck, eggplant with garlic sauce, and gingery steamed lobster.

Located on the lobby level of the Virgin Hotels Nashville, the only thing funny about this coffee shop is its eccentric decor. Serving La Colombe coffee, baked goods, and breakfast bites, this is a great space to stretch out and work, relax, meet a friend, or plan the day's events.

This longtime destination serves up capable Chinese take-out from a sprawling second-story space overlooking Broadway Avenue, but when it comes to traditional dim sum service, Furama shines. Steam carts clatter around the floor offering shiu mai, shrimp toast, rice crepes, braised chicken feet, and lo mein to patrons one plate at a time, allowing diners to curate their perfect feast. Large groups will benefit from buying power, because you'll want to try a bunch of menu items. 

Inside a German Village town house, this spot is fancy without feeling stuffy. Locals frequent the bustling bar at night. Contemporary Italian-American cuisine means entrées like chicken-sausage lasagna, grilled marinated quail, or mushroom ravioli on the seasonally changing menu. Check out the intimate outdoor patio, which seats 24 in the summer.

This cozy tavern, once an 1850s-era Colonial home overlooking the Shepaug River, is a nod to George Washington, who passed through the little village back in the day. The chef prepares traditional New England favorites like oven-roasted cod, chicken potpie, and meat loaf, as well as seasonal specialties like soft shell crabs in spring and game throughout the winter.

This is maybe the best example of a Las Vegas adage, "Never judge a place by its ugly strip-mall facade." In a shopping center you'd usually drive by lies a coffee and tea house that's about as beautiful as they come. An indoor greenhouse covers the central kitchen area, amid a well-appointed warehouse feel with plants, art, and cozy seating and a singular three-tiered reading and browsing area (shoes off, please) in back. The coffee's first rate as well, and it's not unusual for customers to take way too long to ogle the display case of delicious-looking pastries or read the full menu of specialty-drink temptations. There's a soup, sandwich, and quiche menu for those who want to extend a coffee break into a meal. Gäbi now has a second location in Henderson (136 N. Stephanie St.).

Local artwork features prominently at this petite, romantic café in a tile-roof cottage. Featuring organic produce from area farms, the seasonal Italian menu might include wild-mushroom risotto; bouillabaisse; marinated chicken with apricots, currants, and olives; and roasted beet salad with wild arugula, goat cheese, and pistachios.

Despite its white tablecloths and refined menu, this small, family-run bistro in its cornflower-blue cottage setting has a wonderful neighborhood feel to it. The Cajun-Creole kitchen originally opened in 1992 and after a brief closing due to Hurricane Katrina, its elevated Cajun fare and friendly service has quickly made its way back into the heart of local diners.

Bold colors play a central role in the look and culinary approach of this trendy restaurant, from the tropical-print wallpaper to the ornately ornamented tableware, and above all else in the consistently delicious Indonesian fare. Roti with coconut-cream corn, braised-beef rendang with kumquats, and Coca-Cola clams steamed with chilis and lemongrass reflect the kitchen's creative and sometimes surprising interpretation of a cuisine that gets very little play in Portland.

In the heart of the historic district, this circa-1789 tavern provides a taste of the interior decoration, cuisine, and entertainment of the early Republic. A strolling balladeer usually makes the rounds on Friday and Saturday nights. The tavern was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, who is commemorated on the menu: George Washington's Favorite is half a duck grilled with scalloped potatoes, corn pudding, rhotekraut (sweet and sour red cabbage), and a port wine orange glace. Brunch is served on Sunday.

Tucked on a unglamorous stretch of Downtown Brooklyn, this restaurant can feel like a delightful 19th-century anomaly. That's no coincidence: Gage & Tollner actually has been around for over 130 years. Today the tastefully renovated space, originally from 1892, is like a trip back in time, with uniformed servers, dark wood trim, huge mirrors and gas-lit lamps. The menu also feels decidedly gilded age, with sumptuous cuts of steak and classic sides, luxe seafood platters, and old-timey desserts like Baked Alaska.  Start the night off with a drink at the Sunken Harbor Club, with nautical-theme cocktails.

Inside this classic gas station–turned–taco shop, meats are spit-roasted and masa is crafted by hand. The casual, open-air space serves counter-service tacos and snacks inspired by Oaxaca and Mexico City, but much of the focus is on the large bar, where seasoned local talents craft rum, mezcal, and tequila-based concoctions. The outdoor seating is expansive, with lush plants.

This unusual watering hole is a welcome breeze of creative cuisine. Appetizers are light and delicate, like seared foie gras and asparagus shrimp risotto. Equally innovative mains include homemade manchego cheese gnocchi, seared duck with sun-dried cherries, and a pistachio-encrusted rockfish. The second and third floors open up to outdoor seating and views of the Bay. The cosmic Star Bar is a hot spot for local celebs and those looking for creative cocktails in a dark hideaway—and it serves tapas until midnight.

When Galena residents Warren and Kathy Bell began a local beer label in 2009, the beer was actually brewed in Wisconsin. Now made locally, the beer has won several awards including a silver World Beer Cup Award for their Uptown Nut Brown Ale. Pair that with an Italian roast beef or pulled pork sandwich, a few tastes off the tapas menu or some simple bar food goodness like beer cheese nachos. Ask about brewery tours, catch a game on the four 55-inch HD TVS, and hear live bands most weekend nights.

Chef Zachary Engel has established himself as a critical favorite for his approach to Middle Eastern cuisine, which merges fine dining technique with big flavors and a disarming sense of humor that’s telegraphed through cheeky menu descriptions (e.g., tehina hummus with “way too much olive oil”).

This credible remake of the famed 1927 Manhattan original offers an old-school carnivore experience inside the cleverly decorated New York–New York casino. The convivial tavern's walls are lined with black-and-white photos of sports stars, actors, and politicos, and the hardwood floors and tray ceilings transport guests directly to Gotham. You can admire the aged steaks in a big cooler visible from the cobblestone promenade near the entrance. The menu's refreshingly simple: pick your main dish (center-cut filet mignon, bison ribeye, and so on) and maybe add one of the six sauces (béarnaise, brandied peppercorn, blue cheese, among others) to accompany it.

This long-established coffee haunt and art enclave features a steady rotation of local artists, with house-made pastries, cheesecakes, muffins, scones, and luscious desserts. Gallery Espresso is a real neighborhood joint and a popular destination for art students, and the comfortable vintage couches and chairs are a great place to curl up with a book.

Colorful paintings and metal wall hangings decorate the indoor dining spaces of this Mexican restaurant whose signature, nuanced mole recipe comes from the family's Oaxaca-born grandmother. Much of the menu—tacos, burritos, enchiladas, carne asada, and chicken in cream sauce—may sound familiar, but the chefs craft them with care, and the chips, tortillas, and sauces are all made fresh daily.

In the original historic gristmill home of renowned Hen of the Wood, which moved onto Waterbury's Main Street in 2023, the restaurant's talented team has turned its attention to pasta, from simply perfect spaghetti and meatballs to elaborately rolled lasagna, all made from scratch.

In business since 1986, this large restaurant in an 1890s downtown building—originally a seamen's boarding house, now filled with Maine art—has a classic New England vibe, dining on two floors, an upstairs lounge, and a large menu to match. Offerings range from sandwiches and small plates to lobster dishes, steak, and seafood, including bouillabaisse with shrimp, scallops, fresh fish, and lobster, served with steamed mussels and grilled ciabatta bread. Painted walls nicely offset the art, which is touted as Maine’s largest private art collection on public display, and the pressed tin ceilings and banister are original. Among the treasures in the Galley Lounge: diamond-shaped windows from a Rockefeller estate and a bank tellers' counter, now the bar.

This stone cottage in the woods, off a winding country road between Boone and Blowing Rock, surprises newcomers with a rotating menu of unusual, sophisticated dishes like grilled elk, antelope Bolognese, bison steak, and other game. In cool weather, there's a roaring fire in the fireplace; when weather permits, eat on the deck with woodsy views.

Inspired by the food of Southeast Asia, China, and Japan, Gan Shan West has an eclectic and inventive menu of house-made dumplings, ramen, soups, and noodles. Choose a table in the colorful petite dining room or sit on the breezy patio.

Scads of neon signs and a pitch-black ceiling high overhead give a night market vibe to this full-service grocery store–meets–food hall, new to the neighborhood in 2024. The food court's the place for Korean tacos, bowls of steaming ramen, hojicha tea lattes, and char siu and egg sandwiches on freshly baked pineapple buns. On the grocery side, you'll find all the Pocky sticks and mochi you need to end your meal on a sweet note.

This crowded, noisy place serves large sandwiches, never-frozen half-pound hamburgers, and hand-tossed New York–style pizzas. In spring and summer you can sit on the garden deck while the kids play in the yard.

The view's the thing at this lakeside stalwart, where you can watch the sun shimmer on the water through the dining room's plateglass windows or from the outdoor deck. Price wise, Gar Woods is a better bet for lunch, when fish tacos and crab and prime-rib French dip sandwiches are on the menu, than dinner, at which grilled steak and fish are the mainstays.

The lobby restaurant at Chinle's Holiday Inn is low-key, a bit lacking in natural light, and rather ordinary, but people come here because it is one of the area's only non–fast food dining options. You can count on well-prepared Navajo and American fare, such as frybread topped with chili and cheese, but be prepared for slow service and no alcohol. It's a reliable—if unspectacular—choice for dinner. Like at any on-site restaurant at a Holiday Inn, kids under age 11 eat for free (two per adult ordering from the main menu, up to four kids total per dinner party).

After marveling at the masterpieces in the National Gallery West Building, sit down in a lovely open courtyard, complete with a fountain. The Garden Café features a selection of sandwiches, pastries, and snacks, and it is also an excellent spot for a coffee with its perfectly crafted lattes.

Before or after a visit to the Sanguinetti House Museum, this adjoining café is a good place to stop for breakfast or lunch. The charming dining spot features lush gardens and aviaries on the outdoor patio, historical photos on the walls, and a menu of homemade salads, soups, and sandwiches. Favorites include the quiche, served with homemade fruit bread, and the tortilla soup. Breakfasts are top-notch, too. One of the best times to visit is Sunday brunch—complete with carne asada, tortillas, potatoes, scrambled eggs, a layered ham-and-egg strata, breakfast meats, fruit, and dessert.