9201 Best Restaurants in USA

Given a fresh makeover and much-improved menu in 2009, the atmospheric restaurant and bar inside the creaky old St. James Hotel now makes for the town's only notable dining option (and it's open for three meals a day). The kitchen mostly focuses on traditional American favorites, such as T-bone steaks, deep-fried catfish, and chicken-fried steaks, but several New Mexican dishes are offered, too, including hearty stuffed sopaipillas.

Low lighting and lots of bare wood give this family-friendly restaurant about 5 mi northwest of Prattsville a roadhouse-like aura. The building dates from the turn of the 20th century and has a storied history; during Prohibition one enterprising owner set the attic on fire when his still blew up. The menu is loaded with well-prepared American favorites such as burgers and fries, steak-and-potato dinners, shareable appetizer baskets, and scrumptious homemade desserts—save room for co-owner Jennifer's apple crisp. Simple, reasonably priced rooms upstairs and a sizable cottage out back are available for rent. You might have company if you choose to stay here; guests have reported benign ghostly visitors.

You'll find everything from grilled artichokes to quail at this casual eatery, but most people come for the smoky Santa Maria–style barbecue. Be sure to try a glass of owner-chef-winemaker Frank Ostini's signature Highliner Pinot Noir, a star in the film Sideways. Lunch and snacks are available earlier in the day at the Hitching Post Wines tasting room next door.

The owners' passion for locally sourced ingredients is reflected in the menu here, with likes of burgers made with locally raised beef, coffee served with milk from nearby cows, and herbal teas from a local producer. The sandwiches, wraps, tacos, and salads are healthy and delicious, and the house-made sno-balls are a wonderful treat, especially in the heat of summer. Take food to go, or swing by with a book while enjoying a tea or coffee. There is also a retail section with gifts from local makers.

There will be no quiet conversations here, just a loud dose of kitsch at this gargantuan offshoot of Munich's most famous brewery. Pair your beer with hearty Bavarian classics, including Schnitzel with mushroom sauce, and marinated pot roast with wine sauce and red cabbage, or updated dishes such as chicken schnitzel salad or vegan frankfurters. For dessert, try apple strudel or Black Forest chocolate cake.The interior beer garden can make you feel like a tourist within a tourist town. As you down a brew in those notorious liter mugs, the drinking contests and strolling musicians somehow become more and more agreeable on too-hot Vegas evenings. Just save room for ... more beer.

Head to Hofer's for authentic, stone-hearth, oven-baked breads and pastries, as well as specialties like Wiener schnitzel and bratwurst. On weekends May through mid-November, grab a table at the outdoor biergarten and enjoy live music along with your meal. Although there are several "tourist trap" German restaurants in Helen, this longtime local favorite is the real deal.

You can dine by a fireplace in this late-17th-century stone house, a National Historic Landmark. Try the aged steak or the special seafood of the day. On Saturday night, prime rib is served with Yorkshire pudding. The homemade pastas are also a treat. The dessert menu includes several types of cheesecake and a warm fruit cobbler in season. In summer, ask to sit on the patio.

Part barbecue joint, part seafood shack, Hog Heaven has a wonderful smoky aroma that perfumes U.S. 17 as you approach. Pulled-pork barbecue has the tang of vinegar and the taste of long hours in the pit. Although sandwiches are available, the buffet, which includes fried chicken, greens, and sweet potato casserole, is the main event. Add on all-you-can-eat shrimp, or, during winter, local oysters, for a true surf-and-turf feast.

The fare at this spot attached to the NavajoLand Hotel is mostly Southwestern and American, but the kitchen also serves a few basic Mexican and Navajo dishes. Highlights include tasty barbecue ribs, mutton stew, and Native American beef. The chicken fajitas and pork tamales are also quite good. From Tuesday through Friday, the restaurant offers a themed lunch buffet (Mexican, Navajo, Asian, or BBQ).

It's worth a drive to Stock Island for a meal at this down-to-earth spot, where hogfish is, of course, the specialty. Favorites include the "Killer Hogfish Sandwich," which is served on Cuban bread (be sure to sprinkle it with one of the house hot sauces), as well as the hogfish tacos, gator bites, lobster BLT or pot pie, pulled-pork sandwich, and barbecued ribs.

This reliable sushi joint has friendly service and particularly good rolls, including fun ones like the Hollywood—a massive creation with tempura shrimp, avocado, salmon, and eel sauce. Near the bottom of Chestnut Hill, Hokka Hokka also serves a variety of tempura and other Japanese dishes for the non–sushi eater.

Sample sushi and other tidbits are served beneath handcrafted Japanese lanterns at this informal spot. Spider rolls, hot crisp-fried soft-shell crabs in cool nori-wrapped sushi rice, are a delight. Or you can start with the spicy noodle soup or tempura appetizer, and then move on to a Maui roll with tuna, mango, red onion, cilantro, and special sauce, or a baby octopus salad.

Everything feels like a Roaring '20s party at the FiDi's go-to glamorous restaurant-bar for power lunches and celebratory happy hours (there are switches at each table to summon champagne and martini carts), except it actually only opened in a different '20s decade (2023). The food could coast in mediocrity because of the elegant, eye-catching environs; but thankfully it doesn't, thanks to sharp dishes like a fantastic petrale sole with hazelnut brown butter that will win over any skeptic of that oft-ignored flaky fish. The adjacent glass-ceiling atrium, known as the Conservatory at One Sansome, is utterly spectacular and often used for extra seating.

Fuel up for a beach day at this bustling family-owned breakfast and lunch spot, where options range from a kombucha and a cruller to a balsamic-drizzled veggie wrap and an iced chai latte. Guests order food at the downstairs level, confronted by an array of decadent baked goods (hand-cut doughnuts are a specialty), and take it to go or eat in the upstairs solarium or at a picnic table next to the parking lot.

Locals love the scrumptious taro-based confections and delightful coffee beverages created by this family-run outfit. Fried in coconut oil, the doughnuts are known for their light texture, splashy colors and designs, and sophisticated flavors, as well as fun names like Island Chocolate, Pineapple Express, Miso Honey, Kale’n It, and Prosperity (with kumquat and poppy seeds). Inquire about the weekly tasting boxes (of four) and seasonal specialties. There’s no seating, but it’s an easy walk to the beach. Other locations are in nearby Ward Village; on the island of Kauai; and in Los Angeles.

This family-style restaurant is reason enough to stop in Grasonville. Watch for its sign off Route 50. Holly's specializes in all the Eastern Shore favorites, including a spectacular crab soup and crab cakes, but the fried chicken is the real attraction. Down-home and unpretentious, this is the real thing.

Disney Channel stars come to life at this restaurant (a great choice for toddlers) through its Disney Junior Play n' Dine breakfasts. Vampirina, along with friends of Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins, are among the cheerful characters marching around the room, singing and dancing to the delight of energetic fans. During lunch and dinner Minnie takes over the dining room, offering seasonal events where she and her friends don various costumes. The buffet features entrees such as carved turkey breast or beef tenderloin, or macaroni and cheese with shrimp.

At this reproduction of the famous 1940s Hollywood favorite, the walls are lined with caricatures of old-time movie stars, and the specialty is a Cobb salad, which was invented by Brown Derby founder Robert Cobb and is still tossed table-side. Waiting for a table might take a while, so as an alternative, try the outdoor lounge, where you can order appetizers and drinks. Other menu choices include filet mignon and seafood cioppino.    If you request the Fantasmic! dinner package, make a reservation for no later than two hours before the start of the show.

Locals and tourists alike flock to this affordable ice cream parlor for fresh, creamy ice cream cones and concoctions. The sundaes are sublime and the whipped cream is homemade. There's often a line out the door but it moves fast.

Don't pass up a chance to try these sweet and savory, all-natural, Maine potato-based doughnuts glazed in flavors such as dark chocolate--sea salt, maple, pomegranate, triple berry, and chai, or stuffed with delicious fillings like bacon and cheddar or ricotta. There are always new inventions, too, such as salted chocolate caramel and key lime pie.

Don't fill up on the tortilla chips at this Tex-Mex joint. They are so tasty that you might miss the rest of the menu, which includes vegan and vegetarian options, as well as standards like fish tacos and fajitas. A big patio makes this a big sunny-day draw, especially with the organic margaritas featuring rotating flavors fresh from local farmers' markets.

Southern comfort food at its finest can be found at this bright, old-school diner. Cheese grits with a good cheddar bite, fluffy biscuits that can be stuffed with anything from sausage and gravy to perfectly fried chicken, and hunks of made-from-scratch cake are just a few of the reasons locals flock to Home grown. Before you leave, browse the in-house thrift store—an appropriate backdrop to the eclectic atmosphere and crowd at this restaurant.  Arrive before 11 for the shortest wait, or grab a seat at the counter.

There's a decidedly Mexican influence at this popular place, with breakfast choices including migas, huevos rancheros, and a burrito, and a list of tacos highlighted on the lunch menu. You'll also find a little Asian influence in the breakfast fried rice and a banh mi, as well as plenty of good old American dishes. Both breakfast and lunch are served from opening to closing time. All of the breads, biscuits, sticky buns, desserts, and more are scratch-made at the restaurant's bakery (open to the public), two blocks away.

This bar and restaurant swiftly earned the endorsement of even the old-school barbecue set (the restaurant's newfangled pork tacos notwithstanding), and Home Team has done so with time-honored adherence to the oft-preferred technique of low-and-slow grilling, producing St. Louis–style ribs and traditional smoked pork and chicken. Side offerings are a good measuring stick for any barbecue joint, and they deliver with mashed potatoes, collard greens, red rice, baked beans, poppy-seed slaw, and potato salad. West Ashley's location is the original, but Home Team has grown—there's also a downtown location on Williman Street, an outpost on Sullivan's Island, and a satellite operation in Aspen, Colorado.

In the back corner of Dan's Food Market, this homey little bakery turns out delicious breads, muffins, cakes, cookies, and pastries. Take a cinnamon roll or berry pie—and an espresso—to go.

This friendly gastropub in Old Town Florence—a couple of blocks north of the riverfront—specializes in locally sourced, creatively prepared American fare and offers a well-chosen list of Oregon beers on tap, plus local spirits, iced teas, and kombucha. Stop by for lunch to enjoy the lightly battered albacore fish and hand-cut fries with tartar sauce, or a cheeseburger topped with Rogue River blue and served with marinated vegetables and local greens.

Bring a big appetite with you on the drive up and over Catawba Mountain to get to the Homeplace. Famished Appalachian Trail hikers and diners in their Sunday best eat side by side family-style in this farm home in a tiny country hamlet—so come as you are. Old-fashioned cooking is dished up with all-you-can-eat fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, pinto beans, baked apples, and hot biscuits. It's a popular spot, so be prepared for about a 30-minute wait.

This cozy restaurant makes you feel right at home with its 1950s kitschy vinyl chairs and tables, and decor to match. Anyone with a sweet tooth will love the homebaked desserts like carrot cake roulade and tiramisu that are on display behind the counter, but you'll still find healthy fare like curried beet, apple, walnut, and goat cheese salad (all local ingredients) or a grilled cheese panini. When the weather is warm, you can relax and eat at the tables in the rear courtyard.

Walk in to be greeted by friendly locals who have bellied up to the long bar with its iconic red-upholstered barstools and a small handful of tables. The short but sweet menu is full of iconic burgers and Philly cheesesteaks washed down with local brews and spirits.

A rarity in the 49th State, this colorfully decorated newcomer to downtown Talkeetna specializes in Southern cuisine, although with a nod to Alaska. The addictive crab hushpuppies feature locally sourced barley, cornmeal, and crab, and among the mains, the rich scallops and grits, seafood gumbo pie, and smoked-wild-mushroom hoppin' John all feature Alaskan ingredients. Save room for the rotating array of pies and cobblers.