63 Best Restaurants in USA

The only way to get closer to the Mississippi River at the outdoor patio of this fifth-floor restaurant is to dive in, and the spectacular views are what snagged chef Donald Link to partner with the Four Seasons New Orleans for this French Creole showplace. Try any of the expertly cooked steaks on offer, like the rib-eye spinalis or Kobe strip steak.

Continental fare is served with contemporary flair at this restaurant in an 1825 Greek Revival farmhouse. Dishes might include veal scaloppine, bourbon-glazed duck, or goat-cheese-and-vegetable lasagna. The breads and pastas, as well as the chocolate soufflé, are made on the premises. Fireplaces add to the elegant but cozy ambience. Balcony and porch dining are seasonal alternatives.

The name sounds stuffy, but the dining room is everything but at this European-inspired location far removed from downtown's urban closeness. Views of the forest through large windows and comfortable seating prepare you for a greatest hits approach to continental cuisine, with some unexpected twists such as ostrich fillet. Savory sauces drape chicken, prime rib, and rack of lamb. The on-site bakery serves up fresh breads and pastries. Outdoor dining is plentiful, but beware mosquitoes after dark.

Jensen first earned a loyal following as the chef at La Tourelle. The cuisine at his East Memphis restaurant is French; most noteworthy is the rack of lamb.

This colorful, quirky, beer hall–inspired, family-owned eatery is part of a local chain and has an ambitious menu of sandwiches, salads, and soups. There's also an overflowing gourmet-food section; a mind-boggling beer list; cookies big enough to knock someone unconscious; and a range of other generous desserts. Thirsty locals belly up to the impressive, hand-carved bar for monthly beer tastings and daily happy hour (2–7 pm). More mature crowds prefer to sip their Zinfandel in the bustling dining room.

Wicker baskets and lofty shelves brimming with European confections and groceries fill practically every inch of space not occupied by tables at this café (one of three branches), which is known by locals as "E Street." The menu is similarly overloaded, with nearly 100 deli sandwiches and salads, including raspberry-almond chicken salad and the Blue Max, with pastrami, corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, hot mustard, and blue-cheese dressing. Like its other locations—1704 San Marco Boulevard and 992 Beach Boulevard—the café also offers live music and trivia several nights a week.

Mismatched antique wooden tables and chairs fill the charming Victorian dining rooms. The bread basket is noteworthy for its homemade dark-rye mini loaves and sweet wheat rounds. Chicken, lamb, steak, and seafood are on the menu at dinner. Don't miss the Sunday brunch buffet's specialty crepes, served with a variety of fillings. Open-air dining is available.

This restaurant in the Carew Tower's Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza maintains the elegant, art deco design of the hotel. Look up to see the murals on the 30-foot ceilings. Many of the beautifully presented dishes feature Ohio's bounty, for example, the Lake Erie walleye with a lobster-and-carrot fricassee. On weekend evenings, there's live jazz; on Sunday there's breakfast.

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.

Don't let the Midtown strip mall that houses Jens' put you off: this is a true fine-dining establishment. The late chef-owner Jens Haagen Hansen's culinary legacy has led to the frequently changing menu that includes Alaska black cod, halibut, and rockfish. The Danish berry pudding with cream is a delightful way to cap a meal. The light and airy restaurant has a playful, energetic feel.

This popular Frontenac restaurant, which has landscape paintings on its walls, is best known for prime rib; it also offers fresh seafood.

You might not expect to find sophisticated cooking in Cornville, 6 miles east of Cottonwood, but the German fare here, made using organic produce whenever possible, proves it can be done. Game like elk and bison, plus recipes such as Trout Almondine and lamb chops with mint sauce are all beautifully presented, and the sauerbraten and Wiener schnitzel don't disappoint. 

Swiss-born chef Michael Kloeti trained in Europe and New York City before opening this establishment in a 19th-century farmhouse outside Stowe. Under new ownership since fall 2023, the elegant menu still blends European cuisine with farm-to-table earthiness, exemplified by dishes such as housemade vegetable gnocchi and venison navarin (ragout).

For a unique dining experience, rendezvous upstairs in the Snowcrest building in Mountain Village to ride a snowcat into the pristine land of Big Sky for a meal under the stars. While the chef prepares French onion soup, filet mignon, garlic mashed potatoes, and chocolate fondue with fresh fruit and pound cake, you can sled on hills under the light of the moon or relax around a bonfire. Alcohol is not available for purchase, so feel free to bring your own.

The chefs at the Ritz-Carlton's Terminal Tower restaurant have made their dining experience more accessible than at Century, the hotel's previous offering, while retaining the requisite glamour. The white-linen Muse has the feel of a tony lounge, with wood-paneled walls, armchairs with upholstered backs, and a menu full of international twists on American classics, such as the brown sugar–and cardamom-rubbed lamb and bison tenderloin carpaccio. The restaurant emphasizes fresh, organic ingredients and offers three-, four-, and five-course options at dinner ($58, $78, and $98). Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served daily.

Sophisticated yet unpretentious European-inspired California cooking is the order of the day at this intimate and stylish bistro, whose seasonal menu might include such items as seafood risotto or crispy duck breast in a pomegranate reduction sauce. The creative concoctions poured at the slick marble bar include whiskey mixed with apple and lemon juice or tequila with celery juice and lime.

Appearance is almost as important as flavor at this lavish art deco restaurant in the landmark Cincinnatian Hotel downtown. Frederick Pissaro, great-grandson of the celebrated Impressionist painter, created artwork exclusively for the Palace. But the menu, which is pricey and continental (pheasant soup, rack of lamb, meatloaf), measures up well. New chef Romuald Jung, who has worked under some of the best in Europe and America, draws on his French and German influences to please older, upper-crust patrons.

A funky, urban feel infuses this downtown Syracuse spot—a former union hall—that attracts a business crowd by day and couples at night. Lunch is cafeteria style, while dinner is full service. There's always fresh pasta with sauces like the ever-popular spicy hot tomato oil. Dinners might include homemade Boursin-cheese ravioli in a tomato-mushroom-cream sauce with pine nuts. The restaurant bakes its own bread daily. In warm weather you can sit outside at a sidewalk table or in the back courtyard.

Elegant fine dining often comes with a heavy dose of pretention, but not at this Bismarck restaurant, where the ambience is casual and the food is delectable. A glance at the menu would have most people assuming this is a jacket-and-tie kind of place, but the vibe is considerably more laid-back—it even has paper tablecloths that guests of all ages can draw on with crayons, perhaps inspired by the original artwork on the walls. It offers a regularly changing menu of primarily European and American dishes, most constructed around grilled or sautéed meat. Permanent menu fixtures include venison sausage, bison, lamb, and walleye fish. Organic and local produce is used whenever possible.

Nestled in Country Club Plaza's Raphael Hotel, this roomy European-style dining room is known for its New Zealand lamp chops and its rotating, prix fixe menu that features special wine pairings. There's live entertainment on weekends. There's also a brunch on Sunday.

This hotel restaurant is known for its elegance, attentive service, and quality cuisine. Among crystal chandeliers, Asian silk-screen prints, and full silver service, you can sample chateaubriand carved table-side, as well as rack of lamb, Dover sole, lobster bisque, and house-smoked and -cured salmon. A jacket and tie are required at dinner, but optional at Sunday brunch. Breakfast or brunch may be good value, but dinner could be budget breaking for a family.

Ease into plush banquettes at this quiet, lace-curtained restaurant for classic French- and Southwest-inspired dishes. Rack of lamb is the house specialty, and the Dover sole is a real find, far from the white cliffs, when available on the seasonal menu. Cherry or banana flambé for two, prepared tableside, is an impressive dessert. There's a well-selected wine list, too. Service is formal, but resort-casual attire is acceptable.

Perched at 7,750 feet on Bald Mountain, halfway up the River Run side, this historic ski lodge is known for its fondue and great views. Upstairs, white linen tablecloths and a rustic lounge (think elk antler chandeliers) encircle a four-piece fireplace. Downstairs, Averall’s Bar is filled with pink-nosed skiers warming up with a beer or, in the summer, with hikers enjoying the southern views of the valley and surrounding Pioneer Mountains. On a starry winter night, you can ride the gondola up the mountain, dropping off at the lodge’s doorstep, to enjoy an old European-style meal with the tiny town of Ketchum glittering below.

A 5-mi drive west of town (and easily accessible from Chautauqua) on a block-long cobblestone street ending at the lake, Scallion Bistro is a favorite of locals in the know. Try citrus-glazed salmon over fruit salsa, topped with horseradish butter and fried parsnips; or pan-seared chicken breast wrapped with Italian ham, over lobster succotash. There's a Tuscan feel, with faux-finish walls and hanging colored-glass lamps and an "arcaded" wall separating the dining room from bar. It's nice enough for a romantic dinner, but low-key enough to foster boisterous conversation and to have a (low- to-no-volume) flat-screen TV in the bar.

To get to this romantic spot overlooking Soquel Creek, you can take a cable car or walk the stairs down a steep, fern-lined bank beside a running waterfall. Dining room options include the rooftop Redwood Room, the wood-paneled Wine Cellar, the creek-side, glass-enclosed Greenhouse, the Fireplace Room, and the airy Garden Room.

This cozy spot is influenced by the Alpine cuisine of France, Germany, Italy, and Austria, and takes an old-world approach to local ingredients, baking, butchering, curing, pickling, and smoking everything in-house. The same region informs the beverage program, translating to an interesting selection of wine, amari, and liqueurs.

Reserve a window-side table at twilight to see sunset melt into sparkling night while savoring updated Continental cuisine. From a height of 844 feet, the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows offer 360-degree views of the Vegas Valley as the entire 106th-floor dining room makes a complete revolution every 80 minutes. The jaw-dropping views are the big draw, but the food is not overshadowed with a menu featuring such dishes as pan-roasted sea bass with curried coconut and lime broth, a 22-ounce bone-in dry-aged prime ribeye, or rack of lamb with root-vegetable hash. Proposal packages also are available. Although it is generally quiet and romantic, the occasional bungee jumper hurtling past the windows from rooftop thrill rides provides some unexpected excitement. A stationary cocktail lounge for casual sipping is on the 107th floor.

Nestled inside the Mirror Lake Inn, the View warms you instantly with its mahogany paneling and views of Mirror Lake and the mountains and a seasonal menu that leans contemporary and sounds elegant. For example, you might dine on venison loin encrusted with pepper and coffee and served with foie gras and a black-currant reduction.

Don your Scandinavian sweater for a brisk sleigh ride (pulled by a snowcat rather than reindeer) through wintery pines up to this Nordic hut, built in a mountainous enclave in Park City Mountain Resort. After a hot cup of glogg, tuck into a European-style feast, featuring six hearty courses that might feature braised short ribs, lobster soup, and a traditional cheese course. Warmed by a wood-burning stove and the soft light of solar-powered lanterns, you may find yourself raising a pewter goblet to toast your fellow diners and the pianist.

In this romantic Victorian house, each dining room has a fireplace, Oriental rugs, and marble-topped tables. Country French and Mediterranean flavors predominate the cuisine. The menu changes seasonally.