Best Restaurants in the U.S: NYC Remains the Country’s Reigning Dining Destination

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best restaurants in the U.S
Photo by Alan Turkus

New York City remains the country’s reigning destination for remarkable dining experiences with 24 restaurants on OAD’s (Opinionated About Dining) newest list of 2016’s Best Restaurants in the U.S. NYC was followed by San Francisco and Chicago with nine, Los Angeles with eight, and Brooklyn, NY with four. Additional cities on the list with more than one restaurant, include: Beverly Hills, CA (3), Washington D.C. (3), Boston, MA (2), Frederick, Maryland (2), Houston, TX (2), Charleston, SC (2), Las Vegas, NV (2), New Orleans, LA (2), Milwaukee, WI (2), Miami, FL (2), Portland, ME (2), Portland, OR (2), and West Hollywood, CA (2).

As a major departure from last year, there are only 100 destinations featured this year, instead of 200. According to OAD’s founder, Steve Plotnicki, there just are not enough quality U.S. restaurants to replace the restaurants that now appear either on the survey’s new “Classical & Heritage,” list or the annual “F.R.E.S.H.” ranking.

“Though there are many talented young chefs coming up the ranks, our reviewers felt that many of them weren’t quite ready to run their own kitchen,” says Plotnicki.

So who is the lucky restaurant that was ranked No. 1 on the list of Best Restaurants in the U.S? Well, surprisingly for the third year in a row, SAISON was named top restaurant in the country.

If you haven’t heard of SAISON, watch this short video:

Although Saison holds firm at the number one spot on the 2016 list, there is significant movement among the top 10 this year. Urasawa is bumped seven spots to number 10, and is replaced by Manresa at number three. Alinea improves its ranking by three and is now at number four, while é and minibar by José Andrés are knocked out of the top 10 and replaced by Damon Baehrel at The Basement Bistro with the highest new entry in the survey’s history at number five.

The Restaurant at Meadowood debuts at number six on the list of best Restaurants in the U.S – as Blue Hill at Stone Barns moves up three spots to number seven. However, Sushi Taro and Catbird Seat also make huge strides, moving into the top 10. Sushi Taro increased its ranking by 13 at number eight, and Catbird Seat climbed 13 spots to claim number nine.

Here’s the List of Top 100 Best Restaurants in the U.S

Rank

Restaurant

Location

1

Saison

San Francisco, CA

2

Willows Inn, The

Lummi Island, WA

3

Manresa

Los Gatos, CA

4

Alinea

Chicago, IL

5

Damon Baehrel at The Basement Bistro

Earlton, NY

6

Restaurant at Meadowood, The

St. Helena, CA

7

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Pocantico Hills, NY

8

Sushi Taro (Omakase Counter)

Washington DC

9

Catbird Seat

Nashville, TN

10

Urasawa

Beverly Hills, CA

11

minibar by Jose Andres

Washington DC

12

Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare

Brooklyn, NY

13

é by José Andrés

Las Vegas, NV

14

Aubergine

Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

15

Eleven Madison Park

New York, NY

16

Blanca

Brooklyn, NY

17

Jean George

New York, NY

18

Tempura Matsui

New York, NY

19

Masa

New York, NY

20

Kyo Ya

New York, NY

21

Benu

San Francisco, CA

22

Sushi Yasuda

New York, NY

23

Sushi Nakazawa

New York, NY

24

Kuruma Zushi

New York, NY

25

Providence

Los Angeles, CA

26

Castagna

Portland, OR

27

Elements

Princeton, NJ

28

Grace

Chicago, IL

29

McCrady’s

Charleston, SC

30

Momofuku Ko

New York, NY

31

Schwa

Chicago, IL

32

Trois Mec

Los Angeles, CA

33

Coi

San Francisco, CA

34

Next

Chicago, IL

35

Ichimura at Brushstroke

New York, NY

36

Atelier Crenn

San Francisco, CA

37

Hugo’s

Portland, ME

38

Marea

New York, NY

39

42 Grams

Chicago, IL

40

Oxheart

Houston, TX

41

Nozawa Bar

Beverly Hills, CA

42

Sanford

Milwaukee, WI

43

Sushi Zo

Los Angeles, CA

44

Commis

Oakland, CA

45

Square Root

New Orleans

46

Soto

New York, NY

47

Quince

San Francisco, CA

48

Betony

New York, NY

49

Bazaar, The

West Hollywood, CA

50

Birch

Providence, RI

51

Mourad

San Francisco, CA

52

Contra

New York, NY

53

Komi

Washington DC

54

Blue Hill

New York, NY

55

Minetta Tavern

New York, NY

56

Gunshow

Atlanta, GA

57

Mori Sushi

Los Angeles, CA

58

Totoraku

Los Angeles, CA

59

Semilla

Brooklyn, NY

60

Nomad

New York, NY

61

Carnevino

Las Vegas, NV

62

Craft

New York, NY

63

Luksus at Torst

Brooklyn, NY

64

Frasca Food & Wine

Boulder, CO

65

Estella

New York, NY

66

Sixteen

Chicago, IL

67

Orsa & Winston

Los Angeles, CA

68

Ink.

West Hollywood, CA

69

Chi Spacca

Los Angeles, CA

70

Q Sushi

Los Angeles, CA

71

O Ya

Boston, MA

72

Mélisse

Santa Monica, CA

73

Commonwealth

San Francisco, CA

74

Uchi

Houston, TX

75

Volt

Frederick, MD

76

Uni

Boston, MA

77

Goosefoot

Chicago, IL

78

Shuko

New York, NY

79

Blackberry Farm

Walland, TN

80

Sons & Daughters

San Francisco, CA

81

Miyake

Portland, ME

82

El Ideas

Chicago, IL

83

Alter

Miami, FL

84

Gramercy Tavern

New York, NY

85

Niche

St. Louis. MO

86

Maude

Beverly Hills, CA

87

N’Naka

Los Angeles, CA

88

Ardent

Milwaukee, WI

89

Modern, The

New York, NY

90

Gabriel Kreuther

New York, NY

91

Barley Swine

Austin, TX

92

Fork

Philadelphia, PA

93

Californios

San Francisco, CA

94

Babu Ji

New York, NY

95

Shaya

New Orleans

96

Piora

New York, NY

97

Roe

Portland, OR

98

Cosme

New York, NY

99

Elizabeth

Chicago, IL

100

Baumé

Palo, Alto, CA

Over 4,500 food enthusiasts voted this year’s restaurants onto the list with a total of 160,000 reviews collected. To view the list of Best Restaurants in the U.S online, please click HERE.

About Opinionated About Dining

OAD is the leading source of global restaurant rankings for devout diners, and its prestige list of Best Restaurants in the U.S is selected by the survey’s seasoned membership of food connoisseurs. By relying on statistical accuracy, transparency, discerning palates and weighted votes of members, the Opinionated About Dining survey provides a more distinctive approach to rating restaurants.

There are many other online surveys companies out there that do everything possible to dissect and analyze the food industry, and bottom line – it’s good for us. These surveys have one main goal – to improve the quality of food, service and experience we encounter when we go out to eat.