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

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

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.

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