Best Restaurants in Anaheim

Anaheim’s food scene extends well beyond Disneyland churros — though those are excellent too. The Anaheim Packing District, Little Saigon in Westminster, and the broader Orange County restaurant scene give you serious options.

Anaheim Packing District

The Anaheim Packing House — A food hall in a beautifully converted 1919 citrus packing house. 30+ vendors across two levels — Adya (Indian), The Kroft (poutine and sandwiches), Georgia’s Restaurant (Southern comfort), and Popbar (handmade gelato). The architecture alone is worth the visit.

Best Restaurants in Atlanta

Atlanta’s food scene is one of the most dynamic in the South — from the James Beard Award winners to the international corridor on Buford Highway to the BeltLine restaurants redefining neighborhood dining.

Southern & Soul Food

Mary Mac’s Tea Room (Midtown) — Since 1945. The definitive Atlanta Southern restaurant. Fried chicken, pot likker (collard green broth with cornbread), fried green tomatoes, and banana pudding. Everyone from business executives to tourists eats here.

Best Restaurants in Atlantic City

Atlantic City’s food scene has been transformed by the casino resorts — celebrity chef outposts, high-end steakhouses, and Asian restaurants that rival NYC’s. But the best eating in AC also includes old-school Italian, Boardwalk classics, and the sub shops that locals line up for.

Casino Resort Dining

Buddakan (Caesars) — The Philadelphia import. Pan-Asian in a dramatic multi-level space. The edamame dumplings and the crispy calamari salad are signatures.

Best Restaurants in Austin

Austin is a food city disguised as a music city. The BBQ is world-famous (and worth every minute in line), the taco scene is as deep as any border town’s, and the food truck culture has spawned some of the most creative cooking in the South.

BBQ — The Main Event

Franklin Barbecue — The most famous BBQ in America. Aaron Franklin’s brisket has been called the best in Texas — which is to say, the best on earth. The line starts at 6 AM for an 11 AM opening. They sell out daily. Is it worth a 4-hour wait? For the brisket, yes. For the pork ribs, absolutely. Pro tip: Order online for pickup to skip the line (when available).

Best Restaurants in Branson

Branson’s food scene revolves around three things: all-American comfort food, Ozark BBQ, and dinner shows where the entertainment and the meal come together. It’s not a foodie city in the Brooklyn sense, but the portions are generous, the prices are fair, and the specialties are genuinely good.

BBQ & Smokehouse

Danna’s BBQ & Burger Shop — The best BBQ in Branson. Smoked brisket, pulled pork, and ribs with Ozark-style sauce. Small, unassuming, and packed with locals who know.

Best Restaurants in Clearwater Beach

Clearwater Beach dining runs from casual beachfront grouper sandwiches to upscale Gulf-view dining.

Beachfront

Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill — the quintessential Clearwater restaurant. Grouper sandwich, cold beer, toes in the sand. Palm Pavilion — beachfront with live music.

Upscale

Island Way Grill — waterfront fine dining. Shor at Hyatt Regency — Gulf-view steaks. The Salty Nun — cocktails in a converted church.

Pier 60

Bob Heilman’s Beachcomber — old-school since 1948. Marina Cantina — waterfront Mexican, strong margaritas.

Best Restaurants in Cocoa Beach

The Space Coast’s food scene centers on fresh Atlantic seafood, laid-back surf-town cafés, and a few waterfront spots that justify driving past the Cape Canaveral chain restaurants.

Seafood

Fishlips Waterfront Bar & Grill (Port Canaveral) — Waterfront dining overlooking the cruise ship terminal. Fresh catch, stone crab (seasonal), and tropical cocktails. Watch the ships come and go.

Grills Seafood Deck (Port Canaveral) — Two-level restaurant right on the marina. Raw bar, steamed shrimp, and fried fish baskets. The upstairs deck has the best views.

Best Restaurants in Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach has a food scene that surprises people. Behind the boardwalk corn dogs and hotel buffets, there’s serious seafood, local institutions that have been serving for decades, and waterfront dining that rivals anything on the Florida coast.

Seafood — The Reason You’re Here

Inlet Harbor (Ponce Inlet) — Waterfront dining right on the inlet. Watch fishing boats come in while you eat grouper, shrimp, and fresh-catch specials. The blackened fish tacos and peel-and-eat shrimp are local favorites. Sunset views are outstanding.

Best Restaurants in Destin

Destin is the World’s Luckiest Fishing Village — and that means the seafood here is about as fresh as it gets. Charter boats dock at the harbor every afternoon with the day’s catch, and it’s on your plate by dinner.

Waterfront & Harbor

AJ’s Seafood & Oyster Bar (HarborWalk) — The center of Destin’s dining scene. Waterfront bar, raw oyster bar, and a massive deck overlooking the harbor. The fried grouper sandwich and the oysters on the half shell are the standards. Live music most evenings.

Best Restaurants in Gatlinburg

Gatlinburg is a pancake town. There are more pancake houses per capita here than anywhere in America — and some of them are genuinely great. Beyond the pancakes, the Smokies have excellent BBQ, mountain trout, and a growing craft food scene.

Pancake Houses

Pancake Pantry — The original and the best. Open since 1960. 24 varieties of pancakes including Austrian apple-walnut, sweet potato, and Caribbean. The line wraps around the building on weekends but moves fast. Cash or check only (yes, really).

Best Restaurants in Hollywood, Florida

Hollywood sits between Fort Lauderdale and Miami on South Florida’s Gold Coast — and the food reflects that position. Latin flavors, fresh seafood, and a Broadwalk dining scene that’s more local than touristy.

Broadwalk & Beach

GG’s Waterfront Bar & Grill — On the Intracoastal, not the ocean, but the waterfront setting is excellent. Stone crabs (seasonal), grouper, and tropical cocktails.

Le Tub (Hollywood) — A ramshackle waterfront dive bar on the Intracoastal that was named “America’s Best Burger” by GQ magazine. The burgers are massive and grilled over an open flame. The décor is toilets, bathtubs, and random junk turned into art. Cash only. An experience.

Best Restaurants at Lake Tahoe

Tahoe’s dining scene splits between South Shore (closer to the casinos and Heavenly) and North Shore (closer to Palisades Tahoe and Northstar). Both sides have restaurants that go beyond typical mountain-town fare.

South Shore

Edgewood Restaurant (Edgewood Tahoe) — The finest dining at the lake. Lakeside setting with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water and mountains. Contemporary American with a focus on local ingredients. The sunset views are extraordinary.

Best Restaurants in Las Vegas — From Fine Dining to Hidden Gems

The Strip — Celebrity Chef Row

Las Vegas has the highest concentration of celebrity chef restaurants in the world. Gordon Ramsay alone has five restaurants in Vegas. Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand holds the city’s only three Michelin stars (when Michelin covers Vegas). Guy Savoy at Caesars, é by José Andrés at The Cosmopolitan, and Bazaar Meat by José Andrés at the SLS are all world-class. The price tags match the names — expect $150-500+ per person at the top tier — but the experience is unlike anything you’ll find in most American cities.

Best Restaurants in Maui

Maui’s food scene is defined by the ocean, the farms, and the cultural mashup of Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Portuguese cuisines that created something uniquely local. Here’s where to eat.

Local & Hawaiian

Mama’s Fish House (Paia, North Shore) — Regularly cited as one of the best restaurants in Hawaii. Oceanfront setting, fresh-caught fish with the fisherman’s name on the menu, and Polynesian-inspired preparations. Expensive. Worth it. Reservations essential — book weeks ahead.

Best Restaurants in Miami Beach

Miami’s food scene is a collision of Cuban, Caribbean, Latin American, and contemporary American cuisines — all served with a side of ocean breeze and Art Deco glamour. The best eating spans South Beach, Wynwood, Little Havana, and the Design District.

South Beach Classics

Joe’s Stone Crab (South Beach) — Open since 1913. The stone crabs (season: October-May) are the draw — cracked, chilled, served with mustard sauce. No reservations for dinner — the line can be 2+ hours on weekends. The takeaway window is the local hack.

Best Restaurants in Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach’s food identity is Calabash-style seafood — lightly breaded, fried golden, and served in portions that dare you to finish. But the Grand Strand dining scene goes well beyond the all-you-can-eat seafood buffets on Restaurant Row.

Calabash & Seafood

The Original Benjamin’s (North Myrtle Beach) — The biggest Calabash-style seafood buffet on the Grand Strand. 170+ items across multiple stations. Crab legs, fried shrimp, oysters, and a dessert section that’s its own meal. The building is enormous and themed with a pirate ship.

Best Restaurants in Nashville

Nashville’s food scene has exploded. What used to be “meat and three” country cooking has become one of the most dynamic restaurant cities in the South — James Beard nominees alongside hundred-year-old lunch counters, hot chicken that’s become a national obsession, and neighborhoods where every block has a restaurant worth trying.

Hot Chicken — The Nashville Original

Nashville hot chicken is a style of fried chicken seasoned with a cayenne-based paste that ranges from warm to genuinely painful. It’s Nashville’s most famous food export and every visitor needs to try it at least once.

Best Restaurants in New Orleans

New Orleans may be the best food city in America. The culinary traditions here — Creole, Cajun, French, African, Caribbean — have been layering on top of each other for 300 years, and the result is a food culture so deep that even the gas station food is good.

The Icons

Commander’s Palace (Garden District) — The grande dame of New Orleans dining. Haute Creole cuisine in a turquoise Victorian mansion. The turtle soup, the pecan-crusted Gulf fish, and the bread pudding soufflé are legendary. Lunch is the best value — the 25-cent martini lunch special (yes, really) is a New Orleans tradition.

Best Restaurants in New York City

New York City has more restaurants than any city in the Western Hemisphere — somewhere around 27,000 at any given time. Every cuisine on earth is represented, from a $2 slice to a $400 tasting menu. Here’s a shortcut through the best of it.

Pizza

Joe’s Pizza (Greenwich Village, multiple locations) — The quintessential New York slice. Thin, foldable, slightly charred on the bottom. The original Carmine Street location is the one. $3-4 per slice. No frills, no gimmicks, just perfect pizza.

Best Restaurants in Orlando

Orlando’s food scene has evolved far beyond theme park counter service. The city now has legitimate neighborhood dining districts, James Beard-recognized chefs, and international food corridors that rival cities twice its size.

Sand Lake Road — Restaurant Row

The stretch of Sand Lake Road between I-4 and Turkey Lake Road has one of the highest concentrations of diverse restaurants in the Southeast.

Hawkers Asian Street Food — Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, and Japanese street food in a lively setting. The roti canai and laksa are must-orders. Multiple locations but the Sand Lake original is the best.

Best Restaurants in Panama City Beach

PCB’s food scene has grown beyond the typical beach-town chains. Fresh Gulf seafood, a growing waterfront restaurant row at Grand Lagoon, and several locally-owned spots deliver genuine quality.

Seafood

Captain Anderson’s — The most famous restaurant in PCB. Open since 1967. Fresh Gulf seafood, their own fishing fleet, and a wine list that’s won awards for decades. The charbroiled grouper and the snapper are outstanding. Reservations recommended.

Best Restaurants in Pigeon Forge

Pigeon Forge’s restaurant scene runs along the Parkway — a 5-mile strip of pancake houses, family buffets, and dinner shows. Mixed in with the chains are some genuinely good local spots.

Dollywood Dining

Aunt Granny’s (Dollywood) — All-you-can-eat buffet inside the park. Southern comfort food — fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread. One of the best values in the park.

Grist Mill Cinnamon Bread (Dollywood) — Not a restaurant, but the cinnamon bread from the Grist Mill is Dollywood’s most famous food item. The line is always long. Get it.

Best Restaurants in Portland

Portland’s food scene is built on two pillars: food carts and independent restaurants. The city has 500+ food carts organized into pods, over 70 craft breweries, and a culture that celebrates weird, creative, locally-sourced cooking.

Food Carts

Nong’s Khao Man Gai — Poached chicken over rice with a garlic-ginger sauce. That’s it. One dish. Perfected. $10. The cart that proved food carts can compete with restaurants.

Best Restaurants in San Antonio

San Antonio is a Tex-Mex city at its core — the puffy taco was invented here, the breakfast taco culture rivals Austin’s, and the Mexican food traditions run deeper than almost any city north of the border. But the Pearl District has turned San Antonio into a serious contemporary food destination too.

Tex-Mex & Mexican

Mi Tierra Café & Bakery (Market Square) — Open 24 hours, 365 days a year since 1941. Festive decorations year-round, mariachi bands, and a bakery case that stretches forever. The enchiladas and breakfast plates are classics. The atmosphere alone is worth the visit.

Best Restaurants in Scottsdale

Scottsdale’s dining scene punches well above its weight — driven by resort chefs, a strong Mexican food tradition, and a winter-season influx of visitors who expect quality. Old Town, the Scottsdale Waterfront, and the resort corridor all have restaurants worth seeking out.

Fine Dining & Special Occasions

Café Monarch — Intimate 30-seat restaurant consistently rated among the best fine dining in Arizona. Four-course prix fixe dinner. Patio seating under string lights. Reservations essential.

Best Restaurants in Seattle

Seattle’s food scene is anchored by the Pacific Northwest’s extraordinary seafood — salmon, Dungeness crab, oysters, geoduck — combined with strong Asian influences from the city’s large Japanese, Vietnamese, and Chinese communities.

Pike Place Market

Pike Place Chowder — Award-winning clam chowder and seafood bisques. The New England clam chowder is the standard, but the smoked salmon chowder is the sleeper hit. Small space, long line, worth it.

Best Restaurants in the Poconos

The Pocono Mountains have evolved beyond resort buffets and diner food. Jim Thorpe and Stroudsburg have growing restaurant scenes, craft breweries are popping up in the mountains, and several restaurants are worth a drive through the forest to find.

Jim Thorpe (Historic Downtown)

Moya (Jim Thorpe) — Latin-American restaurant in a historic building. Creative dishes, craft cocktails, and one of the most interesting menus in the Poconos.

Best Restaurants in Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach dining is defined by two things: the Chesapeake Bay (oysters, blue crab, she-crab soup) and the Atlantic (fresh catch, oceanfront dining, and a boardwalk scene that’s evolved beyond corn dogs).

Seafood Institutions

Waterman’s Surfside Grille (oceanfront) — The restaurant that invented the Orange Crush cocktail (fresh-squeezed oranges, orange vodka, triple sec, Sprite). Beyond the signature drink, the she-crab soup and blackened tuna are excellent. Oceanfront patio seating.

Best Restaurants in Waikiki & Honolulu

Honolulu’s food is the result of Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Portuguese, and American cuisines mixing for over a century. The result is a food culture that includes poke bowls, plate lunches, spam musubi, shave ice, and some of the best Japanese food outside of Japan.

Local & Hawaiian

Rainbow Drive-In (Kapahulu) — Open since 1961. The plate lunch destination. Two scoops of rice, macaroni salad, and your choice of protein (loco moco, chicken katsu, mixed plate). Cheap, massive, and the locals’ go-to.

Best Restaurants in Washington DC

DC’s dining scene has exploded beyond expense-account steakhouses. The city now has one of the best food scenes on the East Coast — driven by immigrant cuisines, a young professional population, and neighborhoods that each have distinct culinary identities.

Ethiopian (DC’s Signature Cuisine)

DC has the largest Ethiopian population outside of Africa, and the restaurant scene reflects it. The U Street and Shaw neighborhoods are the epicenter.

Best Restaurants in Williamsburg

Williamsburg offers a unique dining experience — you can eat in colonial-era taverns where costumed servers bring 18th-century recipes to your table, then drive five minutes and get excellent modern BBQ or craft beer.

Colonial Williamsburg Taverns

Christiana Campbell’s Tavern — George Washington’s favorite tavern (he dined here at least 10 times). Seafood-focused menu with crab cakes, oysters, and she-crab soup. Colonial-era atmosphere with servers in period costume.

Best Restaurants on Cape Cod

Cape Cod’s food is the Atlantic Ocean on a plate — lobster rolls, fried clams, raw oysters, and fish so fresh it was swimming that morning. The best restaurants here range from roadside shacks with picnic tables to white-tablecloth spots overlooking the harbor.

Clam Shacks & Seafood

Arnold’s Lobster & Clam Bar (Eastham) — The most famous clam shack on the Cape. Fried whole-belly clams, lobster rolls, and raw bar. Outdoor picnic table seating. Cash preferred. Lines are long in summer and worth every minute.

Best Restaurants on Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head’s food is anchored by Lowcountry cuisine — shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, and fresh oysters.

Fine Dining

Michael Anthony’s — best Italian. Charlie’s L’Etoile Verte — French-Lowcountry. The Old Fort Pub — romantic Skull Creek views.

Casual

Hudson’s Seafood on the Docks — fresh-off-the-boat overlooking Port Royal Sound. Skull Creek Boathouse — sunset views. One Hot Mama’s — ribs and rock-and-roll.

Breakfast

Signe’s Heaven Bound Bakery — the best breakfast on the island. Harold’s Country Club — a dive institution.

Nashville Hot Chicken — The Complete Guide

Nashville hot chicken isn’t just spicy fried chicken. It’s a specific preparation — bone-in dark meat, fried in a cast-iron skillet, painted with a cayenne-lard paste, and served on white bread with pickles. The heat comes from the paste, not the breading, and the good versions hit you twice — once with the initial burn and again with the slow creep that builds for 10 minutes after.