The list of USA Today restaurants for 2025 was a great collaboration. And I’m happy to share it with you.
This is how we did it.
Hundreds of journalists from around the country contributed. This is not your usual best list. Food writers fly on whirlwind weekends, drinking weekends, often relying on the institutional knowledge of locals who know the scene best.
Instead, this list comes from our own locals. Food writers who know Beat best. They live there. They work there. They eat there. That’s what sets our list apart.
These writers have nominated restaurants from all over the country, bringing a team of highly talented editors with excellent discriminatory flavours to 44.
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Each author, photographer and editor contributed to the big list of main stories, but also wrote local stories for his own website and newspapers. From Phoenix to Austin, Detroit, Savannah, these are not your usual suspects. They are restaurants that our writers love.
The restaurant is a place we often recommend, a place to take friends and family. These places are so adorable that we often plan our next visit while we sit at the table and finish dinner.
“This list is a love letter to the restaurant and people who please them,” said project leader Liz Johnson, senior director of Records and Northjersey.com and former food writer Liz Johnson. “We leave you to our favorites, from barbecue joints and roadside burgers underneath the house to stubborn restaurants and the hipest local spots in town.”
How many people have you been to? Check out USA Today’s 2025 Restaurant of the Year.
You will notice that, like many, our list is not skipping over the country of overpasses. Yes, you can have great dining experiences in Los Angeles and New York, but you can also have great dining experiences in Selma, Alabama and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
With over 200 sites in 42 states, the USA Today Network’s roots are moving deeply. We harnessed that expertise and asked the writers to share their favorites. The best of the best from the towns and cities they cover. He has received over 150 nominations.
After that, our team of veteran editors and writers culled their list to 45 and are looking for consistently great service, unique atmosphere and foods that will never please.
We also found it from third-generation Takelia in Lubbock, Texas, to an international tasting menu by a chef known for James’ beard in Columbus, Ohio. “We’ve got a lot of money to eat,” said Susan Stapleton, who writes about restaurants across Des Moines, Iowa, Metro and the statewide. The former member of the Nomination Committee for Nevada and Iowa State and James Beard Awards is one of the authors who helped select and edit restaurants this year. “The selected restaurants reflect a rich tapestry of cuisine, chefs and restaurateurs discovered across the country from small Thai restaurants that cook killer dishes in Indianapolis. New York City or Los Angeles. I Our national team of culinary experts have come to deeper knowledge of the local dining scene and have drawn out the best ones to sample when traveling the US.”
Here we recommend digging into the 2025 USA Today Restaurant restaurants and enjoying it.
Suzy Fleming Leonard contributed.