Our Favorite Restaurants and Industry Trends of 2025

While reporting and researching our list of the 50 best restaurants in America for 2025, editors and reporters from the Food desk of The Times roved across more than 30 states and ate more than 200 meals. Each of us had a restaurant that captured our attention, that we just couldn’t stop thinking about.

But we noticed a few other things. Some were just observations (chalkboard menus, miso everything), others were tired tropes we’ve seen enough of (ubiquitous caviar, clichéd bistro fare) and still others were welcome and delightful developments (great zero-proof cocktails, homey décor choices).

Here’s a roundup of trends we’ve spotted, things we’re done with and ideas for what we’d like to see more of.

What Is the Restaurant of the Year for You?

La’ Shukran, in Washington, D.C., a restaurant filled with ideas and passion that I just didn’t want to leave. — Brett Anderson

Cariño in Chicago was an exhilarating meal. It combined the best elements of tasting-menu creativity and technical prowess with the elemental pleasure of Mexican flavors. And not stingy with the spice, as many Latin-inspired multicourse experiences can be. — Brian Gallagher

Sun Moon Studio in Oakland, Calif., made me emotional (in a good way). I deeply hope tasting menus are going in this direction because, aside from the attention to details and absolute skill, eating there is joyous. And when’s the last time you were able to call a tasting menu fun? — Eleanore Park

Maude and the Bear in Staunton, Va., for gracious hospitality and an imaginative menu that never sacrifices deliciousness for creativity. — Eric Asimov

Tough one, but I’m going to land on Rada in Charlotte because the simplicity of the dishes like clams and scallions, eggplant escabeche or halibut with leek vinaigrette is a delicious illusion, and the room and service is equally understated and perfect. — Kim Severson

Kabawa in New York City, for ambition and focus without forced reverence; for its wholehearted embrace of Scotch bonnets; and for a majestic plate of goat that puts New York’s obsession with steak to shame. — Ligaya Mishan

Borgo because they cook the kind of food I want to eat on repeat; it’s a grown-up Manhattan restaurant with style, and I think it gets me. — Melissa Clark

Meetinghouse. I coordinated my visit to Philadelphia with the Kendrick Lamar and SZA concert at Lincoln Field, so I could feed two birds with one scone. I can only describe Meetinghouse as the highlight of the trip. The atmosphere, the food, the drinks are what we fantasize about when we talk about our ideal restaurant experiences. Plus, it was one of the most affordable meals I enjoyed all year. — Nikita Richardson

Bar Kabawa in New York, for two perfect complementary proteins, daiquiris and patties. — Pete Wells

Houston’s ChopnBlok is the exhilarating answer to the slop bowl — a place serving bowls that is actually full of energy and humanity, that can be whatever restaurant you need it to be in that moment. — Priya Krishna

Modern Bird in Traverse City, Mich., offers a meal full of delights, big flavors and surprises, but delivers it with unpretentious Midwestern sensibilities. — Sara Bonisteel

Baby Bistro in Los Angeles is smart, scrappy and slightly eccentric (it’s neither for babies nor by babies), and the staff seems to understand hospitality on a really intuitive level. — Tejal Rao

What Trends Are You Noticing?

Restaurants that are more than one thing (tasting-menu-and-à-la-carte, coffee-shop-cafe, steakhouse-Italian, wine bar-bistro, food truck-with-table service). — Brett Anderson

Counter-service restaurants with excellent food. More than ever, even small restaurants have the merch game of full-blown lifestyle brands. — Brian Gallagher

Rise of tech venture capitalist and billionaire-backed restaurants. Diners dressing down at tasting menus (i.e. flip-flops and sweatpants at a $500 tasting menu). Growing presence of notes that mention they do not use seed oils. — Eleanore Park

The continued proliferation of tasting menus. Restaurant pricing that parallels the wealth disparity in the country. — Eric Asimov

Ever more upscale (and expensive) Mediterranean places, branching out in Greek, Portuguese and Turkish directions. — Julia Moskin

A new no-nonsense, almost T-shirt-casual style of service that mixes the best of the personal “I’m Chad and I’ll be your server” era with an efficiency and confidence that says, “This isn’t all that serious but we are going to nail it.” Not all restaurants do it well, but when they do, it’s great. Takes on schnitzel with fish like grouper or cobia. — Kim Severson

Lots of Royal Red shrimp. Pricey large-format desserts. The triumph of devil’s food chocolate cake, often in slices too big for one person. Mocktails that are sometimes better than the cocktails. Drippy candles. Themed restrooms. Everything is a wine bar-steakhouse-tasting menu. — Ligaya Mishan

The spread of chalkboard menus (and decline of QR code menus), time-limited reservations (not new but still with us), homey touches: candles, flowers, mismatched and quirky handmade serving pieces. Increase of really good zero-proof cocktails. — Melissa Clark

I’ve noticed this for a few years, but the way dining out is such a touchstone for women always warms my heart. Go to any hot restaurant and 70 percent of the clientele will be women dining with their girlfriends. — Nikita Richardson

Briefer menus. More “snacks” listed at the start. More crudo, not just at seafood restaurants. Mismatched china, glasses and other tableware. Very salty food (even though many of us complain of too much sweetness). — Patrick Farrell

Bakeries and restaurants that center on masa (and more generally, the rise of the modern Mexican fonda-bakery), restaurants in unconventional spaces, longtime pop-ups and trucks finally getting permanent space, all-day cafes are back, surprisingly good nonalcoholic wines. I also met so many steakhouse bros (bros who visit cities and only go to steakhouses) — Priya Krishna

All-day menus. Miso everything. — Sara Bonisteel

What Would You Like to See Less Of?

Menus that don’t tell you anything about the food, and restaurants carved into new buildings as afterthoughts. — Brett Anderson

Meal pacing dictated solely by the kitchen, rather than diners — appetizers dropping before wine is poured, main courses coming before appetizers are finished, and the table becoming a chaos of plates. And “Welcome in.” — Brian Gallagher

I’m over soft serve on menus, unless the menu is already catering to a kid-friendly crowd. — Eleanore Park

Salads and vegetables served too cold. Servers who insist on explaining menus that anybody who’s ever been to a restaurant would understand. Wine lists with few bottles under $100. Giant steaks for outlandish prices. Menu descriptions that are more complicated than the dishes themselves. — Eric Asimov

Caviar. Make it stop. — Julia Moskin

Crudo! Dishes with three words of description that tell me nothing, like “fennel, grouper, rye.” Any references to chocolate desserts that include allusions to sin, guilty pleasure or to die for. Nonalcoholic cocktails that are basically ginger beer and mint for $16. — Kim Severson

Caviar, truffles, Wagyu and uni in the wrong places. — Ligaya Mishan

Sweetness in food meant to be savory: the overuse of balsamic vinegar, honey, sugar and maple syrup. — Melissa Clark

The top-of-the-menu caviar upsell. Wagyu ad nauseam. Bars that seem to work in another time zone than the rest of the house, pouring drinks that arrive long after the courses they were supposed to accompany. — Patrick Farrell

Fat-washed bourbon. Gummy worms as cocktail garnishes. Gummy sharks are fine if the cocktail is shark-related. — Pete Wells

The exact same Epcot-ified French bistro menu in every city. Dubai chocolate-inspired everything. — Priya Krishna

A carpet bomb of sesame seeds. Egg roll mash-ups. — Sara Bonisteel

Menus that might as well be written by A.I. Kids’ menus disguised as grown-up menus. Luxury ingredients standing in for creativity and skill. Dishes made more for the camera than to be eaten. Desserts that are very expensive, but somehow feel like an afterthought. Restaurants making so much of an effort to cater to what people already know, and like that their personality disappears and they become entirely generic. — Tejal Rao

How About More Of?

Half-bottle wine selections, restaurants open Monday and Tuesday night. — Brett Anderson

Brisk menu intros from servers. — Brian Gallagher

I’d love to see more courage. I get it: Margins are already slim and there’s no room for error. But more restaurants this year compared with the previous played it safe, especially when it came to introducing a new cuisine type or flavor profiles to an audience that might be unaccustomed. I’d welcome more funk, heat and spice on menus that are already halfway there on those fronts. — Eleanore Park

Bolder, more imaginative seasoning of dishes. More really good neighborhood places. — Eric Asimov

Nonalcoholic cocktails that are more sophisticated and culinarily complex. Well-thought-out and balanced green salads that aren’t a sort of afterthought or cost center, à la Via Carota. — Kim Severson

Madeleines! And open reservation slots that aren’t at 11:30 p.m. — Ligaya Mishan

There’s a dearth of soup out there in non-soup-specific places, and not just because I scouted in the summer (though maybe partly because of that). Really good salads. More offal on menus, but that’s just me. — Melissa Clark

Servers who share less about themselves and more about the menu: details about the cooking, and honest advice on the best dishes and how much to order. — Patrick Farrell

Empty bar seats. — Pete Wells

Breakfast spots (not bakeries) with personality, restaurants showcasing the cuisines of West Africa, less intense air-conditioning, more counter service. — Priya Krishna