World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025: North America Edition

Atomix is where New York's Korean fine-dining conversation becomes precise, formal, deeply contemporary. The counter format, illustrated course cards, Junghyun Park's modern Korean cooking turn the meal into a study of accompaniment, sequence, cultural translation rather than a conventional luxury tasting menu.

Mon Lapin delivers a luxury modern cuisine experience where playful creativity meets refined technique. In an intimate, design-forward setting, the chef crafts a seasonal, market-driven menu that celebrates peak ingredients and artful plating. Expect a thoughtfully paced tasting menu, an eclectic wine program with rare finds, warm, detail-obsessed service. Perfect for romantic dinners and special occasions, Mon Lapin turns every course into a polished, memorable moment.

Perched above Pearl Morissette Estate Winery in Ontario's Niagara region, Restaurant Pearl Morissette holds two Michelin stars and ranks among North America's top restaurants on Opinionated About Dining. Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson's tasting-menu format draws on training in Paris and rural Belgium to produce French-influenced farmhouse cooking that is deeply rooted in the 17-hectare regenerative farm below the dining room.

Smyth belongs to Chicago's highest-stakes tasting-menu tier, where progressive American cooking is judged by sourcing discipline as much as technical range. John Shields and Karen Urie Shields bring a farm-driven lineage shaped by Charlie Trotter's and rural Virginia, now backed by Michelin three-star recognition, La Liste scoring, Star Wine List recognition, a 2026 OAD North America ranking.

Tanière³ occupies the 17th-century stone vaults beneath Old Québec, where a two-Michelin-starred tasting menu moves through 12 to 18 courses built entirely from Québec terroir. The restaurant holds AAA Five Diamond status, a 2025 North America's 50 Best Art of Hospitality Award, an 81-point La Liste ranking, placing it at the top of the province's creative dining tier.

Dakar NOLA is a rarefied dining experience where Senegalese heritage is reimagined through the prism of New Orleans’s soulful abundance. In an intimate, reservation-only setting, a choreographed tasting menu unfolds like a travelogue, jolof rice elevated with jeweled aromatics, pristine Gulf seafood perfumed with attiéké and citrus, cassava rendered silken beside deeply spiced stews. The cadence is gracious and unhurried, the storytelling vivid, the hospitality quietly magnetic. Here, West African technique speaks fluently with Creole terroir, revealing a cuisine that is both deeply rooted and thrillingly modern, designed for those who collect meals the way others collect art.

Kalaya brings Southern Thai cooking to Fishtown with a conviction that the cuisine deserves the same quality ingredients and serious kitchen attention as any fine-dining address. Chef-owner Chutatip 'Nok' Suntaranon draws on the coastal province of Trang, producing fragrant curries, house-made pastes, dishes built around authentic heat levels that Philadelphia's Thai restaurant scene had rarely attempted before.

Single Thread Farm sits at the point where Sonoma agriculture meets the discipline of Japanese multi-course dining. The Healdsburg restaurant carries three Michelin stars for 2025, La Liste 99 points for 2026, a 2026 OAD North America rank of No. 4, with the farm, inn, wine program, kitchen operating as one tightly controlled hospitality system.

Le Bernardin New York reigns as the city's premier seafood destination, where Chef Eric Ripert's three-Michelin-starred artistry transforms ocean treasures into transcendent cuisine. This legendary Midtown institution has maintained The New York Times' four-star rating for over two decades, offering an unmatched fine dining experience centered on the philosophy that "the fish is the star."

Established in 1937 and revived in 2024 by Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette, Le Veau d'Or is the Upper East Side's clearest argument for classical French cooking as a living discipline. A prix-fixe menu anchored by pâté en croûte and poulet à l'estragon, a 100-label all-natural wine list, a 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurateur mark it as the most credentialed bistro revival in New York.

On College Street, Quetzal anchors Toronto's serious Mexican dining with an eight-metre indoor fire pit and tortillas pressed from nixtamalised heirloom corn. Chef Steven Molnar's open-fire technique draws on regional Mexican tradition while sourcing Canadian produce, earning consistent recognition from La Liste and Opinionated About Dining. The bar programme, built around mezcal, tequila, reimagined Mexican classics, runs parallel to the kitchen in ambition.

In Steveston Village, a Richmond fishing enclave better known for its dockside fish-and-chip stands, Baan Lao serves a 13-course Royal Thai tasting menu to just 20 guests at a time. Chef-owner Nutcha Phanthoupheng, trained in the culinary traditions of the Thai royal court, brings an ingredient-level precision, Miyazaki A5 wagyu, Dungeness crab, fresh lobster, that places this restaurant in a different competitive tier than anything else in the city.

Benu sits in San Francisco's serious tasting-menu tier, using French structure and Chinese-Korean reference points with uncommon technical control. Corey Lee's restaurant has the external validation to match the ambition: No. 12 on Opinionated About Dining's 2026 North America ranking, La Liste recognition, a 2025 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant semifinalist nod, long-running Michelin three-star status.

Californios holds two Michelin stars and a consistent position inside Opinionated About Dining's North American top 100 for its contemporary Mexican tasting menu rooted in California's pre-statehood history. Chef Val Cantú structures each course around nixtamalized heritage corn, named local purveyors, the agricultural traditions of both California and Mexico. The SoMa dining room operates Tuesday through Saturday for dinner only.

A Williamsburg wine bar and restaurant built around natural wine and seasonal New American plates, The Four Horsemen holds a 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program and ranks #26 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list. With 40 seats and a list spanning over 750 bottles, it operates in a tier where the wine program and the cooking carry equal weight.

Friday Saturday Sunday sits in Philadelphia’s modern New American conversation with a sharper diasporic edge than the category usually implies. Chad Williams’s tasting-menu dining room and the first-floor Lovers Bar give the townhouse format two distinct registers, backed by a 2023 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant and a 2026 OAD North America ranking.

Moon Rabbit brings modern Vietnamese cooking to downtown Washington, D.C., where chef Kevin Tien fuses his Cajun Louisiana upbringing with Vietnamese tradition. The 2024 F Street address earned a Michelin Plate, while bar director Thi Nguyen took the 2024 Michelin Guide D.C. Exceptional Cocktails Award. Dishes like mochi beignets with freshwater eel and fried quail over crispy tomato rice set the tone for the kitchen's approach.

Via Carota has anchored the West Village's Italian dining scene since 2014, earning a James Beard Foundation Award in 2019 and a place on Opinionated About Dining's North America list every year since. The menu reads like a lesson in seasonal restraint: crisp fried olives, hand-cut pastas, vegetable dishes that carry the weight of the meal. Reservations are scarce and the room fills fast, so plan accordingly.

A dock-to-table seafood counter on Coming Street where the menu changes daily based on what came off local boats that morning. Chubby Fish holds 40 seats, takes no reservations, has drawn lines around the block since opening in 2018. Named to Resy's Best of the Hit List 2025, it's one of Charleston's clearest expressions of the city's relationship with its coastal waters.

Locust Nashville transforms humble dumplings into culinary art through Chef Trevor Moran's Noma-trained precision, earning Bon Appétit's #1 Best New Restaurant title with weekend-only service, no-tipping hospitality, the South's most coveted reservations in intimate 12 South quarters.

Saison belongs to the Bay Area's serious farm-to-table lineage, but its vocabulary is fire, coastal sourcing, a dining room built around the kitchen rather than separated from it. Richard Lee's current era keeps the restaurant in San Francisco's high-end Progressive American conversation, backed by OAD, La Liste, James Beard, Relais & Châteaux, AAA, World's 50 Best recognition.

Chef Charles-Antoine Crête's audacious contemporary brasserie transforms Plaza St-Hubert into Montréal's most unexpected fine dining destination, where French culinary mastery meets fearless innovation through creative small plates designed for sharing in an intimate 70-seat space.

A 14-seat yakitori counter tucked inside Chinatown's Canal Arcade, Kono ranks among the most decorated yakitori destinations in North America, holding three Michelin stars and placing #23 on the 2025 Opinionated About Dining list. Chef Atsushi Kono was the first in the United States to earn a Michelin star for yakitori, the 16-course binchotan-grilled omakase remains one of New York's most difficult reservations to secure.

Aska holds two Michelin stars and an 88-point La Liste score, placing Fredrik Berselius's Williamsburg tasting counter among New York's most decorated destination restaurants. A 12-to-14-course menu draws on Scandinavian terroir and Northeastern US seasonality in equal measure, served from a candlelit 1860s warehouse beneath the Williamsburg Bridge. At the $$$$ price tier, the format competes directly with Manhattan's top tasting rooms on credential, while offering a markedly different setting.

Lazy Bear holds two Michelin stars and a La Liste placement in San Francisco's Mission District, running a dinner-party format that seats guests communally across a mezzanine and ground-floor dining room. The cooking draws on nostalgic American reference points, executed with technical precision, a 10,500-bottle cellar overseen by a James Beard-nominated beverage director operates from a separate facility across the street.

Kato reads Los Angeles through Taiwanese American fine dining rather than through imported tasting-menu orthodoxy. Jon Yao's cooking carries the speed, heat, precision of Chinese technique into a composed dinner format, while Ryan Bailey's beverage program has become a major part of the restaurant's national standing.

Kann is Portland's James Beard Award-winning live-fire Haitian restaurant from chef Gregory Gourdet, ranked #117 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list. Wood-fired cooking anchors a Caribbean-inspired menu that is entirely gluten and dairy-free, backed by a 550-bottle wine list weighted toward France and Oregon. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 4pm at 548 SE Ash St.

Among Vancouver's Michelin-starred contemporary restaurants, Published on Main occupies a particular position: a foraging-forward tasting counter on Main Street that draws as much from the Pacific Northwest forest floor as from Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson's German-Manitoban upbringing. Ranked #21 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 North America Casual list and awarded Star Wine List's top spot in 2025, it functions equally well as a neighbourhood bar seat or a full 11-course destination dinner.

Le Violon earned a Michelin Plate in its first full year, a pace of recognition that reflects Montreal's accelerating fine-dining ambitions. Set on a quiet Plateau Mont-Royal residential street, the restaurant pairs market-driven modern cuisine from co-chefs Danny Smiles and Mitch Laughren with interior design that draws as much comment as the food. Bookings move quickly at this three-price-sign address that opened in June 2024.

Emeril's opened on Tchoupitoulas Street in 1990 and built a category of its own: New New Orleans cooking that placed Louisiana's produce at the centre of serious fine dining. Now holding two Michelin stars and a 2026 La Liste score of 92 points, the Warehouse District flagship operates under Chef E.J. Lagasse, whose tasting menu reframes the restaurant's founding classics through a lens shaped by Frantzén and Core by Clare Smyth.

Kasama occupies a rare position in American dining: a Filipino restaurant holding a Michelin star and a James Beard Award, operating as a daytime bakery and café before transforming into a 13-course tasting menu destination by night. Located in Chicago's East Ukrainian Village, it draws on the culinary pedigrees of Genie Kwon and Timothy Flores to reframe Filipino cuisine within the language of contemporary fine dining.

A windowless, walk-in izakaya in Queen Village that doubles as one of Philadelphia's most sought-after omakase rooms. The front of the house runs on energy and variety, from miso-glazed aubergine to crispy karaage, while Chef Jesse Ito's 16-seat counter in the back operates against a 600-person waiting list. Carefully sourced fish, Japanese whisky, off-centre sake round out a program that punches well above its neighbourhood footprint.

Perched on the 63rd floor of a Wall Street Art Deco tower, Saga holds two Michelin stars and a wine list of 8,000 bottles with strengths in Burgundy, France, Italy. Chef Charlie Mitchell brings a Southern-inflected American menu to one of New York's most architecturally compelling dining rooms. Dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday; the bar at Overstory on the 64th floor rounds out the evening.

A Michelin-starred live-fire destination in Washington D.C.'s Navy Yard, Albi channels Palestinian culinary tradition through a wood-burning hearth and peak-season Mid-Atlantic produce. Chef Michael Rafidi's five-course tasting menu earned the 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef, placing the restaurant among the most decorated in the American capital.

Jungsik New York helped move Korean fine dining in Manhattan from novelty to serious dining category. The TriBeCa restaurant links Korean structure and fermentation with contemporary tasting-menu technique, backed by James Beard recognition, La Liste scoring, Opinionated About Dining placement, a cellar noted for Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne, California, Italy, Germany.

Where the Lower East Side meets Northern Mexico: Corima opened in 2024 at 3 Allen St and quickly earned recognition on Opinionated About Dining's Top Restaurants in North America list. Chef Fidel Caballero runs both à la carte and a 13-course tasting menu, anchored by agave spirits, sourdough tortillas made with Sonoran wheat, technique that draws on Basque and Japanese influences as readily as Chihuahuan desert tradition.

Opened in September 2024 inside the Salamander Washington DC hotel, Dōgon brings Kwame Onwuachi's Afro-Caribbean vision to the capital with a shareable menu that moves between West African, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Creole traditions. The Michelin Plate recipient earned a spot on Esquire's Best New Restaurants list for 2024 and Resy's Best of the Hit List in 2025. Chef de cuisine Martel Stone, a Chopped Next Gen winner, executes a tightly edited menu where every dish earns its place.

Opened in July 2024 in a former Hudson Street printing house, César earned two Michelin stars and a spot on North America's 50 Best Restaurants within months of its debut. Chef César Ramirez's 13-course tasting menu draws on Mexican, French, Japanese influences to place rare seafood and luxury ingredients at the centre of one of New York's most closely watched new openings.

Housed inside NoMad's Fifth Avenue Hotel, Café Carmellini is Andrew Carmellini's return to formal fine dining after more than a decade building a more casual portfolio. The room, designed by Martin Brudnizki, sets a Gilded Age register with double-height ceilings and jewel-toned banquettes. The menu moves between Italian and French traditions, anchored by signatures like Duck-Duck-Duck Tortellini and squab en croûte with foie gras.

Penny opened above Claud in 2024, converting the East Village building's bright second floor into one of New York's most closely watched raw seafood counters. Chef Joshua Pinsky works from little more than a binchotan grill and a refrigerator, the restraint shows in every dish. With a 6,000-bottle wine list anchored in Burgundy and Champagne, the bar-only format rewards early arrivals and walk-in diners equally.

At Hastings Main Road, Buzo Osteria Italiana makes a clear argument for what happens when Italian kitchen discipline meets Caribbean ingredient abundance. Fresh pasta rolled daily, wood-fired pizza, a seasonal menu anchored by local seafood sit inside a 120-150-seat space that moves between a martini bar, communal tables, a covered outdoor terrace. Multiple Table Talk Food Awards confirm it has earned its place on the Bridgetown dining circuit.

Holbox makes Los Angeles seafood feel inseparable from the city’s market culture: counter service, Mexican coastal technique, Southern California sourcing, serious national recognition in a room shared with other vendors. Chef Gilberto Cetina Jr’s cooking has drawn James Beard attention and OAD ranking, but the draw is the way ceviches, tacos, tostadas, aguachiles, dry-aged fish, a weekly tasting format make a market stall operate at restaurant-review gravity.

Red lanterns and refined comfort define Alma in Toronto’s Bloordale Village, where Chef Anna Chen’s scallion bao with stracciatella and chewy noodles with pork wontons meet a lively natural-wine program in an intimate, must-book setting.

On a quiet Bloorcourt side street, Mhel is a 32-seat Korean-Japanese small plates bar where husband-and-wife team Hoon Ji and Min Yi serve sake alongside charcoal-grilled fish, homemade kimchi, Ontario-sourced ingredients. The name translates to 'anchovy' in Jeju dialect, the focus on umami-forward, fish-centred cooking runs through every dish on the menu.

Johnny Curiel earned a Michelin star and an Esquire Best New Restaurants listing (No. 9, 2024) within its first year, signaling that Denver's contemporary Mexican conversation now runs through this snug LoHi room. An eight-seat chef's counter anchors the experience; a four-section menu built around masa, crudos, sharing plates rewards guests who order across all categories. Priced at $$, it sits below Denver's $$$$ Michelin tier without compromising ambition.

Atelier Crenn is San Francisco fine dining at its auteur end: Modern French technique filtered through California sourcing, seafood, vegetables, the biographical poetry of Dominique Crenn. The restaurant carries Michelin three-star recognition and a 2026 OAD Top Restaurants in North America ranking, placing it in a rarefied bracket where provenance and precision matter more than luxury theater.

Providence is Los Angeles fine dining at its seafood end: formal, sustainability-minded, built around Michael Cimarusti's long commitment to precise contemporary cooking. Its 2026 James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality and OAD North America ranking place it in the city's serious dining bracket rather than its casual seafood lane.

Quince sits in San Francisco’s Jackson Square at the formal end of the city’s Italian-Californian dining spectrum, with three Michelin stars, a Michelin Green Star, deep farm sourcing behind the polish. Michael Tusk’s kitchen uses Northern Italian structure rather than red-sauce nostalgia, placing pasta, produce, cellar depth in a conversation with Bay Area seasonality.

Stush in the Bush occupies a working regenerative farm in the hills of St. Ann, where a five-hour prix fixe experience built entirely on Ital principles has been reframing what Jamaican plant-based cooking can look like since 2009. Multiple Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards confirm its place outside the mainstream dining circuit. Open Fridays and Sundays only; reservations are essential.

A 28-seat Argentinian-Jewish kitchen in Verdun, Beba earned a Michelin Plate in 2025 for cooking that honours tradition without theatrical fuss. Brothers Ari and Pablo Schor, both alumni of Montreal's Joe Beef group, serve a focused menu where golden knish meets Imperial Osetra caviar and offal gets the same attention as prime cuts. Verdun's quiet residential streets have rarely drawn this kind of repeat traffic from across the city.