The USA TODAY Restaurants of the Year 2025 list was a great collaboration — and it’s one we’re thrilled to share with you.

Here’s how we did it.

Hundreds of journalists across the country contributed. This is not your usual best-of list, where food writers fly in for a whirlwind weekend of eating and drinking, often relying on the institutional knowledge of the locals who know the scene best.
This list, instead, comes from our own locals. Food writers who know their beats best. They live there. They work there. They eat there. That’s what makes our list stand out.

These writers nominated restaurants from across the country, and a team of exceptionally talented editors with superb and discriminating taste whittled them down to 44.
Each writer and photographer and editor contributed to the main story — the big list — but also wrote local stories for their own sites and newspapers. From Phoenix to Austin to Detroit to Savannah, these are not your usual suspects. They’re restaurants our writers love.

The restaurants are places we frequently recommend, places we take friends and family. These places are so lovable, we’re often planning our next visit while sitting at the table finishing dinner there.
“This list is a love letter to restaurants and the people who delight in them,” said project leader Liz Johnson, a senior director at The Record and northjersey.com and a former food writer. “We’re letting you in on our favorites, from the down-home barbecue joints and roadside hamburger stands to fine dining stalwarts and the hippest local spots in town.”