The Best Hotel Restaurants In The US

With summer travel season in full swing, and COVID-19 restrictions continuing to wane in the U.S. (via Politico), it's easier than ever to hit the road — or the airport — and find your next food-filled adventure. Whether traveling by car on a snack-fueled road trip, or jet-setting to your next destination, hotels are there to provide familiar comforts, decadent amenities, and dining options that go well-beyond breakfast in bed or outstanding room service.

Hotel restaurants are a far cry from the stereotypical mediocrity of yesteryear, and with travel back to its pre-pandemic frenzy, they're ready for a rebound (via FSR Magazine). Nowadays, hotels have become havens of fine dining and chef-driven creativity. With Michelin stars aplenty, hotel restaurants have become destinations in and of themselves, whether or not guests are staying on property, passing through town, or living locally, and from the quaint coast of Maine to the bumping nightlife of Miami Beach, they can be found in every corner of the country. As you head out on summer vacation, these are the best hotel restaurants in the U.S.

Nestled in the thick of the Short North, a bustling neighborhood in downtown Columbus filled with shops and restaurants, Lumin Sky Bar & Kitchen is full of surprises. From its eighth-floor perch atop the AC Hotel Downtown Columbus, the wide-open restaurants provide a panorama of one of America's most underrated skylines, with extensive seating both indoors and out — with food and cocktails that are just as worthy of your attention.

Borrowing inspiration from Spain, as well as international influences as widespread as the Middle East and France, Lumin serves a tapas-centric spread of small plates and flavors bold and bright. An ideal spot to hunker down for sunset, a nightcap in hand, the dynamic menu runs the gamut from pesto chicken bruschetta and poached octopus with baba ganoush to smoked duck flatbread and tahini cookies with buttercream. To drink, cocktails are Lumin's bread and butter, with classics and novelties equally represented. Pick your tipple from espresso martinis, negronis, smoked Manhattans, and gin & tonics.

No matter where you're seated at Salt, the French-inflected fine dining bastion inside The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, you're in for a spectacle. This is true of the main dining room, where massive windows overlook the Atlantic coast from Florida's most northeastern island, and it's especially true of the elite chef's table, a cozy wine-stocked nook right in the middle of the kitchen. Of course, it's all par for the course at this ritzy property, where a sprawling spa and turquoise-tined pool are just the tips of the amenity iceberg. Of all the destination-worthy restaurants at this castle-sized beachfront property, though, Salt is the crown jewel.

The most high-end of the property's restaurants, Salt earns its name from the prominence of seasonings and sea salts on its menu, sprinkled and infused throughout French-inspired dishes by a chef who's as well-seasoned as his cuisine: Okan Kizilbayir. Under his helm, the restaurant features always-changing, always-exciting tasting menus showcasing the best and brightest of meat, seafood, fish, and vegetables, with intricate sauces and flourishes (ahem, edible gold atop ice cream) to round it out. Rooted in seasonality, the handsome restaurant is constantly swapping in fresh new flavors, from blackened skate with Nickelodeon-orange butternut escabeche to a squid ink paella with lobster soffrito. For dinner with a show, try and snag the two-top chef's table, a private room inside the kitchen that provides a front-row seat to all the culinary action.

Come for the views, and stay for the epic Italian eats at Monarch, a high-flying restaurant in downtown Dallas whose ritzy atmosphere befits its regal moniker. Located on the 49th floor of the Thompson Dallas, a dapper hotel with luxury bathtubs and skyline vistas through floor-to-ceiling windows, the pageantry starts before you arrive at the restaurant. Upon check-in by the lobby elevators, guests are greeted with a complimentary glass of champagne before being whisked to any number of window-side tables with sprawling views of the Texas metropolis.

Billing itself as a modern, wood-fired Italian restaurant focused on steaks, seafood, and pasta, there's a lot more intricacy and detail than meets the eye. Although high-end, this is the kind of fine dining place that still knows how to have fun — where suave servers make jokes and cocktails are so whimsical and contemporary that some, like the Cognac King, are infused with foie gras. It's an apt sipper as you peruse an indulgent menu of Texas Wagyu carpaccio, wood-fired meatballs, caviar service, black truffle risotto, and a whopping 40-oz. porterhouse, charred over coals and served simply with lemon, arugula, olive oil, and sea salt. For the royal Monarch experience, opt for The Royale, an off-menu omakase where the chef prepares a spree of surprise dishes for $290 per person. The wine list, in particular, is elaborate and incredibly well-curated, with resident sommeliers ready to guide you through pairings or after-dinner digestifs.

On the heels of a recent property-wide renovation, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown's final feather in its cap is the debut of Carcara, a restaurant rooted in the culinary traditions of the American Southwest. Inspired by the sun-soaked landscape surrounding the city, the dining room's modern motif is filled with earth tones and greenery, including a 14-foot tree in the middle of the restaurant. Outside, guests can dine on a patio shaded by orange trees, the namesake fruit of the restaurant.

Wherever you're sitting, prepare for a savorous meal of Sonoran-inspired dishes and Native American ingredients, paying homage to Arizona's desert terroir. Under chef Chaz Frankenfield, Carcara emphasizes local ingredients (especially cattle and citrus, part of the five C's of Arizona, per the USDA) for a seasonally changing menu that includes candied prickly pear ribs with jalapeño slaw, crispy eggplant tacos with goat cheese and citrus ratatouille, and beef rib-eye with roasted fingerling potatoes, fried garlic, lemony broccoli, and jalapeño-cilantro chimichurri. Citrus is even more central on the drink list, woven throughout housemade syrups and infusions, as with the Devil's Bridge cocktail (named after a well-known Arizona hiking trail, as seen on AllTrails), with pink dragon fruit-infused rum, stone fruit syrup, pineapple juice, lime, lemon, and orange bitters.

Known for its iconic, singular architecture, New Orleans has a knack for design, especially in its restaurants. From the hallowed halls of Commander's Palace to the whimsy of the revolving The Carousel Bar & Lounge, the decor is as central to the New Orleans dining experience as the storied cuisine. It's a sentiment on full display at The Elysian Bar at the Hotel Peter & Paul, a boutique property situated on the grounds of a former church and rectory in the Marigny.

The vast restaurant is located in the rectory, which means the dining room is in a vast, wide-open space with soaring ceilings, columns, and timeworn architecture, while the enchanting outdoor courtyard offers a place to slurp oysters under twinkling bulb lights and church bell towers. For food, the kitchen spotlights contemporary American and Creole flavors, upping the ante on familiar dishes like an heirloom tomato salad with fried shrimp and buttermilk aïoli, a meat-free smoked beet tartare, and grilled swordfish with cilantro and herb broth, root vegetables, and charred shishito peppers. The bar portion emphasizes boozy cocktails and classic drinks invented in New Orleans, like the rye-based Creole Cocktail, and daily brunch brings forth chicken liver toast, French omelets, and baked eggs with tomato, ricotta, and chimichurri.

Any restaurant hidden away in a majestic national park, hours away from urban calamity and light pollution, is sure to enamor. Indeed, Creekside Restaurant at Kalaloch Lodge in Washington's Olympic National Park is one such mecca. Nestled on a craggy bluff overlooking the Pacific, the cozy inn and restaurant provide comfort for park-goers through its rustic-chic cabins and locally sourced cuisine.

The restaurant looks like a decked-out cabin, replete with lots of polished wood, lamps, and fake fish scattered across the walls, along with an outdoor patio providing a front-row seat to all the oceanic action. True to its national park locale, adhering to a philosophy of sustainability, the restaurant diligently sources from local farms, fisheries, and wineries — the drink list exclusively features wines from Washington, while seafood is sourced from within a 150-mile radius. Open all day long, the seasonal offerings include clam chowder, grilled salmon, elk burgers, and a particularly epic mac & cheese made with Dungeness crab and beer cheese.

In terms of big American cities, Houston tends to get overlooked by other metropolises like Chicago and New York, but if its influx of new restaurants is any indication, that's all changing. A prime example is Rosalie Italian Soul, a newer entry in downtown's boutique C. Baldwin Hotel, showcasing classic-inspired Italian cuisine from San Francisco-based celebrity chef Chris Cosentino.

Named after Cosentino's great-grandmother, Rosalie Cosentino, the beautiful and whimsical restaurant is a heartfelt love letter to his roots, served up in an Instagram-ready space bedecked in hot pinks and lots of lush plants. With classic Italian food at its core, the chef glams things up a bit to meet a more modern menu. The result is a medley of old-meets-new dishes that any great-grandmother would be proud of, like a New England-inspired bowl of clams and shells, basil-infused meatballs, and an oversized portion of whole chicken parmesan and gooey burrata. Rosalie also serves a mean weekend brunch, skewing contemporary and playful with plates like strawberry-Nutella pizza, Italian bread pudding toast, breakfast polenta, and a morning riff on chicken Parmesan, with the addition of eggs.

Considering the Four Seasons brand has more Michelin stars to its name than any other hotel group, it's no wonder that the newly minted Four Seasons Hotel Minneapolis has two restaurants helmed by one of the city's most lauded chefs. Mara and Socca are the two dining concepts within the hotel, overseen by Gavin Kaysen, an alum of New York City's revered Café Boulud (via Eater), and the Minneapolis native behind local heavy-hitters like Spoon and Stable. He's also a James Beard Award-winner (via James Beard Foundation), so he's bringing considerable cred to the Four Seasons name.

Both restaurants are inspired by the Mediterranean, including first-person trips the chef has taken through the South of France, with Mara being a full-service restaurant and bar and Socca acting as a casual street-side cafe. The beautifully designed dining room at Mara evokes images of the sea and countryside through trees, sea green, and light wood, providing a multi-sensory foray of flavors, sights, and smells. Dinner plates are just as beautiful: fresh ricotta tartines come strewn with slow-roasted tomatoes and rosemary on porridge bread, lamb gets the tartare treatment with ras el hanout spices and red lentil crackers, and salt-baked branzino gets brightened up with zesty tzatziki, fennel slaw, and green almonds. The Mediterranean also takes top billing on the wine list, joined by fig-infused Old Fashioneds and sparkling wine cocktails.

Surrounded by the pastoral paradise that is western Montana, an easy drive to Yellowstone National Park, and surrounded by ranches and farms, mountain cooking doesn't come any finer than that at Fielding's inside the Kimpton Armory Hotel in Bozeman. The polished, sophisticated restaurant provides comfy solace — and a good amount of pampering — after a day spent hiking the nearby mountains or skiing the slopes.

Along with local Montana beers, West Coast wines, and spirits from small distilleries across the U.S., menus at Fielding's peddle dishes are directly influenced by what's in season and what area purveyors are growing. For dinner, this may entail housemade ricotta with kale salsa verde and broccolini or sunchoke and leet velouté with za'atar crouton, while entrees capture the ethos of the burly and meaty Montana diet — think bacon-wrapped elk meatloaf, herb-roasted chicken with brown butter spinach and truffle jus, and rib-eye steak with buttered mushrooms and a loaded baked potato.

In the heart of downtown Denver, hidden inside the newly refurbished Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, Bezel is the hotel lounge of your dreams. The sultry lobby bar is a dimly lit corner spot filled with plush corner booths, gilded furnishings, ornate chandeliers, flickering candles, and roaring fire pits on the patio.

Altogether, it's a swanky spot that upgrades the concept of what a lobby bar can be, taking it from a pre-dinner stopover to a full-blown destination for drinks and food. For the former, the drink list dazzles with inventive and unique cocktails, like an espresso martini variation made with tequila and Amaro, and the Gangs of New York, a layered libation of Irish whiskey, lemon, thyme syrup, egg white, and beet-infused Madeira. And never mind that this bar-centric nook has a limited selection of small plates because you'll want to load up and make a meal of all of them, especially the fries with balsamic powder and duck fat aïoli, bison sliders with foie gras and Béarnaise, and char-broiled West Coast oysters with mignonette butter and candied habanero.