The best restaurants in New York City were snubbed from Yelp's Top 100 Restaurants of 2024 list

Food, drink

by David Landsel

We are not No. 1.

A popular annual list of the best restaurants in the United States has been released for the 11th year, and you can forget the plaudits that critics and experts regularly heap on New York City's food scene like so much hand-extracted sea salt—the average dinner shows itself to be far less than wow.

In fact, Yelp's list of the 100 Best Places to Eat in the US for 2024 only includes one place — count it! – An obscure Midtown East restaurant to represent the Big Apple's wealth of culinary options, focusing instead heavily on California and the Sun Belt. Golden State has 18 roster spots, followed by Florida with 13 offers.

“Yelp's Top 100 Places to Eat list celebrates must-visit local restaurants across the United States,” said Tara Lewis, trend expert at Yelp. “This year’s list embraces the unique tastes of our users and highlights beloved hidden gems in local communities.”

The top spot is Tumerico, a vegetarian restaurant in Tucson, Arizona. Chef and owner Wendy Garcia reportedly started selling tamales at a local farmers market.

“Yelpers regularly monitor the chalkboard menu that changes daily based on seasonal availability, such as salsa made with Tucson-grown chiltpin peppers and pitaya (Mexican dragon fruit) or nopalitos (made from prickly pear cactus),” the survey announcement explained. .

The site, driven by user-generated content, is now in its 20th year. The list is created by analyzing countless reviews, but is ultimately given final curation by Yelp's “community managers,” who communicate with Yelp's star reviewers — known as Yelp Elites — and local business owners.

Number two on the list is Menya Rui, a ramen restaurant in St. Louis, number three is Sunny Side Kitchen, a breakfast restaurant in Escondido, California, and number four is Ethiopian restaurant, GS Cafe, in California's Inland Empire.

The only New York entrance is all the way at 47-Chili, at E. 37th Street between Fifth and Madison, one of many Sichuan-style restaurants to have popped up downtown in recent years.

The 10 best restaurants in the United States in 2024

• Tomrico, Tucson, Arizona.
• Minya Roy, St. Louis, MO
• Sunnyside Kitchen, Escondido, California.
• GS Cafe and Ethiopian Cuisine, Covina, CA.
• Fratellino, Coral Gables
• Broken Mouth, Los Angeles
• Adela's Country Eatery, Kaneohe, Hawaii
• Sierra Subs & Salads, Three Rivers, California.
• Geno's Deli Stop N Buy, San Antonio
• Uncle Al, Agoura Hills, California.

The list intentionally steers clear of fine dining — according to the site, more than 85% of the restaurants on the list will feed you for less than $30 a head.

Yelp's Gotham blunder comes as guide publisher Time Out's mobile followers chose New York as the best city in the world for 2024.

“While no city is perfect, the results speak for themselves,” Time Out editor Shay Weaver told The Post. “Despite some of the challenges it faces, New Yorkers love their city the way it is.”

For the full Yelp list, click here.