The Restaurant Trends That Defined 2023

This year we drank pickletinis and MSG martinis and dirty pasta water martinis and, for good measure, about three dozen espresso martinis. We ate dinner at 1 a.m. and stepped into restaurants that looked more like amusement parks than neighborhood pizza spots. It was a fun, wild, exciting year for restaurant culture, shaped as much by TikTok food influencers as restaurant critics. As the industry continues to bounce back from the pandemic, it feels for the first time like many restaurants have been able to get out from under the heavy weight of the past few years and have some fun—or at least try new things.

Of course, it’s not all cheese pulls and Technicolor dining rooms: Soaring inflation means that restaurants are contending with even-thinner-than-usual margins, and ordering a salad can be like putting down first month’s rent. Plus, people are still arguing about when—and how much—to tip, and scoring a reservation at a buzzy restaurant can feel like a contact sport. From good to bad and all that’s in between, these were the most persistent restaurant trends of 2023.

The Hottest New Restaurant Aesthetic? Overwhelming Funhouse

My favorite bit of restaurant decor is a lamp that sits at the entryway of the tropically inspired Lil’ Deb’s Oasis in Hudson, New York. Inside the glass column, two dancing jellyfish pulse and flash, filling the room—already a sensory overload of color and sound—with neon light. Though Lil’ Deb’s has been leaning into all-out maximalism since it opened in 2016, it’s now joined by a wave of over-the-top, wonderfully overwhelming restaurants. At Shuggie’s, the San Francisco restaurant dedicated to food waste prevention and natural wine, one room is entirely green and the other is painted an almost headache-inducing yellow. Even as I dug into an excellent pan pizza, my attention-deficit brain strained to focus. There was so much to absorb! I left the restaurant very full and feeling like I’d just spent the night at a rave.

I can see how plenty of diners might turn their noses up at the proliferation of maximalist restaurants, but I love it. After a soul-draining pandemic, restaurants are here for us in new ways. In tandem with the recent revival of theme restaurants, these sensory overload funhouses aren’t trafficking in white tablecloths and stuffy decor. With disco balls spinning above and animal print rugs underfoot, spots like Oakland’s Daytrip and Mister Mao in New Orleans provide a welcome reminder that great food doesn’t have to be so serious. —Elazar Sontag, restaurant editor

Inflation Has Come for Your Salad

If you’ve dined out recently and spent over $20 on a pile of greens, I’m sorry to say you’re not alone. Lettuce prices have been soaring for over a year because of both inflation and an insect-borne virus that destroyed acres of the crop in California’s Salinas Valley, which supplies nearly half of lettuce in the US. Don’t get me wrong, a heaping mound of leafy greens in a vinaigrette can be divine. Take New York’s iconic Italian restaurant Via Carota, where the beloved insalata verde tops off at $21—it was $16 in 2016, which isn’t cheap by any means, but elicits a bit less sticker shock. But these days, when you tack on supplemental charges for protein like grilled shrimp or salmon, salads can top out at a whopping $40 or even $50.

All of this means that, somehow, in 2023, it’s sometimes cheaper to just order a burger with fries or a half roast chicken. As the price of nearly all ingredients continues to skyrocket, I know the cost of a humble salad will rise too—especially one featuring high-quality straight-from-the-farm produce. But if I’m going to spend the same on a salad as I am for a hunk of meat, I might just have to get my greens at home. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager

Anything Can Be a Martini, Actually

In 2023, you can order a dirty pasta water martini. A squid ink martini. A breakfast martini. A campfire martini. As it turns out, a martini can be anything—and anything can be a martini. The offbeat martini renaissance started in 2021, when the now ubiquitous espresso martini made its vibey, Gen Z comeback. Then, out of the murky, highly caffeinated waters emerged the MSG martini at Calvin Eng’s Cantonese restaurant Bonnie’s in Brooklyn. The cocktail was a smash hit and opened the doors for all the inventive martinis of 2023.