Top 16 Illinois Restaurants To Try This Thanksgiving Season

Food, and the discussions about food are really big at this time of year with Thanksgiving being a week away, and the rest of the food-filled holiday season to follow.

We're not talking here about what you can whip up at home like Thanksgiving dinner, we're talking about abandoning your dinner table and heading out to some great Illinois restaurants.

If you’ve been looking for one more reason to feel good about our dining scene here in Illinois, particularly the Chicago and Chicagoland areas, OpenTable.com just dropped the 2025's Top 100 Restaurants list, and 16 Illinois restaurants made the cut.

That’s not a typo, it's actually sixteen. According to the official OpenTable announcement, the list was built from more than 10 million verified diner reviews collected between September 2024 and August 2025, and factors like five-star review share, reservation demand, and search volume all played into the rankings. What that really means is these are not just chef-driven reviews. They’re community chosen, by the people who are doing the booking, dining, and coming back again.

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What's Really Cool About The Illinois Restaurants That Made The List Is That There's Not A Dominant Type Of Food Among Them

It goes to show how wide the the variety is when it comes to the overall dining experience here in Illinois. We’ve got Italian, ramen, classic American seafood and steaks, Croatian-inspired fare, and even neighborhood pizzerias. It's a real snapshot of how diverse and vibrant Illinois' restaurant scene is.

Here are the 16 Illinois eateries that made their way onto OpenTable's list (I've included links to each one):

Akahoshi Ramen: 2340 N California Ave, Chicago

Alla Vita: 564 West Randolph St., Chicago

Daisies Chicago: 2375 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago

Elina's: 1202 W Grand Ave, Chicago

Gibsons Italia: 233 N Canal St, Chicago

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab: 60 East Grand Avenue, Chicago

Le Colonial: 57 East Oak Street, Chicago

Mon Ami Gabi: 2300 N. Lincoln Park West, Chicago

NORIKO: 401 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago

North Pond: 2610 North Cannon Drive, Chicago

PIZZ'AMICI: 1215 W Grand Ave, Chicago