Best Celebrity Restaurants in the U.S. and Canada

Author: Editorial Team

From star-studded Hollywood to Toronto cool, celebrity-owned restaurants are a feature of fashionable North American life. They may have high-profile names behind them, but how do they deliver on taste, value, and experience?

The best celebrity restaurants promise a high life, and their desirable reputation means you often have to book well ahead for a table. However, the average restaurant-goer wants to know if the quality of the food and service is worth the premium value.

To find out, we at Casino Reviews have created the Celebrity Restaurant Index, a data-led ranking of the very best celebrity-owned eateries across entertainment-filled cities in the US and Canada. Using TripAdvisor ratings, the buzz they’re creating on Instagram, and average meal prices, we’re finding out which venues live up to the hype.

If you’re looking for the perfect combination of glitzy glamour and outstanding food, then our index will tell you where to reserve a table for a truly great celebrity dining experience.

The Best Celebrity Restaurants in the US & CA - Which Spot Comes Out Top?

Detroit might not be the first North American city that comes to mind when looking for the best celebrity restaurants. But the Motor City comes out top as home to Adelina, the Italian-Mediterranean fusion restaurant owned by popular celebrity chef Fabio Vivani. While not the cheapest place to dine, with an average meal and drink cost of $116, this chic, faultless establishment has a 100% positive review rating on TripAdvisor, giving it an overall score of 89 and our top spot.

Hot on its tail is Garde Manger in Montreal. With its French influence, fine dining is an integral part of everyday life in the city. Canadian celebrity chef Chuck Hughes owns the restaurant and takes its name from his bestselling 2012 cookbook. This stylish restaurant wins out when it comes to Instagram hashtags, and with an overall positive review rating of 81%, it’s a worthy occupier of our second place.

In third and fourth place are Eem, owned by Earl Nimson in Portland, and Nic and Norman’s in Louisville, owned by actor Norman Reedus and filmmaker Greg Nicotero. Thai-focused Eem has an impressive 81% positive review rating on TripAdvisor, and at $55 for an average meal and drink, it’s more affordable than many of the other restaurants in our top 10.

Meanwhile, down in Kentucky, Nic & Norman’s is a much-loved dining experience for locals and visitors alike. With a perfect 100% TripAdvisor review rating, and with an average meal only costing $35 this Southern burgers and cocktails establishment provides a relaxed, authentic experience.

Best Cities for Celebrity Restaurants - Are You Local to One of the Hotspots?

Our research found that while global cities like New York and Los Angeles are home to numerous celebrity-owned restaurants, you need to look elsewhere for the very best experiences.

As well as being home to our top restaurant, Adelina, Detroit wins out as the best city overall for celebrity-backed eating establishments. Famously, it’s the hometown location of Eminem’s Mom’s Spaghetti, where diners can enjoy a range of pasta dishes inspired by the home cooking of Italian moms and grandmas. This venue is an affordable crowd-pleaser, with an average meal and drinks costing just $16.

For second place, we head back north to Montreal, one of North America’s finest foodie cities. In addition to being home to Garde Manger, you’ll also find Michael Bonacini’s Bar George and Marcus Samuelsson’s Marcus Restaurant & Terrace.

In third place, Portland, Oregon, is home to a trio of well-regarded celebrity-owned restaurants.

In addition to Eem, you can also experience Argentinian-inspired wood-fired grilling at Greg and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton’s neighborhood-style Ox Restaurant. If you’re a lover of French cuisine, then Gabriel Rucker’s Le Pigeon is the place to go. While it is one of the most expensive restaurants we surveyed, at $140 for an average meal, it scores highly, with diners achieving an overall restaurant rating of 4.5.

Further down the list, Louisville, Kentucky, is in fourth place, while the best celebrity restaurants in Los Angeles saw the city secure fifth place.

Cities with the Highest Scoring Celebrity Restaurants

When looking for the best places to dine in any city, you probably look at the overall reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor. When it comes to celebrity-owned restaurants, diners have higher expectations. So, which city’s restaurants are picking up the most 5-star reviews?

The best celebrity restaurants in Los Angeles have secured our top spot. While the city is home to Robert De Niro’s highly exclusive Nobu Malibu, where an average meal and drinks will set you back a cool $225, it’s Leona’s Sushi House, owned by actor Evan Ross, that picked up the most 5-star reviews.

In second place, we head to Washington, whose restaurants averaged 4.75 stars. Leading the pack is Elmina, a Ghanaian restaurant owned by celebrity chef Eric Adjepong with 5 stars and 100% positive reviews. However, Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen D.C. only averaged 3.4 stars, with 48% of diners leaving a negative review.

Making up our top three is Louisville, where Nic & Norman’s and Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse earned the city an average of 4.7 stars per review.

Other cities are notable by their absence in our top 10, with the best celebrity restaurants in Las Vegas, Montreal, and Toronto failing to make the cut when it comes to online reviews.

The Restaurants with the Most Instagram Hashtags

The best celebrity restaurants have a two-fold attraction. Of course, diners are looking for an amazing culinary experience, but there’s also the kudos that come with securing a table at a famous establishment.

We took a look at which of our restaurants generated the most enthusiasm on Instagram, and there was one clear winner.

Step up, Garde Manger in Montreal, with an incredible 102,000 Instagram hashtags. Run by celebrity chef Chuck Hughes, this relaxed and contemporary restaurant is in a stylish location that lends itself to the perfect phone capture. In second place, it’s our overall winner, Fabio Viviani’s Adelina in Detroit. From photos of the menu to shots of cocktails and the food itself, meals at this popular spot are worth memorializing.

It may be the most expensive restaurant on our list, but a certain cache comes with eating out at Robert De Niro’s Nobu Malibu in Los Angeles. With its A-list name association and star-studded location, it’s a great place to spot celebrities as well as enjoy fabulous cuisine. It’s no surprise that it takes 3rd place in our list of most Instagrammable celebrity-owned restaurants.

Explore more global rankings and insights by checking out our Specials blog category.

Methodology

We developed the Celebrity Restaurant Index to determine which celebrity-owned restaurants in the US and Canada offer the best foodie experience. This index combines three metrics: average meal and drink cost, overall TripAdvisor and Google review scores, and Instagram hashtag volume to measure popularity and social buzz.

We compiled a list by identifying celebrity restaurants in the top 30 most populated US states and the top 3 Canadian provinces. Each restaurant was scored across these data points to highlight the best-performing spots according to quality, cost, and popularity.