Mezcla, the Italian Village restaurant that opened in 2025 and reopened in June after a van crashed into its front door, has been named one of Yelp's Best New Restaurants of 2026.
A combination of data and user feedback from the consumer review website informed the choice of 25 restaurants that Yelp writers said are "shaping America’s dining scene with innovative chefs, bold menus and beautifully designed spaces."
Restaurants from New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas also made the list. Other Midwest entries were from Indianapolis, Kansas City and suburban St. Louis.
The site's Best New Restaurants list praised Mezcla, at 1022 Summit St., for its elegant décor and food from chef and owner Garrett Talmage that it described as elevated
and highly memorable.
"It’s often hard to snag a table at this chic, upscale Mexican restaurant in Columbus’ Italian Village neighborhood," Yelp wrote. "But even if you can’t get a reservation, you can sit at the elegant bar, sip on craft cocktails, and share orders from the restaurant’s menu of tapas-style Latin American cuisine."
In a post on Instagram, Mezcla called the honor "completely unexpected" and "extra special" after its difficult start to the year. In January, nine months after its April 2025 opening, a van crashed into Mezcla's front door at Summit Street and Third Avenue in Italian Village.
Employees were in the restaurant when the crash took place three hours before its scheduled opening for the day, but no one was injured. Mezcla reopened June 5 after repairs of damage that was described as significant.
While Yelp's praise is warranted – Mezcla also was named one of Columbus Monthly's Best New Restaurants for 2026 – the website's assertion that it's hard to land a reservation there isn't. Columbus restaurant owners have said in the past that perception rather than reality drives diners to conclude they can't get reservations at certain places before even trying.
An Oct. 13 late-morning check of Mezcla's page at the online booking site Resy found tables available at between 11 and 22 daily time slots through Oct. 18.
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mezcla caps difficult 2026 with Yelp's Best New Restaurants honor
