Yelp and Lyft teamed up to find out which American cities are most obsessed with dining out, with New Orleans claiming the No. 1 spot.
The two companies, which have access to quite a lot of data regarding where people go and eat, analyzed restaurant search volume, Collections list data
, and rideshare activity to compile a list of food-loving cities that spans coast to coast and skews decidedly Southern.The numbers also show some interesting new trends in dining.
Searches for restaurants offering reservations are up 145% compared to the previous year. Recent Yelp research also found Gen Z restaurant spending is up 45% over last year.
The data on morning habits was also worth noting. Breakfast and brunch combined for the No. 1 most-searched food
category in each of the biggest food cities on the list. Lyft data compiled so far this year showed that nearly one in five rides to restaurants happened before noon.
That's in part what helped lift Nashville to No. 8 on the list, beating out culinary powerhouse cities including New York, Chicago and Austin.
"The city’s rapid growth has brought a wave of new restaurants, including Noko Nashville and Fonda On 12th, a Latinx and LGBTQ-owned Mexican restaurant from the Fonda Mexican restaurant group, which also ranked on Yelp’s Best New Restaurants 2025," Yelp editors said. "Brunch is also the rage here, with places like Butter Milk Ranch leading the pack in Lyft rides and the most-saved restaurant on Yelp."
Nashville is indeed having a moment, with Junior landing on Bon Appétit’s list of Best New Restaurants of 2026, Sho showing up on the 50 Top Pizza USA 2026 list and more accolades arriving in a steady stream.
Recently, four Nashville restaurants made Yelp’s "Top 100 U.S. Restaurants" list for 2026, becoming the only Tennessee spots on the list.
Mackensy Lunsford is the senior dining reporter at The Tennessean. Hungry for more food news? Browse our newsletters here. Read more of my work here. Reach me at mlunsford@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Nashville placed among the top 10 U.S. food cities, who we beat
