The Absolute Best Restaurants To Celebrate Thanksgiving In The US

The Thanksgiving holiday is brimming with not just gravy and turkey, but also a dense network of traditions. For instance, who carves the turkey? Is mom making grandma's mashed potatoes? Will family football start at two in the afternoon or three? The holiday is intrinsically emotional and nostalgic. We gather with family and friends, recall what we're thankful for, and devour a meal steeped in Thanksgiving rituals. A tablescape studded with autumnal gourds, brightly colored leaves, and whole-roasted turkey points to our uniquely cherished food traditions.

Nostalgia aside, Thanksgiving can still be a tough meal. Some of us love the challenge of menu planning, shopping, and meal prepping. Uncovering Thanksgiving hacks can be invigorating, finalizing the oven schedule presents a thrilling and practical puzzle, and compliments after a meal are immensely gratifying. But suppose you'd rather ditch the potential chaos and a sink full of dirty dishes. 

In that case, a restaurant Thanksgiving may be the answer. If that sounds appealing, restaurants across the country are willing to stay open or can deliver a T-Day meal kit, so you don't have to stress over the details. If that sounds good, then here are some of the absolute best restaurants where you can celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., all so you can focus your energy on plates of turkey and the company of family and friends.

A Thanksgiving feast — especially one teeming with stuffing, roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie — is extremely hard to top. But a Turkey Day feast in wine country? Yes, please. The Boar's Head Resort in Charlottesville, Virginia does it all. On a gorgeous 600 acres of Blue Ridge Mountain land (via Conde Nast Traveler), the Tripadvisor 2022 Traveler's Choice winner entertains both resort vacationers and local diners with a Thanksgiving brunch buffet for the ages.

Between 10:30am and 4:00pm, families can pull up to the resort's event space for a massive spread void of Thanksgiving clean-up (via Boar's Head Resort). Menus past are way too long to recite just now, but rest assured that this place will have every Thanksgiving staple and more on that buffet. That just about always includes a turkey and ham carving station, an omelet station (for true brunch aficionados), and nearly a dozen desserts (via Boar's Head Resort).

Brennan's, the proud inventors of bananas Foster, is open and ready to serve eager Turkey Day patrons. Per Nola.com, Brennan's skyrocketed in popularity on the New Orleans culinary scene when Ralph Brennan purchased the restaurant in 2014 and became the full owner of his family's namesake establishment in 2022. Today, the French Quarter spot draped in pastel greens and pinks is on the national food map, named to the New York Times 2022 list of best restaurants.

Thanksgiving offerings at Brennan's stay true to its New Orleans roots with classics like turtle soup and seafood gumbo. That's followed up by a second course of bacon-wrapped turkey breast with a braised turkey leg, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, and rosemary jus. But it may be challenging to then turn down the restaurant's eggs hussarde complete with homemade English muffins, coffee-cured Canadian bacon, or chicory-rubbed beef tenderloin with sweet potato rosti. For dessert, try a slice of chocolate pumpkin pie or a pear galette, but we all know that Brennan's original take on bananas Foster (with a tableside flambé) is likely to steal the show.

Lucky for us, this Caribbean and Latin-inspired restaurant, recently named to the New York Times best restaurants list 2022, is open Thanksgiving weekend. Jacksonville, Florida native Jackson Patel was named to Food & Wine's Best New Chef's list in 2020, and today, his talents help adorn a menu of bold flavors (via Mamey Miami).

Patel's Thanksgiving weekend spread is a concrete reason to extend the food holiday a few days longer. A family-style "Island Feast" menu will be served the Saturday after Thanksgiving, drawing from Mamey Miami's mainstay tropical flavors. The festive offerings include fresh wahoo crudo with cranberry tartar, pumpkin empanadas, and roasted pork with mofongo and mojo. Meanwhile, a classic turkey roulade plate with stuffing, cranberry jam, gravy, and a cornbread and honey side serves up traditional Thanksgiving flavors. If you need a bit more, a special drink package delivers a three-course beverage selection to accompany the meal.

In the heart of downtown Seattle, Stella at Hotel Sorrento is seriously committed to its restaurant Thanksgiving tradition. With few exceptions, Stella has proudly served a Thanksgiving dinner every year for over 100 years (via King5). The restaurant celebrated its very first 1921 Thanksgiving celebration last year, spearheaded by chef Carolynn Spence. Spence and her Stella culinary team helped replicate the first-ever Stella Thanksgiving menu, awarding diners a taste of historic Thanksgiving turkey. Roast turkey, chestnut dressing, and Brussels sprout soup with croutons soufflé graced Stella's elaborate tables for four days.

This year, Hotel Sorrento is again preserving its Thanksgiving dinner tradition. The midday meal will seat diners in the tiled Italian-inspired dining room, on the patio, or in the cozy fireside lounge. The special menu is still under lock and key, but if the main menu is any indication, Thanksgiving dinner will meld the restaurant's Italian theme and tributes to autumn flavors.

Want some real historical cred to your meal this year? Let's go back to the very beginning, as Thanksgiving dinner travels back to its 1621 roots every November in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Plimoth Patuxet Museums transfers visitors back in time to the historic lands of American Indian peoples and a 17th-century colonial village. When late November rolls around, Pilgrim roleplayers and a classic roast turkey dinner take over the museum grounds.

The Plimoth Patuxet offerings include two Thanksgiving dinner options: a "Thanksgiving homestyle buffet" and a "story of Thanksgiving" dinner. The menus are similar, though the latter includes fall harvest fruits and nuts and a warm Indian pudding for dessert. All dining tables are communal, so guests are encouraged to mingle with neighboring parties much like colonial diners would have done all those centuries ago. Yelp reviewers lauded the immersive experience for its tasty meal and time-traveling vibe.

Detroit's Oak and Reel is also satisfying the increasing demand for pick-up Thanksgiving dinners. Deemed the 2022 "Restaurant of the Year" by Hour Detroit, the restaurant once struggled to stay open during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Today, however, chef Jared Gadbaw and the restaurant both are thriving thanks in large part to his Italian seafood and pasta creations.

Although you can't dine in the elegant and rustic dining room of Oak and Reel on Thanksgiving itself, the restaurant's at-home feast will still capture the magic of Oak and Reel's kitchen. This year, its slow-roasted turkey is accompanied by oyster stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts with cippolini onions and pancetta, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and dinner rolls. Depending on the size of your crowd, both half-turkeys and whole turkeys are available. Finally, a seasonal pumpkin Basque cheesecake and chocolate tart will guild the Thanksgiving lily (via Tock). For you, reheating the goods according to the chef's instructions will be the hardest part.

Washington, D.C.'s Blue Duck Tavern has received quite a few awards since its opening nearly two decades ago, including some coveted Michelin stars, as well as national and local awards that have caught the eye of the foodies of the nation's capital (via Blue Duck Tavern).

With all this culinary buzz, it's worth mentioning that the Blue Duck Tavern is again setting off on a grand Thanksgiving dinner endeavor in 2022. Last year, the restaurant's "brunch into dinner" feast featured a three-course meal of seafood, salads, cheese, and charcuterie that included jumbo lump crab cakes, braised short ribs, and a sorghum-brined turkey. This year brings another three-course Thanksgiving dinner to the people of Washington, D.C., a meal that includes a cider-brined bird (packed with focaccia stuffing and braised turkey leg), duck pate en route, and slow-roasted prime rib (via Blue Duck Tavern).