This 10-seat Michelin-starred Restaurant in Florida Has the Highest Ratings in the U.S.

Getting a truly top-notch meal doesn't have to be hard. All you need to do is make your way to Miami and score reservations at the statistically most beloved fine dining restaurant in the nation. 

In December, Restaurant Furniture, a commercial furniture supplier, released a study that evaluated all the fine-dining eateries in the U.S. that have at least one Michelin star to determine which one was most favorably reviewed by diners on Google. After rounding them up, it then ranked each restaurant based on which had the highest percentage of five-star Google reviews. This way, the team noted, it could account for both professional food critics’ and everyday diners' thoughts and opinions.

“This study considered only restaurants with one or more Michelin stars as a starting point due to the prestigious reputation associated with receiving such an award,” Nick Warren, head of e-commerce at Restaurant Furniture, shared in a statement provided to Travel + Leisure. “The final ranking then reveals how everyday customers rated each restaurant, as opposed to food critic reviews.” 

After looking at the data, the team named Ogawa Miami as the highest-rated fine-dining restaurant in the U.S. — 98.7 percent of its Google reviews came in at five stars.

“Ogawa was found to be the highest-rated fine-dining restaurant … a staggering 152 out of 154 users giving the eatery top marks,” Restaurant Furniture said in its report. “Specializing in Japanese cuisine, Ogawa, which translates to ‘little river,' has earned one Michelin star and boasts a perfect five-star Google review score.” 

In its Michelin Guide entry, the reviewer highlighted several of Ogawa Miami's standout dishes including its baby sea eel and soy-cured quail egg appetizer, the bigfin reef squid in shiso-miso sauce, as well as the baby snow crab topped with Japanese-style herring roe. These options, Michelin added, exemplify “the chef's skill.” 

But praise for this 10-seat eatery isn't limited to the Michelin Guide.

“Ogawa stands above the others in terms of quality of food, ambiance, and service,” one Google reviewer noted. “The owner was kind, and the chef was skilled and took into consideration our tastes. They even write down what you had and enjoyed the most so that when you come again, they can delight you even further.”

As for other highly Google-rated restaurants across the U.S., Uka in Los Angeles came in second, with 98.36 percent of reviewers (120 out of 122) awarding the restaurant five stars. Soseki in Winter Park, Florida, came in third, Essential by Christophe in New York City clocked in at fourth, and N/naka in Los Angeles rounded out the top five.

“Notably, 60 percent of the restaurants that feature among the top 10 specialize in Japanese cuisine,” Warren added. “This may suggest that Japanese restaurants hold their customer experience to a higher standard than other cuisines, which is then reflected in user reviews.”