Area Attractions - Best Cities for Rooftop Dining

 

Where can you have a memorable meal with a beautiful rooftop view? To find out, Roof Gnome ranked 2023’s Best Cities for Rooftop Dining. We compared over 360 of the biggest U.S. cities based on three categories. We considered the number of rooftop restaurants and consumer ratings. We also factored in the most friendly climates for outdoor dining — such as high rates of sunshine — among nine total metrics. See the 10 best (and 10 worst) cities for rooftop dining below, followed by key stats from our report.

Best Cities for Rooftop Dining Rank City 1 New York, NY 2 Los Angeles, CA 3 San Diego, CA 4 Chicago, IL 5 Washington, DC 6 Las Vegas, NV 7 Denver, CO 8 San Francisco, CA 9 Seattle, WA 10 Honolulu, HI  Worst Cities for Rooftop Dining Rank City 1 Auburn, AL 2 Boynton Beach, FL 3 Little Rock, AR 4 Beaumont, TX 5 Sterling Heights, MI 6 Warner Robins, GA 7 College Station, TX 8 Lansing, MI 9 Columbia, MO 10 Sioux Falls, SD

Key Insights: Big Apple Bites: New York (No. 1) is the empire of rooftop dining, with 531 rooftop restaurants — the most in our ranking. That’s 236 more than in Chicago (No. 4), which claims the 2nd-highest number of rooftop establishments. NYC also cooks up the 2nd-highest number of top-rated rooftop restaurants. Angelic Eats: Plan a first-rate feast in Los Angeles (No. 2), which boasts the most top-rated rooftop restaurants and the 3rd-highest number of rooftop restaurants overall. LA finishes nearly 11 points ahead of San Diego, which shines at No. 3 overall with the best Climate for rooftop dining. Summits of Sound: Hear music from new heights in Kansas City, Missouri (No. 12), and Nashville, Tennessee (No. 13). Both cities boast rich musical legacies and numerous high-quality rooftop restaurants to experience a delicious meal and the sounds of the city from above.  Golden Potential: Several California cities like San Diego (No. 3) and Escondido (No. 152) glow at the top of our ranking with the most ideal Climate for elevated dining. Despite having exemplary weather, rooftop options are ironically not as abundant in Vista (No. 145) and Chula Vista (No. 163), Spanish for “beautiful view.” Southern Sights: Sup in the sky in Southeastern cities Charleston, South Carolina (No. 11), Atlanta (No. 14), and Charlotte, North Carolina (No. 19). These cities enjoy high Access and Quality and land in the top half of our Climate category. Savannah, Georgia (No. 27), and Richmond, Virginia (No. 30), also offer tasty rooftop eateries. Texas Tastes: 10 Lone Star State cities, such as Fort Worth (No. 89) and San Antonio (No. 61), enjoy views of wide open spaces, ranking in the top 50%. Among them, Houston (No. 18), Austin (No. 23), and Dallas (No. 32) claim the best Access to well-rated rooftop restaurants. Meanwhile, smaller cities like College Station (No. 356) and Beaumont (No. 359) severely lack options for high-rise diners.   Helpful Links: See Where Your City Ranks Full Study Article Methodology What is Roof Gnome? For roof installation, roof repairs, roof inspections, and solar panels, Roof Gnome connects you to the best roofing professionals in your area. Roof Gnome is part of the Home Gnome family of home services sites.    More from Roof Gnome:  Best Cities for Rooftop Drinking Best Vacation Spots for Rooftop Swimming Best Plants for a Green Roof Pros and Cons of Cool Roofs How Solar Power Keeps People Safe During a Storm 10 Things to Know Before Installing a Skylight