See America's Best Restaurants That Are In NJ, New List Says

Time to work up those appetites. A new list of the country's best restaurants is out, and some of them are in New Jersey.

OpenTable unveiled this week its “100 Best Restaurants in America” list for 2018. The online reservation site based its list on more than 12 million verified reviews of over 28,000 restaurants nationwide.

As you might expect, New York had the most restaurants on the list with 24, followed by California and Illinois, with 15 and 9, respectively. Texas had eight. With seven on the list, Pennsylvania rounded out the top five states.

Here are the 2 New Jersey restaurants that were included among the country's 100 best:

• Steve & Cookie's By the Bay - Margate, New Jersey
• Tutta Pesca - Hoboken, New Jersey

If you feel like crossing the river, here are 7 Philadelphia restaurants that were included among the country's 100 best:

• Double Knot - Philadelphia
• Noord - Philadelphia
• Parc - Philadelphia
• Saloon Restaurant - Philadelphia
• Talula’s Garden - Philadelphia
• Vetri Cucina - Philadelphia
• Zahav - Philadelphia

American and Italian food were the most popular cuisines on the list, OpenTable said, followed by French, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern.

"The 100 Best Restaurants in America list gives voice to OpenTable's diner community by honoring the restaurants they love to visit and that consistently provide dining experiences that delight time and again," Caroline Potter, chief dining officer at the company, said in a release. "The diversity of this year's list truly showcases how OpenTable helps diners find the right restaurant for every appetite and every occasion."

The reviews used to make the list were submitted between Nov. 1, 2017, and Oct. 31, 2018. All restaurants with a minimum overall score and number of qualifying reviews were considered, the company said. Eligible establishments were then sorted based on a score calculated from each restaurant's average rating in the overall category.

There are more than 18,00 restaurants in New Jersey in 2016, according to the National Restaurant Association. They did an estimated $16.3 billion in sales last year.

Patch national staffers Kara Seymour and Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images