In some ways, 2025 was a great year in food — boundary-pushing bakeries popped up all over the country, restaurants and bars actually felt fun again, and New York City even gained a legitimately awesome cheesesteak thanks in part to Bradley Cooper. Still, can you truly love something (Dubai chocolate, Taylor Swift, whatever TV show everyone is talking about right now, etc.) without also being a little bit of a hater about it? Thus, we give you the food world trends that we hope to see less of in 2026.
“I will line up for a lot of things, but you have to draw the line somewhere when there are so many fantastic pizza places in New York City.” —Stephanie Wu, editor in chief
“Anything that makes dining more impersonal, so tablet ordering, QR code menus, robot servers, iPad wine lists. Bring people back into the forefront of hospitality!” —Jess Mayhugh, managing editor
“Please don’t make me download an entire app specifically for your restaurant. I know you’re just scraping my data and sending extra marketing through it, and it really isn’t more convenient either.” —Ben Mesirow, associate editor, travel
“Entrees are becoming too predictable and boring, while appetizers become the star. I’ve had meals where basically all the appetizers were great and the entrees were skippable. Let’s change that.” —Matthew Kang, correspondent
Caring more about making content than enjoying the meal
“I can’t complain so much; in San Francisco, I’m happy people are going out again at all. Still, let’s name that, in the year of our lord 2025 — as in the year of our lord 2024 and years stretching back to 2010 — it has become slightly more socially acceptable to be a total tool at restaurants with tripods, light fixtures, boom mics, director’s chairs, etc. Here’s the pot calling the kettle black, but let’s focus on the food, people!” —Paolo Bicchieri, audience editor, Northern California/Pacific Northwest
“Raw milk and people having a fundamental misunderstanding of the beef tallow skincare thing :(” —Francky Knapp, staff writer
“I had a constant sense of whiplash seeing the rise of ultra-luxe grocery stores like Meadow Lane and pricey, mostly uninteresting ‘swankstaurants,’ against the backdrop of continued economic insecurity nationwide. The stratification of wealth and the social-media-fueled performance of status via the promotion of, like, extremely expensive tuna salad felt glaring and unsettling to me this year. I do not think these people actually care about food so much as the way food allows them to perform abundance, status, and exclusivity.” —Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter
The tyranny of small-plates wine bars
“‘Worst’ is strong, but my personal bone to pick is with the infestation of lowkey very expensive wine bars. It feels like every week there’s a new one popping up, serving allegedly ‘shareable plates’ that are only a few bites each, where two people inexplicably need eight dishes, only two of which are ever memorable. The format tricks you into thinking you’re having a casual night out, but suddenly you’ve bought four $23 vegetable plates and three $18 glasses of orange wine instead of a single $30 entrée and a martini or two; somehow you leave hungry, having spent $160, and with heartburn. It feels like a bait and switch.” —Hilary Pollack, deputy editor
Experiences that are too extra
“While a tableside espresso-martini cart, selection of cheeses, or dramatic dessert presentation can be fun, sometimes the ‘crazy experience’ trends at restaurants can be extremely overwhelming. This might be an unpopular opinion, but acrobatics, trapeze artists, and burlesque shows distract from delicious food and the company you’re enjoying it with more than they add to it. I get it when it’s a once-a-month event with a show during dinner, but when there’s a contortionist flying over the crowd digging into a three-course meal every night, it feels like a little too much.” —Emily Venezky, editorial associate
