The Houston Chronicle is throwing open the doors on its annual Top 100 Restaurants celebration again this year, with the party set for Nov. 12 at The Corinthian downtown. Organizers are expecting a sell-out crowd for the event, which doubles as the public unveiling of the newspaper's closely watched dining rankings.
The lineup released so far includes a mix of neighborhood staples and newer arrivals from across the region: Aga's, Amrina, Bludorn, Brennan's of Houston, Casaema, Kenny & Ziggy's, Kitchen Rumors, Navy Blue, Ninfa's on Navigation, Silk Road, Soto, Viola & Agnes and Xalisko are all confirmed to take part, according to the Houston Chronicle. The Chronicle also plans a red carpet, a craft cocktail and cigar lounge, an interactive cooking setup, a photo booth and shopping, along with food and wine tastings from the participating restaurants.
A Familiar Face Returns to the Party
Aga's enters the night with some bragging rights intact. The halal Pakistani restaurant, which offers food at a relatively affordable price point, was ranked the No. 1 restaurant on the Chronicle's 2025 list, according to Texas Standard. Casaema, which landed at No. 3 last year per the Chronicle's own reporting, is also on the confirmed roster for Nov. 12.
The rest of the lineup spans the region's geography and cuisines. Amrina is a modern Indian restaurant in The Woodlands, while Xalisko also calls The Woodlands home. Silk Road brings dim sum to the mix, Viola & Agnes represents Seabrook, and Alchemy Bake Lab, a bakery based in Katy, rounds out the group of confirmed participants.
How the List Actually Gets Made
The Top 100 list itself has a longer history than the party suggests. It first debuted in 2012 and returned in 2022 after a two-year pandemic pause, the Chronicle's food team has explained. Under the current format, the Top 25 restaurants are ranked individually while the remaining 75 are presented alphabetically rather than numerically.
Getting on the list requires more than a good meal or two. The Chronicle's team pays for its own food while compiling the rankings and does not accept comped meals, and each restaurant that makes the cut — along with plenty that don't — gets visited at least once over the preceding year. Selections are weighed on flavor, execution, creativity, consistency, service, value and the diversity of cuisine on offer, and restaurants that opened after roughly June 1 aren't considered for that year's list.
What Last Year's List Revealed About This Year's
Turnover on the list tends to be real, not cosmetic. About a quarter of the restaurants on the 2025 list were new additions, per the same Texas Standard report, and last year's selections showed a noticeable cluster of restaurants concentrated in the Heights neighborhood. Whether that geographic pattern repeats in 2026 remains to be seen once the full rankings are released.
For now, the confirmed guest list gives Houston diners a preview of who will be pouring, plating and mingling under the red carpet lights on Nov. 12. Readers can buy tickets to the event, which the Chronicle expects to sell out, ahead of what has become one of the city's most anticipated nights on the food calendar.
