The Best Hotel Restaurants and Bars Across the USA

American hotel dining leans hardest on institutions, the rooms that regulars have been returning to for decades. In Los Angeles, The Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge remains the definitive power-lunch table, its garden patio and adjoining Bar Nineteen12 still drawing the industry crowd, while a short drive away Hotel Bel-Air pairs a Wolfgang Puck dining room with one of the city's most discreet hotel bars.

New York's contribution is measured less in Michelin stars than in atmosphere. The Carlyle on the Upper East Side holds two of the most storied rooms in the country: Bemelmans Bar, its walls covered in original Ludwig Bemelmans murals and its Martini mixed the same way since 1947, and Café Carlyle, the intimate supper club where Liza Minnelli, Eartha Kitt, and Woody Allen have all performed. These are rooms worth planning an evening around rather than falling into after dinner elsewhere.