Best US food trucks for 2025 revealed and NYC has a lot of work to do

These offer a lot of bang for your truck.In honor of National Food Truck Day on June 27, Yelp has ranked the top 100 mobile kitchens in the US for 2025 — with Tony’s Catch in Hawaii taking the crown and NYC lagging far behind in this culinary drag race.The restaurant review site compiled this ranking in ode to the US’ “booming” meals on wheels scene, which represented a $1.8 billion market in 2024, according to Toast.“Mobile kitchens are bringing talented chefs to local neighborhoods, where they’re cooking up gourmet meals and creative new dishes at affordable prices,” Yelp wrote.“The result? Those fresh-made tacos, slow-barbecued brisket, or handcrafted bao buns served on paper plates in parking lots might be as tasty as something you’d find in an upscale restaurant.”While the idea of the best mobile kitchens is quite subjective, Yelp’s research team tried to narrow things by basing them on reviews of 58,000 restaurants in the platform’s “food truck” category, Food and Wine reported.They then rated them according to a “number of factors,” per the site, which noted that all the selections “have a passing health score.” The result was a list of the most “most drool-worthy, finger-licking, lip-smacking, chef-driven food trucks that Yelpers are raving about.”Overall, Hawaii proved the US’ de facto food truck haven with a staggering 25 spots on the list — not bad for a state whose total population is just a fourth the size of NYC.Meanwhile, California trailed close behind with 22 of the top 100 spots on this mobile meal Mount Rushmore.Taking the overall crown was Tony’s Catch in Kapa’a, Kauai, which boasts 4.9 stars across 285 reviews.
This Aloha State mobile kitchen is known for its Zicatela-style fish tacos, which are based on the food at fellow coastal hotspot Playa Zicatela in Oaxaca, Mexico.To create this epicurean homage, the chefs lightly crisp a generous portion of fried mahi-mahi and “then top it with a cila...