Richmond is a top 20 foodie city — twice over
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Richmond recently landed among the top 20 best foodie cities in the nation on two separate national rankings.
Why it matters: It's about time our food scene got back in the national spotlight.
State of play: Yelp put Richmond at No. 17 and WalletHub landed RVA at No. 20 on their data-driven best foodie cities lists.
- The rankings used different measures of foodie city greatness but reached the same conclusion: Richmond belongs in the top 20.
What they're saying: "Virginia is having a moment," Yelp wrote, noting that three metros in the state cracked its top 20: Richmond (17), D.C. metro/NoVa (6) and Virginia Beach (20).
- Yelp used restaurant searches, ratings and engagement on its platform, and partnered with Lyft to see how often locals call a ride to or from local restaurants.
- And in Virginia, Lyft rides to restaurants are nearly twice as frequent as rides to other entertainment destinations, per Yelp.
Meanwhile, WalletHub used 28 metrics — including affordability (like restaurant prices and local food taxes), restaurant quality and food diversity — to compare more than 180 cities nationwide.
- Richmond came in at No. 20 overall, largely for our food diversity, accessibility and quality, which WalletHub also ranked as 20th.
- For affordability, Richmond came in at 96th.
The bottom line: Richmond's food scene is once again earning national praise — even if eating our way through it isn't always cheap.