5 Style Tricks to Elevate Your Dining Room Into the Ultimate Party Setting — Inspired by the World's Most Extraordinary Restaurant Designs of 2025

'Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,' an ancient proverb goes. Now, choose a lifestyle editor job, and no day will pass without you being called to explore taste in all of its manifold forms — from the contagiously inspiring look of the finest examples of restaurant design to the sophisticated gastronomy experiments served up on their tables, trend-setting exhibitions, and more. That's why, in 2025 alone, when it came to collecting interior style tips from the best foodie addresses, there was inspiration for all. Inspiration, which I have, of course, not failed to treasure while reviewing hotspots for aesthetics and flavor in London and beyond.

As December comes to a close, it feels about the right time to look back at the most exciting culinary openings to have graced the scene over the past 12 months. Cementing the role of eateries as all-round cultural hubs delivering not just standout meals but also meticulously curated art, design, and entertainment, this condensed edit of five of my favorite restaurant openings from 2025 provides a glimpse into an industry that is getting closer and more personal than ever before. How? By turning multiple of our passions and aspirations into physical, experiential form. But what if I told you there's a way to bring the immersive and compelling atmosphere of your most coveted dining spots into your home?

Translated into easily actionable pieces of styling advice by yours truly, each of the 2025 restaurant designs spotlighted below encourages you to try your hand at recreating one of the biggest trends of the moment for the enjoyment of your household, awaited guests, and anyone else who might come along.

1. Carbone London, London — Turn Your Dining Room Into a Gallery

Undoubtedly one of the most talked-about restaurant designs of 2025, Carbone London is an exercise in sensory spectacle. While its Mario Carbone-helmed culinary offerings have received mixed reviews, its Ken Fulk interiors stun with its cherry red tones, interspersed with lavish gold detailing, stunningly crafted marquetry, and truly mesmerizing artworks, proving contemporary eateries don't just serve up delicious food — they need to score just as high in awe.

Curated by none other than influential art dealer Vito Schnabel (and also including a wall-wide painting by his father, groundbreaking artist Julian Schnabel), the selection of pieces beautifully displayed all across Carbone London's dazzling rooms reminded me that I still need to find the courage to build my own gallery wall.

A DIY, engaging way to imbue your dinner party setting with storytelling, worldwide inspiration, and color, all it takes to create one of them in your living room (or standalone dining room for the lucky ones) is to start collecting art, however big or small, pricey or stylishly affordable. A few quick tips on how to hang or light art like a professional, and a crash course into ways to mix art-TVs with the real stuff, and your home, too, will feel like a must-visit cultural site.

2. Cafe Roja, Cancún — Give Into the Quirky Tile(-Effect) Moment

If there's a restaurant design from 2025 that stood out to me almost immediately when I came across on a viral Instagram post is that of the Omerozturkinteriors-conceived new Cancún destination, Cafe Roja. It speaks to everything I appreciate most of today's hospitality world: the raw, sand-like texture of its camel-tinted plaster, complemented by thriving plants, evoking the connection with nature typical of indoor-outdoor living design schemes; Colombian artist Shaskia Stacy Cuaspa's spirited portraits hanging on the walls, their wide-brimmed hats and oversized shoulders a proud nod to Latin culture; quirkily shaped table lamps igniting the space with a touch of humor and light, and geometrical shapes turned on their heads via the eye-catching checkered surfaces of statement dining tables, creaturesque chrome-detailed chairs, and velvety cream stools.

Cafe Roja's checkered dining tables feel especially on-brand for design-obsessed aesthetes, as tiled floors and surfaces with square print patterns enjoy a nostalgia-fueled renaissance, as also attested by fellow 2025 restaurant debuts like Paris's Deux Gares Express and Sydney's Cibaria.

How to let the vibrancy of this Mexican decor marvel into your own home, then? Begin by ensuring your checkerboard kitchen tiles are in line with the latest trends. Investing in this rare Italian tile-effect table in stock at Artemest is a valid alternative, while renovators wanting to start small should get their hands on the right, whimsical ceiling sconces.

3. Nora, London — Channel the Groove of High-Fidelity Bars

I'll be honest with you: it wasn't until I started researching this piece on the coolest restaurant designs of the year that I stumbled across Canary Wharf's modern Turkish eatery Nora. Still, a single glance at this hip new hangout was enough to persuade me to add it to my London hotlist for when I am back from the Christmas holidays.

The work of Ola Jachymiak Studio, Nora wants to channel the look of an "Urban Anatolia", where organically shaped plaster ceilings, nature-inspired, rich print textiles, and plump furniture inject softness into an airy dining room sharing the wood, chrome, and suffused lighting mid-century style combo with the world's most iconic high-fidelity bars.

Both the launch of the world's first-ever listening suite at Lake Como's luxury hotel Il Sereno this year and the growing number of analog music-driven nightlife hotspots in London and across the world confirm that, yes, the vinyl-world aesthetic is back in vogue. Taking the trend into your home, though, is not quite as simple as choosing your preferred option from the many record storage ideas available (ever heard of a vinyl bar?).

Don't get me wrong: Woody vintage finds like this Crosley Furniture LP unit or this sleek KAIU one will help for sure, but there's more you can do to your dining room (or dining-cum-living room) to make it look like the perfect setting for an experience belonging in the audiophile realm.

Consider investing in Tacchini's spacey Dana floor-to-ceiling lamps for a start, and if you've got space (and cash) to spare, up your modular sofa game next — Cult Furniture's 3 Seater Sofa or your favorite Soho Home design for a full makeover.

4. Izzy's Steaks and Chops, San Francisco — Relive Old Glamour

From the film-worthy renovation of the Big Apple's iconic Met Opera Bar to the interiors of the vibey Jac's on Bond (one of the coolest restaurants in New York), local studio GACHOT has built itself a reputation as a discerning tastemaker of all things nightlife decor. The practice's recent reinterpreting of San Francisco's beloved steakhouse, Izzy's Steaks and Chops, is no exception.

First opened in 1987 by famed restaurateur Sam DuVall, the Bay Area address, named after Portuguese immigrant-turned-Prohibition-era saloon owner Isadore "Izzy" Gomez, has since been a staple of the city's Marina District.

Inaugurated this spring, the GACHOT-upgraded dining destination fuses old-world charm with the studio's renowned flair for exquisite craftsmanship. Think dark-stained white oak and burgundy leather stools elegantly hanging about the original bar, 1940s milk glass pendant lights adding a soft, atmospheric glow to the retro dining room, and checkerboard leather-finished marble floors polished up to their heyday glory.

As for what's new, the designers made a statement with the insertion of a sprawling mural realized on site by artist Matthew Benedict — a visual ode to San Francisco's past, vividly fusing references to its hosting culture with others to Izzy Gomez's own life, and stretching from the entrance through the bar all the way into the main dining room.

There's a hypnotic gallery wall of over 120 artworks, signage, and ephemera gathered by the restaurant's founder over the decades, and a plusher, brand-new second floor leaning more heavily into GACHOT's signature style, where a crackling fireplace lights up dark-stained solid oak bookshelves and bespoke seating for a time-traveling night.

5. MUND at PURO Hotels, Warsaw — Strip It Back to the (Woody) Basics

In a year defined by (I'll get there) immersive, cinematic restaurant designs, the Pantone Color of the Year 2026 — a rather anticlimactic shade of white poetically dubbed 'Cloud Dancer' — stands for the quiet rise of an opposite trend, one which captures a desire for essentially grounding, frills-free interiors where every detail counts.

The brainchild of Danish-Italian design duo GamFratesi, Warsaw's recently unveiled restaurant MUND, tucked inside the unexpected, tactile Scandinavian design retreat that is the city's PURO Hotel, is an invitation to shed all excess in favor of the most genuinely natural textures and forms.

Translating to "mouth" in Danish, MUND is a restaurant, bakery, bar, rooftop, patio, and wine bar that, the property explains, is designed to "evolve with the seasons". Inside, it unfolds as a gentle dialogue between Dinesen oak wood, travertine, and handmade brick elements that, combined with veneered cabinets, paneling, and locally sourced artworks, all strive to deliver the essence of a real-life, comforting environment.

Whether through your choice of Louis Poulsen PH 5 Pendant Light-inspired modern lamps, characterful Nordic art like Jörgen Hansson's The Swan III, or other abstract pieces, the tranquil energy of this eatery is particularly beneficial to restage at home ahead of a fresh 2026 start.

That my favorite restaurant designs of 2025 span the breadth of contemporary interiors doesn't mean there wasn't a single genre that prevailed over the rest in the past year. As we predicted in our trends forecast 2026, 'Space Oddity' decor has gone strong in the recent past, and we expect it to go even stronger in the coming months. So brace yourself for culinary experiences that bridge the gap between a nostalgic future and Planet Earth.