Help Us Find the Best Local Restaurants & Be Entered to Win
We take our food seriously in Kalamazoo.
From tacos to burgers to ice cream and more, SW Michigan is a foodie haven- and we want to celebrate it with some friendly competition.
Use our ballot below to vote for your favorite locally owned restaurants and be entered to win a $100 gift card to use at one of the winners!
NEW FOR 2026: We will draw FOUR winners this year ( $100 each)!
PS: Curious who topped the lists for best restaurants in Kalamazoo in 2025? You can review last year’s winners here.
About the Prize
By voting below for your favorite Kalamazoo area grub, FOUR lucky winners will each receive:
$100 DOLLARS to a locally-owned restaurant of your choice, courtesy of Mattawan Mechanical Services, Your Comfort Crew Since ’92!
Ready to get started? Pick your favorite restaurants below.
Contest Details
Voting is open from February 16, 2026 to March 16, 2026.
See a List of Voting Categories
There are 14 Food Categories to vote on this ballot:
How to Add a Restaurant to the Ballot
- Is your fave restaurant missing? You can add them to the ballot using the write-in option.
- The restaurant name will be sent to our content moderators. Once approved, it will be added to the ballot.
- Nominee Requirements: We celebrate only locally owned restaurants (no chains, food trucks or home-based businesses). Breweries must brew their own beer. “New” Restaurants opened in 2025 or early 2026.
- Bell’s note: While we love Bell’s, it is no longer locally owned following its sale in 2021 and therefore does not qualify for the ballot (PS: We missed this on last year’s ballot- our apologies)
Restaurant Owners: Download Your Voting Flyer
- Need a hardcopy flyer for your restaurant? Download and print the attached PDF below.
- This flyer includes a QR code to this online ballot.
Vote Here
Only one voting form per person is allowed. We can’t wait to hear about your favorite restaurants in Kalamazoo!
Prefer larger text on your ballot? Click here to open voting in a separate window.
FINE PRINT
This giveaway will close on March 16, 2026, at 11:00 PM and the winner will be notified via email. The winner will have 24 hours to respond by email accepting the prize. The winner will pick a local winning restaurant to receive a gift card. KZOOKIDS has the right to refuse the winner’s selection for any reason and ask for an alternate selection. No purchase necessary to enter the contest. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to kzookids.com and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to enter the contest and notify winners. Entrants will release Facebook from all liability. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age and reside in Michigan. Only one entry per household or IP address. KZOOKIDS’ liability is limited to the value of the prize.
More Intel on Local Businesses
Looking for more ways to learn about local businesses? These Facebook groups and pages are a great place to start:
Supporting Local Kalamazoo & SWMI Businesses
Making a trip downtown? Downtown Kalamazoo Collective has the scoop on events and happenings in Downtown Kzoo.
More Local Food
Thanks!!!
Ron’s beans has the best coffee around. New and up and coming. Stop in and see him on centre st in portage!!
Looking forward to checking out the new places.
I love this survey! Can’t wait to see the results – especially for best kids menu – you should post the top 5 and we will for sure visit them all because we always struggle to find somewhere we all will like!
Top 5 in each category will be shared as soon as we can get assemble the results! Likely, early April 🙂
Very good food and service.
Thanks for the opportunity to win, and to give credit to all the restaurants.
I love going to Nana’s they have the best food, the breakfast 🥞🥞 is so good and their lunch menu is delicious. They treat you like family very friendly place
no category for Kazoopy’s? LOVE their subs!
They are in the running for best pizza!
Kalako Pizza
Exceptional crust
Exceptional products
Great people
Tiramisu is phenomenal