Six Wichita restaurants win 2026 Wine Spectator award. List includes one newbie.
Wine Spectator magazine has just put out its annual Restaurant Awards list, and six Wichita restaurants are on it — one for the first time.
The magazine, which each year honors the “world’s best restaurants for wine,” this year recognized 4,012 restaurants from around the world. The magazine chooses award winners on three levels. The top is the Grand Award, given to only 99 restaurants this year.
The next best is the Best of Award of Excellence, which was given to Wine Dive + Kitchen at 4714 E. Douglas. That restaurant has been on the list of winners since 2016. Of all the winners, 1,830 earned this distinction. (The Wine Dive + Kitchen restaurants in Manhattan and in Lawrence also won the Best of Award of Excellence.)
The other Wichita restaurants received an Award of Excellence, the third and final tier of awards, which was given to the remaining 2,083 restaurants that made the list. A new addition to the list of Wichita winners in this category: KVH Chophouse at 2926 N. Tyler, which opened in July.
Wichita’s other Award of Excellence Winners were: Scotch & Sirloin, 6325 E. Kellogg; Vora Restaurant European, 3252 E. Douglas; Chester’s Chophouse & Wine Bar, 1550 N. Webb Road; and Siena Steakhouse, the restaurant inside the Ambassador Hotel at 104 N. Broadway
Several Kansas City-area restaurants also made the list, including Patrick Mahomes’ and Travis Kelce’s new restaurant, 1587 Prime. It won the Best of Award of Excellence.
To see the full list, visit www.winespectator.com
Another wine award for Scotch & Sirloin
Scotch & Sirloin owner and sommelier Mike Issa earned another wine recognition for his restaurant when he was named June’s Taste-Maker of the month by Riedel Wine Glass Company
Click on the Instagram symbol below to read what Riedel had to say about Issa.
This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 2:52 PM.
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