Best restaurants for 8 cuisines in Merced

America is often described as a melting pot—a place where different cultures have come together over the centuries to form a new set of customs while maintaining the ones their ancestors have long held dear. For a lot of cultures, a major part of their identity is food.

Walk down any main street in the United States and you're likely to see the cuisines of many countries that, despite being nowhere near each other on the globe, are sitting side by side. You could start in Egypt with some falafel, get a taste of Taiwan with a cup of bubble tea next door, pick up a side of fries at an old-fashioned American diner down the block, and finish it off with sopaipillas from the Mexican restaurant in town.

Of course, we all have our favorite dishes: a juicy cheeseburger from a local pub, a savory bowl of tempura udon at a beloved Japanese restaurant, or some chicken tikka masala from your nearby Indian spot. But maybe you're looking to get out of your comfort zone a little, whether to try a different restaurant that has your favorite food or to taste a new type of cuisine entirely. To help point you in the right direction, Stacker compiled a list of the best restaurants for eight cuisines in Merced using data from Yelp. The cuisines included were based on research from Grand Canyon University on the most popular cuisines across U.S. cities.

Read on to find out if your favorite restaurant made the cut and to get inspired for your next dinner out.

Note: The images in this article depict each cuisine and do not necessarily reflect dishes served at each restaurant.