10 Best Restaurants in Buffalo

While Buffalo is known for one particularly popular local dish—chicken wings—as well as a number of other unique Buffalo delicacies, such as Beef on Weck and sponge sweets, it also boasts a vibrant and diverse restaurant scene that serves both regional and global cuisine. You can enjoy farm-to-table fare, real Ethiopian cuisine, and yes, Buffalo staples, in a number of upmarket, casual, and modern restaurants in and around Queen City. These are our selections for Buffalo’s top dining establishments. Best Restaurants in Buffalo

1. Toutant

This restaurant with a southern flair is well-known for its delicious brunches, late-night fare, and addicting buttermilk fried chicken and fluffy biscuits. You shouldn’t sleep on the drinks either because the industrial decor is characterized by exposed brick walls, reclaimed wood tables, and storage behind the bar that is stocked with hundreds of liquor bottles. Among these are classic New Orleans drinks like the French Quarter Frozen Daiquiri, Vieux Carre, and Sazerac. Best Restaurants in Buffalo

2. Bacchus Wine Bar and Restaurant

The food is excellent here, but the wine selection is much better—and award-winning, no less. Serve your glass with delicacies such as filet mignon with a gorgonzola crust, salmon with a pecan crust and sweet potato hash, or roasted beet salad with crispy goat cheese. The restaurant, which has been open since 2003 in the historic Calumet building in the center of Buffalo’s entertainment district, recently underwent renovations to create an attractive yet welcoming dining space.

3. Oliver’s

Oliver’s on Delaware Avenue has been a Buffalonian and guest favorite for special occasions ever since Frank Oliver launched it in 1938. The restaurant remains at the top of many people’s lists even though it is currently owned by Dave Schutte, who renovated the premises in 2016 to bring it into the modern century. Classic menu items including A5 Wagyu Flatiron Steak, Decadence of Egg, and Spring Pea Agnolotti are served alongside favorites like Chicken Milanese, Prime Filet Mignon, and Wedge Salad. Oliver’s is perfect for a memorable family night out because it has a kid’s menu as well. Remember to leave room for dessert—the lemon ricotta cake and chocolate pot de crème are both delicious and aesthetically pleasing. Best Restaurants in Buffalo

4. The Black Sheep Restaurant & Bar

The Black Sheep is a farm-to-table restaurant that highlights the abundance of Western New York by serving handcrafted, internationally inspired cuisine cooked with sustainable meats and local ingredients. Executive Chef Steve Gedra and Pastry Chef Ellen Gedra, who are married, created their ideal restaurant in 2014, and it was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2017. Diners savor a variety of foods, including mille fuille with a chocolate pistachio ganache and sticky toffee pudding for dessert, along with Burmese Style Seafood Salad, Carrot Pakora, Pierogi, and Feijoada for dinner. Ellen’s pastries are a feature of Black Sheep, a well-liked brunch place. Her Chocolate Babka, Smoked Brisket and Cheese Croissant, and Cheddar-Chive Scones are just a few of her delicious creations.

5. Roost

Thanks to his boundary-pushing in the kitchen, chef and owner Martin Danilowicz has solidified his status as one of the top chefs in town, despite his image as a contentious creative. After experiencing success with his smaller, now-closed restaurant Martin Cooks on Buffalo’s west side, he opened Roost on Niagara Street in 2016 and soon won praise for his creative menu, lively ambiance, and industrial-chic design, which was accentuated by a glowing metal centerpiece bar and a mural of a rooster painted by local artist Chuck Tingley. Eaters may tuck into pig ears lettuce wraps, turkey covered in mole sauce, pork and posole stew, and pizzas with creative toppings like lemon and ricotta and fig and prosciutto.

6. Ted’s Hot Dogs

Theodore Spiro Liaros, a Greek immigrant, founded this neighborhood Buffalo mini-chain in 1927 as a horse-drawn hot dog cart. Since then, it has expanded to eight brick and mortar stores in the area (plus one more in Arizona). The popular all-beef hot dogs come in regular, foot-long, and gigantic sizes and are charcoal grilled to order. Ted’s Famous Hot Sauce, which goes with it, is a local favorite and is available in bottles. The meal is rounded out with fries, onion rings, and housemade milkshakes (which include the popular loganberry flavor), but there are also vegetarian dogs, sausages, and hamburgers available.

7. West Side Bazaar

This food market honors the numerous immigrants that have made Nickel City their home, featuring Ethiopian, Burmese, and Chinese cuisines among others. Owner Zelalem Gemmeda is originally from Ethiopia. Her restaurant, Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine, serves meals like Miser Wot, which is prepared with red lentils boiled in a Berbere sauce, and Beef Tibs, which is made with cubed beef fried with tomatoes, onions, peppers, and herbs. There’s also plenty of spongy injera flatbread to go with it all.Rakhapura Mutee and Sushi is owned by Win W. Shwe and Khaing M. Thein, a husband and wife team from Burma. They serve mutee, a soup from the state of Arakan, as well as a variety of other Burmese soups, salads, and sushi rolls. On a cold day. Best Restaurants in Buffalo

8. Hutch’s

For 25 years, Hutch’s has been a Nickel City mainstay, serving superbly prepared steaks along with an extensive menu of sides and accompaniments. Diners adore Chef/Owner Mark Hutchinson’s delectable prime steaks, fresh seafood, and inventive appetizers like Thai Calamari and Deconstructed Hot Banana Peppers with house-made ricotta and anchovies. Hutchinson has a talent for elevating classic dishes to new heights. Desserts such as Double Chocolate Bouchon and Milk Chocolate Kahlua Cremeux should not be overlooked.

9. Bar-Bill Tavern

Though they didn’t create Buffalo chicken wings, Bar Bill Tavern has established itself as one of the best places to get them in the city because of their homemade blue cheese dressing, which is made fresh every day, and their assortment of 13 sauces, which include mild, medium, hot, hot, extra hot, suicidal, honey dijon, Sicilian, spicy Asian, medium Cajun, hot Cajun, honey butter BBQ, and hot and spicy BBQ. We also suggest it since it’s among the greatest locations to have a real Beef on Weck, a sandwich that was created in Buffalo and is a must-try while visiting. Made fresh, the weck is actually short for Kummelweck, which is South German for a kaiser roll topped with salt and caraway seeds.

10. San Marco Ristorante

Perhaps for the first time, Frank Grimaldi, an Italian-American of first generation, and his wife Nancy introduced real Northern Italian cooking to Western New York when they founded San Marco over 35 years ago. Ever since, their culinary skills have been highly praised, and the romantic ambiance is nearly as popular as the food among Western New Yorkers. Saltimbocca Alla Romana and Filetto Al Carbone in a creamy mushroom sauce pair well with delicious pastas like seafood linguine and fettuccine with a veal and lamb Bolognese. Choose from hundreds of Italian wines on the well-balanced selection to complement your meal.