14 Best Restaurants in Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast, Florida

This laid-back food hall and community-centric market complete with colorful murals is a crowd pleaser. There's plenty to taste, with 12 vendors selling everything from tacos to fried chicken to rolled ice cream. There's also a unique event space and weekly curated programming for all ages. Check out the small farmers' market on the weekend and live jazz that accompanies brunch, along with community yoga and kids activities. Standouts include shrimp po' boys from Roux Cajun Cuisine, bowls of ramen from Ramen Lab Eatery, and cold brew from Pumphouse Coffee. A full bar serving wine, beer, and cocktails is also available.

A sprawling cavern of wood-fired pizzas, pastas, and cocktails, this sibling to popular bûccan is a hit. Soaring ceilings, concrete floors, dark wood, and an open kitchen provide a buzzy backdrop to dishes of nicely charred pies (made with organic flour) and homemade pastas. Like chef-owner Clay Conley's other spots, the food here is hearty, unfussy yet sophisticated, and wonderfully balanced, from the curry cauliflower hummus to the hand-rolled macaroni with Florida rock shrimp and fennel. The popular weekend brunch (with a show-stopping breakfast pizza) fills up during the season, so make a reservation.

This hole-in-the-wall Middle Eastern bakery, deli, and market is packed at lunchtime with regulars who are on a first-name basis with the staff behind the counter. From the nondescript parking lot the place doesn't look like much, but inside, delicious hot and cold Mediterranean treats await the takeout crowd. Choose from traditional gyro sandwiches and lamb salads with sides of grape leaves, tabbouleh, and couscous.

This handsome chophouse situated on the ground floor of the buzzy Ben hotel serves Florida-inspired seafood and steaks with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. The indoor dining room is decked out in dark woods and floor-to-ceiling windows that open to outside seats offering views of the city’s marina. Dishes of Florida sweet-corn fritters, Prime dry-aged NY strip, and sides of truffle-butter mushrooms are hearty, yet sophisticated.

Atop the glossy Restoration Hardware store adjacent to The Square is this regal, glass-enclosed atrium outfitted with white couches, crystal chandeliers, lush greenery, and a tinkling fountain. It's proven a hit with all walks of life; everyone basks in the sun-filled room and tucks into seasonal comfort food (prime rib French dip, truffled grilled cheese) and lingers on exceptionally comfortable couches. The food and drink services extend to the Barista Bar off the atrium on level four, which serves craft espresso, homemade pastries, and glasses of wine. You can even take the wine with you while exploring the rest of the showroom as you wait for your table; during the season the waits allow for plenty of perusal time.

Top Chef finalist and James Beard Award nominee Lindsay Autry debuted her own Southern-inspired American cuisine in The Square to the acclaim of local critics. The menu of updated comfort food includes fried green tomatoes, creamy tomato pie, pimento cheese done table-side, and shrimp and grits. The sweeping space with an open kitchen and high ceilings, and separate bar-lounge, still feels comforting with its rustic accents. Craft cocktails follow the menu, with many seasonal offerings. Desserts like the Rocky Road bar and Mom's carrot cake are fitting codas to the Southern feast.

In downtown West Palm Beach's waterfront district, this hot spot is an alternative to the bar food, tacos, and burgers more common in the area. "Green" cuisine---seasonal salads, vegetarian dishes, and sustainably produced meats and seafood---is making waves at the avocado-theme restaurant. Small plates of stuffed zucchini blossoms, octopus with chorizo and fingerling potatoes, or a mushroom fricassee with grits and truffle oil are examples of plates designed for sharing. A raw bar, specialty sushi, a vegetarian list, and inspired sandwiches are included among the pastas, salads, meats, and fish also listed. A brunch here with an extensive menu is popular. Craft cocktails, a nice wine selection, and beers are served at the long bar in the bistrolike eatery with casual-chic decor. Dine inside or out.

Palm Beach ladies who lunch leave the island for an afternoon at Belle and Maxwell's, while young professionals loosen up after work at the wine bar, part of the bistro's expanded dining area. Tucked along Antique Row, it looks like a storybook tea party at lunch, with eclectic furnishings and decor and a charming garden. Expect colorful luncheonette dresses and great soups, salads, and sandwiches at affordable prices midday; at night, it becomes a fun, twinkling bistro, offering creative comfort fare such as homemade orecchiette with squid and sausage and classic chicken marsala, along with fillets and a risotto of the day. Dessert lovers know the sweets are all made in-house; call ahead to get whole cakes, pies, and tarts to take to grateful hosts.

Decorated with vintage travel posters of its namesake city, this two-level restaurant serves authentic Cuban specialties on the cheap, including great Cubanos (pressed roast pork sandwiches), arroz con pollo, and ropa vieja. The friendly place attracts a late-night crowd at its popular walk-up window. Get strong Cuban coffee (often awarded the best in Palm Beach County), sugary fried churros, and fruit juices in exotic flavors like mamey, mango, papaya, guava, and guanabana.

Since 1950, this diner's eat-in counter and "cooked in sight, it must be right" motto have made it a congenial setting for meeting old friends and making new ones. Nowadays, Howley's prides itself on its kitsch factor and old-school eats like turkey pot pie and a traditional Thanksgiving feast, as well as its retro-redux dishes like a potato-and-brisket burrito. Forgo the counter for the retro tables or sit out on the covered patio. The café attracts a loyal clientele into the wee hours (it's open weekdays until midnight and weekends until 2 am and has a full bar).

In the heart of The Square, this European-style eatery offers Italian specialties and a wide variety of fine wines. The menu includes classics like chicken parmigiana, risotto, and fettuccine alfredo. Pizzas from the wood-burning oven are especially good. Service is friendly and efficient, but the overall noise level tends to be high. Sit at the outdoor tables next to the main plaza's dancing fountains if you can.

A longtime favorite of locals, this sophisticated Italian restaurant is in an unexpected, nondescript location on Dixie Highway away from downtown and central hubs. But warm hospitality from a husband-and-wife team, along with smart service and delectable traditional dishes, awaits. A much-awarded wine list, including a popular "50 under $50" draws from international vineyards and complements dishes such as pepperoni e acciughe (oven-roasted peppers with white anchovies and extra-virgin olive oil), rigatoni ala vodka (said to have been invented by the chef's father), veal chops, and scaloppine prepared several ways. Desserts alone are worth an after-dinner stop.

Although "the island" is no doubt a bastion of French cuisine, this cozy bistro across the bridge on the Clematis Street waterfront entices a lively crowd looking for an unpretentious good meal. The outdoor terrace can't be beat, and the fabulous modern French menu with twists such as roasted sliced duck with truffled polenta is a delight. Save room for dessert: the homemade pudding Breton, a fluffy, raisin-accented brioche bread pudding paired with crème Anglaise, could be straight out of a Parisian café.

West Palm Beach's Rhythm Cafe is anything but Palm Beach formal (the decor includes a feathered pink flamingo perched on the terrazzo floor). Fun, funky, cheesy, campy, and cool all at once, the former 1950s-era drugstore-cum-restaurant on West Palm Beach's Antique Row features an ever-changing creative menu of homemade items with Italian, Greek, American, and Creole influences. Favorites include "tapas-tizers" like the lemon-doused saganaki (flaming cheese) and the goat-cheese-onion pie and main courses like the graham-cracker-crusted chicken in key lime sauce and fish of the day.