28 Best Restaurants in Niagara Falls and Western New York, New York

Anchor claims to have originated Buffalo wings. Some people dispute that, but many come to sample the groundbreaking invention in bar food. Try them hot for the full experience. A buffalo's head hanging on the wall is about all the atmosphere you need.

This casual restaurant with round-back chairs and low-hung stained-glass lamps is known for its generous portions, in-house bakery, and friendly staff. The menu is beef focused, with a special emphasis on roast-beef sandwiches (including the beloved French dip, with a side of au jus) and platters. Juicy roast beef is carved up and served on hard rolls; accompaniments may include German or American potato salad, baked beans, salad, mashed potatoes, fries, or coleslaw. Burgers, salads, and soups round out the menu.

The tablecloths are plastic, the floors are linoleum, and everyone seems to know everyone else at this no-frills greasy spoon, famed locally for its huge cinnamon rolls. The all-American menu includes sandwiches (e.g., grilled cheese and bacon) served with chips and a pickle, breakfast all day, and homemade pies. It closes at 2 pm.

The polished-wood dining room and bar, decorated with vintage signs, are separated, which helps with noise control during Buffalo Bills games at this Southern-inspired neighborhood joint. Slip into a booth and order a rack of baby back ribs, a chicken-and-rib platter with homemade corn bread, fried Cajun-spice catfish, or a po'boy sandwich, and choose from a long list of bourbons and beers. Locals say that everything, from the stew to the fish fry to the barbecue, is top-notch.

Meat lovers splurge on what some rate the best steaks in western New York. Expensive but not stuffy, the two-level wood-paneled dining room with red-satin banquettes and warm lighting buzzes with conversation and Sinatra. Start your meal with fresh raw oysters or tuna tartare, and move on to the main event: succulent rib eye, filet mignon, prime rib, and chateaubriand. Non-beef entrées include free-range chicken breast in a lemon-thyme sauce, grilled salmon, and steamed king crab legs.

Many say the Buffalo-style wings at Buzzy's are better than those at Buffalo's Anchor Bar. An institution since 1953, this no-frills place with bland decor and windows facing Route 62 serves build-your-own pizzas, eight specialty pies, calzones, and a dozen or so subs and hoagies. The wings and chicken fingers—fresh, not frozen—come with blue-cheese dip and a choice of 10 sauces, including one called Suicide, which the menu warns is "very hot—no refunds or exchanges."

On Lewiston's historic main street (Center Street), Carmelo's has a classy small dining room with an oiled wooden bar, dark-wood beamed ceiling, partial stone walls, and white tablecloths. Fresh and often local ingredients are used in pastas, like homemade ricotta gnocchi with rapini and sweet sausage or slow-cooked veal, pork, and pancetta Bolognese, and in entrées, such as peppercorn-encrusted ahi tuna with a ginger-soy glaze.

Since 1934, this pubby place has served up its specialty sandwiches, among them a stack of ham, turkey, and Swiss with onions and Russian dressing on marble rye. Also on the menu: pot roast on a roll with caramelized onions and cheddar; sesame-encrusted yellowfin tuna salad; and, for dinner, lobster ravioli in a crab-vodka sauce and barbecue ribs. It's a huge space, with two dining rooms—one a true pub with wooden booths, checkerboard floors, and '50s-era sports pennants, and the other a sunroom with a fireplace at one end. Sidewalk seating is available in summer. The gigantic, multipage beer menu, with rare brews from around the world, is sure to impress.

Since 1927, the Antonacci family has been serving traditional dishes from the south of Italy like veal à la Francesca, chicken cacciatore, and veal Parmesan. The interior is an explosion of floral wallpaper, pastoral-scene murals, glitzy chandeliers, and faux grapevines.

The deck overlooking Lake Erie and much-loved Greek-American comfort food are the reasons to eat at this diner that serves three meals daily. (The scruffy dining room lacks atmosphere—it's best to go when the weather is cooperating so you can dine alfresco.) Lamb, chicken souvlaki, prime rib, steak, and seafood entrées go well with the extensive wine list.

This relaxed space has a rustic elegance exemplified by a long polished-wood bar, pressed-tin ceiling, unfinished-wood columns and bare beams, antler chandeliers, banquette seating, and an exposed-brick wall with artfully peeling cream-color paint. Hearty fare like dry-rub ribs with a side of mac-and-cheese are joined on the menu by pasta and pizzas, including one with red-pepper pesto, prosciutto, cappicola, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, and basil. Locals frequently stop in just for the cakes, pies, and oversize cookies, which you can savor with a cappuccino. Breakfast is served daily.

The trendy, rough-hewn microbrewery restaurant draws a young crowd. The shepherd's pie is popular, and the menu also includes English-style fish-and-chips and assorted grilled steaks. You may eat outside in the German beer garden, which has a brick patio and vines climbing the walls. Tours of the brewery are available. This is the original; there's a Fredonia offshoot as well.

The menu and 20 or so nightly specials, handwritten on a card and delivered to your table, consists of an equal number of small and large plates: grilled prawns with linguine, fresh zucchini, and Parmesan; pan-seared beef tenderloin au poivre with a brandy-cream sauce; tomato-mozzarella-prosciutto salad; smoked salmon with capers and horseradish. The wine list is long, with many good options. The small, two-room dining space hums with conversation; it's traditional, with exposed-brick-and-cream walls with black trim, but livened up by colorful art and unobtrusively defiant leopard-print carpeting. Some tables are in the attached, brick-walled bar.

Eat indoors or outside on the multilevel covered deck overlooking Chautauqua Lake. (Heat torches warm deck diners up on cool days.) The eatery is known for seafood and Italian dishes—cioppino, large sautéed shrimp with spicy tomato sauce over pasta, grilled catch of the day. The drinks list is extensive, and the place often hosts live music and other entertainment.

An intimate and elegant dining experience awaits you at this eight-table restaurant in an 1873 town house with red-clothed tables, upholstered Queen Anne chairs, and brass chandeliers and sconces. The menu leans French in preparation, but Continental in substance: the twin tenderloin fillets with port, Stilton cheese, and green-peppercorn sauce is the signature dish, or you might try veal scaloppine in a blackberry cream sauce. Desserts include lavender crème brûlée and homemade orange ice cream served in a bittersweet chocolate shell. The extensive wine and liquor selection includes 40 single-malt Scotches.

In a National Historic Landmark building, what was the town library, built in 1910 with funds from Andrew Carnegie, was converted to a restaurant in 1983. It retains most of its original architecture—parquet flooring, stained-glass windows, inlaid ceilings. Dining is in hushed, bookshelf-lined, front "library" rooms or a mezzanine overlooking a central atrium. The menu is diverse, with Italian, French, and American dishes. Six-cheese ravioli is served with pesto cream and sautéed spinach; sautéed antelope medallions come with peppercorn sauce; a surf-and-turn combo joins New York strip steak and jumbo scampi. Sunday brunch is served.

In the Chautauqua Suites hotel, this restaurant puts a twist on traditional in northern Italian dishes such as seared salmon in a pinot grigio–butter sauce and slow-roasted pork served in the style of osso buco with an herb-reduction-and-mascarpone polenta. Lunches consist of pasta, paninis, and pizzas—the Calvatore is topped with cremini and portobello mushrooms, truffle oil, and fontina. Chef Andrew Culver has worked at Washington, D.C.'s Mandarin Oriental, and at the White House. Some pastries—such as a lemon butter-cream tart—are imports from the owners' Bonjour Cafe & Patisserie, on Mayville's main street.

Several cozy rooms with fireplaces and wood beams and pillars are furnished with Arts and Crafts pieces and embellished with arched stained-glass windows. An enclosed sunroom with wicker chairs looks out onto the viney covered patio, open in warm weather. The fare is American: duck confit with apricot chutney, smoked mozzarella ravioli in a garlic–white wine sauce, oven-roasted salmon in a puff pastry with wild mushrooms, leeks, and roasted-red-pepper sour cream. Breakfast is served daily (brunch on Sunday).

With its Italian–Latin American fusion menu focusing on simple dishes made with local, fresh, and organic ingredients, and an Old-World-meets-urban-café decor—exposed-brick walls, local art, a gleaming cappuccino machine on the bar—this place is quite the cosmopolitan departure in this pocket of the state. The San Francisco–trained chef might whip up seared scallops over ginger-marinated cabbage or pappardelle topped with tomatoes and cracked-pepper mascarpone. Sapore is open all day as a café, and also serves breakfast.

A 5-mi drive west of town (and easily accessible from Chautauqua) on a block-long cobblestone street ending at the lake, Scallion Bistro is a favorite of locals in the know. Try citrus-glazed salmon over fruit salsa, topped with horseradish butter and fried parsnips; or pan-seared chicken breast wrapped with Italian ham, over lobster succotash. There's a Tuscan feel, with faux-finish walls and hanging colored-glass lamps and an "arcaded" wall separating the dining room from bar. It's nice enough for a romantic dinner, but low-key enough to foster boisterous conversation and to have a (low- to-no-volume) flat-screen TV in the bar.

The name is a nod to the son of Zeus in Greek mythology, but the tome of a menu in this semicasual, rustic-industrial space—with huge windows, cement floors, and Mexican-style woven rugs hung from exposed piping—hails from seemingly every part of the old and new worlds: a Cuban sandwich on homemade rustic bread; a "filled burger," stuffed with feta, kalamata olives, and sun-dried tomatoes; house-made ricotta ravioli with prosciutto in Gorgonzola-arugula sauce; plus 20 pizzas, a page of salads, and entrées of duck, fish, pork, and beef. Thursday is Mexican day. The wine and beer lists are equally lengthy and varied.

Entrées, such as grilled shrimp over a fried grits cake with Tasso ham (spicy smoked ham), French green beans, and cherry tomatoes in a beurre blanc sauce, are inventive and expertly prepared. The menu is seasonal, but starters have included fried green tomatoes with chipotle aioli. Congenial but classy, the compact, Napa-esque dining room—gleaming light-wood floors and tables, exposed-redbrick walls, and French doors that open to the street—buzzes with conversation.

This urban bistro occupies a dark, brick-walled space humming with conversation and music from the bar. You feel just as at home ordering drinks and one of the many tapas-size dishes as full meals. Small plates might include fried oysters with tomato, corn, and jalapeño salsa or Gorgonzola fondue for two, scooped up with portobello mushroom "fries" and asparagus spears. Pasta-heavy entrées include the homemade ravioli of the day, seafood linguine, and pork tenderloin with Grand Marnier–cranberry sauce. Some complain of slow service—order a martini and settle in. Brunch is served on Sunday.

In addition to great coffee, this low-key java joint decorated in bright, primary colors serves breakfast sandwiches, bakery items, and desserts. Lunches are panini and salads, including some vegetarian options. It's open 8 am–6 pm weekdays and 9 am–3 pm Saturday.

Just feet from the brink of Niagara Falls, this spot with panoramic views lives up to its name. The scenery is awesome, as is the thick New York strip steak. The signature Buffalo chicken wrap (crispy chicken fingers, hot sauce, lettuce, and blue cheese in a flour tortilla) is a good choice for lunch.

The restaurant, which serves American fare with an emphasis on seafood, has a deck overlooking the lake. Dishes include broiled au gratin sea scallops, blackened wild Atlantic salmon, prime rib, veal cordon bleu, and vegetable lasagna. Some local wines and brews (12–18 on tap), as well as picks from around the world, accompany meals.

At this historic B&B you can eat in one of the two tiny floral dining rooms, one with a fireplace, seating 16 each, or on the petite front patio. The chef, formerly of the Peek'n Peak Resort, is praised in particular for his seared Chilean sea bass with a citrus beurre blanc and for Stilton-encrusted beef tenderloin in merlot sauce. These favorites are always on the menu; other entrées, salads, and appetizers—such as the watermelon gazpacho—change seasonally.

Locals admit that only the fish fry is stellar at this casual local joint, but the view of sparkling Lake Erie from the outdoor patio, just 100 feet from the rocky waterfront, is what keeps them coming back, particularly around sunset. Plus, it's the only place in town open on Monday. The menu is largely seafood, and portions are huge. The concrete patio with metal tables, and the dark, carpeted dining room are nothing to gawk at; keep your gaze fixed lakeward. Dinner is only served until 8 pm Sunday. Reserve for a sunset-hour table.