5 Best Restaurants in The Finger Lakes, New York

The family-run Italian restaurant, a staple in Charlotte since the mid-1970s, draws a loyal clientele from throughout the city. Homemade pastas—gnocchi, lasagna, veal and lobster ravioli, four-cheese manicotti—are a specialty, but then again so are the steaks, chops, and seafood. It's two blocks from Lake Ontario, which makes it especially busy in summer.

Opened in 1956, the family-owned and -operated restaurant has retained a Happy Days feel. Place your order and the cashier yells it out amid the din. Burgers topped with Schaller's secret hot sauce are the most popular choice, followed by a Rochester specialty, white hot dogs, also known as "white hots" (sausage-size, natural-casing dogs made with pork, beef, and veal). The restaurant, west of Ontario Beach Park in the town of Greece, is particularly popular with the beach crowd. Take out on a sunny day or eat in the bright dining room.

Spanish-style appetizers and entrées draw from Latin and European roots, as does the music and decor, at this below-street-level restaurant. The decor, with candlelight, brick arches, and curtained-off cubbyhole seating is Morocco-meets-Paris, and the menu, which changes weekly, highlights seafood, with options for vegetarians well as carnivores. You might choose from chicken empanadas or Thai-glazed barbecued ribs (on the tapas menu) or wasabi-pea-encrusted tuna or guava-chipotle beef fillet (among the main dishes). A full martini menu includes chocolate, melon, lemon, and orange varieties. The specialty dessert—bananas wrapped in a fried, cinnamon-and-sugar-covered tortilla—is always available.

A wraparound porch overlooks the gorge and a waterfall at this restaurant within Letchworth State Park. American and European fare on the seasonal menu might include entrées such as chicken breast over spinach fettuccine in a garlic-cream sauce, salmon with a barbecue maple glaze cooked on a cedar plank, and slow-roasted prime rib with fresh horseradish. The dining room is in keeping with the Victorian style of inn; large windows take in the park setting.

The clientele—from suit-wearing execs to hoodie-clad students—is as varied as the menu at this pubby restaurant with wooden booths and brick walls. Specials fill five 4-foot-square blackboards, change daily, and feature many fish dishes, such as basil-pesto-crusted salmon fillet. The regular menu includes sandwiches and soups, which make for a cheap but filling meal. Diners spill onto a patio in summer.