Will be spending two weeknights in NOTL for romantic getaway in early November; staying at the Harbour House. Would appreciate your restaurant recommendations. We appreciate good food – price not a limiting factor (either high or low). Again, would appreciate your suggestions for great food and if you don’t mind, mention why you recommend a given location. We have a car. Thanks for your help!

There are some wonderful 4 diamond restaurants in the region... my list from favorite top fine food...

Escabesche at Prince of Wales... On The Twenty in Jordan... Penninsula Ridge Winery... Peller Winery... Strewn Winery... Vineland Estates all are excellent and offer food using locally featured farm products. They are all somewhat pricy...

The next level offers good food at mid level prices... in order Hildebrand winery,Stone Road Grill, the Charles Inn, Riverbend Inn, Queens Landing, Pillor and Post, The Old Winery.

Finally casual foods at reasonable prices... in no special order The Irish Harp pub, Angel Inn Pub, Zooma Zooma in Jordan, Epcurian, East Dell winery, Zee's, Niagara otl golf course.

Reasons are simple... the top group offers top food in beautiful settings... the mid group offers good food at better prices and the bottom group offers good food in a casual settings... all are above average!!! have fun

Thank you Gary, this is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping to receive.

Two years later-
Gary22 - I would guess that all of the in-town restaurants would need reservations for dinner.
What about the wineries? Do they also serve dinner? Can you just walk in for a tour or do you need reservations for that too?
Starting to plan for September.

Most of the wineries run hourly tours on the weekends and a few on weekdays... one of the best is Hillebrand wine tour which takes you from the vineyards through processing of the wine and into a special tasting for your tour... Inniskillen Winery has a self guided tour with stations, but I usually recommend having a guide for info and questions... one wine tour is sufficient, but all of the wineries have tasting bars

Hillebrand also features an excellent restaurant that has moved to the higher grouping above...

Depending on the restaurant and day of the week would determine if you need a reservation... many of the theatres still operate in September and dinner can be difficult pre-show... Its also near harvest time and there are planned events in the region.

If you want a winery dinner of the highest quality, consider Peller Estates, Hillebrand, Vineland,and Penninsula Ridge... all are on stunning vineyards in great settings... we always call on the same day to reserve, and if they're booked, we pick another... you can't lose...

Thanks so much, Gary.
We chanced on a pretty busy couple of days, but with help from Fodors, we're good to go - got inn reservations, theater tickets and your good advice on restaurants and wineries.

Gary-
I noticed that you didn't mention Grill on King. Is it not terrific? It's very centrally located for our first night coming in.

I have to be very honest with you and say that the Grill on King has never been on any list for any kind of dining in the 30 years I have been visiting Niagara on the Lake... I have never been there, heard of it, or seen any reference to the restaurant... we live nearby, go to NOTL 25 times a year and after reading the trip advisor reviews, I tend to think some of the high reviews may be planted... Some of the village restaurants are tourist traps... that said, I think there may be much better choices, but that depends on where you are staying and how much you want to spend... If you decide to go there, let me know how it was, I may be wrong... have fun!

Wow! I'll certainly think twice about going there. I must say, Trip Advisor often makes me very uncomfortable.

I see garyt22 is quite knowledgable about the area. I hope I'm not cutting in on someone else's thread too much - we will be in the area at the end of September. We will be at Niagara Falls for 2 nights as part of a 10 day trip. We would like to get a taste of Niagara on the Lake while we are there. I hear it is only about 30 minutes from the Falls so we chose to just stay at our hotel for the 2 nights rather than jump around. Any suggestions for what we should do and where to dine in such a short period of time?

bandjde-
If you do an advanced search for Niagara-on-the-Lake on the Canada site, there are a couple of other threads that have web-sites links that are very helpful.

The two weekends 18/19 and 25/26 in September are the annual Harvest Festival in the region... check www.niagarawinefestival.com for the events...

... for a $30 wine pass you can select 6 special tasting/food events at any of over 30 wineries in the region... lots of events, live music and wine related activities in the region... if you have a car, put together your own tour based on the weekend offerings... lots of fun and aperfect time to get a "taste of the Wine Region"...

If you are here on the weekdays, grab the winemap and head out on the road... the adventurous may choose a bike tour, or if you want a food experience, I can help you decide based on your direct interests... have fun!

NGail - thanks for the information. I will definitely do an advanced search to get more ideas.

garyt22 - looks like we will just miss the Harvest Festival. We will be coming from the Finger Lakes and will not be arriving until dinner time on 9/26. Is it feasible for us to spend two nights at Niagara Falls but still get a taste of Niagara on the Lake since it is relatively close? From there we are headed to Montreal and Quebec City, 3 nights each. We would love ideas for dinner either at the Falls and/or Niagara on the Lake. We will have a car so any suggestions for wineries we must visit would be great too. Thanks.

band... The immediate Falls area is not known for great dining... it is a glut of chains that charge high prices for a captive group of tourists...

For decent food, theres the KEG in the Embassy Suites which offers a chain steakhouse with a Fallsview... in the Fallsview Casino there's 17 Noir, a high price steak/seafood... also a pub, deli, sportsbar, and asian restaurant...

The better choice is to jump in the car for 20 minutes to visit one of the above mentioned restaurants... check the first response... if you like wine tasting... all of the wineries are open for tasting until 5 or 6pm... have fun!

great... thanks for the suggestions!