Top Rated Restaurants & Cafes in Buffalo

Using custom built Texas smokers, this restaurant in the heart of Allentown boasts the most succulent barbecued meats in the city. Run by restaurateur par excellence Bob Mollot, the sports bar features pork, beef and poultry slow-cooked over low heat to produce that tell-tale red ring around the meat. It is a laid-back kind of place with pool tables, dartboards, and three TVs showing your favorite games. A daily happy-hour gets folks in the mood and the weekend live entertainment keeps them that way.

This is one place you should not judge by its cover. Located in Buffalo's historic Allentown district, the restaurant looks like a dive. However, it has one of the best inexpensive wine lists in the city, not to mention excellent food and service. In the kitchen, the chefs feature dishes like a traditional 'surf 'n turf' and steamed mussels in a Scotch Bonnet Pepper broth. As a bonus, Mother's Restaurant the restaurant is open late, and there's an outdoor patio for warm summer evenings.

You've likely heard of Buffalo wings and may even know that Frank and Teressa's Anchor Bar is where they originated in 1964. Here they consider them to be 'the best in the world' and if you can't actually come to Buffalo, you can still order them online as well as their signature sauce. If wings aren't your thing, you can choose from made-to-order pub-grub. Minutes from the Buffalo Theater District, this casual, unpretentious bar features live jazz on certain nights also. The decor inside features walls plastered with awards and articles extolling their famous and ubiquitous wings.

The decor is not exactly upscale and the dress code is very informal, but the food in this North Buffalo restaurant is outstanding. Basically, it's a pizzeria with pasta, wings, subs and other munchies that will force you to loosen your belt a notch or two. It is an affordable blue-jeans joint—no pretentiousness here—a great place to bring the kids. Nearby attractions include Delaware Park, the Buffalo Zoological Gardens and the Anderson Gallery.

The brainchild of Chris Dobson, Weinkeller is a blend between a gourmet restaurant and winery in Niagara Falls. Sporting a classic wine-cellar décor, this establishment is replete with wooden themes, barrels stacked against walls, and sleek tables, evoking a rather sophisticated ambiance. Choose from a variety of old-school favorites like pork chops, pastas and barbecued chicken and wash them down with a fine glass of wine. If picking the perfect wine seems hard, the sommelier can help you make a choice from one of the in-house wines or the imported ones.

Well-known chef Robert Beaulieu does his magic in the kitchen as his wife Ann greets guests at this downtown Lockport restaurant. The fabulous food has earned the restaurant an enviable reputation as among the best, if not the best in the city. Though Irish in name, the restaurant doesn't specialize in Irish offerings (except on Saint Patty's Day), but offers a wide range of contemporary cuisine, with particular emphasis on fresh vegetables and soups. Situated in a charming old building, the restaurant caters to families, romantic couples and business people.