Buffalo/Niagara Region
Other Fooderies you have to go to…
Other great flavors and cool restaurants
Villa Coffee House - Lewiston
From the outside this restaurant appears to be your standard Breakfast and Coffee place, but there is a Crazy Good twist! On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights the chef, who used to be the Chef at a fancy French restaurant in Buffalo, prepares gourmet meals with great wine options that are as good (or better) as any Fine Dining restaurant in the Buffalo/Niagara Region. I had the Braised Oxtail and Lentil Soup as a starter and it was one of the best soups that I have ever had. For the main course, the Beef Brisket Ragu over homemade pasta was phenomenal. Everything that the rest of our group got was just as good. The only reason that this restaurant isn’t at the top of the 5 Best Fine Dining list is because ambience and high-end amenities are part of the Fine Dining experience. But if you like amazing food and great wines, put this place on the top of your list for an incredible Gastronomic experience.
Mariachi De Oro - Medina
How can you not want to go to a restaurant that has huge murals of a Mexican band on the wall and saddles on a post for barstools? And the food, you ask? Uh, the best Mexican Cuisine in upstate New York - IOO (in our opinion). And the drinks? Superb Margaritas (of course) and some homemade concoctions that are Heaven in a glass. We got take-out from there one time and the Margaritas that they handed us were the 32 ounce containers that you would get at a Chinese restaurant if you ordered a quart of Wonton Soup to go. Needless to say, the conversation flowed a tad bit better than normal after our liquid tongue relaxer.
Alex’s Place - Batavia
The décor here may scream 1970 inside and out, but great food is timeless! We have eaten here many times and we have never had a bad meal. We are partial to the Clams Casino appetizer and the steaks for dinner even though their claim to fame is their award winning Baby Back Pork Ribs. With Batavia Downs racetrack within walking distance, a lot of people head down to the track right after dinner to see if they can win back the money that they spent on a delicious meal!
Saigon Bangkok Restaurant - Buffalo
As the name of the restaurant suggests, this restaurant can serve both your Vietnamese food cravings as well as Thai. The hardest part about eating here is choosing which cuisine that you are in the mood for! Pho or Pad See Ew? Pad Thai Seafood or Tamarind Duck? Decisions, decisions. But the good thing is that for matter what you choose, it is all good. It is also has nice decor and ambience to compliment the fantastic food. We keep going back and have different meals every time because they are all so good!
Savor - Niagara Falls
This elegant restaurant that is a stones throw from the Falls, makes a perfect finish to a day. The Squash soup was so good that my wife said that “she wished that she could swim in it”. Even though the restaurant is part of the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and it allows students to perfect their culinary skills, in our opinion, everything was perfect and perfected!
Islands Hawaiian Grill - Batavia
We had never been to a Hawaiian restaurant in upstate NY, so of course we were intrigued. We stopped in for lunch after a 4 mile hike 10 miles away with a “what the heck, let’s try something different” attitude. Since it was lunchtime we split 5 appetizers, and I kid you not - everything we ate was amazing! Most of it was fried, so how can you go wrong with that, but the flavors and creations were all sssoooo tasty. Lumpia, Crispy Wontons with Crab and Cream Cheese, the best fried rice we’ve ever had, and something that is much better than it sounds - Panko Fried Spam Musabi! We hadn’t had Spam in decades, but the flavor combination with the Panko crust, rice, spam, and spicy mayo was surprisingly amazing!