Buffalo’s Restaurants

The Best Restaurants in Western NY

While Buffalo’s culinary reputation rests largely on the spread of our wings around the world and the now common use of “Buffalo-style” to indicate a spicy experience ahead, the city is in fact a melting pot of diverse dishes, cuisines, and dining experiences. Old school restaurateurs who have been perfecting their menus for decades are being joined by a new generation of chefs (many of them former Buffalonians returning to their resurgent hometown) who are opening innovative restaurants that are re-defining dining in the city.

A variety of flavors

Alongside these re-pats are immigrants and refugees who are bringing a taste of places like Myanmar, Ethiopia, Cambodia and Iraq to the streets of Buffalo. If that’s not enough variety, the city has dozens of food trucks rolling around that serve everything from poutine to pierogi. Sure, come for the wings, but stay to sample one of the most dynamic food cities in the United States.

007 Chinese Food

84 Lake Street
Hamburg, NY 14075

(716) 536-0278

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16 Ellicott Bar and Grill

16 Ellicott Pl, 3
Depew, NY 14043

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1818 Bar and Grill

1818 Sweeney Street
North Tonawanda, NY 14120

(716) 260-1021

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189 Burger

189 Main Street
East Aurora, NY 14052

(716) 652-8189

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195 Grant Street Kitchen

195 Grant Street
Buffalo, NY 14213

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2 Forks Up

3175 Millersport Highway
Getzville, NY 14068

(716) 689-3675

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200 Main

200 Main Street
Tonawanda, NY 14150

(716) 587-0017

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3 Brothers Catering

418 West Ferry Street
Buffalo, NY 14213

(716) 597-8129

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Black-Owned Business

350 Sweets & Treats

Stockbridge Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14215

(716) 715-4789

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42 North at the Flats

674 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14203

(716) 805-7500

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42 North at the Flats: Queen City Bistro

674 Main Street
Buffalo, NY 14202

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42 North Brewing Company

25 Pine Street
East Aurora, NY 14052

(716) 805-7500

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Chris Hawley is an urbanist and preservationist who loves all things Buffalo. He is also the owner of Eugene V. Debs Hall in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.

  1. Essex St. Pub

    Essex St. Pub opened in 1986 in a building dating to 1886. A jukebox and pool table bar, it’s a great spot for late night shenanigans and chowing on barbecue. Don’t miss the “Macky Joe,” a sloppy Joe with mac’n cheese on top.

    530 Rhode Island St., Buffalo
    essexstreetpub.com

  2. Eddie Brady’s Tavern

    Eddie Brady’s Tavern is where gruff Irishmen, downtown law and finance types, and college good-times seekers collide. Of any Buffalo tavern, Brady’s feels truest to its pre-Prohibition saloon heritage. Among other nightly specials, Brady’s offers the city’s best turkey and gravy dinner—available on Mondays.

    97 Genesee St., Buffalo
    eddiebradys.com

  3. Arty’s Grill

    Arty’s is like walking into the East Buffalo of 1972. Polka is playing over the speakers and Polish import beers are cheap and free-flowing. Prepare yourself for stories from regulars of the old neighborhood, and their visions for a revived Central Terminal—Buffalo’s vacant, iconic train station, only steps away.

    508 Peckham St., Buffalo
    facebook.com/ArtysGrill

  4. Gene McCarthy’s

    My tough Irish grandmother wore out the same McCarthy’s barstools when she was my age, and I imagine this bar feeling much the same as it did then. Even as it’s evolved with the times—McCarthy’s is now a craft brewery with the best beer garden in town—it is still a working man’s tavern in the shadow of the grain elevators. The best Buffalo wings in town? Quite possibly.

    73 Hamburg St., Buffalo
    genemccarthys.com

  5. Rohall’s Corner

    This Black Rock tavern is a museum-piece of the Streamline Moderne Style of the 1940s. The sweeping curves of the bar, ceiling, and even the lit glass block entryway communicate a city on the move. Few places are friendlier as a neighborhood gathering spot.

    540 Amherst St., Buffalo
    rohallscorner.com