6 Best Restaurants in Niagara Falls and Western New York, New York

The polished-wood dining room and bar, decorated with vintage signs, are separated, which helps with noise control during Buffalo Bills games at this Southern-inspired neighborhood joint. Slip into a booth and order a rack of baby back ribs, a chicken-and-rib platter with homemade corn bread, fried Cajun-spice catfish, or a po'boy sandwich, and choose from a long list of bourbons and beers. Locals say that everything, from the stew to the fish fry to the barbecue, is top-notch.

On Lewiston's historic main street (Center Street), Carmelo's has a classy small dining room with an oiled wooden bar, dark-wood beamed ceiling, partial stone walls, and white tablecloths. Fresh and often local ingredients are used in pastas, like homemade ricotta gnocchi with rapini and sweet sausage or slow-cooked veal, pork, and pancetta Bolognese, and in entrées, such as peppercorn-encrusted ahi tuna with a ginger-soy glaze.

The menu and 20 or so nightly specials, handwritten on a card and delivered to your table, consists of an equal number of small and large plates: grilled prawns with linguine, fresh zucchini, and Parmesan; pan-seared beef tenderloin au poivre with a brandy-cream sauce; tomato-mozzarella-prosciutto salad; smoked salmon with capers and horseradish. The wine list is long, with many good options. The small, two-room dining space hums with conversation; it's traditional, with exposed-brick-and-cream walls with black trim, but livened up by colorful art and unobtrusively defiant leopard-print carpeting. Some tables are in the attached, brick-walled bar.

An intimate and elegant dining experience awaits you at this eight-table restaurant in an 1873 town house with red-clothed tables, upholstered Queen Anne chairs, and brass chandeliers and sconces. The menu leans French in preparation, but Continental in substance: the twin tenderloin fillets with port, Stilton cheese, and green-peppercorn sauce is the signature dish, or you might try veal scaloppine in a blackberry cream sauce. Desserts include lavender crème brûlée and homemade orange ice cream served in a bittersweet chocolate shell. The extensive wine and liquor selection includes 40 single-malt Scotches.

This urban bistro occupies a dark, brick-walled space humming with conversation and music from the bar. You feel just as at home ordering drinks and one of the many tapas-size dishes as full meals. Small plates might include fried oysters with tomato, corn, and jalapeño salsa or Gorgonzola fondue for two, scooped up with portobello mushroom "fries" and asparagus spears. Pasta-heavy entrées include the homemade ravioli of the day, seafood linguine, and pork tenderloin with Grand Marnier–cranberry sauce. Some complain of slow service—order a martini and settle in. Brunch is served on Sunday.

At this historic B&B you can eat in one of the two tiny floral dining rooms, one with a fireplace, seating 16 each, or on the petite front patio. The chef, formerly of the Peek'n Peak Resort, is praised in particular for his seared Chilean sea bass with a citrus beurre blanc and for Stilton-encrusted beef tenderloin in merlot sauce. These favorites are always on the menu; other entrées, salads, and appetizers—such as the watermelon gazpacho—change seasonally.