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.
O’Neill’s Stadium Inn + Grill
3864 Abbott Road
Orchard Park, NY 14127
(716) 646-4674
Oak Stave Drinkery & Eatery
5989 Transit Road
East Amherst, NY 14051
(716) 688-8900
Odyssey Family Restaurant
3933 South Park Avenue
Blasdell, NY 14219
(716) 825-9712
Off the Wall Sandwich Company
4154 Mckinley Pkwy
Orchard Park, NY 14127
(716) 740-8855
Ohlson’s Bakery & Cafe
8500 Sheridan Drive
Buffalo, NY 14221
(716) 626-7783
Old Man River Restaurant – Doghouse & Seafood Shack
375 Niagara Street
Tonawanda, NY 14150
(716) 693-5558
Old Orchard Inn
2096 Blakeley Corners Road
East Aurora, NY 14052
(716) 652-4664
Old Scotland Road Distillery
7010 Scotland Road
Akron, NY 14001
(716) 359-2073
Olive Branch Family Restaurant
2343 Union Road
West Seneca, NY 14224
(716) 656-0517
Olive Tree Family Restaurant
5240 Broadway Street
Lancaster, NY 14086
(716) 651-9940
Oliver’s Restaurant
2095 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14216
(716) 877-9662
Olympia Restaurant
2 Jamestown Street
Gowanda, NY 14070
(716) 532-5303
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Essex St. Pub
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
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Eddie Brady’s Tavern
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
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Arty’s Grill
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
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Gene McCarthy’s
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
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Rohall’s Corner
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