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.

O’Neill’s Stadium Inn + Grill

3864 Abbott Road
Orchard Park, NY 14127

(716) 646-4674

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Oak Stave Drinkery & Eatery

5989 Transit Road
East Amherst, NY 14051

(716) 688-8900

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Odyssey Family Restaurant

3933 South Park Avenue
Blasdell, NY 14219

(716) 825-9712

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Off the Wall Sandwich Company

4154 Mckinley Pkwy
Orchard Park, NY 14127

(716) 740-8855

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Ohlson’s Bakery & Cafe

8500 Sheridan Drive
Buffalo, NY 14221

(716) 626-7783

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Old Man River Restaurant – Doghouse & Seafood Shack

375 Niagara Street
Tonawanda, NY 14150

(716) 693-5558

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Old Orchard Inn

2096 Blakeley Corners Road
East Aurora, NY 14052

(716) 652-4664

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Old Scotland Road Distillery

7010 Scotland Road
Akron, NY 14001

(716) 359-2073

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Olive Branch Family Restaurant

2343 Union Road
West Seneca, NY 14224

(716) 656-0517

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Olive Tree Family Restaurant

5240 Broadway Street
Lancaster, NY 14086

(716) 651-9940

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Oliver’s Restaurant

2095 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14216

(716) 877-9662

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Olympia Restaurant

2 Jamestown Street
Gowanda, NY 14070

(716) 532-5303

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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