2 Best Restaurants in Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls and Western 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.