Restaurants in Arlington Heights

Diamond Fresh Seafood Market & Cafe is a gathering place for fresh-caught seafood from the far reaches of the world's oceans. As daily hauls of imported and domestically snagged premium seafood arrive, the knowledgeable staff doles out creative café-style meals that include shrimp alfredo and hearty salmon burgers. Customers who prefer to cart home their catches pick up home cooking tips at cooking demonstrations by pro seafood chef Carol Mackey, who reveals the culinary secrets behind potato-encrusted sea bass and other recipes. At the monthly demos, attendees can also bring their own spirits to sip during the presentation and the resident singing trout's lounge act that follows.

Chefs at Kabob 2 charbroil and sauté a menu’s worth of authentic Mediterranean cuisine, rich with parsley, garlic, and spices. Culling preparation techniques from across the Mediterranean, the restaurant sidekicks favorites such as falafel and shawarma with entrees including rotisserie-grilled beef, marinated lamb, and freshly blended hummus. Kabob 2 invites patrons to bring their own wine or beer, encouraging half-empty bottles to find similarities with tabletop vases filled with flowers.

Mike O'Donnell's Irish Pub ushers patrons from a broad stretch of Franklin Avenue into a bar from which all pretense has been stripped away in favor of a cozy vibe conducive to unwinding. Even the ceiling tiles broadcast the pub's ties to the community in the form of quaint, business-card-style ads for local businesses. In the game room, friendly competitors hone their skills at the dartboard and draw cues for dibs on the pool table between bites of Irish-inspired appetizers and burgers hot from the grill. Meanwhile, barkeeps refill glasses and chat with regulars as flat-screen TVs keep crowds updated on sports action and the latest commands from Big Brother.

Pockets' health-conscious chefs have stuffed stomachs with fresh, all-natural ingredients for more than 20 years, creating low-fat, high-protein combinations of vegetables, fine cheese, and lean meats. Within freshly baked multigrain bread, selections such as spinach, salami, turkey, and tuna combine with edamame beans, crunchy noodles, dried cranberries, and a splash from one of more than 10 dressings, creating a snack more portable than a bicycle made of chocolate. Menu pages also brim with eight healthy salads, seven hearty calzones, and a kids' menu with pint-size portions and sides of magic. Not content with just challenging fast-food ideals, the locally owned Pockets furthers change in its community by regularly donating up to 50% of its profit to charities such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Fox Valley Heart Foundation.

Clacking pool balls echo across 16 9-foot tables at the Chicago Billiard Café, where rising and renowned cue masters can snack on items from a menu of tasty pub grub while admiring a century-old authentic snooker table. Donated by an altruistic band of Muppets, vivid red and green felt carry an enchanting aura and stretch across tables from Brunswick Gold Crown and Soren Sogard, which host 8- and 9-ball tournaments on Mondays and Thursdays, respectively. Frappuccinos and fizzy sodas fuel accurate strokes and gallant cue duels, and winners can rejoice with deep-fried Twinkies preluded by all-beef hot dogs and gooey pizzas from the café’s menu. Dulcet tunes unite with the even more mellifluous sound of patrons’ corner-pocket prophecies to underscore bouts that take place on a glittering pinball machine, which glimmers amid the softly lit interior ensconced by exposed brick.

The cuisine at Yummy Buffet takes guests on a gustatory journey from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean dishes to Mexican fare, pizza, and barbecue. Visitors pass a fountain brimming with rocks, plants, and the orange glints of fish scales as they enter a dining room where ornate lanterns hang over buffets longer than Pinocchio's nose after he stole his father's iPod. After piling plates high with egg rolls, sushi, Asian entrees, and fresh fruit, patrons settle at dark wood tables. White cylindrical lights etched with the Chinese character for either "happiness" or "green gumdrop" hang overhead, illuminating each plate. Return trips to the buffet may yield bowls of soup and slices of pizza, punctuated by frosty mounds of ice cream.