Restaurants in Belton

Rich, yellow threads of saffron melt into the stews and kebab marinades simmering in the kitchen of Shandeez Grill Restaurant. Family plates cover tables with a variety of Persian-style kebabs to share or play pickup sticks with, and Greek recipes entertain diners with flavorful gyro wraps and cool tzatziki sauce. On select nights, live music mixes with the scent of seared meat on the grill and sweet hookah smoke snaking through the dining room.

The seasoned chefs at Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet whip up unlimited portions of authentic Middle Eastern cuisine seven days a week. Partnered patrons survey the robust buffet to plot their takeover of fresh, house-made bread sauced with hummus or baba ghanouj, a roasted and seasoned eggplant purée. Endless supplies of savory entrees silence even the chattiest tummies with chicken kebabs and baked-fish-shaped pacifiers. Diners not on speaking terms with salt may opt for Dimassi’s spinach baked with chickpeas, onions, garlic, and cilantro, and herbivores can nosh on an assortment of seasoned veggies or a greek salad with feta, olive oil, and aged balsamic vinegar. Dining duos toast to the possibility of falafel shot put becoming a common party game with unlimited glasses of iced tea or soft drinks. Fistfuls of jam cookies or ladyfingers with walnuts, sugar, and rose and orange water give meals a delicately sweet sendoff.

Flames dance on plates, and chefs light Greek cheese sautéed in olive oil tableside with triumphant shouts of “Opa!” At both of Zorba Greek Restaurant’s locations, saganaki and other dishes are as much a visual feast as a literal one. In bowls of tabbouleh, baba ganouj, and dolmades, the bright colors of parsley, grape leaves, tomatoes, and lentils mingle. Thinly sliced gyro meat dappled with tzatziki sauce spills forth steam like RoboCop trying to write a beautiful haiku.

In the North Austin Trailer Yard, a towering T. rex watches over a handful of picnic tables and a school bus painted gray. A giraffe and an ostrich loom in the distance, and the scent of roasted meats wafts from the windows of the parked bus. Inside the converted vehicle, Snarkys' culinary gurus cook the fillings for internationally inspired sandwiches such as a torta, a caribbean jerk sandwich, and a banh mi. These worldly portables share menu space with the staff’s own creations such as the Pig in a Prom Dress, which tops three types of pork with habanero-peach jelly. To punch up the flavor, Snarkys blends its own sauces, including a honey mustard for the cheesesteak, a smoky mustard for the cuban, and a gingery sauce for slathering on the banh mi.

Snarkys sweetens its offerings with elaborate gourmet donuts. The brunch donut pairs bacon bits with whipped peanut butter and a mild hangover, and the s'mores donut swirls mini marshmallows, graham-cracker crumbs, and cream-cheese icing.

In what was once a generic roadside warehouse, Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe now brims with inviting, kitschy personality. Shannon Sedwick and Michael Shelton, the entrepreneurs behind comedy hotspot Esther's Follies, decorated the ceiling with tumbleweeds and tree branches and built a bar inlaid with mosaic tilework. There's a stage for live music or tomato-throwing duels, behind which a mural depicts a cowgirl on horseback rearing up against the sunset. In the words of Austin Chronicle writer Virginia B. Wood, "Patsy's has great style and personality, the drinks are good, and the eclectic selection of local music is free."

The food is another popular reason to visit. Chefs prepare Texas staples such as hand-breaded chicken-fried steak with cracked-pepper gravy, and they also put their own spin on the classics with dishes such as chicken-fried portobello mushrooms in vegetarian cilantro-cream sauce. There's also a roster of burgers and veggie burgers named after local celebrities, and libations such as the mexican martini with tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and olive juice.