Restaurants in Bowling Green

Seasoned staffers wheel a small cart directly up to dining room tables, where they smash avocados into a palatable paste of fresh guacamole right before guests' eyes. This appetizer fuels treks through Cinco de Mayo Amigos Cantina's lengthy menu, which spotlights Mexican favorites infused with authentic ingredients such as pork carnitas, carne asada, and spicy mole sauce. The restaurant's exposed brick walls house weeknight karaoke, as well as other weekly events including Salsa Night on Saturday, Ladies' Night on Thursday, and Day Planner Appreciation Night on Tuesday. On the outdoor patio, guests can get their fill of fresh air and sunshine as they sample 20 varieties of margaritas.

Pioneer and entrepreneur Smedlap Effingtas famously forged a trail into the West, brewed his own secret moonshine, drove a general mad, and won a fair maiden's heart as a stowaway. But his most memorable contribution to the world turned out to be his descendants. Generations after Smedlap's heyday, his kin opened a restaurant to honor the memory of their infamous ancestor, instead of conducting a seance. After nearly 30 years in business, ownership was passed to Jim Favorite and his family, who had blazed a trail West in the footsteps of Smedlap.

After years of working in the steak-house business, Favorite snatched up the opportunity to transform a local institution into his dream restaurant. Though he and his chefs changed the menu a bit, he made sure to preserve some of the beloved traditions, such as the two-story slide behind the hostess stand. The overhauled menu includes a varied blend of dishes, from lake perch to lean burgers decked out with a dozen possible cheeses. Though broad, the menu's focus remains the steak, with choice cuts served on a plank and drizzled in peppercorn sauce.

Exposed wood beams and shoji-screen-like latticework re-create the atmosphere of a traditional Japanese house inside Koto Buki's dining room. The cuisine also keeps it authentic—ramen noodles, curry rice, stir-fried veggies, and teriyaki sauce serve as the base for a choice of meats, and shy vegetables hide inside fried batter in tempura dinners. Like the butlers who prepare Richie Rich's Christmas gifts to his pet shark, chefs expertly slice and wrap dozens of sushi choices, from traditional slabs of sashimi on beds of rice to inventive specialty rolls with names such as Crazy Boy, Ninja, Vegas, and Kiss of Fire.

JB’s Sarnie Shoppe’s owners, Gareth and Bruce, helm a bustling kitchen where fresh bread, baked in-house twice daily, embraces a cavalcade of hearty sandwich fillings. Guests can build their own sandwiches, referred to as sarnies, with wholesome ingredients, such as Boar’s Head meats, thick slices of cheese, and housemade roasted-red-pepper spread. The menu ventures beyond the breaded with cobb salads and creamsicle smoothies, and names items using slang from overseas: “sarnie” (sandwich), “crisps” (chips), “biscuits” (cookies), and “cookies” (biscuits). Outside of the shop, it caters any event that has at least five people capable of chewing.

Mexican dishes both classic and newly invented sizzle on the signature plates at OK Patron Fajita Bar. The name OK Patron, which translates to "OK, boss," belies the restaurant's dedication to customer service. American specialties accompany the Mexican dishes featured on the lunch buffet each afternoon, along with chicken, steak, vegetable, shrimp, and scallop fajitas. Family recipes serve as the blueprint for dishes such as tortilla soup, which pairs crispy tortillas with garden vegetables, cheese, and a cure for the fear of soup.

Like a camera obscura built around a dinner table, Home Slice Pizza stays forever focused on its cuisine. Within the brick-lined establishment’s kitchen, chefs toss and fire large and extra-large thin-crust pizzas topped with ingredients as classic as pepperoni and anchovies or as original as artichoke hearts, seasoned steak, and A1 sauce. Under this flavor ornamentation lies the pizzas’ true foundation: cheese. Blends of mozzarella, feta, ricotta, cheddar, parmesan, and romano provide a solid base for creative ingredient combinations and add a gooey warmth to every bite. Not content to be confined to pizzas alone, cheese also douses orders of pan-baked cheese bread and supports focaccia subs flecked with herbs and stuffed with hot ham, turkey, bacon, and veggies.