Restaurants in Fuquay-Varina

Customers won't find any heat lamps within The Wing Co.'s kitchen, but that doesn't mean their made-to-order wings aren't hot. Instead, the increased temperatures come from nine sauces, which run the gamut from sweet chili to Cajun to teriyaki. However, the cooks aren’t content to just spread sauce on wings. Upon customer request, they can also splash the tasty liquids over salads, riblets, and sandwiches—including their signature wing burger.

Matching the wings’ heat is the dining room's firefighter-themed decor. Hardhats and helmets double as lampshades, while firefighter boots, tanks, and clothing hang from the walls, in case of an emergency costume party.

Lidos - The Euro Spot leads a double life as a quaint European bistro by day and a lively dance club at night. During lunch and dinner hours throughout the week, chefs simmer up signature dishes of russian goulash with Angus beef, Hungarian-style chicken paprikash, or german pork schnitzel in a creamy mushroom sauce. Tabletops sprinkle its sunny outdoor patio, and soft green walls surround the white-clothed tables of its dining room. Come nightfall, however, the tables are swept away, the lights dim, and the room fills with the sounds of bumping dance music, live bands, and karaoke. A well-stocked bar serves up regular drink specials, including ladies’-night discounts for women or poodles in convincing tutus.

Teppanyaki-trained chefs create thrilling bursts of flame and clouds of savory aromas as they grill vegetables, seafood, and choice beef cuts tableside. Teriyaki-doused tilapia, shrimp, and a slab of filet mignon take center stage on plates alongside an ensemble of soup, salad, rice, veggies, and noodles. Indecisive appetites find solace in more than a dozen combination dinners, which pair up proteins such as chicken and lobster tail or new york steak and chicken for a tag-team attack on taste buds. In addition to tableside hibachi cooking, Kobe Japanese Steak and Sushi amasses a sushi selection featuring the most impressive fish formations since the first all-mermaid troupe of Rockettes.

Mystic Jamaican Diner's sign says it all: big block letters, evoking the writing on the hull of a sun-steeped boat, flow over the vibrant colors of the Jamaican flag. Diners saunter into the dining room with its tiki roof and sunflower-yellow walls to a booth, where waiters populate tables with sweet plantains and traditional entrees of jerk chicken and goat curry. Air rich with the scents of hot conch soup and coconut water carries conversation through trellis-style wooden dividers that break up the restaurant and simulate an island dinner uninterrupted by bottled messages advertising long-distance carriers.

The scents of grilled lamb and basmati rice filled chef Mustafa Somar’s dreams for 30 years, making him hungry to open his own Turkish restaurant. This dream came true in 2003 with Sherefe Mediterranean Grill.

Mustafa mans the kitchen as his wife, Kathy, delivers juicy chicken kebabs and tzatziki as smooth as a zamboni’s footprint. Greek and Italian influences infuse the menu, seeping into homemade eggplant lasagnas and Mediterranean feasts brimming with hummus, kalamata olives, and fresh tomatoes.

Across town at Cross Creek Mall, Mustafa’s deli counter teems with to-go treats such as grilled-meatloaf paninis and toasted croissant sandwiches. Here, diners can also pull up a chair and practice their Turkish by saying “sherefe”—the word for “cheers”—as they clink glasses of wine and beer.

Before becoming the proprietors of Villa Del Mar Mexican Grill, Marcos and Mary Medina traveled all over Mexico to find recipes that would supplement their old-fashioned family culinary traditions. One of their two children might deliver the chips and salsa or hand-smashed guacamole that precede signature dishes such as the mole poblano: chicken in a housemade sauce with seven types of chilies and seven types of spices. Diners use their hands or a rope-and-pulley system made out of straw sleeves and napkin holders to lift bites of silverware-free fare including fried corn sope with chorizo, pausing only to sip limonada made with freshly squeezed lime juice and pure-cane sugar.

The bright-orange and yellow walls hold a plethora of Mexican-style art and old photographs. They have been painted to appear as though patches of brick are peeking through, giving the space a welcoming, rustic feel.