Restaurants in Greensboro

Emerywood serves gourmet soup, salad, and entrees for dinner. Preheat your evening appetite with Cajun shrimp and crawfish cakes, served over greens with sweet-chili remoulade ($8.95), or the veggie quesadilla, with black beans, corn, roasted veggies & cheddar cheese, served on a flour tortilla ($6.50). To fill your appetite bucket to the brim, try a Big Daddy's pizza, which packs pepperoni, chicken, Italian sausage, jalapeños, onions, mushrooms, olives, and tomatoes onto a mozzarella-slathered crust ($12.95). Elegant entrees include shrimp and organic grits (with veggies, andouille, and a white-wine sauce, $17.95), Emerywood Lump Crab Cakes with sweet basil aioli and garlic mashed potatoes, pan-seared pork chop ($17.95), and cedar-plank salmon with fresh dill orzo ($18.95).

Hailed as one of Winston-Salem’s best restaurants by 10Best, Noble’s Grille whips up fine French and Mediterranean dishes alongside scrumptiously simple Southern bites amid an elegant, wood-furnished setting. For a main course, sup on a Dixie delight such as the shrimp and grits ($23) with bacon and midnight moon tomato, or opt for a succulent slab of USDA prime beef in the form of a 14-ounce rib eye ($29) served seared and sizzling with meaty deliciousness. Enjoy a meal as light as a globetrotting eccentric's hot air balloon by noshing on a crème fraîche-festooned white pizza ($6) bedecked with bacon and caramelized onions, or a fried-oyster salad ($14) with egg, bacon, and balsamic. Patrons can also rev appetite engines with an elegant, Southern–style appetizer such as hushpuppy-dusted fried shrimp, accompanied by a zesty dijonaise ($12)

Ryan's intimate, upscale surf-and-turfery lures fine diners with its gourmet starters, hearty soups, succulent steaks, fresh seafood, and other carnivorous delights. Signature menu offerings include the bemonocled oysters Rockefeller ($11.95), grouper Key West, with roasted new potatoes and fresh asparagus ($28.75), and the steak au poivre, a pan-sautéed pedestal of bovine decadence with classic cognac cream sauce ($32.95). Meal toppers include a gooey, delectable slice of Southern-style pecan pie ($6.25) and caffeinated pick-me-ups such as Ryan's cappuccino (with cocoa and cinnamon, $4.95) or the sprightlier Irish coffee (with Old Bushmill's Irish whiskey, $6.95).

Beyond its unpretentious decor and unassuming exterior, Crab Creek serves up a slew of fresh seafood specialties. Cooks toss Diablo shrimp in a vodka-tomato-cream sauce and mix Caribbean shrimp with andouille sausage, salsa, and spices. Diners can dig into housemade crab cakes or enjoy fresh catfish, tilapia, or salmon served pan-fried, broiled, blackened, or grilled. According to the Roanoke Times, a fireplace warms guests as the waitstaff bustles about, "brimming with friendly service."

Though nestled within a quiet stretch of trees that thickly border the shores of Smith Mountain Lake, Waller’s boisterously entertains its guests with live music, events, and an eclectic collection of eats. The menu starts out with a Mexican flair—quesadillas and nachos bulked up with BBQ chicken and pork—but quickly casts a wider net to include Angus chuck burgers and buffalo-chicken sandwiches. Boar’s Head meats insulate a selection of wraps from overzealous lake breezes, and French translations of italian paninis speak to palates through monte cristos sprinkled in confectioners sugar and croque-monsieurs blanketed with provolone.

Several nights a week, live entertainment thrills the crowd as they nosh in the dining room or out on the dockside patio. Former band frontman Brent Clineville emcees karaoke on Wednesdays, amateur musicians take the stage for open-mic night on Thursdays, and the weekends host a rotating selection of live bands.