Restaurants in Manchester

Globe lights hang from Delmar Lounge's red awning, beckoning nighthawks in to enjoy homestyle Cajun fare and live music late into the night. The kitchen churns out house-smoked barbecue ribs, southern-style shrimp and grits, and po boy sandwiches until 2 a.m. every night of the week, fortifying bodies and fueling feet in preparation for live DJ dance parties, jazz sets, and hourly potato sack races that sustain the convivial atmosphere until 3 a.m.

Friendly's Sports Bar and Grill, voted Best Neighborhood Bar by Riverfront Times in 2007, first opened its doors in 1928 under the moniker Friendly Tavern, and served as a community social club and a meeting place for church groups. Since then, the spot has changed hands and embraced modern technology, but retains its original unpretentious atmosphere. More than 40 flat-screen TVs let patrons watch multiple sports games at the same time by crossing their eyeballs in different directions. A game room houses regulation pool tables, arcade games, and more than 30 other diversions, and a spacious outdoor beer garden with picnic benches lures patrons outside during warm months.

Friendly's Sports Bar and Grill complements cold beers and mixed drinks with a menu that encompasses all types of pub appetizers, sandwiches, and entrees, such as the ever-popular fried chicken. The spot's kitchen can also cater private events with trays of gourmet meats and cheeses, or the Southern Chef Special Buffet, which makes bellies growl with a charming Southern twang.

Strands of ivy dance across the walls, crisp linen-topped tables set the stage for Italian and Albanian meals, and an elegant wood bar presents various libations. In this romantically lit arena, chefs sprinkle walnuts on chicken and almonds on 10 ounces of grilled trout. They also bake lamb and douse it in red-wine sauce. The kitchen team prepares desserts such as baklava to give meals a happy ending, just like movies where the princess finds her prince and gets him to marry her without a prenuptial agreement.

Though Giuseppe's Ristorante has changed locations and ownership through the decades, the chefs still craft a traditional Italian menu of authentic entrees from 80-year-old recipes, earning them a third-place spot on 10best.com's list of Best Italian Restaurants in St. Louis. Giuseppe's serves white-tablecloth lunches daily but also opens its doors on the second Saturday of every month for intimate, lamp-lit dinners. In the dining room, tables play host to elegant place settings and individual bottles of olive oil, which are paired with diners after eight hours of rigorous personality tests. Artwork festoons the walls, and a solid wood bar with a mirrored back reflects the wait staff’s culinary choreography. Giuseppe's Ristorante also assembles catered breakfast and lunch fare in a variety of cuisines such as Mexican, Italian, Asian, and barbecue for office get-togethers and special events.

Memorialized in paint, ancient Greeks dressed in flowing togas dance beneath the arches on the walls at Momos Greek Restaurant. At adjacent tables and pillow-lined booths, dining companions share small plates of Mediterranean cuisine, such as the pan-seared bay scallops in tomato-garlic pesto. Other small plates include traditional lamb gyros with feta cheese and tzatziki sauce and grilled shish kebabs. The focal point of the main dining area is a flickering fireplace bearing a tile mosaic of a satyr peaking from behind a tree, impatiently waiting for a beautiful sunbathing woman to dive into the river so that he can steal her bowl of hummus. Nearby, bartenders serve drafts and bottles of domestic, imported, and craft brews; mix shakers filled with seven signature martinis; and decant glasses of the traditional Greek liqueur ouzo known for its herbal and anise flavors.