Restaurants in Morrisville

Woody's @ City Market prides itself on presenting scrumptious bar food and a throng of cold brews in a sometimes rowdy, often easy-going pub. Regulars have found sweet and savory solace in Woody's signature jumbo hot wings ($8.50 for single order), blasted with your choice of sauce, from sweet to spicy barbecue to "insane" sauce, concocted by spicy scientist Victor VonSalsa. Or line your belly with eight favorably sized mini tacos topped with the usual suspects of cheese, tomato, and sour cream. Delve into Woody's Southern fried pork chop ($8.50), a juicy, 8-ounce cut that's marinated, seasoned, and triumphantly presented with sides such as tater tots or cheese fries (each $1.50 extra). Grown-ups can give hot taste buds a cold shower with one of Woody's 22 draft beers and 50 bottled brewskies, including several local brews such as the citrusy Foothills Hoppyum IPA or the Big Boss Bad Penny brown ale.

The cooks at Casa Cinelli's Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria craft New York-inspired classic and modern Italian entrees, including tilapia encrusted with crabmeat, filet gorgonzola, tortellaci—a homemade beef and veal dumpling—in a wild-mushroom ragout with truffle oil, and a goat-cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom topped with arugula, fire-roasted peppers, and balsamic reduction. Their success has allowed them to spread across multiple locations, each of which also serves New-York-style pizza.

The chefs at Paradise India Cuisine use traditional techniques and ingredients shipped directly from India to craft their dum biryanis. That kind of authentic touch spreads across their menu replete with classic fare such as Chettinad goat curry, lamb vindaloo, and chicken tikka masala. To add a modern touch to their feast-worthy collection of classic cuisine, they now cook up crab, quail, and calamari with Indian recipes.

With a Southern-tinged contemporary menu that garners ample praise, including a Forbes Four-Star award in 2012 and a AAA Four Diamond rating in 2012, Carolina Crossroads Restaurant wafts gourmet aromas throughout the surrounding structure of the historic Carolina Inn. Executive chef James Clark merges Mediterranean and Italian influences with indigenous Southern fare to fashion locally sourced ingredients into innovative dishes for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. Beneath grandiose curtains and shimmering chandeliers, the restaurant's bold blue floral-patterned chairs and banquettes flank white-linen-topped tables, which support succulent seafood, juicy cuts of steak, and the occasional miscreant elbow.

While flipping through television channels, you might spot Chuck Hayworth slicing up spaghetti squash or sculpting a vegan meatball on his own cooking show, Thankfully Local. The skilled chef is a passionate proponent of eating locally sourced foods, having overcome stomach cancer on a diet of farm-fresh produce and fruits. In the kitchen of Worth It Café, Chef Chuck works with a colorful array of fresh ingredients—95% of which originated from local North Carolina purveyors. To craft his signature "stuffwiches", Chuck packs hollowed-out farmhouse bread with barbeque pulled pork, crispy chicken, and house-roasted beef.

Diners gather around tabletops in the cafe's airy seating area, sipping freshly brewed iced tea and lingering over last bites of freshly baked brownies. Some opt to grab one of Chuck's takeaway dinners—such as chicken pot pie or spinach lasagna—to bring home and enjoy with their family or the pack of wild dogs they've come to love like a family.

Before opening up Capri Restaurant in 2000, owner Dino Pinelli worked as a restaurateur in the French Riviera, on Caribbean cruise ships, and in New York. These experiences helped him develop a simple, yet universally appealing philosophy around food: if you wouldn't serve it to your family, don't serve it to customers. He and his kitchen team showcase this ironclad ethos in each dish served at Capri, from the lunches of caprese paninis made with fresh mozzarella to the hearty, rustic dinners of spaghetti carbonara, dijon-crusted salmon, and tender veal saltimbocca. The restaurant's soothing crimson walls and cloth-clad tables help the dedicated staff cultivate a romantic ambience, but the team can also eschew the elegant digs to cater for 700 people at weddings, large office celebrations, or the birthday parties of children who are absurdly popular.