Restaurants in Niagara Falls

Rated #1 three years running in the Zagat National Chains Survey for best steak, Outback Steakhouse specializes in dispensing classic menu items such as seafood, steak, and pasta. The restaurant draws inspiration from the continent of Australia, alluding to its namesake outback with seared prime rib and lobster tails, grilled meats such as chicken and salmon, and juicy, marbled rib-eye steaks. A menu for kids lets youths sample morsels from the upside-down part of the world while right-side up, and creative desserts and generous cocktails round out the offerings.

The chefs at Taki Japanese Restaurant roll more than 30 varieties of sushi and sashimi with eclectic and traditional ingredients ranging from sweet egg and salmon roe to sea urchin and yellowtail. Not satisfied with forcing their ingredients to do the heavy lifting, they also focus on aesthetics, arranging rolls in colorful tableaus on long porcelain plates or in mock naval battles on sushi boats. At lunch and dinner, they also fill the restaurant with aromas of Japanese cooking. As faces glow with light from sleek wall sconces amidst a warm yellow color scheme, tables fill with ginger pork, and wa-fu oroshi-style steak, and adventurous fusion dishes such as Japanese-style carpaccio.

Sunlight shines through stained-glass windows inside the Winchester-Larkin house, casting a kaleidoscopic glow on elegant woodwork and imported fireplaces. The house, a two-storey Victorian-style red-brick building, dates back to 1845; in its latest incarnation, it serves as the elegant backdrop to Dom’s Pasta & Grill.

A dozen housemade pastas headline the eatery’s menu of traditional Italian cuisine. Chefs fill up the crepe-like manicotti with creamy ricotta cheese and eggs, and the hand-rolled lasagna pasta, like Emeril Lagasse’s childhood scrapbook, is layered with meat and cheese. They also roll out pizza dough made from three flours and then decorate the disc with any of more than a dozen gourmet toppings, including artichokes.

Chefs at Amici Ristorante stir pots of their house made sauces to pair with linguini and tortellini or bake with their veal parimgiana. Along with their menu of classic Italian dishes, the restaurant owners also stock their bar with wines from Italy and around the world.

Inside the kitchen at Gramma Mora’s, cooks flip sizzling shrimp and assemble four-cheese enchiladas, preparing succulent entrees that earned the restaurant the title of Best Tex-Mex Eatery in Buffalo from the readers of Artvoice in 2011. Seated at tables inset with tile, diners can taste dishes made from century-old recipes passed down through the Mora family. A vibrant mural of a Mayan pyramid in a lush jungle decorates one wall, next to guests consuming pork smothered in green-chili sauce or steak chimichangas. Caramel-glazed flan and lime margaritas provide notes of sweetness for diners who otherwise would have had to carry scoops of ice cream to the table in their pockets.

Beef Baron attempts to make diners feel like the beef and oil barons of days past with its menu of sumptuous surf ’n’ turf fare, high-backed booths, cherry-wood-covered walls, and vaulted ceilings. Forks dig into hand-carved prime rib aged 40 days and lobster tail with drawn butter as patrons twirl their imaginary handlebar moustaches and talk about the market crash of aught seven. After dinner, of-age diners can head to Blush Ultra Lounge, where they flit through two stories, drinking and dancing to pulsating beats.