Restaurants in Providence

Reali's Fine Italian Cuisine's owner and chef, Jim Reali assembles meats, pastas, and sauces into hearty Italian creations using cooking skills first cultivated when he was 16 years old. Diners choose between upscale offerings such as veal and chicken parmigiana or call the waiter via foghorn to order seafood selections. Downpours of rich tomato sauce cascade over pastas, and, as meals unfold, eaters can repurpose pieces of penne as straws to sip white, red, and blush wines sourced from domestic and international vineyards.

Le Central's classic bistro atmosphere charms visitors from the onset with black-and-white-checked floors framed by red and yellow walls. The eatery's farm-to-table approach to French fare keeps admiration flowing, and even helped garner a head-nod and Best Neighborhood Restaurant distinction from Rhode Island Monthly. Below modern hanging lights, tables populate with starters of butter and herb-roasted mussels, house-made charcuterie, and salads rife with roquefort and gruyere cheese. Entrees of locally sourced fish and traditional coq au vin steam with olive tapenade, house-cured bacon, and chili-glazed duck confit.

While sipping on a cocktail or wine at the weathered wooden bar, guests can question the bartender about the bistro's Sunday brunch crepes or the architectural possibilities of crafting a beer hat out of a classic French beret.

Christopher Palios, executive chef and owner of Sophia’s Tuscan Grille, inherited his cooking skills from his Sicilian grandmother, with whom he worked side-by-side as a child constructing traditional Italian dishes. Palios went on to refine his techniques by attending culinary school, traveling to the Caribbean and northern Italy, and working in the kitchens of celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Todd English. Palios uses high-quality ingredients to create innovative dishes that reflect the Tuscan countryside.

Personal touches go into the savory entrees, as seen by the hand-stretched peasant-style grilled flatbreads and the handcrafted nuggets of spinach and ricotta gnocchi. Black n’ blue mussels—simmered with crisp pancetta, gorgonzola, and chives—and linguine with clams pair with diners’ libations toted from home under the restaurant's BYOB policy. House-made desserts round out meals with creamy bites of wild-strawberry spumoni as refreshing as a nap in the produce aisle. To bring the Tuscan experience to their own kitchens, diners may take a cooking class or purchase one of four spice rubs hand mixed and packaged by chef Christopher.

When they first opened Belly Rules, Chef Valter Monteiro and Melissa Gilmete didn't even bother to hang a sign. Instead, they chose to let their cooking speak for itself, whipping up a menu of meaty breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that have attracted the attention of local diners and reporters from the Johnston Insider. The chefs labor over their renowned country-fried steak and eggs, pig-roast platters, and custom burgers while supplementing the menu with Saturday-night specials such as firecracker shrimp or tequila-sunrise scallops. The restaurant hosts special fundraisers on Friday nights and welcomes guests to Monday Cruise Night, where clients can show off their new cars, classic automobiles, or Tonka trucks.

Though the idea of sharing a table with the Godfather, Scarface, and Don Carlo might be scary, it only gets mouths watering at Wise Guys Deli. That’s because these gangster-inspired nicknames simply denote several of the deli's freshly crafted sandwiches, each of which is piled with prosciutto, juicy roast beef, and fried eggplant. The chefs also churn out Sleep with the Fishes specials—seafood-based soups, starters, and entrees—as well as breakfast selections and premade meals from a gleaming deli case.

The sounds of cheers and high-fives from youth baseball and softball teams sponsored by Grumpy's Restaurant & Pub punctuate the hush of patrons tucking into feasts. Five big-screen televisions chatter overhead, tuned to athletic events or emergency broadcasts aimed at whoever keeps taking the mayor's lunch out of the fridge. Plates clatter onto tables, bearing juicy burgers stuffed with cheddar and jalapeños and buffalo-chicken-topped pizzas. On weekend nights, the twang of guitars slipping into tune fills the air as musicians prepare for live sets, and glasses click together at the full bar.