Restaurants in Salisbury

At Big Shotz Tavern, chefs celebrate American comfort food with a vast menu of pizzas, burgers, and barbecue. They season and marinate chicken wings in homemade rubs, and whip up sauces and dips from scratch.

A bustling, lively atmosphere prevails in the spacious dining room. Big-screen TVs hover above the wraparound bar, and, in the warmer months, musicians serenade adorable diners with spinach in their teeth on the outdoor brick patio. The restaurant also hosts a weekly trivia night.

At The Secret Tea Room, 30-year restaurant veteran John L. Magee and his family of bakers and waiters serve gourmet lunch fare and elegant Queen’s teas. On linen tabletops, pots of jasmine fannings green teas, peppermint herbal teas, and South African red teas rest beside bone china and three-tiered trays of sandwiches and English-style scones. The café’s specialty Crab Cake YaYa, served with fried green tomatoes, napa-cabbage-green-apple-bacon slaw, and housemade rémoulade sauce, headlines a menu of salads and sandwiches. In addition to its parties and luncheons for adults, The Secret Tea Room hosts tea parties for 4- to 8-year-olds, featuring kid-size servings and teacups that transform into robots.

At Mambo Grill & Tapas, precise preparation is just as essential to the bar's mojitos as it is to the kitchen's slow-cooked pork. The staff rejects premade sour mix in favor of their own tangy formula, and squeezes the lime juice onsite instead of simply shopping for lemonade and dyeing it green. The resulting citrusy sips pair well with the venue's Cuban entrees. From plantains stuffed with picadillo—ground beef, veggies, and potatoes cooked in housemade tomato sauce—to hand-cut beef fillets and pan-seared salmon, these dishes display a mastery of the balance between spice and sauce.

Torch-like chandeliers and sconces flicker above pristine white table linens inside the dining room of Sangam Indian Cuisine. Waitstaff transport plates of delicately spiced lamb, vegetables, and seafood baked in clay ovens, deep-fried, stuffed with fruit and nuts, or topped with garlic according to traditional North Indian recipes. An all-you-can-eat lunch buffet fills chafing dishes with regional specialties made from vegetables, meats, and lentils, and fills minds with ideas for how to use up the lifetime supply of naan they won in the lottery.

At Cloud 9 Martini & Tapas Bar, conversation passes between friends alongside tastes of 45 cold, sweet, or bitter martinis and 18 shareable tapas plates. A blue-lit, martini-shaped bar acts as a stage for mixologists’ concoctions to enthrall eyes and tongues with fruity, chocolaty, and gentlemanly flavors. The Baxterini’s classic recipe of Beefeater gin, vermouth, and olive juice gains approving nods from traditionalists, whereas the Smores replicates a summer treat—complete with flaming marshmallow—without the hassles of camping or starting a bonfire on your kitchen table. To expand a martini-centric evening, Cloud 9 also serves up handmade Chimay beer as well as SweetWater and Turbodog craft brews.

Around the rest of the lounge, sofas and chairs stacked with pillows serve as a convivial perch where guests share tapas. Cherry peppers pop with goat cheese and prosciutto, and quesadillas mix sweet and savory with a dollop of mango chutney atop a filling of apple and brie. On Saturday, DJs accompany bites with energy from their decks, infusing the space with up-tempo beats for dancing or karate montages.

Turkish-style beef kabobs sizzle atop hot grills as skilled cooks prepare fresh Mediterranean dishes. Authentic baklava and steamy cups of Turkish-style coffee accompany platters of sliced gyros that, like most works of classical sculpture, are enhanced by dollops of tzatziki resting on top of them.