Restaurants in Tonawanda

A mere sandwich throw from Niagara Falls, East Side Mario's is found within the Four Points by Sheraton Niagara Fallsview Hotel, directly across the street from Fallsview Casino. Below elegant chandeliers, Mario's red and white checked tablecloths support grilled salmon, juicy steak, and Italian-imported pastas slathered in spicy arrabbiata or pesto alfredo. The doors of the kitchen part as servers emerge bearing Sicilian-style pizzas fresh from the sweltering interior of a stone oven.

Through the steam rising from Mario's all-you-can-eat garlic homeloaf, diners can peer at the framed mirrors hanging on gold walls. After enjoying wine or cocktails at Mario's polished wooden bar, guests can question servers about Four Points hotel accommodations or the strength needed to hurl a pizza across Niagara Falls and into the mouth of a waiting American.

The cooks at Scarlet populate their menu with creative seafood and steak dishes as well as an assortment of grilled pizzas. Diners can enjoy shrimp and grits with andouille sausage and a hot-pepper cream sauce or taste lobster tail with lemon and garlic shallot butter. Bacon and gorgonzola mashed potatoes accompany prime cuts of filet mignon, and grilled pizzas rest on housemade dough.

Francesca's Ristorante Italiano's eggplant fra diablo won Taste of Buffalo's 2012 Pat Sardina Memorial award for Best Comfort Food, but that isn't the only item on the eatery's menu that could have qualified. Other dishes with sumptuous, rich flavors include the eatery's rustic Italian pizzas, which chefs paint with a signature red-wine sauce or garlic-cream-cheese spread, as well as the osso buco with tender, slow-cooked beef shank and oyster mushrooms packed into ravioli. While navigating forks through tubes of housemade manicotti stuffed with ricotta cheese, patrons can enjoy the melodies of occasional live music or launch paper airplanes off the outdoor patio. Dark wood accentuates the fully stocked bar, replete with wine, beer, and cocktail makings.

Chef Carlton Francis forges an authentic experience for Niagara Falls' locals and tourists with his unparalleled island hospitality and menu of traditional Caribbean fare. He welcomes the community to sample such Jamaican favourites as akee and saltfish, oxtail, and jerk chicken, all of which can pair with breezy beverages including cola-champagne or the signature Ginger Breeze.

The dining room's decor mirrors the island warmth and pride found in Chef Francis and his staff. The walls pop with tropical murals and depictions of great historical figures, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Lincoln Alexander. Additionally, on weekends guests can relax while listening to live reggae, jazz, or blues songs about running out of sunscreen.

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.