Tony's Oyster Bar & Restaurant, Cary

Sunlight pours through Tony's Oyster Bar & Restaurant's towering windows as waiters carry plates of Cajun and creole-inspired seafood to tables. Ocean specialties from the raw bar include pecks of oysters, pounds of shrimp, and clusters of Alaskan snow crab, accompanied by kitchen-prepared entrees such as barbecue baby back ribs and buttery lobster tails. Guests can perch upon stools at steel tabletops in the casual bar area or venture onto the hardwood floors and white-clothed tables of the main dining room, as they sip wine and cocktails from a full bar. Live entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights offers diners a welcome reprieve from evenings of listening to an apartment’s rattling pipes desperately try to keep rhythm.