The Best Restaurants In Raleigh, North Carolina

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This Raleigh icon greets travelers arriving at the Raleigh-Durham airport with Southern hospitality at its absolute finest. Founded in 1960, in an actual barn, the Angus Barn serves the best cuts of succulent meat, but also world-class service in a homey, yet elegant environment. Having already amassed over 200 awards, it also regularly gets mentioned on lists of the best restaurants in the USA.

What started as a small grocery store in 1927 has grown into the 42nd Street Oyster Bar. The oysters, of which it has served over 80 million in its long history, of course take center stage, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the only option. The menu changes daily to reflect the market prices, and depending on what’s available, you will find a selection of oysters from all over the Mid-Atlantic coast, served along with descriptions of their specific flavors. Beer enthusiasts will be thrilled to find North Carolina micro-brewed drafts on the menu too.

Neomonde is the perfect story of the American dream. Two brothers arrived from Lebanon and settled in Raleigh, where they opened a bakery to showcase the recipes that their mother had taught them. Since then, the bakery has expanded into a wholesale baking company and its sister café and market, where diners can enjoy sandwiches, salads, and sides in addition to the delicious pastries. One of the local favorites is, unsurprisingly, the baklava. Even in such a diverse city as Raleigh, Neomonde has managed to collect award after award, honoring it for serving the best Middle Eastern food in the Triangle region.

The chefs at Plates are all well traveled and collect memories of dishes and taste combinations from across the world to put into the menus at Plates. Any one meal might include something Vietnamese, something French, and something Southern, and that’s just the dinner menu. Plates is also a great place to come for a weekend brunch or a Sunday roast. If you come for brunch, check out the accompanying cocktail menu. The Bromosa, with bacon infused vodka, orange juice, and pale ale, is delicious.

If you’re in Raleigh, you can’t leave without having some of that delicious Carolina barbecue. The State is split between the western and eastern styles, but at The Pit, you can have a little bit of both, along with all the rest of the normal barbecue sides. Don’t miss the mac & cheese, the fried okra, and the North Carolina favorite Brunswick Stew. If you’ve somehow managed to save room for dessert, the banana pudding is another local specialty.

18 Seaboard‘s menu is a veritable all star team of North Carolina and other southern favorites, which means that if you first stop by for lunch in the winter, you’ll have to come back in the summer to check out an entirely new menu. Some of the highlights include the pimento cheese appetizer, the fried green tomato BLT, the fried catfish, or the shrimp and grits, but you can’t possibly go wrong here.

The owner and chef at Saint Jacques French Cuisine was born in France and the menu is full of dishes that, in typically French fashion, are elegant, simple, and fresh. If you’ve always wanted to step out of your comfort zone but haven’t found the place to do it yet, Saint Jacques is an excellent place for frogs’ legs, foie gras, and escargots. Vegetarians will also find far more choices here than is usually the case with French cuisine.

The owners, a brother and sister from Laos, opened Bida Manda in honor their parents and their culture and to introduce Raleigh to the flavors of Laos. They proudly say that each menu item is exactly what they grew up eating in their home country, even if they are made with some local North Carolina ingredients. The restaurant décor is also bold and confident, with art from local artists and walls of sticks taken from the mountains in Western North Carolina.

Much to the surprise of many Northerners, the South isn’t a single entity with a single character. Glenwood Grill then, could even act as a bit of an education to newcomers. It brings lowcountry southern food from the coast to Raleigh, which has always been an urban center. Yet, it’s still close enough to the coast that the seafood on the menu is super fresh and the flavors are succulent.