Samurai Japanese Cuisine and Sushi Bar offers cuisine that blends traditional Japanese cuisine with a fine dining experience, using fresh and natural ingredients. The restaurant's cozy atmosphere is reminiscent of a contemporary Japanese tea house. While mostly Japanese food is served, there are also some Thai and Vietnamese dishes on the menu. All their dishes are presented beautifully, and their sushi bar offer a huge selection of sushi and sashimi, along with a variety of rolls. Kitchen entrees include teriyaki dishes and tempura dishes, along with more western dishes like filet mignon and Chilean sea bass. Save room for dessert; fried ice cream is on the menu. -Christine A. Smyczynski

This family-run restaurant offers authentic Thai dishes; the family is originally from Thailand. As with many Thai restaurants, their signature dish is Pad Thai, which is one of the best known Thai dishes, made with sautéed rice noodles, bean sprout, green onion, peanuts, and Thai spices, topped with your choice of meat (chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or tofu). You might want to start out your meal with Ka Nom Jeb (Thai dumplings made with seasoned ground chicken), or Tom Yum (a slightly sour and spicy soup). Other entrees include curry dishes, like Gaeag Kheeo Wan, better known as green curry, or Gaeng Dang, a spicy red curry dish. Wash down your meal with Thai iced coffee or the bright orange sweet Thai iced tea, served with milk, or a Thai beer. -Christine A. Smyczynski

This family owned and operated Italian restaurant, which opened in 1995, is cozy and casual. Start your meal with beans 'n greens, bruschetta, or palermo peppers. For casual dining, choose from one of their many pizzas baked in a wood fired oven. Some of the pizzas include margarita, BBQ chicken, and Buffalo chicken. If you like soup, try Carmine's pasta e fagiole or chicken tortellini. Entrees include stuffed eggplant parmesan, chicken cacciatore, and veal picatta, along with a number of pasta dishes, like angel hair with chicken bruschetta, neptune seafood supreme, and penne with greens and sausage. Carmine's has a full service bar, along with a banquet room that can accommodate 70 people. They also offer meals to go, as well as hot drop off buffets. -Christine A. Smyczynski

Tom's is one of the few 24-hour, family-friendly restaurants in the suburbs that's not a national chain. This bright, cheery restaurant is advertised as WNY's original home of the souvlaki, so naturally Greek dishes dominate the menu. Besides regular breakfast fare, Greek selections like the souvlaki breakfast, the gyro breakfast, and the Greek omelet are all served 24 hours. They are reported to have the best hash and eggs in Buffalo. For lunch, try Tom's garden wrap, an original creation that features a pita stuffed with veggies and feta cheese and topped with Tzatziki sauce. For dinner, choose from souvlaki, gyros, moussaka, pastitsio, or Greek roasted chicken. They also have a traditional Buffalo fish fry on Tuesdays and Friday. Save room for dessert, which includes homemade baklava, rice pudding, cheesecake, and more. -Christine A. Smyczynski

Enjoy authentic Mexican cuisine that is freshly prepared. Start out your meal with tortilla chips and freshly made salsa and wash it down with a margarita. Appetizers include dos taquilos, seafood nachos, and guacamole dip. Daily lunch specials are available Monday through Saturday from 11a to 3p. A variety of salads are available, along with vegetarian dishes. Entrees include fajitas, quesadillas, burritos, chimichangas, enchiladas, carnitas, and chalupas. They also have steak ranchero, steak and shrimp, and fish tacos. Save room for dessert, which includes traditional Mexican flan, crispy sopapillas, fried ice cream and churros.-Christine A. Smyczynski

This comfortable family-friendly restaurant which offers reasonably priced foods, was once an old German restaurant, bar and beer garden. The building which was built in 1910, served as a speakeasy during Prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s. It was named the Rose Garden when it first opened as a restaurant in 1939 because of the wild rose bushes that were growing around the building. The menu, which features home-style cooking, runs the gamut from subs to prime rib. Soup and desserts are homemade daily. Their fish fry features a ten to 12-ounce piece of fish, plus all homemade salads. During the summer, enjoy a clam bar, playing volleyball on their volleyball court, and live music on the weekends in the grove out back. The grove can also be rented for special events. -Christine A. Smyczynski

Ichiban House offers traditional Japanese entrees, such as tempura, teriyaki and noodles, along with hibachi meals and sushi. Items on the hibachi menu, cooked at a hibachi table to order, include soup, salad, vegetables and your choice of noodles or rice. Sushi and sashimi can be ordered a la carte or as entrees. Ichiban boasts the lowest sushi prices in town, with items that start at 99 cents. The servers present the dishes like artwork; they are almost too pretty to eat! Ichiban House also offers an all-you-can-eat buffet, along with a selection of domestic and imported wines and beer, including sake and plum wine. -Christine A. Smyczynski

This casual, family-friendly restaurant is the oldest brew pub in New York state. The Buffalo Brew Pub, which opened in 1986, offers 34 beers on tap. This includes several brewed in-house, as well as over two-dozen domestic and imported beers. As soon as you're seated, you'll be brought baskets of peanuts and fresh popcorn; feel free to toss the peanut shells on the black and white checkered floor. The menu offers an extensive selection of pub foods, including wings, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and wraps, along with more substantial fare like BBQ ribs, steak and prime rib. To remember your visit, Buffalo Brew Pup sells T-shirts, golf shirts, glasses and mugs emblazed with their logo. -Christine A. Smyczynski

Chef/owner Orazio Ippolito uses old-style cooking when he creates his Italian and American specialties from scratch. Appetizers include antipasto salad, parmesan garlic bread, stuffed artichoke and fried calamari. Some of the entrees include American dishes like steak, pork chops and fried liver, along with Italian specialties like chicken marsala, veal piccata, and shrimp and scallop alfredo. Of course there are many pasta dishes to choose from, including spaghetti, baked lasagna, stuffed shells, eggplant parmigiana and even tripe. Their pasta con vodka has been given the New York State Best Dish Award. Desserts include cannoli, spumoni, cheesecake, creme brulee and tiramisu. Lunch selections include salads, sandwiches, pasta, burgers and more. Their banquet room seats up to 135 for special events.-Christine A. Smyczynski

This restaurant and wine bar is located in a renovated older home, purported to be haunted, just a short walk from the center of the village of Williamsville. Pairings has an extensive wine list, as well as a long martini menu. Patrons can enjoy a variety of appetizers or partake in a full meal while sipping liquid libations. Some of the items on the appetizer menu include scallops wrapped in prosciutto, feta cheese dip, and chicken wings. Entrees include items like Cajun shrimp mac and cheese, spicy Caribbean jerk steak skewers, pumpkin ravioli, and citrus mahi-mahi. Dessert includes items like tiramisu.-Christine A. Smyczynski