Best Restaurants You've Ever Been To

Troisgros in Roanne, France.

Simply amazing. You need a lot of time to eat, 4hours+. Nothing is rushed. Everything is perfect.

 

1) Rosemary's (Las Vegas) My all time favorite!
2) St Elmo's (Indianapolis) I live here... Gotta give the local boys love
3) El Gaucho (Aruba)

 

I can't name one restaurant over another as the best, the ones that I like all have their specialty that is incredible. In no particular order:

La Famiglia, Paris
(great pastas, plates with mulitple choices)

Caffe Abrracci, Coral Gables
(Senna's hang out in Miami, incredible service, been around for 20 years and still popular, you'll see anyone in town that is famous at Abrracci, the place to be in Miami)

Basil Garden, Boca Raton
(the porcini filled home made raviolis are incredible)

 

Dorcia- Great Sea Urchin Ceviche

 

Spaghetti Lolobrigida at restaurant La Piazza in Cannes (F)
Terrific..................

 

Beano's Cabin in Vail is by far and away the best dining experience and food I've ever had.

Grand Hotel on Makinac Island.

Jack Stack Barbecue in Kansas City.

Flying Fish - Disney World's Boardwalk

Celebration Town Tavern - Celebration, FL

Taverna Opa - Miami, FL(south beach)

Avanti's - Peoria, IL

Kaze Sushi - Chicago, IL

Hell, too many great resturants in Chicago to list.

Any Capital Grill will knock your socks off.

 

I went there about a year ago. I had an excellent filet and the sweet plantains in rum sauce are to die for.

 

Pomodoro - North End, Boston

 

1. Alexanders in Campbell (Any steak lover from the Bay Area will probably back me up on this one)
2. Ruth's Chris - Not so much.
3. Morton's - Good steak, but mediocre sides and service.
4. Jack in the Box..........................................................kidding

Has anyone tried BOA or the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Las Vegas? I made reservations for the beginning of September and would greatly appreciate any thoughts/recommendations on these two restaurants.

Thanks in advance!

Abe

 

1. Louis XV, Monte Carlo, Monaco (in the Hotel de Paris)
2. MIX, Las Vegas, Nevada (On the roof of THE Hotel tower of Mandalay Bay)
3. Vivace, Carlsbad, California (in the Four Seasons resort, Aviara)

 

I really like Lucky's Steakhouse in Montecito, California. I kept reading bad reviews online, but also heard great things about it and a lot of celebs love it, so I went for my birthday this year. Was not disappointed at all. Service was amazing and not stiff and uptight at all, and the food was soo tasty. Best steak I've ever had, and I normally don't go for steak.

 

I've got to question these two. Are the good restaurants? Yeah. Best you've ever been to? You need to get out more.......

 

I'm pretty sure our definition of "best" is quite different. And yes, I'm young and don't like to spend a lot of money so that factors into my experiences. But if "best" by this thread's definition is only five star resturants than yeah I guess you could leave those off. IE I do need to get out more

I definitely had a fun time and great food at Opa...making the experience one of the best I've had. And for the Celebration Tavern...their White Scrod is some of the best,freshest fish I've ever had in my life.

For example, I live 1 block away from Alinea, but you'll never see me there cause it's just too damn expensive.

 

One of the most memorable dining experiences: Zach's on the Rocks in Montgomery, VT. My wife and I stayed in Stowe and drove 1.5 hours each way. Well worth it. Zach's has two seatings, one at 6 and one at 9. The restaurant seats about 30. You sit in a sunken room with a fire sipping cocktails while ordering from a hand made menu that is a paper sack with burned edges to make it look old. You order all your courses before being seated at your table by Zach, dressed in a purple caftan ringing a cowbell. There are flowers hanging upside down from the ceiling. Everything is purple, even the sugar. It was the first time I ever ate rack of lamb and loved it. Way ecentric, way cool.

Another fine restaurant in NOLA is Bayona. Susan Spicer is the chef and she makes the most incredible pecan encrusted rabbit I have ever eaten. Tremendous wine list, very gracious staff. Nola's is another fun restaurant, particularly if you sit at the bar for dinner and chat with the bartenders. The smells coming from the kitchen are as intoxicating as the drinks from the bar.

For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the trattoria my wife and I ate in Bologna. Emilia Romanga is well known as THE region of Italy for foodies. After flying to Pisa and renting a car ~Lancia Kappa, not Fcar we took a taxi to this tiny place recommended by our hotel concierge. The owner greeted us with a big hug and in broken English and our broken Italian, we asked for them to bring us what they thought best. It was on that night I learned to say "bring me the specialty of the house" in Italian and theirs was a hand made pasta that had asparagus in the middle and was twisted like a piece of candy in a wrapper. It was outrageously good, and we so enjoyed feasting after a very long 24 hours awake. I fell asleep in the taxi on the 10 minute ride back to the hotel. We went to Imola the next day for F1 practice and had several memorable lunches in Ravenna.

There are a ton of great restaurants in Houston. I enjoy going to the original Mama Ninfa's on Navigation, the first Mexican restaurant that started the somewhat average chain. Portions are too generous, and leaving hungry is not possible. Another favorite Mexican place is Tony's on Ella. Their margaritas are killer...literally. All this talk of food now has me ravenous. Somehow my blueberry yogurt isn't going to curb my enthusiam!

 

There used to be a place out in the outskirts of the SF Valley called Miller's Acorn. Funny thing was that people who lived there their whole lives never knew it was there. Set in amongst tall pine trees, they had a great outdoor patio with tables surrounding a fire pit. Great steaks, seafood, extensive wine list and an awesome Caesar, tossed tableside.

I miss that place.

 

I had an incredible Thai lunch today at Thaicoon in North Palm Beach. Soy sauce noodle with chicken, can't be beat.
For fancy my favorite used to be Mastro's in Scottsdale, but their quality and comfort have gone down a notch since the restaurant was sold.

BT

 

My favorite:

1) Bulli - Girona, Spain (simply the best)

2) Arzak - San Sebastian, Spain

3) Las Gaviotas - Acapulco, Mexico (crappy restuarant by the beach, best seafood)

 

You are quite correct! I have not had the pleasure of going yet but it is VER high on my list.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Bulli

"The restaurant has a limited season from April to September; bookings are taken on a single day in the previous October. It accommodates only 8,000 diners a season, with 800,000 people calling to try and book places — around 400 requests for every table."

How did you come about a seat?

 

St. Elmo's Steak House, Indianapolis
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Fogo De Chao.

I don't care if it's a chain. Great meat, and ALL YOU CAN EAT!

 

Well... at least at the Chicago location I thought the meat was of OK quality, but mostly over cooked (though did manage a FEW very rare pieces) and all of it overseasoned/salted.

Glad I went to try it, but shan't go back.

 

The Prime Rib in DC http://www.theprimerib.com/

The Steakhouse in Vegas http://www.circuscircus.com/dining/the_steakhouse.aspx

Locally, John Thomas http://www.johnthomassteakhouse.net/door/

Those were MY favorite but probably not the most well known or expensive although we all know more expensive doesn't mean better food. I love aged meat.

 

Daniel’s Broiler on the southern tip of Lake Union in Seattle is the best!

http://www.schwartzbros.com/daniels.cfm

Quick story. DB was the one place I wanted to eat before I left for Iraq. When I told the waiter, he came back with a bottle of champagne and an awesome desert. As if that wasn’t enough, at the end of the meal my wife and I were told it was on the house.

When I came back, I brought a special flag that I had flown over the Al Faw Palace in Baghdad and I presented it to the manager (who now works in the Bellevue branch). Once again we had an awesome meal with a nice surprise at the end.

Bottom line: incredible food, great views of Lake Union and a spectacular staff that supports our troops.

 

best is tough, but i'd say Inn at little washington. my wife is the real chef in my family, so she is more into it than i am.

http://www.theinnatlittlewashington.com/

 

i was recently impressed by ortolan in los angeles. we had a group of 24 and while i was expecting a fine meal, i was wowed by this place. i'd never had foie gras so many different ways in one sitting.