Favorite Restaurants: What's Good

[] Aléthea's
[ for wings only] Anchor Bar
[a] [] Butterwood Gourmet Desserts
[] Forte
[] Gino's NY Pizza
[] Jasmine Thai
[] MacDuff's
[ am] O Restaurant
[] Olivers
[] Original Pancake House
[] Pietro's Ristorante and Martini Bar
[] Pizza Pizza
[] Ristorante Giardino
[] Salvatore's
[] San Marco Ristorante
[ m] La Scala
[] Scallion Bistro
[] Tandoori's

[] Bijou Grille
[ a] Caffe Aroma
[] Carmine's
[] Chester's Pub
[] Harbour Inn
[] Kaldi's Coffee House
[] Linguine's
[] Papaya
[] Pizzeria Uno
[] Rue Franklin
[ am]Sonoma Grill
[] Towne
[] White Inn

Buffalo News restaurant reviewer Janice Okun's favorites

Note: Janice Okun has used at least 3 different rating schemes; her first scheme had a maximum rating of 4 stars; her next scheme had a maximum rating of 5 stars (but, as far as I know, no restaurant had ever gotten 5 stars!), and recently (11/99) she resumed the 4-star maximum. However, most recently, she has added a 3½-star ranking to the 4-star max. In what follows, with the exception of those restaurants getting 4½ out of 5 stars, I assume that the two most recent ranking systems are identical. For an essay on her current (2007) rating system, see Okun, Janice (2007), "Restaurants Must Earn Their Stars" Buffalo News (31 January): C1.

4½ out of 5 stars (ranking system #2)

Golden Duck
Rue Franklin

4 out of 4 or 5 stars (ranking systems #2 and #3A)

Buffalo Chop House [12/08]
Daniel's [9/08] & [12/03]
E. B. Green's [4/05]
Escabeche
Fiamma Steak [4/08]
Hutch's [5/04] & [7/07]
Kuni's [12/08]
Lombardo's [6/09]
MacDuff's
Mark's Dining Room
[m] O'Connell's American Bistro [4/09]
Oliver's [3/05]
Pranzo
Rue Franklin [4/04]
San Marco [4/06] & [7/09]
[a] Sea Bar [9/07]
[am] Siena
[m] Sinatra's [4/05]
Tempo [9/09]
[m] Torches [10/09]
Twenty One Club
[a] Wasabi [5/07]
Wellington Court Café

3½ out of 4 stars (ranking system #3B)

Asa Ransom House
Bacchus [3/06]
[a] Black and Blue Steak and Crab [1/08]
Butterwood Gourmet Desserts [9/03]
Calvaneso's [11/05]
Carmelo's [9/07]
La Cascata [3/07]
Chris' N.Y. Sandwich Co. [6/03]
Chop Chop [5/08]
Curly's [2/07]
Delduca's
DiGiulio & Co. [8/06] & [5/08]
Empire Grill [12/06]
Encore [2/09]
Fiddle Heads [8/05] & [8/09]
Il Fiorentino [10/06]
Frog Grill at Warren's [2/05]
Gate House Grill [11/07]
Golden Lotus
Hillebrand's Vineyard Café [10/07]
Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse [11/08]
Inn on the Twenty [6/08]
Juniper [9/09]
[a] Woo Chon Korea House
Left Bank [1/04] & [9/08]
Liv
[a] Marinaccio's [4/06]
Ming Teh [7/09]
Moscow Nights Cafe [5/07]
Mother's [10/06]
Muse [9/06]
Nektar
NovelTea Neighborhood Bistro [1/08]
O Restaurant
Old Heidelberg
Papaya [4/05]
Peller Estates
Peninsula Ridge
Pietro's Ristorante and Martini Bar
Prime 490 [1/06]
17 Noir [8/04]
Saigon Bangkok (Transit Rd.) [5/09]
Saigon Café
Sake Café [12/07]
Sample [4/07]
Samurai Japanese Grill [8/08]
Sea Bar City [7/08]
Shadow Martini Bar & Restaurant [1/04]
[m] Shango [4/08]
Star of India
Stillwater [1/07]
Stone Road Grille [6/05]
Tabree [7/08]
Taki
[a] Thai Orchid Cafe [1/09]
31 Club [3/09]
Tim's Rendezvous
Trattoria Aroma [4/07]
Treadwell [12/06]
Twelve
[a] Verbena [5/09]
Vino Primo [2/06]
Wasabi (Elmwood Ave. location) [6/08]
The Western Door [6/04]
Zees [7/05]
Zest

3 out of 4 stars (ranking system #1)

Chon Buri Spicy Thai
[m] King's Wok
Olde Fort Inn
Ristorante Giardino
Tandoori's

Other reviewers' favorites that are **not** listed above

La Bella Sicilia
Bravo Cafe
Café 59
El Canelo
Coyote Cafe
Doctor Birds Caribbean Rasta-Rant
The Dove
Globe Market
Hideaway Grille
India Gate
Kabab and Curry
J.T. Wheatfields
Ken's Chuckwagon
La Tee Da
Lee's
Lone Star Fajita Grill
Middleport Inn
99 Fastfood
Old Prune Restaurant
Old Orchard Inn
[am] Palace of Dosas
Plaka
Romeo and Juliet's
Rundles
Suzy-Q's Bar-B-Que Shack
Taste of Thai