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Last Update: 5 February 2012
Note: |
Varysburg Hotel
Vasilis Family Restaurant
[m] Venus
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[],
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Bill's rankings |
| [XXX] | recommendation from contributor whose initials are XXX |
| [a+] | on UB Amherst Campus (in the UB Commons) |
| [a] | near UB Amherst Campus (within 2 miles) |
| [m] | near UB Main St. Campus (within 2 miles) |
All phone numbers are in area code 716, unless otherwise indicated.
Varysburg Hotel.
2486 Route 20a (about 1/2-way between East Aurora and Warsaw, south of
Attica), Varysburg.
585-535-7692.
Vasilis Family Restaurant.
299 Kenmore Ave., Kenmore.
838-4440.
[JKl, 6/08] said: "We know one of the servers at this newly-opened restaurant, and she urged us to come in and enjoy the authentic Greek food. There are a ton of places in Buffalo that serve Greek, and we used to frequent Olympic (in Tonawanda), but it had become overpriced and undependable at best. Let me tell you, I will not go back to the Olympic after this!!! I ordered the open chicken souvlaki salad (around $7.50), and my husband ordered the chicken souvlaki platter (around $10.50). The food was delicious and had large portions. The chicken was perfectly cooked, with a delicious marinade. My salad had a large bed of mixed greens (a nice change from the standard "blah" iceberg) with the standard Greek salad vegetables. It was topped with 4 large chicken strips, grilled to perfection, and served with toasted pita bread (4 triangles). My husband got his platter with French fries, but the Greek potatoes I saw other people eating looked delicious as well. The French fries were nice and crispy, and were a very large portion. He received 6 strips of chicken. If I went back, I would get the salad for $7.50 and just order a side of fries (the waitress said they were like $1.75 or so). My salad was very filling and so delicious! Vasilis's homemade Greek dressing is wonderful as well. The décor was very niceit's a small place with a good amount of tables, but we didn't feel crowded. You could tell the other diners were enjoying their meals as well, and two tables next to us commented to us on how much they loved their food and how glad they were that this restaurant opened in their neighborhood. The service was great as well, very attentive (but I'm biasedI know her). They had a sign on the wall that welcomed patrons to bring their own wine, as well. I hope this place stays open for quite some time, as it's my new place to visit when I'm craving some Greek souvlaki!"
[m] Venus Greek and Mediterranean Restaurant.
3500 Main St.
(in University Plaza, across from the UB South (Main St.) campus),
Amherst.
831-8100.
[RRo, 2/12] says: "After my friend kept raving about how much her
son adored Venus, we finally went in this evening [2/2/12] for some takeout
Mediterranean. Expecting a brightly-lit, cafeteria-style atmosphere, based
on some things we'd read, I was pleasantly surprised to find a more warmly
lit decor—almost cozy feeling—with upbeat, ethnic tunes from the TV's
music videos.
Service was fairly quick, and the girl who took the order was very
accommodating (thank you!). Since we wanted to try the Greek fries (yummy,
steak French fries topped with feta cheese, onions, tomatoes, and a few
other things), she let us upgrade the fries in our ‘wrap special’ at no
charge, in exchange for not getting the bundled soft drink it came with
(which we didn't want anyway)—awesome! We ordered a chicken shwarma
wrap, falafel platter, chicken fingers w/fries (for the 8YO), and a
Turkish coffee. The wrap was chock full, but it didn't resemble the
flavorful shwarma I've had at any other restaurant; the meat tasted a bit
more like I'd get in a Philly-steak sub (my GF said, ‘It was like eating a
huge wrap of…nothing! It has no taste!’). And the falafel surprised
me: I enjoyed the texture, but it was heavy in Italian spices; with
Falafel Bar
setting the standard for the best falafel in the world (a
‘10’ rating), I'd rate this falafel a ‘4’ (my GF said, ‘I think I might have
liked it if I didn't know what falafel was supposed to taste like.’). The
fingers were…well…fingers (they were fine, although the ‘mild’ sauce
was more of a ‘medium’ and too spicy for my daughter). To the rescue:
The
Greek Fries were delicious :-) Oh yeah: the Turkish Coffee—average.
I prefer to have a little cardomom in mine, and would have appreciated if
they asked whether I'd like it sweetened. Would I go back? With new
expectations, sure! I'd go back and try a few other selections to see how
they compared, but my bar will be much lower next time I go."
[MIL, 9/11] said: "Venus offers decent Greek/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean take-out food at a reasonable price. It is a small, family-run business with a few tables, some Middle Eastern decorative accents, and a comfy-looking, den-like area with a couple of sofas underneath a widescreen TV playing Arabic (I'm guessing) music videos. This evening, my wife and I shared shish tawook (marinated chicken) and shish kofta (meatball) pita (or lavosh) wrap sandwiches along with a fatoush (toasted bread) salad. The tawook was tangy, and the kofta was tasty, but nothing really cried out ‘This is ethnic food!’: A chicken sandwich and a hamburger from an American-style, fast-food place would not have tasted much different. The fatoush was a basic, green salad with toasted (or possibly fried) flatbread chips mixed in. On an earlier visit, I tried the gyro sandwich, which was slightly skimpy in the meat department but good otherwise. Venus is not a destination restaurant, but for people teaching or taking classes at UB South or just passing by on Main St., it's a good alternative to Jimmy John's next door. It's also better and considerably more pleasant than the Felafel Bar extension that was briefly located just south of Main and Kenmore (where Sonora's Express is now located)."
Vera Pizzeria.
220 Lexington Ave. (between Allentown & Buff State), Buffalo.
551-6262.
[CSS, 10/11] said: "Vera is a chic, new spot specializing in handcrafted cocktails from the pre-prohibition era. The cocktails are $10 and well made. On a busy Friday night, it took patrons nearly 20 minutes to receive their drink orders from the snazzy-dressed guys behind the bartenders (also a throwback). Despite the long wait for beverages, the service was friendly and attentive. The interior is tiny, comprised of exposed brick, a handful of tables, and a very attractive bar. The food was forgettable. We didn't try the pizza, their other speciality. Rather, we opted for a bistro steak with polenta, ordered medium rare ($21) and a proscuitto-wrapped pork loin with smashed potatoes ($19). The steak was overdone, swimming in runny polenta. The pork was slightly better and came with roasted, not smashed, potatoes. Only OK for the price tag. No bread service. Would definitely return for drinks but probably not to eat."
Victor's Pub and Grille.
1503 Hertel Ave., Buffalo.
931-9876.
[CSS, 6/11] says: "Another mediocre, Italian joint in North Buffalo. Service was shaky on a Sunday afternoon: We wanted to have some appetizers on the patio, and found the entire staff lounging around on one side of the patio, with one table occupied by patrons on the other side. It took a long time to get our drinks and apps, even though there seemed to be an abundance of staff and only 2 other customers. Tried an antipasto salad (fine), mussels (previously frozen, but fine, swimming in a thick tomato broth; somewhat greasy), pasta with peas (in a thick, tomato-paste-based red sauce; not recommended), and bruschetta (bread was toasted, toppings were cold, & dressed with a balsamic glaze; did not like). Our bread basket on the side was old—the waitress gave us a heads-up and said she would put some new bread in the oven, but that never arrived. Might return on another night to try pasta dishes; would definitely not order red sauce here (always risky in Buffalo), and hope for a more adept chef and waitstaff on a busier night."
[AMB, 11/10] said: "Sunday [11/21/10], we had dinner at Victor's, a new restaurant on Hertel (in the space vacated by La Marina). The menu has a mix of some more novel options (see Janice Okun's review for a description of these) as well as some basic Italian dishes (chicken, eggplant, or veal parm; ravioli) but isn't as comprehensive as some (for instance, no chicken marsala or lasagna). We ordered ravioli with a meatball, chicken with vodka sauce (pasta, peas, prosciutto, chicken, and sauce), a sauteed veal dish (a little oily), and chicken parmigiana. Entrees came with good bread and standard (acceptable) salads. We all thought our dinners were fine (my daughter raved about the red sauce on the ravioli, and I liked the chicken with vodka sauce quite a bit). We are always searching for a ‘perfect’ chicken parmigiana, and this was a good one but perhaps not as good as Faso's. Service was very friendly but I think shows the restaurant's young age—a long wait for drinks, our water was never refilled, we had to ask for bread, and the main dishes came to the table pretty quickly after the salads and before those plates had been cleared. All in all, it was an acceptable dinner but maybe not quite equal yet with some other choices for Italian dining (Amici and Jovi's come to mind)."
Viking Lobster Co..
366 Tonawanda St. (in the Black Rock area, on the West Side, near Austin
St.), Buffalo.
873-1079.
In response to [MZ]'s review below, the owner informed me by email that "our web site is inaccurate [sic!] as to all the items indicated and the prices but is being corrected. The items missing are fresh shell fish which recently due to harvesting conditions we didn't feel comfortable offering. As to pricing the site didn't reflect adjustments due to fuel surcharges or the inflated prices which are now being passed on to us from the producers." And he suggested visiting the following websites for further information: Buffalo Rising and Buffalo Bar Fly. My [Bill's] only question is this: If the website is inaccurate, why not shut it down until an accurate one can be posted?
[MZ, 5/06] says: "The Viking restaurant has nothing to do with its website. It serves basically nothing: the day I was there, a fish fry, which, however, was better than most, but I came there wanting the plethora of choices on their lying website menu. The place doesn't have a liquor license and isn't worth dragging yourself to a neighborhood (Black Rock) that died 75 years ago. I come to Buffalo maybe 4 times a year to take my mother out to a good meal. Thanks a lot for nothing. (the only saving grace for her was that she grew up in this neighborhood, so she loved seeing her past, driving her around.) The review you have for this dump needs to be deleted. It's an out and out lie."
[CJ, 1/06] says: "The food was unbelievable!!!! I had the steak, and my friend had lobster. Wow!!!!! It was out of this world. The owner, Jeff, was great. In fact, after talking with him, he took us back to see the holding tanks. It looked like 4 swimming pools! I will definitely be back to see him again!!! Great job, Jeff!!!!!!!!!"
Village Casino.
1 Lakeside Dr., Bemus Point.
386-2333.
Village Inn.
Ridge Road (Rt. 104, at the junction with Rt. 98), Childs.
589-9151.
Village Inn.
1488 Ferry Rd., Grand Island.
773-5030.
[SAS, 10/08] said: "Positive: This has been a favorite spot for islanders for over the past 20 years. The Village Inn is best known for its daily selection of homemade soups, entree specials, and desserts. We visited there last Saturday for a quick lunch. My wife had a panini special with a cup of roasted tomato-and-red-pepper soup; mine was a 1/2-pound burger with the seafood bisque. Everything was delicious, though I thought that the bisque was not quite up to their usual high standards; it was very tasty, but a bit more watery than usual, though it was chock full of seafood. My wife thought I was being too picky, however, after she tried it. Full bar service; closed on Sundays."
Village Pub.
3974 Main St. (Rt. 78), Strykersville.
1-585-457-7045.
Vince's Village Grille.
3189 Delaware Ave. (at E. Girard, across from Paddock Chevrolet), Kenmore.
876-4687.
Vineland Estates Restaurant.
3620 Moyer Rd. (off exit 57 on the QEW), Vineland, ON, CANADA.
1-888-846-3526.
[WHN] says:
[3/10] "We haven't been to Vineland in nearly two years, but, since it was a beautiful, sunny day with record-setting temperatures forecasted, we decided to go there for lunch on Saturday, 4/3. Their outside patio wasn't yet open for the season, but we did get a table at a window overlooking the vineyards and Lake Ontario, although it was too hazy to see much beyond the Port Dalhousie promontory in the distance. My wife and I shared a Bibb-lettuce salad with croutons, nuts, and roasted baby tomatoes tossed with a mild bleu-cheese dressing, then ‘bouillabaisse’ with shrimp, cod, scallops, mussels, and vegetables. This was not a traditional bouillabaisse made with fish stock, but was served over a thick, creamy, saffron sauce that was delicious."
[6/08] "We haven't been to Vineland in several years, but returned for lunch on Monday, 6/23. We chose their three-course, fixed-price lunch, now priced at C$39. The starter was fiddleheads and greens over a soft goat cheese that was somewhat like Buffalo Mozzarella. The main course was duck breast with red roasted potatoes, asparagus, yellow peppers, and orange wedges. Dessert was an assortment of chocolate and raspberry petit fours. Since it was a beautiful summer day, we ate on the patio, looking out toward Lake Ontario and Toronto, but it was a cloudy, hazy day, so you couldn't see much beyond the lake. It started to rain, and the staff quickly moved everyone to inside tables. It's expensive, but offers excellent food and service."
[11/05] "In our opinion, this is one of the best restaurants on the Niagara Peninsula. We've eaten lunch here at least once a year for several years, usually on the deck in summer, when the view of the vineyards and Lake Ontario is wonderful, but the food is just as good in fall and winter, the view is the same from the now-enclosed deck, albeit not as colorful, and the crowds are smaller. In addition to their à la carte menu, there's a three-course fixed price lunch for C$35, which, on our visit, included pumpkin bisque to start, a main course choice of mushroom fettuccine or venison, and apple strudel for dessert. My wife ordered the fettuccine, and I had the venison, and we shared some of each. Everything is made with seasonal Niagara Region and Canadian produce, meats, seafood, with wines from their own vineyard and other local ones. All the food was excellent, as was the service. (Except for the waiter "pushing" a C$70 bottle of Vineland Reserve Chardonnay.) For dinner, which we have not yet tried, they offer a C$70 five-course dinner (C$100 with wine pairings), as well as many à la carte choices."
Vino's Italian Restaurant.
WARNING: WEBSITE IS A YOUTUBE VIDEO!
1652 Elmwood Ave. (between Amherst St. & Great Arrow Ave.), Buffalo.
332-2166.
[3/10] Listed as one of 41 "Restaurants We Love" by Buffalo Spree magazine.
[LFo, 4/08] said: "I've wanted to go to Vino's for a while and finally got to go there with three other people last weekend. It's a small restaurant with white tablecloths, although you can dress casual. Reservations are recommended, but we got there right when they opened at 5:00 and had no problem getting a table. Everything on their menu is reasonably priced, and everbody liked their meal. I had ziti with their homemade red sauce, and two of the other people I was with had their homemade ravioli. The fourth person had their speciala filet mignon and a pasta salad that he really enjoyed. He also got a side of spaghetti. The lady behind the bar was one of the owners, and her husband is the chef. She was very friendly and answered a few questions that we had. She made us feel like we were at home. She makes the desserts herself, so of course we had to try a couple of her cakes, which were sitting right on the bar. We tried the rum cake and a banana walnut cake. Both were delicious, and you could tell they were homemade. All four of us would go back there again. It is a welcoming, clean atmosphere, and the owners make you feel as if you are part of their family. The food was fresh and homemade, and the service was perfect. I highly recommend this place to anyone."
Vizzi's.
967 Kenmore Ave., Kenmore.
871-1965.
[DGB, 2/11] said: "I finally had an occasion to be in the neighborhood of Vizzi's on Feb. 24th and was anxious to give it a try. As a neighbor and devotee of Grover's on Transit, I had a hard time accepting that anything could top their burgers. I arrived early (around 5:30) in the misguided belief that there would be no problem snagging a seat at the bar; wrong! There was a line to sit at the bar, but I was able to get one of the 10 tables in the ‘dining area’. The comparison to Grover's was inevitable, and a clear winner is near impossible. Vizzi's bacon-cheddar burger, while perhaps marginally smaller than Grover's, was much larger in taste. They tell you up front that they don't do rare, so I went for medium-rare; it arguably was more medium than rare, but it's difficult to quarrel with the result. It came to the table hot off the charcoal grill (no griddles for them!) with a wonderful (if questionably carcinogenic) crust, and tons of flavor. The biggest surprise, however, was the mountain of hot and crispy fries covering the entire plate—about the equivalent of anyone else's ‘Basket o' Fries’. At around $18 for a Monster burger and 2 frosty colds, it was a bargain to be repeated often. Oh, and, like Grover's, no credit cards accepted."
[NvH, 8/10] said: "My wife and I love this place. Awesome staff, with great service. Yes, you will wait a while for your food, but when you know what's coming, and the beer is cold and very well priced, then who cares? I don't order fries anywhere else but at Vizzi's. Hands down, the best I have ever tasted. The Monster burger has always been cooked to my satisfaction, and the roast-beef sandwich is superb. You can get by with two dinners and a couple of drafts each for under $25. Oh, and did I mention you will bring enough back home for a filling lunch the next day?"
[JBS, 5/10] said: "My husband and I went to Vizzi's on Friday night [5/21/10], home of the (self-proclaimed?) ‘best burger in Buffalo’, and we will never return. The service, while pleasant enough, was quite slow, but I understand they want to take the time to make a ‘great burger’. Well, that would've been OK if the burger had been great. We both ordered ours medium (since we were told that it wasn't possible to get it medium-rare), and what we each got was a charred, hockey-puck-looking thing that had no pink and, worse, no juice! It was as dry as I would imagine a hockey puck would taste, too. I would have sent it back, but it took over 1/2 hour to get it in the first place. The fries were good, but the burger was so bad that I had to drench it in ketchup just to be able to swallow it. Whoever is touting this place as any sort of ‘best burger’ joint is way off base. It was such a disappointment and a tremendous waste of calories!!!"
[BJC, 1/10] said: "A friend and I went to Vizzi's because we were in a mood for a burger and this place has the self-proclaimed Best Burger around. We had been here one other time and thought it was decent and cheap, so we came back. But this time was a disaster. We arrived at 7 P.M., and there were only about 8 people in the entire dining room. We promptly ordered two cheeseburgers, medium. After 15 minutes of waiting, the waitress came by and asked if we wanted a refill on our sodas because they were empty. She refilled them and said our food would be done in just a couple of minutes. 10 minutes later (25 minutes total), we still had not gotten our food, and an additional waitress was speaking to a nearby couple who had just sat down. I don't normally like to complain about food or the wait, but this was crazy, so we flagged her down and asked her to check on our orders. She was very defensive and said that they normally take about 20 minutes to cook and that they would be out shortly. Then, at 7:45, waiting a total of 45 minutes for a cheeseburger, the second waitress brought out the food of the couple that had sat down 20 mintes after us. My friend had become extremely agitated; the second waitress came by and asked surprisingly if everything was OK. I said, ‘No; we've been waiting 45 minutes for a burger, and the place is empty. Is something wrong in the kitchen?". She became very snooty and said that nothing was wrong and that it would be out in a moment. We were fed up, so we just left. If the waitress had just said she was sorry, then we would have stayed. But she continued to have this attitude that I was a jerk for wondering why a cheeseburger takes 45 minutes to cook in an empty restaurant. If she had just said sorry and that there was an issue, it would have been fine. Slow service is one thing, but rudeness on top of it is unacceptable. I will never return."
[CLHe, 9/09] said: "Four of us visited Vizzi's on 9/23/2009, and all ordered burgers. They were incredible!! I don't know what seasoning they put on them, but it really added a lot. We all ordered them medium, and it was great to be able to have a burger nice and pink on the inside. Very flavorful. The hand-cut fries are wonderful. The portions are so large that it is tough to decide whether to eat all the fries while they are still hot, or dig in to the burger. I opted for the fries first! This place serves great burgers and fries at an amazing price. Will definitely be returning."
[BaS, 7/09] said: "Advertises ‘the monster burger’ out front. My husband stopped there recently with a friend and loved the burger. We went to Vizzi's 7/2/09 around 5:00 pm. The restaurant has a lively bar; the eating area is in view. I had no choice but to get the Monster Burger; my husband got the fish fry. And the burger was huge! Very juicy, grilled to medium as ordered. It came with very large plate of fresh cut fries. My husband started with Chicken Wing Soup, which had a nice tang to it. The fish was breaded, a large piece, and came with those hand-cut fries. Our waitress was the owner's wife, and it turned out she went to high school with my husband. Of course; it's Buffalo. You always run into someone you know. The food was good; we will go back."
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