Triangle Top Three’s – Best Restaurants and Food in the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) Area

Find some of the best restaurants and food in the area by cuisine and amenity! If you’re willing to travel a bit, here are some of the best in the RDU, across Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill and Beyond. Organized by cuisine type, click on the link for full reviews or the website.

Best Bakeries, Bread

• LaFarm Bakery- Cary
• Boulted Bread- Raleigh
• Guglhupf- Durham

Best Bakeries, Sweets

• LaFarm Bakery- Cary
• Lucettegrace- Raleigh
• Guglhupf- Durham

Best NC Barbeque Joints

• Ole Time Barbecue – Raleigh
• Picnic- Durham
• Clyde Coopers- Raleigh

Best Southern Barbeque Restaurants

• Smokey’s Barbeque- Morrisville
• Redneck BBQ Lab- Benson
• Brew n Que- Cary

Best Brunch Restaurants

• True Flavors- Durham
• Beasley’s Chicken- Raleigh
• Acme Restaurant- Carrboro

Best Burgers (Cary)

• Barry’s Cafe- Cary
• Corbett’s Burgers & Soda Bar- Cary
• Shake Shack- Cary

Best Burgers (Durham)

• Bull City Burger and Brewery- Durham
• Only Burger- Durham
• Dain’s Place- Durham

Best Burgers (Raleigh)

• Chuck’s- Raleigh
• Cow Bar Burgers and Fries – Raleigh
• Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar- Raleigh

Best Chicken, Fried and Otherwise- Durham

• M Kokko- Durham
• Dame’s Chicken & Waffles- Durham
• Chicken Bee- Durham

Best Chicken, Fried and Otherwise- Raleigh

• Beasley’s Chicken & Honey- Raleigh
• Soo Cafe- Raleigh
• Mami Noras- Raleigh

Best Chinese Restaurants

• Super Wok (Sichuan)- Cary
• C & T Wok – Morrisville
• Gourmet Kingdom- Carrboro

Best Date Spots, Inexpensive- Durham

• M Kokko (Chicken)
• Luna Rotisserie (Chicken, Latin-American)
• Toast (Paninis)

Best Date Spots, Basic- Durham

• Viceroy (Indian)
• Hutchins Garage (Pizza)
• Juju (Asian Fusion)

Best Dates Spots, More Expensive- Durham

• Saint James Seafood (Seafood)
• Mateo (Spanish)
• M Sushi (Japanese)

Best Date Spots, Inexpensive- Raleigh

• CO (Asian-Fusion)
• Whiskey Kitchen (Southern)
• Beasley’s (Chicken, Southern)

Best Date Spots, Basic- Raleigh

• Tazza Kitchen (American, Pizza)
• Garland (Indian, Asian)
• Capital Club 16 (American, German)

Best Date Spots, More Expensive- Raleigh

• Crawford and Son (Southern)
• Stanbury (American, Seasonal)
• Barcelona Wine Bar (Spanish)

Best Donut Shops

• Rise Biscuits and Donuts- Durham, Raleigh, Carrboro, etc
• Baker’s Dozen- Raleigh
• Monuts Donuts- Durham

Best Eastern European Restaurants

• J Betski’s (German, Polish)- Raleigh
• Guglhupf (German)- Durham

Best Farm to Table Restaurants (Raleigh)

• Poole’s Diner- Raleigh
• The Stanbury- Raleigh
• Plates Neighborhood Kitchen- Raleigh

Best French Restaurants

• Vin Rouge- Durham
• Jolie- Raleigh
• Coquette- Raleigh

Best Ice Cream

• Two Roosters- Raleigh
• The Parlour- Durham
• Maple View Dairy- Hillsborough

Best Indian-Nepali Restaurants

• Himalayan Range Nepali- Cary
• Tower Indian- Morrisville
• Saffron- Morrisville

Best Italian Restaurants

• Mothers and Sons- Durham
• Gocciolina- Durham
• Daniel’s Restaurant- Apex

Best Latin-S. American Restaurants

• SoCa- Raleigh
• Centro- Raleigh

Best Mediterranean-Middle Eastern Restaurants

• Sitti- Raleigh
• Sassool- Raleigh and Cary
• Bosphorus- Cary

Best Mexican Restaurants (Raleigh)

• Taqueria El Toro- Raleigh
• Los Cuates- Raleigh
• Jose and Sons- Raleigh

Best Neapolitan Pizza Places

• Capp’s Pizzeria- Chapel Hill
• Pizzeria Faulisi- Cary
• Pizzeria Toro- Durham 

Best NY Pizza Places

• Oakwood Pizza Box- Raleigh
• Randy’s Pizza- RTP
• Pie Pushers – Durham

Best Standard Pizza Places

• Hutchins Garage- Durham
• Pizzeria Mercato- Carrboro
• Trophy Brewing & Pizza Co.- Raleigh

Best Patios (Durham)

• Tobacco Road Sports Cafe (American)
• Guglhupf (German, Bakery)
• Juju (Asian Fusion)

Best Patios (Raleigh)

• Humble Pie (Small Plates)
• Mulino Italian Kitchen (Italian)
• Whiskey Kitchen (Southern)

Best Ramen

• Sono Sushi- Raleigh
• Noodle Blvd- Cary
• Tonbo Ramen- Raleigh

Best Sandwich Spots (Durham)

• Toast- Durham
• KoKyu Na’mean- Durham

Best Sandwich Spots (Raleigh)

• Rockford- Raleigh
• Carroll’s Kitchen- Raleigh
• Publix- Raleigh

Best Seafood Restaurants

• Saint James Seafood – Durham
• St. Roch Oyster Bar – Raleigh
• Cortez Seafood – Raleigh
• Postal Fish Company – Pittsboro

Best Small Plates Restaurants (Chapel Hill)

• Hawkers Asian Street Fare- Chapel Hill
• Glasshalfull- Carrboro

Best Small Plates Restaurants (Durham)

• Mateo- Durham
• Dashi- Durham
• Juju- Durham

Best Small Plates Restaurants (Raleigh)

• Humble Pie- Raleigh
• Brewery Bhavana- Raleigh
• Vidrio- Raleigh

Best Soul Food Restaurants

• Dame’s Chicken & Waffles- Durham
• Jack’s Seafood and Soul Food- Raleigh
• Mama Dips- Chapel Hill

Best Spanish – Tapas Restaurants

• Taberna Tapas- Durham
• Mateo- Durham
• Barcelona Wine Bar- Raleigh

Best Sushi-Japanese Restaurants (Raleigh)

• Sushi Mon- Raleigh
• Sono- Raleigh
• City Market Sushi – Raleigh

Best Thai Restaurants

• TBD
• TBD
• Thai 55- Durham

Best Vietnamese Restaurants

• Mekong- Morrisville
• Pho Far East- Raleigh
• Anise Pho- Raleigh

Last Updated on April 24, 2021