CITY GUIDES | OHIO
The Best Akron Restaurants, From Carhops to White Tablecloths
In a city where Swensons and Luigi’s have earned generations of regulars, there’s room at the table for a whole lot that’s new.
By Jamie Dutton
Updated Oct. 11, 2026
Amelia's by The Farmer's Rail
AUTHOR BIO: Jamie Dutton's job has her in airports regularly, as does a family spread out across the Midwest. She’s partial to BPTs and Bell’s.
I travel to Akron regularly for work, which gives this Pacers fan plenty of opportunities to revisit old playoff grievances. LeBron grew up here, and reminders of the man who spent years knocking my team out of contention tend to follow me around town. Fortunately, finding somewhere good to eat in Akron is considerably easier than watching him dismantle a fourth-quarter lead. Between meetings, I’ve become a regular at deli counters and pizza places, then branched out to Nepali cooking and dinners in neighboring Cuyahoga Falls and Bath. These are the best restaurants in Akron and the surrounding area—the places I return to, whatever the basketball standings say.
1818 American Grille
$$$$ | MAPS | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Brad Race has cooked at Nobu and José Andrés’ Minibar, but his Bath restaurant puts a wood fire at the center of dinner. The former Corner Provisions space now has a raw bar and an open kitchen where cherry and hickory fuel the grill. Start with oysters or ricotta toast with fig jam, crispy prosciutto, and pistachios, then move to a filet or ribs brushed with pomegranate-molasses barbecue sauce. The restaurant opened in stages in 2026, giving Akron another reason to head out to Bath for dinner.
Best for: Dinner cooked over a wood fire
Amelia’s
$$$$ | MAPS | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Below the Farmer’s Rail in Cuyahoga Falls, Amelia’s trades the butcher counter upstairs for velvet booths, mirrors, and a bar built for settling in. Jeff and Melanie Brunty opened the restaurant in 2025 with chef Chris Cook, and the dinner menu keeps a connection to their farm. Tuna nachos pile avocado, pineapple, and coconut-sriracha poke onto wonton chips. Follow them with a Brunty Farms strip steak or braised-beef pierogies with mushrooms and horseradish crème fraîche.
Best for: Cocktails and dinner in Cuyahoga Falls
Beau’s Grille
$$$$ | MAPS | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Beau Schmidt’s restaurant at the DoubleTree in Fairlawn gives you a reason to eat at a hotel even if you’re sleeping somewhere else. The terrace has a stone fireplace, and the menu ranges from housemade mozzarella sticks to potato-and-cheese pierogies served with braised short rib. Za’atar-crusted salmon comes with saffron cauliflower purée, root vegetables, and tahini-lemon yogurt, taking dinner well beyond the usual steak-or-chicken decision. Start with those mozzarella sticks, then leave enough time to linger outside when the weather cooperates.
Best for: A long dinner on the terrace
The Blue Door Café & Bakery
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Michael Bruno’s Cuyahoga Falls café takes its croissants seriously enough that they become the foundation of an entire brunch. One arrives with smoked king salmon, garlic-dill cream cheese, scrambled eggs, and onion-caper relish; another turns into bananas Foster French toast. That would be plenty of reason to visit, but Blue Door also serves dinner. Chef Jimmy Pintiello leads that service, with a menu that changes regularly and draws on European cooking. Check the latest offerings before booking, and consider making two visits: one for the bakery, another for dinner.
Best for: Croissants at brunch and a return trip for dinner
Crave
$$$$ | MAPS | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Aaron and Dana Hervey’s Crave occupies a former bank in downtown Akron’s Bowery District, with art on the walls and a menu that gives a group plenty to argue over. Begin with cheddar-and-chive potato pierogies accompanied by apple-cider kraut and tasso ham. Then choose between jerk mahi-mahi with orange-coconut rice and pineapple-jalapeño salsa, or a lobster BLT with mango-basil aioli. The smoked-Gouda mac and cheese comes with blackened chicken and garlic-butter panko. It’s a useful downtown dinner reservation when everyone wants something different.
Best for: Dinner before a night downtown
Diamond Deli
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Diamond Deli’s sandwich names read like introductions to an extended family, but the ingredient lists do the practical work. The Old Bald Guy combines turkey, smoked Gouda, bacon, onion, green apple, and sun-dried-tomato mayo on grilled ciabatta. The Brother Marc brings corned beef and pastrami together with slaw and Thousand Island dressing on rye. For a more traditional order, there’s a Reuben with corned beef, Swiss, and sauerkraut. This family-owned downtown deli keeps weekday lunch straightforward: choose your sandwich, pick a side, and find out how much of the afternoon it will sustain.
Best for: A downtown sandwich lunch
Family Vansa Ghar
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Family Vansa Ghar gives North Hill a menu that crosses between Nepali and Indian cooking, with plenty to explore beyond butter chicken. Begin with momos filled with chicken, pork, or vegetables, or order jhol momos served in a chutney broth. Sekuwa brings marinated chicken or pork from the grill, while a chicken thali gathers curry, rice, dal, greens, and pickles on one plate. There are biryanis, garlic naan, and dal makhani, too. Bring a few people so the meal can cover dumplings, something grilled, and a curry without requiring anyone to choose just one.
Best for: Nepali dumplings and thalis
Ken Stewart’s Grille
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Leopard-print carpet and cowboy portraits give Ken Stewart’s Grille a personality that has survived decades of anniversary dinners and business meals. The restaurant opened in 1990, and its tableside Caesar still follows Stewart’s mother’s recipe. Start there or with yellowtail hamachi dressed with ponzu and yuzu, then turn your attention to the steaks. Japanese A5 Wagyu rib-eye has appeared on the menu for a dinner best covered with an expense account. The appeal is the combination of serious steakhouse spending and a setting that feels particular to Akron.
Best for: A special-occasion steak dinner
Luigi’s Restaurant
$$$ | MAPS | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Luigi’s has been feeding Akron since 1949, and its North Main Street location still makes a useful starting point for a night in the Northside district. Pizza is the obvious order, whether you go with sausage and pepperoni or the bianco with three cheeses, garlic, onions, and Italian spices. The salad comes piled with shredded mozzarella, so account for that before ordering baked lasagna with meat sauce. This is dinner built around pizza, pasta, and the sort of familiar order that gives a restaurant generations of repeat customers.
Best for: Old-school pizza and baked pasta
Swensons Drive-In
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Pulling into Swensons means dinner stays in the car and a carhop handles the running around. The Akron-born drive-in dates to 1934, and its best-known order is the Galley Boy: a double cheeseburger with two signature sauces and an olive perched on top. Add Potato Teezers, which combine potato, cheese, and mild jalapeño, and a milkshake from a flavor list that extends beyond chocolate and vanilla. Swensons has grown into a regional chain, but the West Akron location remains an easy way to include one of the city’s defining food traditions.
Best for: An Akron classic eaten, of course, in the car
Taqueria La Loma
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What began as an Akron taco trailer has become a local restaurant group, and the Darrow Road location offers considerably more than a quick taco order. Start with al pastor, carnitas, or lengua on soft corn tortillas with onion and cilantro. A torta uses housemade telera bread and adds beans, cheese, vegetables, and your choice of meat; carnitas plates and fajitas cover a larger appetite. La Loma also has a bakery at the Akron address, so leave room in the bag for conchas or other pan dulce to take home.
Best for: Tacos with a bakery stop
Zakee Mediterranean Street Food
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Khaled and Shadia Jaffal opened Zakee in Merriman Valley in 2025, bringing their restaurant experience in Georgia and Florida to a counter-service format. Shadia leads the kitchen, where the options include chicken kebab, pomegranate-roasted lamb, and falafel. Build a bowl with saffron rice or greens, then add dips, pickles, and a sauce such as cilantro-jalapeño. Hummus, baba ghanoush, grape leaves, and kibbeh make it easy to put together a meal without meat. Finish with baklava, and you have a lunch that can be as quick or as expansive as your schedule allows.
Best for: Mediterranean bowls and housemade dips
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