Fire by Forge

CITY GUIDES | NEW ENGLAND

Hartford's Top Restaurants: 11 Must-Try Spots in Connecticut’s Capital

By Eric Barton | Dec. 30, 2025

AUTHOR BIO: Eric Barton is editor of The Adventurist and a freelance journalist who has reviewed restaurants for more than two decades. Email him here.

My first Hartford restaurant memory involves dad working nights at the Travelers Tower, which meant downtown felt both glamorous and slightly off-limits to me. The building looked absurdly tall, like Hartford had decided to build a monument to insurance and fog.

If I tagged along with him to work, my dad would take me to a nearby greasy spoon for burgers, fries, and shakes before his shift. That meal is still the template for what I want from a city when it feeds me: something simple, salty, and real enough to stick.

Hartford, Connecticut, has long worn a tough reputation, and parts of Connecticut’s capital still carry that bare-knuckled edge. The difference now is the Hartford food scene has finally started acting like it knows it belongs in the conversation, with serious kitchens, smart neighborhood spots, and a few places that can turn a random weeknight into a plan.

Here are the best restaurants in Hartford when I want to eat well and remember why this is still my hometown.

Bartaco

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Connecticut-born chain Bartaco still feels like it has a point of view, mostly because the taco menu reads like someone actually argues about it. The move is a rotation: baja fish, Yucatán shrimp, glazed pork belly, then one more “fine, sure” taco for balance, plus margaritas that taste like they were made on purpose. It is loud, fast, and built for groups who want to graze without committing to a serious dinner.

Best for: A quick taco run that still feels like something special

Black-Eyed Sally’s

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Black-Eyed Sally’s runs on two fuels: smoked meat and live music, which is a Hartford-specific kind of practical magic. The menu does what it should—ribs, brisket, gumbo, fried green tomatoes—without pretending barbecue needs a reinvention phase. The calendar is part of the draw, because there is always something going on beyond the plates.

Best for: Dinner and live music in the same stop

El Pollo Guapo

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

El Pollo Guapo is a rotisserie chicken shop that understands the difference between “fast” and “forgettable.” The menu is built around chicken, tacos, bowls, and snacky starters like pollo con queso, plus things like a chicken tostada that behave like an actual meal instead of an apology. It is the kind of place that makes lunch feel solved, especially when time is short and standards are not.

Best for: A quick lunch that still tastes like effort

Fire by Forge

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Fire by Forge pulls off the trick of being a café, a restaurant, and a bar without feeling like it is trying to please everyone at once. Brunch gets playful—think a “Dirty Jerz” breakfast sandwich or biscuits and gravy—then dinner shifts into Pan-American small plates like elote yucca fries and pickled fried green tomatoes. It is also a Forge City Works social enterprise, which makes it one of the few places where the mission is real and the food still leads.

Best for: Brunch that can stretch into the afternoon

Max Downtown

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Max Downtown is a chophouse that knows exactly what it is, and chef Christopher Sheehan leans into the classics with enough polish to justify the button-down crowd. Start at the raw bar with the shellfish plateau—oysters, clams, colossal shrimp, crab cocktail, and daily crudo—before moving on to something unapologetically large like filet mignon Oscar. The place has a whiskey bar and the kind of dining room where dessert feels inevitable, not optional.

Best for: Steakhouse dinner with a real sense of occasion

The Place 2 Be

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

The Place 2 Be is Gina Luari’s all-day brunch machine, so good it’s spread out to multiple locations and cities elsewhere. I order the Steak n’ Eggs Skillet, because a New York strip on rosemary home fries with two eggs is the rare brunch decision that doesn’t feel like self-sabotage. The drink menu commits to the bit with a “Thirst Trap” berry slushy and bottomless rules spelled out like a theme-park waiver.

Best for: A loud, photogenic brunch that turns into a long afternoon

Salute

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Salute is the downtown Italian room that keeps winning because it is dependable in the ways that matter: pastas people actually order again, a bar that moves, and a vibe that can handle celebrations without turning precious. The popular lane includes rose pasta, sweet potato ravioli, and shrimp fra diablo, with garlic cheese bread doing the most as the opener. It recently came back from a major remodel, and it reads like a place that expects to be busy.

Best for: A celebratory Italian dinner downtown

Sorella

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Sorella is a Dish Restaurant Group operation (Billy Carbone and Dan Keller) with chef Joe Keane running a menu that treats Italian-American comfort like something worth doing carefully. The move is to start with the semolina-fried oysters or the roasted cauliflower with raisins, anchovy, and chile, then land on fettuccine carbonara with guanciale like it is a personal pledge. The room plays modern without feeling sterile, which matters because the food is already doing enough talking.

Best for: A date-night Italian dinner that still feels like Hartford

The Spicy Green Bean

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

The Spicy Green Bean is what happens when a “breakfast place” gets bored and starts doing real dinner cooking, with owner and chef Kasha Denisiewicz treating the menu like a weekly experiment. Brunch can mean Ryder toast (their crisped-up French-toast situation) or a madame croque, while the lunch side leans into sandwiches that are not shy about going big, like a Korean steak sandwich. The room has the lived-in, slightly offbeat energy of a place that hosts actual events instead of talking about “community” in an Instagram caption.

Best for: Brunch and dinner with personality

Story and Soil Coffee

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Story and Soil is a small Hartford coffee shop with a big résumé: the partners opened the original shop in 2017, and it has since landed on a global “Top 100” list. I go straight for a cortado and one of the toasts, because the smoked salmon version shows up dressed with cream cheese, red onion, and avocado like it is trying to win a style award. The vibe is all neighborhood energy—people working, talking, and treating good coffee as a daily standard instead of a treat.

Best for: A coffee stop that doubles as a quiet reset

Tangiers International Market

$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

Tangiers is a market-and-grill that has been on the Hartford/West Hartford line for more than 25 years, and it still feels like one of the city’s best everyday food plays. I order from the hot line—chicken kebab with tzatziki or kefta kebab with tahini—then grab something like chicken curry with chickpeas over rice pilaf if the day needs structure. The grocery shelves (spices, sweets, pantry goods) make the place useful even when lunch is not the mission.

Best for: A fast Middle Eastern meal plus shopping that actually improves the pantry