CITY GUIDES | VIRGINIA

Roanoke’s Best Restaurants Put the Star City on the Map

By Maria Rodriguez | Aug. 12, 2026

Fortunato

AUTHOR BIO: With a day job that requires constant travel, Maria Rodriguez is likely a regular at your favorite restaurant. She’s reviewed restaurants since 2007 in magazines from Spain to Seattle.

You can see the Roanoke Star glowing above the city from miles away, a beacon for mountain bikers headed toward the trails on Mill Mountain and hikers working their way through Virginia’s Blue Ridge. Lately, it has begun to feel like a beacon for people who know good food too. Roanoke’s restaurant scene has become a reason to visit, with Appalachian cooking, Scandinavian small plates, handmade pasta, Lebanese family recipes, and some of the South’s most acclaimed barbecue. These are the best restaurants in Roanoke right now.

Alexander’s

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Alexander’s has occupied its downtown storefront since 1979, long enough to become a Roanoke institution without allowing the menu to calcify. Weekly changes draw on coastal seafood, Virginia meats, and produce grown nearby, while longtime signatures include barbecue shrimp served with French bread and oyster bisque. The cooking occasionally wanders into Asia and Louisiana, which explains dishes such as Thai tomato curry with grilled shrimp alongside impeccably Southern shortcake.

Best for: A downtown dinner with old-school Roanoke credentials

Bloom Restaurant & Wine Bar

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Chef-owner Nate Sloan grew up on an organic farm near Ferrum and later cooked at Boston’s influential L’Espalier. Both experiences show up at Bloom, where French technique meets vegetables that may have been pulled from Virginia soil hours earlier. The small-plate menu changes with the farms, pairing dishes such as blistered peppers with Ashe County cheese spread and wildflower honey. An open kitchen and European-leaning wine list make ordering another plate seem perfectly reasonable.

Best for: Seasonal small plates and an excellent bottle of wine

Cedars Lebanese Roanoke Virginia Best Restaurants

Cedars Lebanese Restaurant

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Downtown workers know Cedars as a dependable lunch stop, although its Lebanese cooking merits a visit that involves considerably less clock-watching. Begin with hummus, baba ghanoush, falafel, and stuffed grape leaves before moving to chicken shawarma, lamb kebabs, or a mixed grill. Fresh pita is the proper utensil here, particularly once olive oil, garlic sauce, and meat drippings begin collecting on the plate.

Best for: A Lebanese feast shared across the table

Fortunato

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Roanoke’s traditional Italian kitchen takes its pizza seriously, firing blistered Neapolitan-style crusts beneath toppings chosen with restraint. Chef Josh Labreque’s menu reaches well past the oven, however, with handmade pasta, lamb meatballs with raisins and pine nuts, and fritto misto. Begin with smoked ricotta and house bread, then order pasta and pizza for the table. Stellina, the adjoining cocktail bar, handles the aperitivo or the nightcap.

Best for: Handmade pasta followed by Neapolitan pizza

Lucky

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Lucky keeps the lights low, the televisions out, and the whiskey shelves full. Chef Jeremy Smelser’s menu treats Southern comfort food as a starting point: fried chicken comes with gravy, mashed potatoes, and local greens, while whole Virginia trout might arrive with Sea Island peas and escabeche vegetables. Akara, West African black-eyed-pea fritters, sits comfortably beside pimento cheese and andouille. The cocktails remain among Roanoke’s strongest.

Best for: Fried chicken, oysters, and serious cocktails

Mama Jean’s Barbecue

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Madison Ruckel spent years selling barbecue from a 1956 Airstream before opening Mama Jean’s permanent home in 2025. The wait produced one of the South’s most exciting barbecue operations, ranked No. 9 in the region by Southern Living. Prime brisket, coal-fired Duroc pork ribs, house-made sausage, and brisket smashburgers share the board with boudin balls, hash and rice, smoked potato salad, and banana pudding. Arrive early; the smokers establish the inventory.

Best for: Some of Virginia’s most acclaimed barbecue

Nawab Indian Cuisine

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Nawab’s greatest strength is a menu that gives regional Indian cooking as much space as familiar curries. There is tikka masala for those who want it, along with Punjabi goat curry, chicken kozhambu scented with curry leaves and star anise, and Konkani prawns in a tart coconut sauce. Vegetarians have an unusually deep bench that includes eggplant with mint, okra masala, and black lentils cooked with tomato, butter, and cumin.

Best for: Exploring Indian regional specialties downtown

The River and Rail

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The restaurant that helped redirect Roanoke dining toward Appalachian farms continues to lead from a former pharmacy in Crystal Spring. Chef Tyler Thomas works with Virginia oysters, mountain-raised trout, local pork, and an extensive larder of pickles and ferments. Crispy pork ribs may come with pickled peanuts and nuoc cham; chicken-liver mousse needs only toast. The frequently changing menu rewards handing the night over to the kitchen.

Best for: Roanoke’s most accomplished Appalachian cooking

Sidecar

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Sidecar approaches the European bistro as a continent-wide permission slip. Belgian fries, house-made German and Polish sausages, duck confit, steak frites, and several preparations of mussels share the menu with oysters, Spanish conservas, and seared foie gras. The bar follows the same route through imported beer, European wine, Cognac, and old-world cocktails. Potato chips with onion dip, caviar, and trout roe provide an appropriately extravagant opening move.

Best for: Mussels, frites, and a long tour of the bar

Stock Bistro & Bar

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Inside a restored 1907 firehouse, Stock filters Scandinavian cooking through ingredients from western Virginia and the Carolina coast. Chef Jeff Farmer turns North Carolina shrimp into toast Skagen, tops Danish rye with gravlax or mushrooms, and serves local trout with potato rösti. The menu’s smørrebrød, aquavit cocktails, rabbit ballotine, and pork schnitzel stand apart in Roanoke, even before someone explains that much of the furniture beneath you is for sale.

Best for: Scandinavian flavors in Roanoke’s most unusual setting

Taaza Indian Cuisine

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Taaza has been a Grandin Village fixture since 2006, building its broad Indian menu around spices ground and layered for each dish. Clay-oven kebabs and familiar curries anchor the selection, while weekly specials and a strong collection of vegan and gluten-free dishes reward deeper reading. Garlic naan is practically mandatory, especially with goat biryani, gobi Manchurian, or one of the restaurant’s coconut-rich sauces.

Best for: Indian cooking with plenty of vegetarian choices

Viet Sub

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Viet Sub’s tiny counter-service operation concentrates on a handful of Vietnamese standards and executes them with admirable consistency. Bánh mì arrive on crackling baguettes with pickled vegetables, herbs, and a choice of fillings; pho carries a fragrant broth and a generous tangle of noodles. Rice-vermicelli bowls, dumplings, and fresh spring rolls round out a concise menu that makes ordering lunch pleasantly uncomplicated.

Best for: Bánh mì and pho without ceremony