Results
Pittsburgh, United States
Square Cafe occupies a corner of Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood on South Highland Avenue, where the city's café culture runs toward neighborhood regulars over destination crowds. The format is casual, the hours skew toward daytime, and the room reads as a place people return to weekly rather than reserve months in advance.
Bellevue, United States
Square Lotus is a low-pressure Bellevue pick for casual Vietnamese comfort food, especially if the group wants a quiet, family-run room and vegetarian-friendly options. Go for an easy lunch or dinner rather than a special-occasion splurge; the value is in home-style à la carte cooking, friendly service, and a menu that gives first-timers a few clear return-visit paths.
Campbell, United States
Square Pie Guys is worth choosing for casual Campbell meals built around Detroit-style pizza, especially with families, groups, or a relaxed date. Go for the caramelized-edge square pies, easy walk-in setup, and dietary flexibility; skip it if the occasion calls for quiet service, a tasting menu, or a formal dining room.
Oakland, United States
Square Pie Guys brings Detroit-style pizza to Oakland's downtown grid, operating from a counter on 9th Street in a neighborhood where quick, serious food has long held its own against the city's more formal dining circuit. The format is direct: thick-edged, caramelized-crust squares built for repeat visits rather than occasion dining. Regulars tend to arrive with a specific order already in mind.
Oxford, United States
Square Pizza is worth choosing for a casual, low-cost late-night meal near Oxford’s Square, especially if the group wants square-cut, double-baked pizza rather than a full-service dinner. At about $15 per person, it is strongest for walk-in plans, students, families, and post-show or post-bar eating, not special occasions or tasting-menu expectations.
Dublin, Ireland
On St Stephen's Green, Squaredish sits within a stretch of Dublin dining that ranges from Michelin-starred tasting menus to neighbourhood lunch counters. Where it positions itself in that range shapes everything about when to visit and what to expect. The lunch-versus-dinner question here is less a matter of preference than of understanding which version of the room you are actually booking.
Chapel Hill, United States
The restaurant draws from a tradition of seafood-forward cooking that has shaped much of North Carolina's table culture, offering a counterpoint to the steakhouses and Italian spots that anchor the local upper tier.
Temple City, United States
A pop-up collaboration between Squishmallows and Bearology at 5805 Rosemead Blvd in Temple City, CA, this limited-format experience sits inside one of the San Gabriel Valley's most-visited bubble tea and bear-themed dessert destinations. It represents a growing trend in Southern California where brand activations migrate into established food-and-beverage venues to reach younger, experience-oriented audiences.
Playa del Carmen, Mexico
On Quinta Avenida at Calle 30, Sr. Godzilla sits in the middle of Playa del Carmen's busiest pedestrian corridor, where the Riviera Maya's appetite for casual dining meets Yucatán-inflected street food tradition. The restaurant draws from the region's indigenous pantry while operating in a format shaped by tourist-volume demand, placing it at a crossroads that defines much of coastal Quintana Roo's mid-market food scene.
Madrid, Spain
Sr. Ito Lab occupies a compact address on Calle de Trafalgar in Madrid's Chamberí district, where Spanish kitchen discipline meets Japanese precision in a format that sits outside the city's conventional fine-dining hierarchy. The 'lab' designation is earned rather than decorative, signalling an approach to cuisine that treats technique as a starting point rather than a spectacle. For visitors cross-referencing Madrid's top creative tables, this Chamberí address offers a quieter alternative to the city's loudest rooms.
Coral Gables, United States
Sra. Martinez occupies a quiet stretch of Galiano Street in Coral Gables, positioning itself within a neighbourhood dining scene that has grown increasingly confident about Spanish-inflected flavours and sourcing-led cooking. The address sits close enough to Miracle Mile to draw a regular crowd but operates with the cadence of a destination rather than a drop-in. For Coral Gables diners weighing serious options, it belongs in the same conversation as the city's more deliberate tables.
Penang, Malaysia
On Penang Street in George Town's heritage core, Sri Ananda Bahwan occupies a double shophouse that has fed the city's South Indian Tamil community for decades. Banana-leaf rice, dosai, and a rotating roster of vegetarian curries anchor the menu at prices that reflect the restaurant's role as a neighbourhood institution rather than a tourist destination. Among George Town's South Indian venues, it sits in the mid-tier of accessibility and authenticity.
Taiping, Malaysia
On Jalan Taming Sari in Taiping's older commercial belt, Sri Annapoorana Curry House occupies a double shophouse unit that draws a steady Tamil-speaking crowd alongside curious walk-ins. The menu follows the logic of South Indian vegetarian cooking — rice plates, curries, and tiffin formats built around daily preparation rather than printed permanence. It represents the kind of neighbourhood institution that Taiping's modest dining scene quietly depends on.
Hamburg, Germany
Sri Lankan Wave Streetfood on Bellealliancestraße brings the cooking traditions of the island's roadside stalls and coastal kitchens to Hamburg's Eimsbüttel district. The format sits in a growing tier of European street-food venues that prioritize ingredient provenance and regional specificity over pan-Asian generalism. For Hamburg diners accustomed to fine-dining anchors like The Table Kevin Fehling or Restaurant Haerlin, this is the city's opposite pole: informal, ingredient-driven, and rooted in a cuisine still underrepresented in German cities.
Atlanta, United States
Srithai brings Thai cooking to Atlanta's Avenue Plaza address, operating in a city where the mid-tier dining scene has tightened considerably around a handful of well-credentialed kitchens.
Belgrade, Serbia
On Svetogorska 25 in central Belgrade, Srpska kafana represents the kafana tradition at its most direct: a format that has shaped Serbian social life for centuries, where the table functions as a stage for long meals, live music, and conversation. The kitchen draws on the same domestic larder that has defined Serbian cooking across generations, making it a reliable reference point for anyone reading the city's dining culture.
Bengaluru, India
Perched on the 18th floor of the on Palace Road, Ssaffron brings Indian fine dining to one of Bangalore's most refined vantage points. The setting places it in the city's upper tier of hotel restaurants, where format, service choreography, and kitchen-to-floor coordination matter as much as the food itself. A considered choice for those who want traditional Indian flavours framed within a formal hospitality structure.
Chandler, United States
St Amand Kitchen & Cocktails sits on South Alma School Road in Chandler, Arizona, occupying a position in the suburb's growing roster of neighborhood dining rooms that pair serious cocktail programs with kitchen ambitions that exceed their strip-mall settings. The name signals a Franco-American sensibility, though the full format rewards investigation in person.
Sydney, Australia
St Blaise sits in Matraville, a suburb southeast of Sydney's CBD where the dining scene operates at a quieter register than the inner-city. The venue's address places it within the Bunnerong Road arcade strip, with free parking available at the adjacent Matraville Parking — a practical detail that signals a neighbourhood-first orientation rather than a destination-dining posture.
Tucson, United States
St Cruz at The Leo Kent occupies a considered position in downtown Tucson's dining scene, where the convergence of Sonoran ingredients and contemporary technique defines a new tier of Southwestern cooking. Set within The Leo Kent hotel at 1 S Church Ave, the restaurant sits at the intersection of local agricultural identity and global culinary method — a tension that characterises interesting work happening in Arizona right now.
New Orleans, United States
On Prytania Street in the Garden District, St James Cheese Company occupies a particular niche in New Orleans's specialty food scene: the kind of counter-and-cave shop where serious cheese selection meets a city that already takes its table seriously. For visitors working through New Orleans's broader food culture, it functions as a reference point for artisan cheesemaking traditions that rarely surface at the city's celebrated restaurant tables.
London, United Kingdom
St John Marylebone on Marylebone Lane is the neighbourhood outpost of one of London's most influential British restaurants, operating as a wine bar and dining room built around the nose-to-tail tradition. The format is relaxed and unhurried: small plates, natural wines, and a pacing that invites grazing rather than ceremony. For anyone who finds the Smithfield original too boisterous, this is the same canon in a quieter register.
Toronto, Canada
St Lawrence Pizza & Pasta is a smart low-spend St. Lawrence Market stop for fresh pasta, pizza slices, sauces, and a quick counter meal. Choose it for casual lunch, family-friendly eating, or take-home pasta; skip it for a special-occasion Italian dinner or a long seated meal.
Basel, Switzerland
St. Alban Eck sits on one of Basel's most characterful medieval streets, where the St. Alban quarter's quiet canal-side atmosphere shapes the dining experience as much as what arrives at the table. Positioned in a neighbourhood that draws a knowing local crowd rather than tourist foot traffic, it occupies a different register from Basel's Michelin-chasing scene — closer in spirit to the kind of address regulars discover and rarely publicise.
Berlin, Germany
St. Bart occupies a corner of Graefestraße in Kreuzberg, a neighbourhood where the gap between serious cooking and unpretentious room design has long been smaller than in Berlin's more conspicuous dining districts. Against a Berlin scene that skews toward either destination fine dining or casual-natural, St. Bart holds a position somewhere in between — the kind of address regulars treat as their own before the rest of the city catches up.
Santa Barbara, United States
St. Bibiana is a smart Santa Barbara pick when the plan is casual sourdough pizza, beer, and wine rather than a formal Italian meal. Order around the Lemon Mushroom Pizza, Classic Pepperoni, or Detroit Style Pan Pizza, and treat the room as a lively group-friendly stop, not a quiet special-occasion restaurant.
San Francisco, United States
St. Francis Fountain on 24th Street is one of the Mission District's oldest continuously operating soda fountains, a neighborhood anchor where diner counter culture and San Francisco's working-class history converge. The all-day menu draws a cross-section of locals that few restaurants in the city can replicate. It sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from the city's Michelin-tracked tasting counters, and that contrast is precisely the point.
Eben Am Achensee, Austria
Positioned on the shoreline of the Achensee in Maurach, St. Georg zum See sits within a region where lakeside dining and Alpine tradition intersect. The address places it inside Tyrol's quieter northern shore circuit, where the water and the mountains frame the meal as much as the kitchen does. For context on how it fits the local dining scene, the EP Club guide to Eben am Achensee covers the full picture.
Budapest, Hungary
St. George occupies a historic address on Fortuna utca in Budapest's Castle District, placing it among the more atmospherically charged dining settings in the city. The address alone signals occasion: cobblestoned, medieval-walled, and removed from the noise of Pest across the river. For milestone meals in Budapest, the Castle District tier consistently sets the frame.
Palo Alto, United States
St. Michael's Alley has anchored the corner of Homer Avenue in downtown Palo Alto for decades, occupying a position in the city's dining fabric that few restaurants in Silicon Valley's revolving scene manage to hold. The kitchen draws on local California produce while applying techniques rooted in European and American fine-dining tradition, placing it in a tier above the neighbourhood's more casual offerings.
Dolton, United States
St. Patrick's sits at 15022 Lincoln Ave in Dolton, Illinois, a south suburban Chicago address that places it within the broader Calumet corridor dining scene. Check current hours and availability before visiting.
Dallas, United States
St. Pete's Dancing Marlin sits on Commerce Street in Dallas's Deep Ellum district, where the neighbourhood's long history as an entertainment corridor continues to shape what dining and drinking means on this stretch.
Salzburg, Austria
"Dine with Mozart in Europe's Oldest Restaurant Dating back to 803 C.E., the St. Peter Stiftskulinarium is said to be the oldest restaurant in Europe. While there’s a fine contemporary Austrian menu, the history and atmosphere of the various salons and dining rooms are an even bigger draw. The arcaded courtyard in particular is charming and turns into a winter wonderland during the Christmas-market season. The highlight for most travelers will be the Mozart Dinner. Taking place in the dramatic ambience of the Baroque Hall, the meal is served with a performance by an ensemble of Mozarteum University Salzburg graduates wearing period costumes, wonderful musicians who also work with renowned orchestras."
New Orleans, United States
St. Roch Market on St. Claude Avenue sits at the intersection of New Orleans' neighbourhood renewal and its long tradition of communal food halls. The address, deep in the Bywater, places it inside a corridor that has quietly become one of the city's more interesting drinking and eating zones, drawing a crowd that mixes locals with visitors who have followed the food scene beyond the French Quarter.
Prague, Czech Republic
St. Martin is worth booking for a relaxed Malá Strana lunch or dinner when the group needs Czech comfort dishes, international European options, vegetarian flexibility, and wine without formal tasting-menu pressure. The room, terrace seating, and jazz-tinged atmosphere make dine-in the smarter play than off-premise.
Terre Haute, United States
Stables Steakhouse at 939 Poplar St occupies a corner of Terre Haute's dining scene where the American steakhouse tradition holds firm. The address puts it within reach of downtown, and the name signals a format that Midwestern diners have long understood: red meat, deliberate cooking, and a room that earns its keep on repeat visits rather than novelty.
Sopot, Poland
Stacja Sopot occupies a distinctive address on Władysława Jagiełły 3 in Sopot, Poland, operating within a resort city where the dining scene has grown well beyond its summer-season reputation. The venue sits in a market that now ranges from casual Baltic seafood to more considered modern Polish cooking, placing it among the options worth weighing when planning time in the Tri-City region.
Boston, United States
Stack & Schmear brings together bagel sandwiches, subs, and dirty sodas in a format that sits firmly in Boston's casual daytime dining scene. The menu is built around the kind of counter-service ritual that rewards regulars and first-timers alike, with a format that prioritizes assembly and flavor pairing over ceremony. For a city that takes its food seriously at every price point, Stack & Schmear occupies a deliberate, unpretentious niche.
Lana, Italy
Stadele sits on Via delle Querce in Lana, a South Tyrolean town where the Austrian and Italian traditions of the table meet in a way that still surprises first-time visitors. The dining culture here runs deep: unhurried, seasonal, and rooted in the specific altitude and agriculture of the Adige Valley. Stadele is one address in that conversation worth knowing.
Leoben, Austria
Stadlmaier-Alm sits in the hills above Leoben at Klein-Gößgraben 9, representing the tradition of Styrian alpine hospitality that defines rural Upper Styria. In a region where mountain dining carries genuine cultural weight, this address belongs to a category of alm-style venues that reward travellers willing to move beyond the town centre.
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Stadt Freiburg Hotel sits on Breisacher Strasse in the western approaches to Freiburg im Breisgau, positioning guests within reach of a city whose dining scene punches well above its size. Freiburg supports a cluster of serious restaurants at the summit price tier, and the hotel serves as a practical base for those working through that list. The surrounding Black Forest region adds further draw for anyone combining urban dining with landscape travel.
Leoben, Austria
Stadt Meierei occupies a measured position in Leoben's dining scene, a city better known for its steel industry than its restaurant culture. Situated at Homanngasse 1, the address places it within reach of the Styrian provincial dining tradition that runs from rural Gasthäuser through to the ambitious kitchens of Vienna and Graz. For visitors to Upper Styria, it represents a local reference point worth understanding before you book.
Hanover, Germany
Situated on Oskar-Winter-Straße near Lister Platz, Stadtmauer am Lister Platz occupies one of Hanover's more characterful northern addresses, a neighbourhood where independent restaurants have quietly built genuine followings. The wine program anchors the experience, offering depth and curation that positions the venue within the more serious tier of Hanover's dining scene, distinct from the city's high-concept creative houses and more accessible than purely occasion-driven fine dining.
Taipei, Taiwan
Staff Only Club focuses on bar snacks and craft cocktails in Taipei, with scallop aguachile and beef tartare on the menu, a quiet room, and a leisurely pace for late-night plans.
Harbor Springs, United States
Stafford's Pier Restaurant is worth booking when the goal is polished waterfront dining rather than a chef-counter meal. Go for Great Lakes seafood, dockside views, smart-casual service, and an easy special-occasion setting at about $50 per person.
Honolulu, United States
Stage occupies a Kapiolani Boulevard address that positions it within Honolulu's evolving mid-city dining corridor, away from the tourist-facing strip of Waikiki. The restaurant sits in a city where Pacific Rim cuisine has moved steadily from novelty to cultural identity, and where local diners increasingly set the standard for what ambitious cooking looks like in Hawaii. For visitors tracking serious dining beyond the resort bubble, Stage is worth locating in that context.
Arcadia, Australia
Stage Door Theatre Restaurant occupies a distinctive position in Arcadia, QLD, where dinner-and-show formats remain a rarity compared to the area's predominantly casual dining scene. Within its local context, the combination is notable by default.
Scotch Plains, United States
The kitchen works within an American tavern tradition where sourcing decisions and seasonal availability shape the menu more than trend cycles. For Union County residents seeking a serious local table without driving to Manhattan, it remains a practical and dependable choice.
Billings, United States
Staggering Ox Restaurant on King Avenue West is a Billings fixture known for its distinctly local approach to casual dining. Situated in a strip-mall unit that belies its local reputation, the restaurant draws a steady following in a city where independent dining rooms punch above their weight. For those mapping Billings beyond the hotel corridor, it belongs on the shortlist.
Charlotte, United States
Stagioni occupies a measured position in Charlotte's Providence Road dining corridor, where Italian-inflected seasonal cooking meets a considered interior. The room rewards attention, and the address draws a crowd that treats dinner as an occasion rather than a transaction. Plan ahead: this stretch of South Charlotte fills tables on the strength of neighborhood loyalty as much as broader recognition.
Santa Cruz, United States
Stagnaro Bros. is worth choosing for a casual Santa Cruz Wharf seafood meal, especially if the group wants ocean views, chowder, cioppino, fried seafood, and an easy à la carte format. It is not a tasting-menu or destination-service play; the value is the classic waterfront setting, broad menu, casual dress code, and walk-in-friendly rhythm.
Germantown, United States
Staks Pancake Kitchen on Poplar Avenue sits within Germantown's established casual-dining corridor, where weekend mornings draw steady neighbourhood traffic and the pancake format anchors a breakfast and brunch tradition that predates the city's recent restaurant expansion. For visitors planning a morning meal in the area, it represents a reliable local fixture in a suburb where sit-down breakfast options are more selective than in Memphis proper.
New York City, United States
Stamatis has been a fixture of Astoria's Greek dining scene for decades, anchoring the 23rd Avenue corridor that remains one of New York's most concentrated pockets of Hellenic cooking. A neighborhood taverna in the classical sense, it draws regulars from the surrounding Greek-American community as readily as visitors making the short trip from Manhattan. The kitchen works in the tradition of direct, market-driven Greek fare rather than modernist reinvention.
Stams, Austria
Stamser Alm sits in the Inn Valley village of Stams, Tyrol, where the alpine dining tradition leans on altitude, seasons, and proximity to mountain pasture. The alm format — a working highland hut repurposed for hospitality — is one of the more honest expressions of Austrian regional cooking, where the sourcing logic is written into the geography itself.
Parma, United States
A Parma, Ohio institution on State Road, Stancato's Italian Restaurant draws on the red-sauce tradition that defines Italian-American dining in Cleveland's southern suburbs. The room runs on the rhythms of a neighbourhood gathering place: familiar faces, generous portions, and a pace that respects the meal rather than rushing it. For the area, it represents a durable strand of the Italian diaspora table.
Krsan, Croatia
Stancija Stare Staze sits in the Istrian interior near Kršan, where the cuisine is shaped by the peninsula's tradition of estate-grown and locally foraged ingredients. The setting places it firmly in the agritourism register that defines inland Istrian dining, where the distance from the coast is measured less in kilometres than in the shift from seafood to slow-cooked land produce, truffle, and estate olive oil.
Boston, United States
Standard Italian sits at the rear of 771 Beacon Street in Boston's Fenway-Kenmore corridor, occupying a position that separates it from the city's more visible fine-dining addresses. With minimal data in the public record, the restaurant operates with the kind of deliberate low profile that Italian-focused independents in American cities have historically favored — letting the table do the talking rather than the press cycle.
Victoria, Canada
Standard Pizza occupies a Cook Street address in Victoria, BC, landing in the neighbourhood's casual-but-considered dining tier. The restaurant draws a local following built on a direct proposition: pizza done with attention, in a neighbourhood that rewards precisely that kind of place. For visitors working through Victoria's dining scene, it functions as a reliable neighbourhood anchor between the city's more formal options.
Clackamas, United States
Stanford's Clackamas sits on SE Sunnyside Road in Clackamas, Oregon, as part of the Stanford's Restaurant group that has anchored Pacific Northwest casual dining for decades. The format lands in the comfortable, familiar register that suburban Oregon dining gravitates toward: generous portions, a broad menu, and a room built for groups and families rather than occasion dining. It occupies a distinct tier from Portland's ingredient-driven independents, which makes understanding its context essential before you book.
Hillsboro, United States
Stanford's Tanasbourne anchors the dining strip along NE 106th Avenue in Hillsboro's Tanasbourne district, operating as a neighbourhood anchor in Oregon's Washington County. The restaurant sits within a regional American dining tradition that leans on familiar formats done with consistency. For Hillsboro residents and visitors exploring the broader dining scene, it represents a practical, accessible entry point into the area's casual full-service category.
Haus, Austria
Stangl Alm sits at Gumpenberg 25 in Haus im Ennstal, a mountain address that places it squarely within the Styrian Alps dining tradition — where the terrain and the table are rarely separable. Among the cluster of alpine establishments serving the Haus area, it occupies a position defined more by its setting than by formal accolades, making location the primary argument for a visit.
Oberndorf In Tirol, Austria
An alm-style dining address in the Tyrolean hills above Oberndorf, Stanglalm draws on the agricultural traditions of its mountain setting, where proximity to pasture and forest shapes what arrives at the table. It occupies a category of Austrian mountain hospitality that sits apart from the resort fine-dining circuit, offering a more grounded register for visitors who want the terrain on the plate as much as the view from the window.
Staniel Cay, Bahamas
A remote outpost on a sliver of the Exumas, Staniel Cay Yacht Club operates where the nearest grocery run involves a boat and the nearest city is Nassau by seaplane. What arrives on the table here is shaped by what the surrounding waters provide and what can realistically reach a small Bahamian cay — a constraint that defines the cooking more honestly than any menu description could.
Tacoma, United States
Stanley & Seafort's has held a place in Tacoma's dining conversation from its address on East 34th Street, where refined views over the city frame a seafood-forward American menu. The restaurant occupies a tier of Tacoma dining defined by occasion dining and regional fish, sitting alongside peers like Lobster Shop and Anthony's At Point Defiance in a city that takes its proximity to Puget Sound seriously.
Las Vegas, United States
Stanton Social Prime brings the format that made the original New York location a decade-long fixture to the Strip's most concentrated stretch of dining rooms. The share-plate approach and theatrical room position it squarely in Las Vegas's high-energy, occasion-driven tier, where the experience is calibrated to fill a full evening rather than simply deliver a meal. Expect a wide menu built around bold flavors and a room designed to be seen in.
New York City, United States
Stanton Tailor Shop occupies a Lower East Side address with a name that nods to the neighbourhood's garment-district past. The space sits on the block where old New York trades gave way to bars, boutiques, and late-night counters. For visitors working through the city's dining options, it represents the kind of address worth understanding in context before booking.
Denver, United States
Star Kitchen sits on West Mississippi Avenue in the West Denver corridor, a stretch that quietly holds some of the city's most serious cooking outside the downtown core. For Denver diners tracking ethical sourcing and waste-conscious kitchen practice, this is a address worth knowing.
Pasadena, United States
Star Leaf occupies a telling address on East Colorado Boulevard, where Pasadena's dining corridor has cycled through formats and identities over the past decade. Positioned among a generation of California venues rethinking casual formats, it represents a strand of the local scene that rewards closer attention than its neighbourhood context might initially suggest.
Chicago, United States
Star of Siam occupies a quiet address on East Illinois Street in Chicago's River North, placing it within easy reach of the Magnificent Mile but removed from its busiest corridors. The restaurant represents a strand of Thai cooking that River North has supported for decades, where the emphasis falls on familiar regional dishes executed with consistency rather than spectacle. It sits in a different tier from the city's tasting-menu circuit, making it a practical choice for direct Thai dining in a central location.
Port Douglas, Australia
On Macrossan Street in Port Douglas, Star of Siam operates in a town where the dining scene skews heavily toward reef-and-burger tourism. Thai food in this context carries a specific weight: the question is always whether the sourcing and technique hold up against the tropical produce available at this latitude, where Daintree-region ingredients sit closer to the kitchen than almost anywhere else in Australia.
Houston, United States
Compared to the city's higher-end independent restaurants, it operates in a different register entirely — one where the pizza itself, rather than the occasion, is the reason to return.
Atlanta, United States
Star Provisions occupies a converted warehouse space on Howell Mill Road in Atlanta's Westside, functioning simultaneously as a retail market and restaurant destination. The format sits at the intersection of European provisions culture and American sourcing instincts, drawing from Georgia's larder while applying technique shaped by classical training. It is a practical and editorial landmark in Atlanta's food conversation.
Houston, United States
A steakhouse address on Houston's North Shepherd corridor, Star Rover sits within a city that has spent the last decade building one of America's most serious dining scenes.
Nashville, United States
Book Star Rover Sound when the goal is a loud Nashville night with steak, drinks, and live music in the same room. It is better for groups, brunch, late-night plans, and casual celebrations than for quiet dates or chef-driven dining, with a $$$ steakhouse format and easy but recommended reservations.
Los Angeles, United States
Walk in for a casual Polish counter meal inside the Original Farmers Market, especially if pierogi, grilled kielbasa, or schnitzel are the target. Stara House is strongest as a quick Fairfax lunch, family stop, or low-pressure dinner, not as a quiet special-occasion restaurant.
Buzet, Croatia
Stara Oštarija occupies the old town of Buzet, Croatia's hilltop truffle centre in the Istrian interior. The name references the traditional Venetian-Istrian tavern format, and the restaurant's position within that local identity places it in a different register from the coastal fine-dining circuit. It is an address for readers whose interest is in Istrian cooking as a regional tradition rather than as a modernised export.
Buje, Croatia
Stara škola occupies a converted schoolhouse in Krasica, a hamlet in the Istrian hills above Buje. The setting pulls the meal into a slower register — stone walls, rural quiet, and the kind of pacing that treats lunch as the centrepiece of an afternoon rather than a transaction. It sits within the wider constellation of Buje dining, where konoba tradition and regional produce define the table.
Novalja, Croatia
Starac i More pairs fresh seafood and Mediterranean cooking with a waterfront setting, an extensive wine list, and a leisurely, conversational pace for lunch or dinner.
San Francisco, United States
Starbelly on 16th Street sits at the casual end of the Castro's dining spectrum, where the kitchen leans into California comfort cooking without the formality of the city's tasting-menu circuit. The menu reads as a document of seasonal produce priorities, grounded in the kind of wood-fired, ingredient-forward approach that defines this corner of San Francisco's neighbourhood restaurant scene.
San Francisco, United States
Starbird Chicken is worth it when the goal is quick fried chicken with better sourcing standards than typical fast food. Go for lunch, solo dining, family meals, or easy group orders; skip it for dates, client dinners, or celebrations that need atmosphere and full-service pacing.