CRāVing Restaurant

The short ribs were excellent. However, you get barely five ounces of wine (yes, they measure wine by the glass!) which is enough of a reason I’ll never go back. Our waiter was just ok.

Just moved from Charlotte, NC, and chose this place to celebrate my first night in Buffalo. We went all out with drinks, an appetizer, an entrée, and dessert.
Unfortunately, my memory is a little hazy with the names of the cocktails. I think my first was called the Windsor Incident. It tasted pretty good, but my fiancé’s tequila-​based drink was better. Both were very strong… She was feeling a buzz almost immediately. We then ordered a dessert cocktail that reminded us of eggnog. It was also quite good. I would rate the drinks 4 stars.
Now on to the food. We started with the Stuffed Dates. They were stuffed with chorizo, wrapped in bacon, and in a romanesco sauce. These were amazing! The bacon didn’t overwhelm the way it sometimes does, and the sauce was very good. There was an odd number and we totally fought over the last date.
For an entrée, we ordered the Short Rib. I was obsessed! My fiancé thought it could use more salt, but I had no complaints at all. The watermelon feta panzanella was on par with the short rib… so good!
For dessert we ordered the S’more on our waitress’ recommendation. It came with caramel peanut butter and hot chocolate. Every aspect of this dessert was totally on point. I quickly got over my only reservation that it was a little unseasonal. Overall, the food was definitely 5 stars. Can’t wait to come back!

I adore this place; I fondly remember it being La Dolce Vita, though I was more fond of the owner than the food, which was solid but didn’t wow. I’ve predominantly been for brunch, so my review is focused more on that experience.
The food is fantastic — fresh, delicious, beautifully but simply presented and I think very reasonable for the quality of ingredients. There is a soul food type breakfast I’m obssesed with featuring fried chicken, seasoned greens, cheddar grits, and home fries topped with a fried egg. Oh god, yes *pounds table like Meg Ryan*. They aren’t huge portions, but neither are they puny. If I get a meal, a side and a cocktail it may run me around $ 30 – 35 with tip, but I typically have leftovers (and am just so darn happy I’m indifferent when the bill arrives).
They have a large not-​crowded covered patio, great in nice weather and I’ve largely asked to be seated outside without issue. Excellent, friendly, prompt service from actual adults.
I can’t even complain about my small $ 10 cocktail as it was super delicious and made with some interesting ingredients (like honey and violet syrup). They also have average-​for-​this-​kind-​of-​place priced beers, hard cider and wine for those looking for something a bit more affordable but still tasty.
If I were to knock this place at all (and man I have to try hard) it would only be that the interior is fairly small so definitely get reservations, and if you like your personal space, be aware you may be almost elbow to elbow with a stranger in some of the seats. I personally don’t mind this and it seems pretty par for the course with most of this type of restaurant locally. Also, if you are a healthy eater, there won’t be much to choose from, but what brunch menu can you not say that about?

A true foodie restaurant in north buffalo. Everything is farm to table. You can see the effort and care put into each dish. We started with the fried chicken appetizer, which wasn’t traditional southern style, but was cooked perfectly. It was paired with cheddar grits and wilted greens which i believe was kale. Caesar salad also very good. For dinner we had a steak pizza and the hankerchief pasta. Both were fresh and very tasty. I would recommend everything we tried. Cant wait to go back to try more!

Great cocktail menu, and menu in general. I only got to stop in for lunch. It was really excellent. I will wright another more detailed review when I return for dinner.
The meat is choices are great! I highly recommend this spot.

Had lunch with my mother and my son. It was a bit late for lunch so we were the only ones there. Our server was very attentive and had a good draft knowledge. I asked which he preferred between two dishes and he urged me to go with the croque madame. Ham, cheese and an egg is pretty simple but it was fantastic! Presentation was rustic and nice, and the cheese they used (I believe it was a Gruyère) was great. My mother had sausage and peppers sandwich and enjoyed hers as well. It was quite pricey ($ 12 ham sandwich, no side) but they boast locally sourced ingredients, showing what comes from which regional farm, etc. only gripe was the fries I ordered in addition looked as if they were thrown together from 3 different orders, ranging from light brown to black. If the only complaints are a side order of fries and the meal being (for good reason) somewhat pricey, it goes down as a win in my book. Can’t wait to try their dinner service!

A Tale of Two Courses.
It was the best of meals, it was the worst of meals.
it was the decision of wisdom, it was the decision of foolishness,
it was the order of belief, it was the order of incredulity,
it was the seasoning of Light, it was the seasoning of Darkness,
it was the plate of hope, it was the plate of despair,
we had delicious before us, we had inedible before us,
we were both going direct to seconds, we were both going direct to the trash —
in short, the first course was so far unlike the second, that the meal can only be described, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
A dramatic start, I know. But the meal was so polarized from one course to the next, that we could not help but recall this iconic chapter, even as we were still at the table.
We started with two small plates: a special, the lobster poutine; and a menu mainstay, an arugula salad. Easily two of the best plates I’ve had in a long time. The poutine was so perfectly balanced that it didn’t even feel heavy to eat. The salad had these beautiful, plump grapes alongside goat cheese and pickled onions and was enough on its own to draw me back to the restaurant one day. There was a point where we were faced with finishing the generous portions and had to decide between leaving some of those delicious flavors and textures behind, or leaving room for what — at that point — could only be another fabulous course. It was a hard decision indeed, but thankfully we chose to finish most of the starters.
Our second course was comprised of one more small plate, a pork belly on special, and a dinner, the split roast chicken. I am not one to flippantly call food inedible, but these were both inedible. The pork was SO salty that I took one bite and spit it out. I am no longer being dramatic when I say I have never done that at a restaurant in my life. I attribute the issue to both over-​seasoning, and to the very small pieces it was cut into before cooking/​seasoning. Even my salt-​loving husband agreed it was terrible. The roast chicken was so dry that it was difficult to chew without a mouthful of water… which, unfortunately, had stopped being filled after our meal was dropped off. It took quite a while for the waitress to come back and check on us — so long that my husband had finished everything on his plate except the chicken, and I had sat there with a practically untouched plate for about 10 minutes. We were so uncomfortable sending the pork belly back after so much time that instead of ALSO complaining about the chicken (especially after breaking down and eating the sides) we decided to take it home and mash it up in the dog food.
The waitress was at least aware of the missteps and did offer us a dessert on the house (an a-​ok crème brûlée) and took the pork belly off the bill without me having to ask. Based on the customer service recovery and the absolute deliciousness of the first course, we won’t be opposed to giving Craving one more chance. It may not be on the top of our list of places to go, but it’s not on the bad list either.

Took clients to Craving for lunch. We were all very happy with our selections, and Tom took good care of us. I had the opportunity to dine at Craving after learning about them.
The first experience is what brought me back.
Chef Patrick presented us with some truly magnificent dishes. His passion for what he does shows in the dishes he prepares.
Cant wait to go back.

This quickly became one of my favorite restaurants, so much so that I recommended it to many friends and colleagues. I have been several times and was extremely satisfied… Until last night. A friend and I arrived and were seated immediately, given menus by the hostess, and then completely forgotten about. We were patient but no one ever came for our order or even to bring water. The hostess was busy chatting with bar customers and made eye contact several times, but still no service.
I’m disappointed, I love this restaurant and have been several times. It will get one more shot from me, I hope it was just a faux pas.

Such a wonderful surprise! I was wondering around in my new (Hertel) neighborhood looking for a place to eat and this place looked kinda cool, so I stopped in. I was expecting a burger and sandwich kind of place. I was delighted to find an upscale (yet affordable) restaurant.
The setting is lovely and the service is top notch. The menu is small, but there’s a specials menu nightly to compliment it. It’s heavy on house-​made pastas and rounded out with fish, chicken, and beef (one item of each). There’s also a terrific starters menu with appetizers, salads, and (even) fancy pizzas. The wine and cocktail menu are also fantastic.
I started with a glass of dry French Rose. Then it was on to a house salad (mixed greens, green beans, polenta croutons, roasted tomatoes, and cracked black pepper vinaigrette. It was fresh and delicious and the flavors balanced perfectly.
For an entrée I chose Ricotta Gnocci (handmade gnocci, cherry tomatoes, greens and basil). Now, sometimes gnocci is quite heavy, but not these babies. The ricotta made them nearly as light as a cloud. The combination of greens and tomatoes made the dish worthy of a spring evening.
Desserts are made in house. Not being one to skimp on sweetness I tried the berry cream-​puff. The puff was a bit on the tough side, but the real whipped cream filling and generous sprinkling of fresh strawberries and blueberries made it a delightful ending to a perfect meal.

I have only been to CRaVing once, but the brunch was affordable, delicious and welcoming enough where I know I will be coming back. For starters, they have a great drink menu even for brunch options– a variety of flavors for mimosas, Bellini’s and signature bloody Mary’s. Because I’m a food snob and have to try everything (somehow) I tried a bit of everyone’s food that day and was delighted. Jimmy Hots’ Apple Caramel Brioche French Toast is out of this world– so delicious and was perfect during the fall day! I ordered the BLT which has brown sugar candied bacon and it was amazing. The Croque Monsieur was another favorite at the table. I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to get back there– but I plan on it very soon.

As soon as you enter, the host greets you, the bartender says hello and you are shown to your table. The atmosphere just feels so comfortable. I say this because on the night I was there, it was slow. I am not sure how comfy it would be if the restaurant was packed because of how close some of the tables are to each other. Anyways, the service was fantastic. Friendly, knowledgeable staff that seemed to work as a team.
Order the fried chicken! Share it! Melt in your mouth fantastic! Fried chicken on top of cheesy grits and spinach with a truffle honey drizzle… Oh. My. Goodness. Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with chorizo. Yea, I’m mad. Why? Because we only had one order when we should have requested two. We didn’t know it going in but Wednesdays is $ 1.00 oyster night. I love oysters but only need a few so this was a fantastic add on that we probably would not have had otherwise. The entrees were great but I am going to skip to our shared desert. Homemade S’mores. It was huge! Thick cookie and chocolate layer topped with homemade marshmallow perfectly browned on top accompanied with a few pieces of the lightest peanut brittle I have ever had and espresso glasses with fresh made hot chocolate. I love CRaVing and plan on being a frequent flyer there.

I give Caving a 4 ½ star. The atmosphere was relaxing and the staff was extremely Attentive and friendly. We started with the fried chicken for an appetizer. It was my favorite dish of the nite beside the s’more dessert. Both the appetizer and desert were out of this world. We also had the stuff dates which were wrapped in bacon, amazing. Next we had the Arugula salad which was average. For the main dishes we had the Herbed chicken pizza and the tender loins, which was there special. Both were good. I can’t say enough about the S’more dessert, it’s a must to get. I give this place 4 ½ stars and would recommend this place to eat, Don’t forget your s’more dessert!

Went here with my buddy on a Monday afternoon. It’s a small place, but pretty cozy. I was really trying to find some brunch on Hertel, but I was a little too late in the afternoon for that, so I thought I would give this place a try.
I ordered an Italian sandwich. It was ok… but I wasn’t blown away by any means. I was kinda expecting it to be toasted or «hot», but it was a cold sandwich. I guess between that and the fact that I was still craving brunch, maybe it may have skewed my tastes a little bit. But, It was decent. I might go back. But, there are a bunch of other places I’d hit up first.
Go if you want.

Overall, a great place with a great menu. I’d been here a few times before & for this particular visit, it was New Year’s Day and I’m thrilled that 1, they were open, and 2, they were serving brunch! Brunch is my kryptonite.
I had the Brioche french toast with candied pecans and fresh blueberries & strawberries. It was really good, my only complaint being that I felt that it was a tad overdone as I could taste a little bit of burnt. But I think they are still worthy of a 4 star rating based on my other experiences here with the food. And OMG – they give you f-​ing delicious baked goods while you wait for your food.
I love the quaint charm the inside has & how attentive & kind our server was. Unfortunately, it’s rare to find these days, but these guys nailed it!

I really enjoyed this place tons! It was cozy, warm, calm and quiet for a New Year’s Day brunch at 1pm. The waiter was receptive and attentive. I had the cheddar grits over spinach and topped with two pieces of buttermilk fried chicken. It was A MAZ ING. Like major deliciousness! I ate the entire thing. You must try this dish. I hate sunny side up eggs so I held that. But overall super pleased with this place!

Came here around 2, originally wanted to go to Mes Que but they were not open until 5 which we did not know until we got there (oops). I was with my friends Jane and Anna.
We decided to split things. The drink menu is incredible, but none of us got drinks as we all had other things to do after. Will have to come back to try those.
We all got the soup of the day, which was a creamy tomato soup, and it came with a little crustini on the side and it was phenomenal. Then we decided to split the croque madame and the steak pizza between the 3 of us. The server brought out the herbed chicken pizza. We asked politely if we had maybe gotten someone else’s by mistake as we ordered the steak pizza, he said no we ordered the herbed chicken pizza. Oh really? Because no we fucking didn’t. The whole table heard our order, you are wrong sir. He then took it back and said «okay, it’ll just be several more minutes.» …k, obviously, I know how ovens work. Would have appreciated an apology but whatever. We finally got our pizza and it was delicious. If you like goat cheese, highly recommend this pizza.
Reasonably priced, all that came to about $ 50 for the 3 of us which isn’t bad at all.
Anyway, I’ll be back to try the drinks.
X’s and O’s!
J

We went to craving for restaurant week tonight. Open table wasn’t working for this restaurant for some reason so I had to call to make a reservation — no big deal.
We were lucky enough to snag the only spot in the parking lot adjacent to the restaurant as someone was leaving. Street parking was pretty non existent — the biggest reason why I don’t like to dine on hertel.
The restaurant was nice and cozy, but there were fruit flies floating right in our faces the entire evening. I was not impressed with the red wine by the glass selection — with only Cabernet, Pinot noir, Tempranillo, and a couple of others I’m not familiar with. I personally prefer a Malbec, merlot or Syrah, and their bottle selection of them were also very limited or nonexistent. We ended up going with Tempranillo for $ 32. It was close to a Syrah, but fruitier with more floral tones with a somewhat vinegary finish — we liked it.
What also didn’t impress me was that the restaurant week specials are their small plate size, not the entrée size. So when my fiancé wanted to order the Caesar salad ($ 8) with the Campanelle ($ 11 for small plate portion), I told him to just go ahead and order the entrée portion ($ 17) and i would share my Caesar salad with him. I’m no math genius, but I’m still Asian — charging $ 20.15 for something that would normally only add up to $ 19 is NOT a deal. Me on the other hand, ordered the restaurant week special with the Caesar salad and the short rib ($ 19 for small plate portion). Caesar salad was great — the dressing tasted homemade but no fresh cracked pepper was offered. The short rib was amazing — it had halved cherry tomatoes and watermelon squares topped with feta cheese and some kind of soft croutons, all drizzled with a delicious sauce. Watermelon??? I thought that was weird too, but everything went amazingly well together! Even though the dish was fantastic — I don’t feel that it would be worth $ 19, given the small portion size. The Campanelle with sausage, greens, bread crumbs and drizzled with a garlicky oil dressing — very good! We asked to take the rest of what we couldn’t finish home, but the waitress never brought it to us (even though we spent another 15−20min eating dessert and paying the bill)… and we kind of just totally forgot about it and left!
For dessert I ordered this «deconstructed cheesecake». It was nothing close to a cheesecake. It didn’t even have the flavor of a cheesecake. It tasted like a thick custard/​pudding. It was probably the worst $ 8 I’ve ever spent on a piece of glorified pudding.
All in all, I’m glad we came and tried Craving as its been on my «to-​try» list for a long time. But I do feel that they’re a little overpriced and that the service isn’t exactly top notch. Our bill including tip came to just about $ 100. Not sure that I will ever return.

I really will try to be fair concerning this establishment. Met Maria B. for lunch yesterday. I had not read her reviews nor anyone’s for that matter. Walked in with an open mind and an empty stomach. It’s a cute place. Nice bar area and a tiny dining area. The door was open, overhead fans churning and I felt the place was extremely warm.
Menu, for lunch, seems limited. We shared an asparagus salad, veggie sammie and a margherita pizza. The sandwich although tasty was extremely doughy. The bread did not fit the ingredients. Portion size was good. I feel this sammie would have been better with a denser bread and perhaps a slap of oil/​mayo or a fig/​garlic jelly.
Pizza was OK. Just OK. Maria’s salad looked lovely however seemed to be lacking a key ingredient. Asparagus. I only saw one spear.
I am glad that I made it to Hertel. I have not been a part of the bar/​restaurant scene in many years. I don’t know if I would visit again but I do know that I will be back in this neighborhood for other food options.

Hertel Ave. in North Buffalo has recently had a spurt of very good restaurants. Craving is one that comes to mind. My friend and I had a dinner date on Friday for around 6:30. Getting a reservation for this day and time was very easy as I just did it the previous day (I also was 15 minutes late) and they were very accommodating. Craving is locate right next to Gecko’s Bar and parking lot. Finding a parking spot during this timeframe was a choir but believe me, the food is WORTH it.
It has a patio but we choose to sit inside next to the windows and bar. The interior is very warm and welcoming. We started off with Stuffed Dates which was stuff with chorizo, wrapped in bacon with romesco sauce. This was our FAVORITE item all night. This was sweet and slightly spicy with a great sauce. We really could’ve order 3 appetizers of this dish and would have been happy, that’s how good it is. I had the Blossom Squash Salad which had the freshest tasting tomatoes and the Scallops which hit the spot. Our server explained to us that almost all the ingredients are sourced locally to provide the freshest product. My friend had the Steak Tenderloin and she said that it was very good. Next was dessert. At first I was disappointed to learn there was only 3 dessert choices but the limited option did not disappoint. I had the vanilla bean Crème Brulee and my friend had the S’More. The Crème Brulee was very light and tasty and the S’More was so big we could have shared it. The S’More is not the typical S’more as the «Graham Cracker» was more cake light instead of a cracker texture. My friend did not finish even with my help as the potion was hefty. As for the Crème Brulee, it was so good that I came back with my sister and cousin on Sunday and they were sold out.
All in all, I highly recommend Craving as the food was delicious with a great location, service, and it was not crowded even for a Friday night.

Another great place that I hope the area residence appreciate. Coming from the small town of Hanover — the Buffalo area certainly has it’s share of great places to eat!
I’m sure it will not be long and I’ll be craving a lot of things tasted today at CRaVing! That’s the great thing about going out to eat with a party of four — getting to try different items on the menu.
As with most places in the Buffalo area — parking always seems to be an issue, but it’s sometimes a perception only — we found a spot within steps from the restaurant’s main entrance.
Though you might think it’s a bit on the small size — it has ample seating both inside and outside and the menu seems to be created with the area farms in mind. The selections were fresh and delicious — I specifically enjoyed their house-​made pastas. It takes a little more lovin’ to serve up fresh pasta, but that’s why I know I’ll be craving it later too!
I also tried Swordfish sausage, which proved to go nicely with the pasta dish I almost licked clean. Everything our party of four had was served on time and each dish was excellent. The server «Joe» seemed to have his speech down pat and while he might have said it over and over again — it seemed like he was only telling it to us — from the specials, to the normal menu — what they were out of to what he recommended — spot on.
Also — the prices were reasonable — not fast food, but certainly well below many places serving up this sort of deliciousness. The place was clean — even the restrooms.
Finally — I’ll end with S’mores! Don’t leave the place without trying one, but I suggest splitting it with a friend!