Buffalo Grove offers a comfortable life outside Chicago, with established neighborhoods and a strong local economy. U.S. News & World Report named Buffalo Grove the best place to live in Illinois, but an address earns its keep in smaller, everyday ways—including having somewhere nearby you actually want to eat.
At RedBottle, friends can settle in over European-inspired dishes and cocktails, with late-night entertainment keeping the evening going after dinner. Urban Melt fits the less elaborate plans: a gyro or burger when you’re hungry, perhaps a milkshake or boba while you catch up. Lazy Dog serves weekend brunch and late dinners, and you can bring your dog if you’re sitting on the patio. Then there’s TOUS les JOURS for French-Asian pastries, savory breads or a celebration cake to take home.
Explore these five places that represent a practical cross-section of restaurants in and around Buffalo Grove — from coffee and pastries in the morning to a full evening of food, drinks and live entertainment.
Red Bottle: European Dining with a Lively Second Act
- Address: 7438 W North Ave, Elmwood Park, IL 60707
- Hours: Mon–Thu, 12 PM–12 AM; Fri, 12 PM–2 AM; Sat, 9 AM–1 AM; Sun, 9 AM–12 AM
- Special Features: 60+ dishes, full-service bar, karaoke, live music, trivia and private events
- OpenTable rating: 4.7/5
- Usual spend: $20–80 per person
Red Bottle gives you a reason to leave the rest of the evening open. A family dinner starts in a smart, comfortable room; a few hours later, the music is livelier, cocktails are on the table, and nobody is reaching for their coat just yet. With seating for up to 212 guests, the restaurant has space for weddings, birthdays and company parties, though you don’t need an occasion—or a long guest list—to feel comfortable here.
More than 60 dishes make up a menu that borrows freely from several cuisines. There is rigatoni alla vodka and creamy Alfredo, as well as beef stroganoff, pork medallions, stone-baked pizza, shawarma, and a substantial steak selection. Seafood receives proper space rather than being treated as an afterthought: crispy calamari works well for the table, while the Dark Side of the Sea platter is intended for a much larger appetite. Vegetarian choices and a children’s menu round things out without overcomplicating an already extensive selection.
The restaurant’s character changes with the calendar. Weekday afternoons are relatively calm, helped along by half-price drinks during Happy Hour from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Fridays and Saturdays are a different proposition, with sushi, karaoke and late-night parties backed by a bar pouring more than 25 craft cocktails. Red Bottle also runs its own delivery service, although the entertainment—and much of the reason for choosing the restaurant—naturally belongs to the room.
Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar: Relaxed American Dining with a Dog-Friendly Patio
- Address: 51 McHenry Rd, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
- Hours: Mon–Fri, 11AM–12AM; Sat–Sun, 10AM–12AM
- Specials: Dog-friendly patio, scratch kitchen, lodge atmosphere, weekend brunch
- Google Maps rating: 4.6/5
- Usual spend: $20–$30 per person
Lazy Dog is a large restaurant, but the dark wood, stonework and deep booths make the dining room feel welcoming. There’s some distance between the bar and the family tables, which helps when people are there for quite different evenings.
The menu gives you plenty to choose from without having to move far from food you know. There are burgers, fried chicken and chicken pot pie, alongside steaks, pasta, ginger-soy salmon and wild-caught sea bass. Much of the cooking is done from scratch, and seasonal changes bring in dishes such as Korean fried chicken bao buns or rigatoni with burrata and spring greens. You can stick with a favorite or try something different without making a whole occasion of it.
Weekend brunch starts at 10 AM, and on select days there are two Happy Hour sessions. Dogs are welcome on the patio, where the staff provide complimentary water and there’s a short menu for them, too: grilled chicken or hamburger bowls, both prepared without seasoning.
Urban Melt: Burgers, Gyros and Boba Under One Roof
- Address: 1038 Weiland Road, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
- Hours: Mon–Fri 11AM–10PM; Sat 11AM–10PM; Sun closed
- Specials: Cattle-branded burgers, house-made boba teas, vegan and Halal options, and dog-friendly seating
- Google Maps rating: 4.7/5
- Usual spend: $10–$20 per person
Urban Melt takes an unusually broad view of fast-casual food. Burgers and gyros lead the menu, though shawarma, falafel, hot dogs, wings and boba all belong to the same operation. It should not work quite as neatly as it does. In practice, the variety makes the restaurant useful: lunch can be as simple as a burger and fresh-cut fries, while a group can order across several parts of the menu without negotiating over a single cuisine.
The gyros are available in three sensible formats — a sandwich, a plate or a full pound of meat with pita, tzatziki, tomato and onion. Burgers show more invention. Alongside the double cheeseburger and grilled chicken version are an Impossible Burger, a Paneer Burger, the crispy-chicken Angry Bird and a Messy Magic Burger finished with jalapeños and cheddar. Smaller orders are well covered too, from loaded fries and mozzarella sticks to nuggets and bone-in wings.
Urban Melt offers drinks and desserts like house-made fruit and milk teas, ice cream and thick 12-ounce milkshakes. Halal and vegan choices widen the restaurant’s audience, and dog-friendly seating is another welcome detail. Urban Melt remains casual throughout, but there is real thought behind how many different tastes it manages to accommodate.
Sorelle Italian Market: A Family-Run Market with a Full Italian Kitchen
- Address: 3976 IL-22, Long Grove, IL 60047
- Hours: Wed–Sat, 8AM–9PM; Sun, 8AM–8PM; Mon–Tue, closed
- Special Features: Fresh-baked bread and pastries, organic coffee and tea, Italian-style pizza, homemade pasta, paninis, Italian desserts, wine and cocktails
- Google Maps rating: 4.7/5
- Usual spend: $10–$20 per person
At Sorelle, stopping for coffee can turn into lunch and a little shopping for dinner. Bread and pastries fill the bakery counter, the café serves panini, and shelves of imported Italian goods give you something to browse while your order is being made. You might pick up pasta for home, then stay for a cannolo. There’s no need to make much of a plan.
The Long Grove location has a courtyard beside the water, where lunch deserves a little more time in warm weather. Panini and pizza make way for homemade pasta, Chicken Marsala and Osso Buco as dinner approaches. The bakery has its own temptations: a pistachio cream croissant with your coffee, or gelato tucked into a brioche bun if you’re in the mood for something more indulgent.
Wine, cocktails and occasional live music give people a reason to stay into the evening. Even then, Sorelle still feels like an Italian market where sitting down to eat is as natural as picking up a loaf of bread.
TOUS les JOURS Bakery Café: French-Asian Baking without the Heavy Sweetness
- Address: 55 McHenry Rd, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
- Hours: Mon–Thu and Sun, 9AM–7PM; Fri–Sat, 9AM–8PM
- Specials: Artisan French-Asian pastries, signature fresh-fruit cloud cakes, full espresso café bar, self-serve bakery layout
- Google Maps rating: 4.6/5
- Usual spend: $10–$20 per person
TOUS les JOURS is set up for browsing. Customers take a tray and choose directly from the bakery shelves, where French-style pastries are mixed with soft Korean breads and savory baked snacks. Croissants and Danish pastries are present, of course, but they are only part of the reason to visit. Milk bread, salt-and-butter rolls, curry croquettes and garlic cream cheese bread give the selection a character of its own.
The bakery is especially good at sweets that don’t rely on thick icing or an overload of sugar. Its fresh-fruit cloud cakes pair airy sponge with cream and fruit, making them a popular alternative to heavier birthday cakes. Matcha, ube drinks and cold brew sit beside the usual espresso menu. There are tables for anyone stopping over coffee, although TOUS les JOURS makes even more sense when several pastries are being chosen for home.
The Buffalo Grove restaurants reflect how people actually use their neighborhood. Some days call for brunch or a proper dinner; others require nothing more complicated than gyros, coffee or pastries brought home in a box. Each of these places does something specific well enough to justify the trip.