Just returned from Shaw Festival and would concur with the recommendations of other Chophounders (thanks for the tips!).
Stone Road Grill. (Niagara Stone Road at Mary St.) was very good. We opted for the charcuterie appetizer and the smaller portions which were the perfect size. The food was excellent, and the wines interesting. The service was prompt, but well times. My only criticism is that it is a bit noisy and the decor was "busy".
Peller Estates was pretty close to perfect. We opted for the 4 courses with wine and all were excelellent. The Lobster Ravioli was a particular standout. We ate on the patio and, except for an uninvited mosquito, it was a lovely place to eat, overlooking the vinyard. Terrific food, excellent service.
We tripped over Willow Cakes and Pastries (on the corner of Mary and Niagara Stone Road, 2 doors down from Stone Road Grill.) AMAZING pasteries, cookies and croissants (especially the chocolate ones). I wish we could have sampled more items, but we took a number of things home with us. A really good breakfast!

I live in Syracuse and eat out a couple times a week.
The Dinosaur- NOT the best in the country as advertised, but not bad. I like the brisket and bacon sandwich (BBS)
Danzer's (German)- USED to be good, but is now AWFUL! Grungy, poor quality food, poor service.
Scotch & Sirloin- Nice atmosphere, but the steaks? Not so good. Salad bar is fresh and plentiful.
Saratoga Steaks- Used to be decent (never good) but has gone downhill. Expensive and not worth the high prices.
China Road- AWESOME!!! Excellent Chinese!!! Order off the wall for some really interesting eats.
Haller's (Fayetteville)- Hullars. Good bar, not good food.
Coleman's (Irish)- WAY over-rated. Food is not terrific and is expensive for what you get.
Katie Hoynes (Irish Pub)- UGH!
Pascale's (Continental)- VERY expensive and pretty bad! (Got a pork loiin that resenbled the sole of my left shoe.) Run AWAY!!!
Delmonico's(Italian/Steak)- Cheap, but not very good. BIG portions.
Kinloch- haven't been there.

Other ideas:
Lemongrass/ Bistro Elephant- 2 restaurants, one kitchen. EXCELLENT food year after year. We mix and match off both Thai and Bistro menus. "Steaky Bacon" (pork belly), poutine, and crabcakes are favorites. Seafood is VERY fresh and salads are interesting, fresh and very tasty. Expensive, but worth it!
Alto Cinco- Neighborhood joint. Menu includes vegetarian and vegan. No red meat. LOVE the jerk chicken tacos.
Empire Brewing Company- good burgers. Party atmosphere.
Taste of India- surprisingly good food! Service is a little slow, but usually worth the wait. (No liquor license).
Black Olive- Greek! Yum! Food is well prepared, service is very good.

OhNO!!! That is NOT good news! Thanks for the update (and saving us an unrewarding detour).

Cruising through the Southern Tier, my husband had a craving for ice cream. The options were Friendly's, Baskin Robbins, and Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant . We, of course, opted for the non-chain. A little hard to find, even with the GPS, but WELL worth the detour.

The Maple Walnut was REALLY maple flavor-intense maple flavor! The peanut butter Oreo had lots of cookie crumbles that were crunchy, not soggy and a lovely flavor. I didn't try the cookie dough, but the kid who got it proclaimed it to be the best ever. All the flavors were thick, really creamy and very flavorful.

We will make this detour again!

Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant
3162 Lower Maple Ave
Elmira, NY 14901

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Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant
3162 Lower Maple Ave, Elmira, NY 14901

Sherwood and Krebs are not particularly memorable, and Rosalie's is VERY expensive for pasta. Bluewater is insanely loud. If I want good food, I skip Skaneateles (though Mirabeau is reputed to be good- haven't gotten there yet.)

Daniel's Grill in Marcellus is good. Not great, but good, and reasonably priced with good service. Best of the available options in that area.

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Daniel's Grill
69 North St, Marcellus, NY 13108

OOPS!!! Forgot China Road!!! The ONLY Chinese in Syracuse. We do, however, occasionally grab from Panda West. Nice people, decent food.

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China Road
2204 Brewerton Rd Ste 1, Syracuse, NY 13211

An interesting discussion to be sure!

Dinosaur BBQ is one of our regular stops. NOT the best Barbecue we've had, but since Smitty's on South Ave closed, the best locally.

Paisano's is cheap, but that's all I can say about it. Aunt Josie's is good, not great, but good, and Asti has improved since their fire/rehab. Again, it is good, but not awesome.

Juanita's was a regular stop, but went downhill after they left Court street. Is it still open?

Ilario's was pretty bad, and expensive. A BAD combination!

I like The Mission, but if you are looking for Mexican, look somewhere else.

New Century is excellent, and the coffee is NOT to be missed. The food is good as well...

We have eaten a couple of times at Joey's, Riley's, Kitty Hoynes, and (the restaurant formerly known as) Craftsman House, and found all to be mediocre at best and overprices for what you get.

Our Pics?

Bistro Elephant/ Lemongrass- 2 restaurants, one kitchen, excellent year after year!
Black Olive- Good Greek food, good service, decent wine list, reasonably priced. What's to be bad?
L'Adour- good French food, terrific tapas (with music) in the summer. I wish they would do tapas year round!
Dinosaur BBQ
Alto Cinco- we never really liked this place, preferring LaCena, which closed awhile ago. The new menu is awesome, and the jerk chicken tacos are amazing!

A few other places we hit occasionally, but usually it is the same few dependable places.

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New Century Restaurant
136 Gardiners Ave, Levittown, NY 11756

Craftsman House Restaurant
110 S Burdick St, Fayetteville, NY 13066

We revently tried Stookey's in Nanticoke, and it was nothing special. Pork Sandwich was edible, but not terrific, and the fries and rings were good, but not awesome. Reasonable prices, but not worth the detour.

This weekend, we tried Mart's Blue Room in Nanticoke, which was also nothing special. VERY expensive, and quite average. We sampled the crabby pretzel, the shrimp scampi, a scallops with cheese, and several starters and sides. The cheese on the salad and the beer were very good. Everything else was just OK, and costly! For the money, we should have eaten at Michaelangelo's in Clarks Summit.

Revello's in Old Forge was also a bit of a let down. My family did not grow up with Old Forge Pizza (though I did) and thought it was gummy and bland. Not particularly warm either. We sampled both red and white pizza. The reviewer who said it is a lot like Ellio's frozen was not necessary off the mark. Arcaro's was better.

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Stookey's
675 Kidder St, Wilkes Barre, PA 18702

Michaelangelo's Restaurant
894 Old State Rd, Clarks Summit, PA 18411

Revello's Cafe
502 S Main St, Old Forge, PA 18518

Jump in your car, right now and go to Bardo (430 W 21st St, Norfolk).

Had lunch there today and WOW!!! Ginger pork dumplings (with a mango marmalade/ chutney) are now on my top 10 best dishes ever! There is intelligent life in the kitchen, the service was superb, and the food first rate.

Save room for the dessert "bento box". I always want to try ALL the desserts and with this option, I got to try ALL the desserts. Amazing doughnuts, excellent peach cobbler, wonderful sorbet... Go NOW!!!

We will hit there again (probably for dinner) before leaving Virginia Beach!

Thanks for the recommendation on Bardo. AWESOME!!! One of the best ever.

Taking 2 (relatively) sophisticated teens to NYC in August. My daughter is a HUGE "Top Chef" fan and is interested in Perilla, or possibly Craft or Craftsteak for a Friday dinner. We have 8:00 theater reservations, so 5:30 dinner is probably in order. Any reviews of these places? In the alternative, any ideas for pre-theater places in the theater district? We have reservations for LaRivista (always good, always!!!) for Saturday night, so we have Italian covered).

Thanks!

Another vote for Penzey's here. The products are excellent (who knew cinnamon could taste like that?), the prices are reasonable, and the customer service, by both phone and email, is friendly and responsive.

I haven't tried their spice mixes, but will do so based upon what I read here.

We just returned from Old Orchard Beach, Maine. We set out with Chowhound posts in hand and have thye following to report:

On the Marsh, Ogunquit: We went here on a Chowhound recommendation and were VERY disappointed. The service was good, but the food was decidedly medocre--- and expensive! The free range chicken was good,but everything else was merely OK. At these prices we expected much more. Lovely setting... some consolation.

MC, Perkin's Cove: Excellent, wonderful, probably the best of the trip. Excellent food, well prepared, excellent service, and a nice view. Expensive, but worth the price. The only complaint is that the dining room is a bit noisy. Highly recommended!

Maine Diner, Wells: An old favorite, still good! Good lobster roll, wonderful lobster pie, reasonable price. Good edible food, at a good price. There was a wait... Worth the wait- browse the gift shop, appropriately called "Remember the Maine".

Nunan's Lobster Hut, Cape Porpoise: We LOVE Nunan's! Plain, unadorned lobster, boiled with chips and a bun on the side, decent steamers too. Dependable year after year... Recommended! We ate there twice in a week.

Becky's, Portland: It was good. Not awesome, but good. Lovely pancakes, with real maple syrup (at additional cost). Parking was a nightmare, and there was a line.

Bob's Clam Hut, Kittery: Considering the location, surprisingly good. We were outlet shopping and had a nice lunch. Not worth going out of the way, but if you are shopping, worth stopping in.

Thanks to Chowhound for some good meals.

Happy Eating!

Renee