Food and Beverage list – Raleigh, NC

A searchable and sortable list of all of the food and beverage places we have personally visited in Raleigh, NC is below. Sort by category or subcategory to filter the list, then click on any place’s name to open the full subpage with photos, notes, and everything we’ve learned about it.

Raleigh’s food and beverage scene is one of the deepest and most diverse in North Carolina — reflecting its role as the state capital, its position at the heart of the Research Triangle, and a genuinely active craft beer culture with well over a dozen distinctive breweries, taprooms, and brewpubs alongside NC-heritage food institutions, chef-driven restaurants, and distinctive downtown concepts that stretch the definition of what a food and beverage stop can be.

Place	Category	Sub Category
Birdie’s Barroom & Kitchen	American	Café
Brewery Bhavana	Brewery	Chinese Food
Buffalo Brothers Pizza & Wing Co.	Wings	Pizza
Burial Beer Co. Raleigh Taproom	Brewery
Clyde Cooper’s Barbeque	Barbeque
Crank Arm Brewing Company	Brewery
East Bower Cider Company	Cidery	Taphouse
Lynnwood Brewing Concern	Brewery
Lynnwood Grill & Brewing Concern	Pubfare	Brewery
R&D Brewing - Seven Saturdays Taproom	Brewery
Raleigh Brewing Company	Brewery
Sir Walter Coffee	Coffee	Café
Trali Irish Pub & Restaurant	Irish Food	Pubfare
Trophy Brewing & Taproom	Brewery
Wilson’s Eatery	Southern	Pubfare
Wye Hill Kitchen & Brewing	Brewery	Pubfare

Choosing Your Raleigh Food and Beverage Stop

For NC craft beer heritage and award-winning breweries, three venues genuinely anchor the Raleigh craft beer scene’s heritage story. Raleigh Brewing Company opened in 2013 as North Carolina’s first female-owned brewery by homebrewer Kristie Nystedt — a founding milestone in NC craft beer that continues through Nystedt’s ongoing leadership. R&D Brewing – Seven Saturdays Taproom brings 150+ years of combined industry experience across its founding team, multiple 2018-2019 national beer awards, and an unusual depth of NC university and Carolina Hurricanes athletics partnerships. And Trophy Brewing & Taproom — Trophy’s Maywood Avenue production brewery — offers a genuine working-brewery experience with signature beers like the Trophy Wife session IPA and Cloud Surfer hazy IPA.

For distinctive downtown Raleigh venue concepts, several venues stretch beyond the typical brewery or coffee shop identity. Brewery Bhavana combines Belgian-inspired brewing, Cantonese dim sum, an independent bookstore, and a flower shop under one roof — earning Bon Appétit’s 2017 list of the Best New Restaurants in America. Burial Beer Co. Raleigh Taproom — nicknamed “The Exhibit” — anchors an immersive art gallery experience around the Asheville-based brewery’s small-batch beer program. Sir Walter Coffee operates as a full coffee shop by day and transforms into Sir Walter Cocktail speakeasy by night. East Bower Cider Company is Raleigh’s first cidery with a 3,000-square-foot outdoor patio and apples sourced within 350 miles. And Crank Arm Brewing Company is Raleigh’s cycling-community craft brewery — founded by cycling enthusiasts and anchored by group rides, yoga sessions, and bike-themed decor in the Warehouse District.

For chef-driven dining paired with craft beer, three venues genuinely elevate the food to co-star status with the beverage program. Wye Hill Kitchen & Brewing — female-owned and perched atop Boylan Bridge with panoramic downtown skyline views — combines a chef-driven kitchen serving shakshuka with focaccia and BBQ fries alongside small-batch beers and seltzers. Lynnwood Grill & Brewing Concern has been serving scratch-made comfort food since 2004 (with brewing added in 2013), anchored by a rooftop bar and dog-friendly patio. And Birdie’s Barroom & Kitchen opened in 2024 as an all-day American grill on Fayetteville Street with distinctive design touches including floor-to-ceiling windows, a bar-in-the-round, and Birdie’s Backyard patio with swings.

For sister brewery + eatery pairings that reward visiting both venues, Lynnwood Brewing Concern and its adjacent sister restaurant Wilson’s Eatery share the same East Whitaker Mill Road complex — creating a seamless craft beer and Southern-comfort-food experience where visitors can move naturally between one of Raleigh’s largest beer gardens (Wilson’s side) and Lynnwood’s brewery patio. Wilson’s is named after the owners’ yellow Labrador Wilson and donates 5% of food sales to local animal rescues, while Lynnwood pours Belgian Blonde Moment and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Amber alongside rotating seasonals.

For NC heritage food and casual dining with distinctive character, three venues bring authentic regional and international dining traditions to Raleigh. Clyde Cooper’s Barbeque has been serving authentic Eastern Carolina-style barbecue since 1938 — nearly 90 years of operation — with a signature chopped BBQ pork and the distinctive Cheerwine baked beans as sides. Buffalo Brothers Pizza & Wing Co. brings genuine Buffalo, New York heritage to Raleigh — founded in Buffalo in 1997 before relocating to NC in 2002, now with an official Carolina Hurricanes partnership. And Trali Irish Pub & Restaurant is Irish-owned and operated (including Head Chef Eamonn Kelly) with an award-winning Boxty and traditional farmhouse-style Irish menu.

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