10 Best Restaurants in Romania

This is a hidden gem in a culinarily-challenged city. Modeled on a French gastro-bistro and housed in a fabulously wacky modern building, it has a café area, beautiful contemporary dining room, and spacious outdoor terrace. The American chef's wonderously ambitious cuisine puts fresh, seasonal ingredients front and center, with an emphasis on seafood and quality meats. Dishes are inventive and beautiful: foie gras terrine with green apple and a deep purple splash of three-berry coulis; pork belly with garlic purée; quinoa with pumkin and almond. Desserts like light lemon meringue pie or almond strawberry shortcake with triple sec and whipped mascarpone are equally tempting. There are excellent sandwiches and salads at lunch and a fine wine and cocktails list to boot.

A sleek, contemporary atmosphere, friendly and attentive service, good music, and top-notch French and European-inflected food with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients all culminate in one of Bucharest's best dining spots. For lunch choose from a selection of beautifully presented soups and salads; and for dinner dishes like tender duck breast with fresh vegetables, lamb cutlets with rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes, and superb gourmet pizzas with a range of imaginative toppings are served by candlelight. Desserts—chocolate mousse or bourbon vanilla soufflé with apricot jam—are not to be resisted. A top-notch wine and drinks list and very good coffee are just icing on the cake.

The restaurant at the Ciubuc-Szabó family's seven-room bed-and-breakfast (named for the cable car next door) serves good quality home-made food. The atmosphere is homey, with the small, non-smoking restaurant filled with plants and flowers in summer. The menu changes seasonally, but if it's available, be sure to try the house-made zacusca, a Romanian vegetable spread made with roasted eggplant, onions, tomatoes, and roasted gogoşari (red peppers). In winter, warm up with the pumpkin or three bean soups, or the spinach and cheese baked pasta. For dessert, try the crêpe with apple and cinnamon or honey and walnuts.

Prices here are in euros.

This elegant 19th-century villa turned restaurant houses two dining salons, one of which is open to the outdoors on three sides in warm weather. The menu combines high-end Continental cuisine, along with Romanian specialties like sarmale cu mămăligă (cabbage rolls with polenta). Tables are mostly filled with tourists, expats, and well-heeled locals out for a special night.

True to its name, this upscale eatery sits at the back of a boutique hotel and is built into the hillside amongst the trees; these and the resident bunnies running around give the feeling of dining al fresco, even in Romania's icy winters. Visit the wine cellar with the hotel's sommelier to taste a few options before settling down with the menu, which is more like a thick photo album with detailed captions. The food is on the heavy side—pork ribs with baked potatoes, duck breast with pineapple, baked lamb—but local river fish are also available, as are salads. The chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream gets two thumbs up.

The restaurant has crayons and coloring books, high chairs, and a supervised play area.

Constanta's version of a stylish bar, it is also considered the best restaurant in town. The pub's handsome dark wood paneling, fireplace, and comfortable seating recall a classic Irish pub, as do the many beers on tap. You'll find plenty of good pub staples—grilled steak, burgers and fries, fish and chips—along with lighter fare: a decent seafood or Caesar salad, salmon teriyaki, and good pasta dishes. Desserts are nothing extraordinary, but there's a yummy chocolate fondant cake. On pleasant days the terrace, with views of the sea, is a nice option, especially for nonsmokers, as smoking is permitted in the pub.

Part of the Piatra Soimului Resort, Kuib is slightly removed from town but well worth visiting if you have kids in tow, as the hotel has a playground, there's a children's menu, and the kitchen is very good about dietary restrictions and allergies. Everything is labeled so you know if a dish has dairy, nuts, gluten, and so forth. The selection of food here is huge, and Kuib is perhaps the only restaurant in Sinaia with a vegetarian menu, which includes a platter with an organic quinoa salad, guacamole, and marinated tomatoes stuffed with organic couscous. Mains include a lamb filet in a sesame and chia-seed crust and seabass stuffed with seaweed and peppers and served with brown rice.

An exciting newcomer to the Constanta dining scene, this has all the makings of a fine restaurant, starting with its romantic setting right on the water. A cozy hideaway in winter, in warm weather the floor-to-ceiling glass doors open up for sunset views over the harbor. The menu features copious pasta dishes with a focus on seafood. Fresh salads are big enough for a meal and sides like garlicky crostini are extra generous. There's also a nice choice of fresh, imaginative cocktails and a solid list of European wines by the bottle or glass.

Stunning views over the hills of Brasov and the Old Town and excellent food draw people to the restaurant of the Belvedere Hotel, on a hillside about 2 km (1 mile) from town. The kitchen team has won a handful of awards, and this is evident in every bite. The waitstaff, too, should be applauded for their service. Portions are sizeable: Black Angus sirloin with a terrine of foie gras, an onion jam tart with raisins and orange, and a tiny salad is just a starter. Mains include a Danube perch fillet baked with gremolata and served with vegetable noodles, mashed potatoes, and a piquant pepper sauce. There are only few strictly vegetarian dishes—perhaps a creamy white onion soup with baked camembert and crostini—but the kitchen will make substitutions.

Tirol's management has recreated a little slice of Austria in this small Romanian town. Furniture and floor are of dark, gleaming wood, while the male staff dress in lederhosen and the females in dirndls. The food is good, but heavy—think chicken soup with thick noodles, duck breast with mushrooms and potatoes, or veal goulash. The lightest option is a rucola salad with bocconcini, prosciutto, cantaloupe, baby corn, and apple sauce.