The 5 best restaurants in Chapel Hill and Carrboro from The N&O’s Top 50 list
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- Four Chapel Hill spots and one Carrboro spot made The N&O’s Top 50 list for 2026.
- Restaurants range from James Beard–owned Lantern to seasonal-focused Mercato pizzeria.
- Menu highlights include handmade pastas, flame-charred corn pizza and drive-thru biscuits.
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The N&O’s Top 50 Restaurants of 2026: The Triangle’s top places to eat
The News & Observer presents the Top 50 Triangle restaurants, an effort to identify and celebrate the many excellent kitchens and dining rooms from Durham to Raleigh, Chapel Hill to Johnston County. This list does not include every great meal in the Triangle, and readers are encouraged to reach out with feedback.
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The Chapel Hill food scene first established the Triangle as a dining destination, with classic Southern restaurants like Crooks Corner. Today, Chapel Hill is known for innovative and creative restaurants, and a James Beard winner. When The News & Observer named the Top 50 Triangle restaurants for 2026, four Chapel Hill spots (and one in Carrboro) made the cut.
Bombolo
Ambitious in its indulgences, Bombolo is fearless when it comes to flavor. Shirking definitions, though ostensibly Italian-ish, you’ll find a handful of handmade pastas, like ribbons of pappardelle with rich, wild boar ragu on a menu alongside a traditional plate of fellowship hall-worthy fried chicken and mac and cheese. Chef Garret Fleming draws inspiration from Europe and Asia and has the talent to make it all make sense.
764 MLK Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill | bombolochapelhill.com | $ $ $
Lantern
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There’s no other way to say it, Lantern is a mullet restaurant: business in the bright front dining room, party in the vibey back bar. It’s this back bar that’s one of the most captivating rooms in the Triangle, inky black and just barely lit by glowing red paper lanterns. Whatever the seasonal dumplings happen to be, pea shoots or pork and chive, they’re a springy, soulful must-order. Owned by James Beard winner Andrea Reusing and now nearly a quarter-century old, Lantern helped bring Asian fusion dishes to the Triangle and remains punk rock to this day.
423 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill | lanternrestaurant.com | $ $ $ $
Pizzeria Mercato
The Triangle’s most obsessively seasonal restaurant happens to be a pizzeria, where the flavor and crisp of the crust rivals the very best bakeries. You’ll wait all year for the fiery sweetness of summer, because with it comes Mercato’s famous corn pizza, where shorn kernels and a cheesy sauce are set ablaze by thinly sliced serrano chiles.
408 W. Weaver St., Carrboro | pizzeriamercatonc.com | $ $ - $ $ $
Proximo
It’s possible Proximo will always be associated with the restaurant whose space it took over: the venerable Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe on Franklin Street. That could be a good thing, because Proximo often embodies the joy of food, pairing cured anchovies with potato chips, for something sharp, sour and salty; and in something of a magic trick, microwaves perfect cornbread, to be eaten draped with iberico ham, the warm bread melting the pork fat.
100 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill | proximonc.com | $ $ $
Sunrise Biscuits
In the South, a biscuit is an expression of love. At Sunrise, that love is simple and sublime, with little more than a pat of butter. The biscuits at Sunrise, crumbly and tender, bake up deeply browned. Since it’s drive-thru-only, most are eaten in the driver’s seats of cars, unfurled from parchment paper on dashboards as if waiting even a moment more would spoil the gift. Though the adornments of a biscuit are a personal journey, a piece of fried chicken with sharp Texas Pete hot sauce seems like a good way to start the best mornings.
1305 E. Franklin St., Chapel Hill | sunrisebiscuits.com | $
This story was originally published April 8, 2026 at 11:56 AM.
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