These 15 Boise Area Restaurants Are An Absolute Must Try

Last April, Food & Wine did a spotlight on seven cities they considered to have America’s best up-and-coming food scenes. We’re not sure that anyone expected to see Boise on the list, but we were flattered to find ourselves at #2! 

That’s just a testament to the incredible restaurants you’ll find not just in Boise, but in Meridian, Eagle, Nampa, Caldwell and their surrounding communities. Some of them are legendary mainstays in the Treasure Valley. Others are new and buzzworthy concepts. With over 1,000 restaurants in those four areas of the Treasure Valley, it’s nearly impossible to try them all.

You probably already have a few favorites that you frequent on a regular basis. If the food and service are good, who are we to judge? (Seriously, we’ve been known to eat at The Refuge on Parkcenter at least twice a week.) 

Get our free mobile app

But maybe your 2023 New Year’s Resolution was to expand your horizons, get outside your comfort zone and try new things. Trying restaurants you’ve never been to is a great place to start! Jeanmarie P., a member of the Boise Food Finds group on Facebook, came up with a brilliant plan to make that happen. 

She confessed that she and her husband tend to go to the same places over and over again, so they created a bucket list of dining options that they’ve never been to and threw them into a hat. They plan to draw one out when they want to go out to eat. It was a creative concept that other members were quick to adopt. 

It also got our wheels turning. We wondered what restaurants were on YOUR bucket list, so we asked our listeners to answer this question: 

What is a Treasure Valley restaurant that you’ve always wanted to try, but haven’t yet? 

Your answers provided a fascinating bucket list that includes everything from restaurants that have been in the Treasure Valley for decades to ones that are new within the last two years.  We decided to pick the top answers from that list and present them to you! 

Of course, if you’d like to tell us which restaurant has been on your “to-do” list for years, you’re always welcome to shoot us a message when you click “chat” inside our app!