Ten Best Restaurants in Boca Raton

UPDATE: Interested in the best of Boca's culinary scene? Then after you're done with this list, head over to our most recent list of the ten best new restaurants in Boca Raton.

When it comes to restaurants, everyone has a different perspective. Some fancy traditional, Old World cuisine. Others like new and innovative dishes. There are those who prefer simple, straightforward fare, while their friends opt for complex and full of flavor.

When it comes to the choosing best restaurants in a given area, not only will you hear dozens of opinions but everyone's criteria are different. One person won't like a certain spot because she claims her soup wasn't hot enough the one time she went in, or maybe the service was too laid-back for her standards, or maybe she just didn't like the background music. And maybe she just likes to bitch and moan.

See also: Ten Best Breakfast Places in Fort Lauderdale

When choosing the best restaurants in a town like Boca Raton, it would be easy to go for the most expensive place with white napkins and tableside cheese cart. But there's more to a good dining experience than that and, frankly, more to Boca.

Sometimes the best food is eaten standing at a counter and washed down with a beer. Yes, even in the town that Mizner designed.

So here they are, the ten best restaurants in Boca Raton.

10. Max's Grille

Long hailed as one of the pioneers of the South Florida restaurant scene, Dennis Max's namesake Max's Grille is known for its fresh, California-style and modern American cuisine. Max is a native of the progressive state himself. At this Mizner Park spot, you'll find simple but creative dishes like wood-fired maple-bourbon glazed baby back ribs accompanied by sweet potato fries and summer watermelon salad or crab-crusted local snapper and Lyonnaise potatoes with leeks, braised greens, red pepper, and vinegar sauce. In an area as fickle as Boca, you have to prove yourself to remain in it for the long haul. Max's has been around for decades. 'Nuff said.

See also: Ten Best New Restaurants in Boca Raton

9. 13 American Table

New to the whole Boca scene, this place has brought a piece of South Florida's burgeoning foodie ethos to town. Owners Albert and Melanie Aletto opened the spot earlier this summer, and they brought in some heavy hitters from Delray Beach. Both chef Anthony Fiorini and general manager Oliver Tito have worked at highly respected Atlantic Boulevard hot-spot 32 East. Here you'll find a somewhat similar approach to cuisine with simple food prepared with the finest-quality ingredients that can be found. The new American-style fare incorporates international influence with dishes ranging from Josper-grilled octopus and family eggplant with burrata, crostini, and basil to Florida grouper ceviche and BBQ pork belly. When you look at it, what could be more American than that?

8. Six Tables

You've heard the saying "Good things come in small packages," right? If that's the truth, you know this place has got to be great. The intimate restaurant is filled with -- big surprise -- just six tables. If you want one for yourself, you're going to need a reservation, buddy. Tuesday through Saturday nights, the boutique spot offers just one seating per night with a multicourse limited-choice chefs' menu of traditional French dishes like duck l'orange, chateaubriand, or poached pear with stilton. All of which is served on china with silver cutlery, linen napkins, and wine in crystal glasses. We bet you can't find more detail-oriented than that.

7. Sybarite Pig

Beer geeks like to eat too. For said group, this is your spot in Boca Raton. With an ever-changing selection of craft beers that could keep any brew fan busy for months and a menu full of inventive pub grub like bone marrow, tri-tip duck fat burgers, and apple lemon pork sausage to soak it all up, this place could turn any beer naysayer into a full-fledged fan -- unless, of course, you just happen to be a vegetarian. The chilled-out vibe and menu of carnivorous comfort will have you feeling much better by the end, regardless of your current frame of mind.

6. Red, the Steakhouse

If a restaurant can make it in competitive South Beach, it can make it anywhere. Kicking the old-school steak house in the rear end, Red is trendy, chic, and very Miami, right here in Boca Raton. Age-certified Angus beef steaks come in bone-in and boneless options with your choice of sauce and toppings ranging from classic béarnaise and au poivre to fresh garlic and chilies and artisanal blue cheese. As you would expect, nonbeef options also include the best money can get, with Colorado lamb, brined and roasted Ashley Farms double chicken breast, and seafood that is as fresh as a seaside city deserves.

5. Morimoto

You know a place is legit when it's owned by an Iron Chef, and no, we're not talking about the lame American version. Masaharu Morimoto is one of the most famous Japanese chefs in the world; he now owns restaurants across the world, from Mumbai to New York and, of course, Boca Raton. Because the restaurant is located in the swanky Boca Raton Resort, you can bet your ass this place isn't going to be cheap, but it will be worth it. Here you'll find sushi, sashimi, and maki of a quality almost unparalleled in these parts. Japanese fish like kinmedai and kohada -- rarely found outside its land of origin -- are just another regular old thing on this menu. Highly coveted -- and ridiculously priced -- o-toro are found like it's just another piece of yellowfin. Your favorite hole-in-the-wall sushi joint just can't compare to the selection and quality you'll find here.

4. Casa D'Angelo

The second outpost of his Fort Lauderdale flagship, Casa D'Angelo in Boca Raton offers the same high-end Tuscan cuisine in a similar elegant contemporary environment. Executive chef/owner Angelo Elia is known for elevating Broward's overall dining scene with his namesake restaurant, which has since done the same in Boca and even Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. Here you'll find simple, refined dishes ranging from bistecca alla fiorentina (dry-aged New York strip steak marinated in olive oil, rosemary, and garlic, and served with Vidalia onion and wild mushrooms) to pastas like the spaghetti misura al pesto e pomodori arrostiti (whole-wheat spaghetti with oven-dried yellow and red tomatoes in a basil pesto sauce). Italians are known for living the good life; eat here and you'll be doing the same -- even if your credit card bill doesn't necessarily agree.

3. Abe & Louie's

You can look at Boca restaurants without looking at some pomp. Abe & Louie's is neither new nor trendy, but it is a classic steak house that caters to the wealthy power players of Boca, with traditional oversized leather chairs and vintage Hollywood-style booths. Prime steaks (think wood-fired, bone-in aged prime rib eye), fresh seafood dishes like baked and stuffed Maine lobster, and an expansive, award-winning wine list epitomize the established steak houses of yesteryear. There's a reason some places don't give sway to new trends and whims; they can stand the test of time.

2. Rebel House

Though owners Michael Saperstein and Evan David might be best-known for their highly regarded burgers and tacos at their fast-casual Deerfield Beach spot's Charm City Burgers and El Jefe Luchador, they've sure as hell helped to turn Boca's staid dining scene around with their revolutionary Rebel House. The eclectic, artsy environment depicts the overall concept of the food: different and certainly daring for Boca Raton. With a selection of veggies like roasted rainbow carrot salad with avocado, toasted seeds, herbs, and sprouts in a citrus-sesame vinaigrette; munchies, such as the eggplant "parm" poppers with quatro formaggio, tomato ragu, and tiny basil or the pretzel grilled cheese filled with pork belly, gjetost cheese, peach marmalade, and spicy pickled peaches; interesting cheese and charcuterie; and "plates" including an "OG" recipe fried chicken and biscuits with cheddar-jalapeño biscuits, candied bacon syrup, and watermelon relish, this spot has brought big-city new American comfort fare to the sleepy sixth borough; let's be happy they're moving it along.

1. Kapow! Noodle Bar

Our pick for Best New Restaurant Palm Beach County - 2012, this trendy little noodle bar finds itself on all sorts of lists thanks to its creative Asian fare that spans across the continent, with Japanese ramen, Vietnamese wings, Chinese dim sum, and fusion buns with duck confit or Korean bulgogi; an innovative cocktail program ranging from house-infused bourbon to low-impact cocktails -- that won't get you wasted in a heartbeat; and an unpretentious, edgy environment with indoor/outdoor bar and a massive mural on the wall. Boca might be known for its gray-haired snowbirds and fancy-pants establishments, but this place negates any ill perceptions -- it certainly livens things up for happy hour. It's fun, laid-back, and -- in many ways -- very un-Boca.

Follow Sara Ventiera on Twitter, @saraventiera.