If you're like me, you are a food fanatic! When you find a good restaurant, you tell your friends about it and make future plans to go back. Yelp is super helpful when trying to find a great place to eat in a specific place, but here's my list of the top nine places to eat in North Carolina, in no particular order...

1. The Little Dipper Fondue on Main.

With two locations in downtown Durham, NC in Brightleaf Square and Wilmington, NC, the Little Dipper is one of my newly found favorite restaurants! They are a fondue-based restaurant, so the customers get to pick a particular kind of cheese fondue (the cheddar ale is my favorite) for the table, their own individual soup or salad, their choice of meats and array of compatible sauces, and then their choice of chocolate fondue for the final course. All of the courses are served directly in front of you, and the table gets to cook their main entree! This is a fun restaurant for date night for sure.

Fun fact: Wednesdays are Ladies Night, so women can get cheese and chocolate fondue for $9!

2. Scrambled Southern Diner.

Located in Greensboro, Scrambled is the perfect place for those who love a good 'ole brunch (like me). Their waffles, shrimp and grits (and grits in general), biscuits, and everything else in-between are phenomenal!

3. Kanki Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar:

With two locations in NC, one in Durham and one in Raleigh, you cannot go wrong with Kanki! In addition to their regular menu, their sushi menu is very good as well (my personal favorite is the volcano roll). Since the chefs make your food right in front of you, both locations provide an intimate and fun experience for dinner!

4. Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen:

Lucky 32, as it's more commonly known as, has a fabulous menu of dishes circulating around the true Southern roots of the kitchen. This restaurant has options all the way from special pastas to shrimp and grits to a perfectly seared ribeye!

5. Top of the Hill Restaurant, Brewery, and Distillery (TOPO):

Located in the heart of Chapel Hill, NC on Franklin Street, Top of the Hill is the perfect place to go to whether you're looking for a good restaurant on date night or a group of you and your BFFs want to have a fun girl's night out. And if you ever get the chance, sitting out on the balcony over Franklin Street is quite the experience!

6. Yard House:

Yard House, which is located in downtown Raleigh, offers a variety of delicious dishes all the way from burgers to pasta. They are also known for their list of draft beers, making it the perfect place for group dates or double dates.

7. Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant:

Here is my little piece of home...Mazatlan, known to its locals as Mazzy, is located in the small town of Oxford, NC right of I-85. They have an array of traditional Mexican dishes from enchiladas to fajita salad. The servers and waiters are extremely friendly, making this a great restaurant for a group of friends and families!

8. Homestead Steakhouse:

The Homestead, as I call it, is located near Roxboro in Timberlake, NC. They are known for their delicious salad bar and perfectly seared cuts of steak! In addition to their regular eating areas, the Homestead has the space for weddings receptions and other events too.

Fun Fact: They have their birthday club cards to fill out in their foyer so you can get your main entree half off during your birth month!

9. Stromboli's Express:

Stromboli's is one of my absolute favorite pizza places. The pizza slices are gigantic, and you definitely get what you pay for. Also, if you love Nutella like I do, their Nutella paninis are out of this world!