La Buena Vida

The 19 Most Fun, Most Over-the-Top, Wild Party Restaurants in America - Eater

"On Saturdays and Sundays, Raleigh’s La Buena Vida transforms from a Mexican family restaurant into a food-minded fever dream, the child of a high-end Mexican steakhouse and a sweaty, thumping dance club. A literal “flight” of shots arrives atop an airplane, while a massive tomahawk steak comes locked in a bedazzled briefcase, to be flamboyantly opened by a waiter wearing an El Chapo mask. Platters of elaborately stuffed Mexican sushi land on the table, just as two members of the waitstaff put on a Lucha Libre wrestling show atop the bar. It’s a gluttonous feast for the senses — all of them. Bad Bunny and Rosalia pump from the stereos, and it’s a crapshoot as to which menu item will trigger a display of sparklers, the entire staff singing, or the lights to suddenly dim while party horns blast from the speakers. It’s all as delicious as it is mad, perhaps the most bananas dining experience in all of North Carolina. — Matt Lardie" - Eater Staff