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I also grew up in Lexington. Unfortunately, we are trapped by chain restaurants in large part, so be prepared.

I second the recommendation on the Tolly Ho. Get the cheese fries.

If your friend is up for cajun/creole food, there are a couple of oddly great options, Bourbon n Tolouse (on Euclid Ave) for traditional favorites (their ettoufee is great), and Gumbo Ya Ya's for more esoteric dishes (try the maque choux over pasta). Both places follow the same formula: your choice of sauce over rice (with a choice of pasta at GYY), for less than $8. Great deal, great food. If I recall, GYY (and possibly BnT) is a resurrections of a restaurant started in the 1990s by a NOLA ex-pat named Joe Vuskovich (who now has a chain called Yats, which was the place originally in Lexington).

We finally have a sichuan place, Panda Cuisine, that is good. It's on Nicholasville Rd.

For a true taste of Lexington though, your friend needs to go to Ramsey's. There's one near UK's campus. It's a meat-and-three place. The veggies are great. I'm partial to the pork tenderloin sandwich and the meatloaf.

Joe B's is good, but they have terrible beer. Near campus (and Joe B's) there is a Mellow Mushroom (yes, the chain), and a place called Pazzo's, which is very much like MM, but is local. Both have pretty good pile-on-the-toppings pizza. Better yet, they have amazing beer selections on tap (over 30 at each).

Beyond that, it all depends on what your friend thinks is "fancy."

Most of the best places have been covered but I figured I'd add a few good ones to the list and expand on some of the others:

Ramsey's - My favorite place to eat in Lexington. As mentioned the meat and three is great (I like the catfish) and so is their open faced pot roast sandwich. Their breakfast is enormous (5 eggs any way, pancakes, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and toast for 8 bucks) and Missy's pies are also a quality dessert.

Alfalfa - A little place downtown attached to an art gallery that has great breakfasts. They specialize in vegetarian food and serve lunch and dinner but their breakfast is the best in town. Go with the gravel switch to get a little of everything.

Pizza - for pizza there are three pretty good options: Pazzo's, Goodfellas, and Joe Bologna's. Pazzo's and Goodfellas you can get by the slice for lunch so if he's travelling alone this might be a good option. Pazzo's is pretty big, near campus, and has a decent selection of beers (39 on tap). On the other hand, Goodfellas is a hole-in-the-wall downtown and just has a few tables out on the street for eating space but in my opinion has better pizza. Joe B's is a nicer, sit down place that is a little more family friendly.

Seki - As mentioned Seki is fantastic. The couple people working there are older Japanese people and could not be more hospitable. On top of that it is the best sushi in Lexington. Like the previous poster said, its small and only open for dinner so get a reservation.

Tolly Ho is great late night drunken food and a fun atmosphere at about 2 in the morning. The food is ok but nothing to really brag about. Its more of a UK tradition than quality food. If you have had a few, definitely go there though, it can be a blast. I'll also just go ahead and second Bourbon n Toulouse, good cajun food.

A couple places to consider for desserts are Magee's Bakery and if they are from way out of town there are some Graeter's Ice Cream shops scattered around Lexington. Another place that I have been once is Furlongs. They have slightly more upscale (expensive) cajun food but I enjoyed it the one time I went. Atomic Cafe also has decent Caribbean food and a really nice patio area but the service can be slow and the food is a little overpriced for what you get. Hope this helps.

Kobi Stone Grill and Sushi House on Harrodsburg Rd near the Liquor Barn.

Spalding's Bakery for donuts. Fresh and hot.

I love Malone's and Sal's and it would have been a recommendation for sure but they said the less fancy the better. I can't think of many locals that would slam you for Malone's. I can definitely vouch for their steak but have not heard good things about their sushi. Spalding's Bakery is an excellent call as well but you have to get there early (once they sell out they close) and it's a little out of the way.

Spalding's Bakery for hot glazed yeast donuts.

I went to college in Lexington and would second most of the recommendations. Some comments:

Joe B's: The breadsticks are incredible, and I dream about them to this day. I went back to school last Spring to recruit and took some graduate students out to Joe B's for beer, pizza, and breadsticks. Half of the kids had never been there...let alone had a breadstick! I had to talk with my old professors to see what they were teaching these kids...

Ramsey's: Do they still have meat-and-three? Basically, you pick an entree (eg, pork chop, catfish, pot roast, etc.) and three southern-style sides (fried orka, macaroni and cheese, etc.)...good stuff. Ramsey's has multiple locations now, but when I was in school there was only one location...the one near campus (Woodland and Maxwell?).

Lynaughs: An Irish Pub on Woodland Ave. Didn't see this mentioned on anyone's post. Go for the beer and the O-Round. A great flame-broiled hamburger. Bring your ear-plugs..it could be loud.

Tolly-Ho: A Greasy Spoon Dive. A favorite haunt when I was in graduate school. A Tolly-Ho with Hashbrowns was the de-riguer order at 1am...or 6PM for that matter...basically a frozen hamburger with frozen hashbrowns. I dream about this place too. Don't expect much and your expectations may be met.

I would like to add in a shout out for Gumbo Ya-Ya (now I want that for lunch today...) because of the awesome flavor found in their dishes that I prefer to other cajun places in town. Another great place downtown is Sawyer's, which is like a burger joint with a topping bar. The chips are awesome and you don't even have to get the fries for it to be a good meal, you can choose to sit in the area where you serve yourself, or another smaller area where you can be waited on by a server.