The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Cactus Club Cafe
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Rank 3. Botanist
Contemporary
Chef Hector Laguna's departure hasn't dulled Botanist's edge—its hand-cut tagliatelle with foraged mushrooms and sourdough chicken remain assured and bold. The adjacent bar laboratory engineers whimsical cocktails like the Raincouver, topped with an edible cloud, alongside a sophisticated gin martini built with kombu and sea asparagus.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best International Hotel Bar
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Rank 4. Prophecy
Cocktail Bar
A basement bar in the Hotel Georgia where beverage director Jeff Savage engineers deceptively simple cocktails through months of development, layering unexpected ingredients like beeswax-washed whisky and yuzu kosho. Digital art and Afro House Noir soundtrack a moody, sexy space that honors a century of the room's transformations.
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · International Bartender of the Year · Jeff Savage
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
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Rank 5. Sushi Hyun
Omakase Sushi
Chef Juhyun Lee's six-seat counter unfolds as a spare, ceremonial space where Japanese luxury meets understated Korean inflection through impeccable edomae omakase. The hinoki wood gleams; the fish speaks; service dissolves into attentiveness itself.
- Air Canada 2025 · Best Design · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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Rank 6. H Tasting Lounge
Vancouver
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- VineRoutes 2025 · Vine Award Winners · Restaurant Awards
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
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A waterfront tower where Asian and Pacific Northwest design merge beneath soaring lobbies lit by sculptural installations and lined with local photography. The hotel's restaurants and lounges draw Vancouverites as readily as travelers, anchored in a building that announces the city's cultural confidence the moment you step inside.
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide Selected Hotels
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Pastry Chef of the Year · Kate Siegel
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Rank 8. Elisa
Steakhouse
In Yaletown, a steakhouse where the adjacent butcher shop isn't decoration but doctrine: every cut sourced from BC ranches and beyond, Japanese wagyu for the serious spender. Start with Dungeness crab spring rolls or tartare—smoked bison, vegetables, traditional—then the bone-in Vancouver cut, seared and confident, or beef Wellington if you want theater with your protein.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World's 101 Best #32 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Hanna Flodström
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Rank 9. The Keefer Bar
Chinese Cocktail Bar
Behind backlit anatomical charts, a Chinatown bar channels traditional Chinese medicine into cocktails—durian and baijiu meet rum in a Colada; turkey tail mushroom deepens a Daiquiri. Crystal-clear house ice, funky DJ sets, and dim sum from neighboring dumpling shops complete the prescription.
- 50 Best 2026 · #7 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
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Rank 10. Boulevard
Seafood
Executive chef Roger Ma elevates pristine seafood—charcoal-grilled sablefish, blue fin tuna—with restrained modern technique and Asian inflection. An opulent room of marble and leather surrounds a versatile menu where house-made pasta and impeccable oysters command equal attention.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #59 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Restaurant Awards: Pastry Chef of the Year · Kenta Takahashi of Boulevard
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Rank 11. Hawksworth
Contemporary
Chef David Hawksworth's restaurant occupies an elegant corner of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, all shimmering chandeliers and wine-lined walls where the clientele gleams as much as the décor. His cooking traffics in restrained luxury—a mushroom consommé with matsutake and foie gras, agnolotti that balances hazelnut and umami—the kind of refinement that doesn't announce itself.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant
- Air Canada 2011 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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Rank 12. AnnaLena
Contemporary
Chef Mike Robbins's tasting menu evolves dish by dish, weaving seasonal B.C. ingredients with global accents and whimsical playfulness—oyster with foie gras, charcoal-cooked black cod in green curry. The relaxed room, dressed in nostalgic tchotchkes against navy walls, pairs refined cooking with Reverie Beall's adventurous wine list.
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Rank 13. Okeya Kyujiro
Omakase Japanese
A dark room lit by votive candles holds its curtain until your appointed moment arrives, revealing an omakase where seasonal fish and theatrical gestures—sasagiri carving, uni from competing waters—blur the line between meal and ceremony. The crispy tempura sandbar fish and flower-shaped wagashi suggest a kitchen that serves beauty as seriously as flavor.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Japanese
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Rank 14. Bacchus
European-inspired New American
Nestled in the Wedgewood Hotel's hushed lobby, Bacchus wraps you in marble and candlelight while chef Stefan Hartmann serves European cooking with local spine—foie gras terrine with roasted plum, prawns in lobster bisque. The wine list ranges globally; the martinis are formidable.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #67 · Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 15. St. Lawrence
Québécois French
Chef J-C Poirier rotates themed menus at this intimate Vancouver room, reframing French-Canadian classics through seasonal lenses—sugar shack fare in winter, bourgeois bistro cooking in spring. The cooking is refined and ingredient-driven, the wine list focused on small organic producers, the kitchen visible and its aromas inescapable.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2018 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best French Cuisine Restaurant
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Rank 16. L’Abattoir
West Coast French
L'Abattoir pairs French technique with BC ingredients in a warmly lit Gastown mezzanine that feels more convivial than formal. Baked oysters and Fraser Valley duck anchor a menu where even dessert—a buttery mille-feuille with salted honey—shows restrained elegance.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Air Canada 2011 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Contemporary
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Rank 17. Blue Water Cafe
Seafood
Frank Pabst has spent decades perfecting the fundamentals at Blue Water Cafe, where a swordfish might arrive cooked to a temperature most chefs only talk about achieving. The service reads your mind before you need anything, which is the kind of polish you'd expect from a fine-dining seafood room that somehow stays unfussy.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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Rank 18. Nook
Italian
A casual neighborhood Italian spot that somehow feels like a local favorite everywhere it opens, with standbys like rigatoni boscaiola and port-glazed chicken liver crostini that justify the repeat visits. The specials—particularly the tomato-forward pastas when summer produce peaks—are where the chef's actual thinking shows through.
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 19. Kissa Tanto
Fusion
In a Chinatown walkup outfitted like a 1960s Tokyo jazz café—rose banquettes, soft light, steely walls—chef Joël Watanabe executes Japanese-Italian fusion with the precision of fine dining. Charcoal udon with Dungeness crab, hand-cut tajarin with miso egg, tiramisu inflected with plum wine: each dish suggests a kitchen fluent in both traditions and committed to seasonal restraint.
- Air Canada 2016 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #15 · Best Restaurants
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Rank 20. Miku
Japanese
Harbor views frame a kitchen where French and Italian techniques enliven Japanese foundations, with Ocean Wise seafood paired against refined sauces that feel neither fussy nor expensive. The aburi salmon oshi sushi—wild sockeye, jalapeño, house-made condiment—arrives as something between technique and emotion, the kind of dish that makes you understand why people keep coming back.
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Fine Dining Experience
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual Japanese
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Rank 21. Le Crocodile
French
Rob Feenie has restored Le Crocodile with a lighter hand than expected: the dining room glows with blonde woods and natural light, the French classics—Dover sole, foie gras terrine, poulet à la crème—remain, but their sauces have thinned and their edges sharpened with subtle Asian inflection. This is Feenie's Lumière sensibility applied to an institution, rather than a repudiation of it.
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #26 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame · Michel Jacob
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best French
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Rank 22. Tetsu
Omakase Sushi
Three counter seats, two chefs, and a stripped-down philosophy: no gold leaf or showmanship, just impeccable fish and careful technique. A meal unfolds through poached mackerel with mountain potato, tender octopus in soy-dashi, and nigiri of aged snapper and creamy cutlass fish. Restraint as a form of respect.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Japanese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Japanese
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Rank 23. Mount Pleasant Vintage & Provisions
Cocktail Bar
Wood-fired grill and vintage shop rolled into one, Mount Pleasant mixes retro aesthetics with cocktails that defy their nostalgic setting—the Shiso Fancy layers tequila, apricot, yogurt and shiso into something thoughtfully strange. Crisp snacks arrive in lunch boxes; the drinks are for adults, but the whole room feels like permission to play.
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- 50 Best 2026 · #91 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 24. Mott 32
Chinese
A soaring downtown dining room with polished service sets the stage for Mott 32's refined Chinese cuisine, where the famed applewood-roasted Peking duck shares the spotlight with delicate hot-and-sour soup dumplings. The kitchen moves beyond showstoppers to excel at the small things—stir-fried broccoli with ginkgo and red dates, mapo tofu with lobster—with enough swagger to remind you this is a special-occasion room that doesn't take itself too seriously.
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · Top 50 Honourees · Elite 30 Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Chinese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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Within the Fairmont Pacific Rim's soaring lobby, this lounge pairs nightly live music and a two-sided fireplace with a marble bar serving composed sushi and braised local octopus. The room trades pretense for genuine comfort, letting both the space and the seafood speak plainly.
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 26. Nightingale
Wood-fired Pizza
The lofty dining room draws business crowds at lunch, but Nightingale works equally well for casual dinners with friends—a place where rustic, seasonal cooking from a wood-fired oven (blistered Neapolitan pizzas, roasted sweet potatoes with xo sauce) and a roster of shareable plates feel neither fussy nor precious. Desserts like peaches-and-cream cheesecake complete the meal without ceremony.
- Air Canada 2016 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Sommelier of the Year · Chris Rielly
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Informal Contemporary
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Rank 27. Five Sails
Pacific-Northwestern
The white tablecloths and inlet views belong to another era, but Alex Kim's cooking pulls Five Sails firmly into the present with playful technique and real respect for Pacific ingredients. Scallops and lobster prawn bisque land with precision, and even the tricks—like a trompe l'oeil oyster shell—feel genuinely delightful rather than show-offy.
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Rank 28. Nook
Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 29. Bufala Edgemont Village
Contemporary Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 31. Fat Mao
Thai Noodles
Fat Mao Noodles is a casual counter spot where Angus An sends out bold Thai-style broths and noodles that taste like they're made with actual conviction. The hot and sour pork noodle bowls are the thing that keeps people coming back, though the rotating signature soups suggest it's worth ordering something different each time.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
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Rank 32. Bagheera
Indian-inspired Cocktail Bar
Behind a defunct betting parlor's storefront lies a speakeasy where barrel vaults lined with horseshoes and palm-tree murals evoke Victorian India. Cocktails like To Frighten a Mongoose and The Braggart arrive alongside curries and pakoras, each element orchestrated to suspend disbelief.
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- 50 Best 2026 · #59 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Cocktail Experience
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Rank 33. Homer St. Cafe
Contemporary American
Homer Street's brick dining room—casual furniture doing double duty as wall art—pivots on a rotisserie chicken brined overnight in house sauce, its skin crisped and glazed with gravy or ranch alongside buttermilk biscuits. The kitchen treats comfort food as a discipline rather than an afterthought, finishing the meal with cheesecake layered in white chocolate, almonds, and quince.
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 34. Giardino
Tuscan Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame · Umberto Menghi
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Bobby Copiak
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Italian
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Rank 35. Moltaqa
Moroccan
Moltaqa tucks into a warren of intimate nooks on Mainland Street, where Moroccan hospitality unfolds through warm service and lingering conversation. A chicken pastilla arrives flaky and dome-shaped, its phyllo shell dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar, sweet against savory—a dish that justifies the pilgrimage.
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best African and Diaspora
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best African and Diaspora
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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Rank 36. Sumibiyaki Arashi
Yakitori Japanese
Peter Ho tends a 14-seat binchō-tan grill with the focus of a monk, rotating heritage chicken skewers inches from the coals until skin crisps and meat yields to the gentlest pressure. The omakase unfolds across impeccably butchered cuts—thigh, heart, oyster—each one glossed with a decades-old tare that tastes less like seasoning than like time itself.
- Canada's 100 Best 2025 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
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Rank 37. Sushi Masuda
Sushi
Six seats behind a print shop, Chef Yoji Masuda constructs sushi with Tokyo precision and quiet confidence. Each course—from monkfish liver to pristine nigiri—moves with the grace of someone uninterested in grandeur.
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Rank 38. Chinatown BBQ
Barbecue
A neighbourhood spot with vintage art on the walls and a steady crowd of regulars, Chinatown BBQ does unfussy Chinese barbecue that's equally good eaten straight from a takeout box or shared family-style around a lazy Susan. The barbecued pork is the everyday star, but if you're after something special, order the Chef's Secret barbecued goose a couple of days ahead.
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #28 · Elite 30 Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Jason Ye
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
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The dining room glows with gold leaf and modernist angles, a century-and-a-half heritage distilled into glass and brass. The roasted duck arrives mahogany-dark and shatteringly skin-first, but the kitchen moves with equal precision through delicate broths, sautéed greens, sea cucumber—each dish executed with the restraint of a place confident in its own name.
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Chinese Cuisine Restaurant
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #15 · Elite 30 Canada
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Rank 40. Yasma
Syrian/Lebanese Middle Eastern
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
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Rank 41. Maruhachi Ra-men
Noodles
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 42. Bao Bei
Chinese
Chef Joël Watanabe's brasserie at the edge of Chinatown trades tradition for invention, elevating humble Chinese classics with precise technique and unexpected elements—fried rice studded with prawns and bitter melon, mantou buns layered with braised pork and miso-serrano aioli. The cooking is playful without being precious, grounded in quality ingredients and a genuine understanding of flavor.
- Air Canada 2010 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
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Rank 43. June
Bistro French
A seductive red room by Héctor Esrawe houses French bistro cooking of technical precision—the Pasta for Rachel, a sheet studded with Comté and oozing Normandy butter, epitomizes the decadent restraint. Downstairs, the listening bar Lala serves cocktails like the Noisette Manhattan, a browned-butter riff orchestrated by Keefer Bar veterans, making the pilgrimage to Cambie Village worthwhile.
- 50 Best 2026 · #17 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Canada's 100 Best 2025 · #4 · Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Canada
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Rank 44. Dosanko
Yoshoku-Style Japanese
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Akiyo Lowey
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Japanese
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Japanese
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At Kavita, Tushar Tondvalkar pursues Indian cooking with unshowy precision. Charcoal-grilled chicken arrives in a silken malai sauce; goat and lentils fold into haleem crowned with crisp alliums and heat. The kitchen operates without fanfare, letting technique and restraint speak for themselves.
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #96 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best New Restaurant
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Rank 46. Chambar
Belgian
- VineRoutes 2025 · Award of Distinction · Restaurant Awards
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Date Night Restaurant
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Brunch Experience
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Rank 47. Maenam
Thai
The kitchen at Maenam treats Thai fundamentals—tom yum, panang curry—as starting points for something more exacting, building dishes around pristine local fish and seasonal produce until familiar flavors achieve an almost unbearable clarity. The room is unpretentious, the plating modest, but every plate speaks to a chef who understands that restraint and precision matter more than flourish.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Chef of the Year · Angus An
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
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Rank 48. Dynasty
Cantonese Chinese
Dynasty Seafood trades in the theatrical confidence of live tanks and classical dim sum, where steamed dumplings and crab-and-fish-maw soup arrive with the precision of a well-oiled kitchen. Regulars who call ahead unlock off-menu specials that justify the pilgrimage to this elegant room.
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #1 · Elite 30 Canada
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Restaurant of the Year
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
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Rank 49. Elem
Contemporary
Vish Mayekar's cooking draws from global sources—Indian bhel, Mexican grilled fish, Middle Eastern spices—with unshowy precision and zero waste. The room's three distinct zones feel designed for contemplation, matching food that rewards close attention without performing.
- Air Canada 2025 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #80 · Best Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Hassib Sarwari
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Rank 50. Chupito
Mexican
Chupito feels like a back-alley discovery you'd text friends about, tucked into a covered outdoor spot on Yukon Street where the elevated Mexican cooking—tender sautéed octopus with capers and olives, charred lemon and jalapeño—tastes both refined and unpretentious. The cocktails are equally thoughtful, especially the Xochimilco, a temperature-shifting clarified milk punch spiked with mezcal and topped with hot horchata foam.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Bartender of the Year · Tara Davies
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Rank 51. Chang ‘An
Shaanxi Chinese
The dining room overlooks Vancouver's waterfront with the confidence of a stage set. Peking duck arrives tableside in a flourish of flambéed rum, its skin shattered into gold, the meat carved with ceremony before the bones yield a second act as peppery broth or rustic stir-fry. Hand-pulled noodles and roasted lamb anchor the Shaanxi repertoire for those who skip the drama.
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Rank 52. CinCin
Italian
CinCin's wood-fired kitchen and handmade pasta have anchored Robson Street for years, turning out Alberta lamb that's still pink and perfect alongside delicate rigatoni dressed with nothing more than stracciatella and restraint. It's a polished, grown-up spot where consistency matters more than novelty, and that reliability is exactly the point.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Italian
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Rank 53. Maxine's
European
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Winner · Best Brunch Experience
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Runner Up · Best Patio Experience
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Rank 54. Nook
Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 55. Meo
Cocktail Bar
Meo is a plush Chinatown cocktail bar that pairs velvet banquettes with hedonistic small plates—milk buns filled with curried potato, oysters in herb celery emulsion—that justify lingering over drinks. The cocktails lean vegetable-forward and inventive, the kind that rewire your thinking about what a carrotini can be.
- 50 Best 2026 · #64 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best New
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · New Venue of the Year
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Rank 56. Barbara
Contemporary
At the L-shaped bar of this East Pender kitchen, you watch Patrick Hennessy execute refined technique on local ingredients with invisible effort. Oysters crowned with Northern Divine caviar, eggplant crisped and dressed with honey and chermoula, broccolini beside toasted almond romesco—each plate arrives stripped of pretense, all flavor and precision.
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Rank 57. Zoomak
Modern Korean
Zoomak bills itself as a modern Korean tavern, but the kitchen does serious work: crisp-skinned pork bossam comes with housemade kimchi, and the seafood soup and pork belly ssam justify the buzz. The vibe is warm and convivial with cocktails in hand, priced and pitched for a night out rather than a quiet reset.
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Korean
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Korean
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Korean
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- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Patio Experience
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Patios
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 59. Nero Tondo
Farm-to-table New American
Devon Latté and Lucas Johnston build their cooking around British Columbia's seasonal bounty, where a bowl of kohlrabi might arrive glossed with caramelized honey and makrut lime, and albacore tuna speaks for itself across two preparations. The wine list honors the same provincial commitment, and in this small room of counter and table seats, the restraint feels intentional.
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Informal Contemporary
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Rank 62. Burdock & Co
Contemporary
Andrea Carlson's corner room on Main Street moves through the seasons with thematic precision—June's florals yield to October's bitter greens and Salt Spring Island citrus—each plate a study in ingredient clarity. A celeriac akimono glazed in yuzu or tuna with fermented rosehip and sudachi arrives as the culmination of that philosophy, accomplished and inventive in equal measure.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2013 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #33 · Best Restaurants
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Rank 64. Oku Izakaya
Izakaya Japanese
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Japanese
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Japanese
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- Sprudge The Sprudge Guide To Coffee Shops In Vancouver, BC
- Sprudge The Sprudge Guide To Coffee Shops In Vancouver, BC
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Wine Bars
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 67. Nook
Italian
Nook is a casual Italian spot where you can grab a bowl of housemade pasta and a glass of wine without ceremony or fuss. The kitchen keeps things straightforward—think seasonal vegetables, quality ingredients, and the kind of food that tastes like someone actually wants to feed you well.
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 68. Fat Mao
Thai-Style Noodles
Fat Mao is a casual noodle counter in Chinatown where chef Angus An cooks Thai-style bowls that taste far more composed than the stripped-down setting suggests. Order the nham ngeaw—a tomato broth piled with pork ribs, vermicelli, and fried garlic—and watch your dining partner reconsider what "chill" actually means.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Casual
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Rank 69. Fanny Bay Oyster Bar
Seafood
At Fanny Bay Oyster Bar, the raw bar gleams with oysters from the restaurant's own farms, while grilled specimens arrive hot and buttery, topped with herb gremolata. The sablefish collar—crisped and sided with peppadew and shishito—confirms a kitchen that treats seafood as something alive, not mere protein.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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Rank 70. PiDGiN
Contemporary
Local art and soft industrial lighting warm a dining room where the kitchen treats flavor combinations as a kind of playful provocation—Korean rice cakes in gochujang bolognese with spiced hazelnuts, Thai curry cod empanadas—that somehow transcend their own audacity and land, convincingly, on the plate.
- Air Canada 2013 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 71. Laowai
Shanghai Cocktail Bar
Behind a hidden freezer door in a Chinatown dumpling shop lies a teal-and-gold 1920s Shanghai fantasy. Laowai stocks Canada's largest baijiu collection and pairs the assertive spirit with original cocktails—the Beijing Bikini reimagines piña colada through its lens—while first-rate dumplings anchor the experience. A speakeasy that refuses frivolity.
- 50 Best 2026 · #72 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada
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Rank 72. Maruhachi Ra-men
Japanese Noodles
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 73. Ask For Luigi
Pasta Italian
A corner cabin with thirty-two seats where the pasta arrives in portions built for sharing—pappardelle weighted with duck ragù, bigoli crowded with shellfish. The wine list stays Italian, the meatballs are a test of appetite, and everything suggests a kitchen that understands generosity as a form of hospitality.
- Air Canada 2014 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver
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Rank 74. Oddfish
Seafood
Behind the scaffolding of a perpetually bustling Kitsilano corner sits an elevated-casual seafood spot where pasta vongole and ceviche draw locals and tourists alike. Staff in Hawaiian shirts work the beach-chic dining room, with a rotating catch-of-the-day sheet that keeps things constantly fresh.
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Seafood
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Rank 75. The Mackenzie Room
Contemporary
A narrow downtown room with concrete and steel serves seasonal dishes built on local ingredients and a wry sensibility—kelp preparations and house-cured proteins arrive in generous portions, the kitchen's ambitions tempered by restraint. Tasting menus shift with the market and your party size; cocktails match the kitchen's playful precision. The vibe is relaxed, the cooking unshowy but serious.
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Rank 76. Tasty Indian Bistro
Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
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Rank 77. Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese Chinese
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best After-Work Hang
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Rank 79. Published on Main
Contemporary New American
In a bright room edged with greenery on Main Street, Chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson builds dishes from fermented condiments, foraged ingredients, and West Coast precision—squash roasted and pickled, shrimp barely cooked beside apple and cucumber. The tasting menu and bar menu both deliver the same revelatory sense of timing, where seasonality isn't philosophy but practice.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- 50 Best 2025 · #28 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
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Rank 80. Folke
Vegetarian
In a small Kitsilano room of deep blue walls and seaweed pressings, Colin Uyeda and Pricilla Deo serve plant-based cooking that moves beyond vegetables into genuine revelation. The cabbage in potato mole arrives tender and crunchy at once, proof that restraint and technique can transform what arrives on the plate.
- Air Canada 2023 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Plant-Based
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Elizabeth Blau - Blau + Associates
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Runner Up · Best Hotel Lounge Experience
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Nightclub of the Year
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Rank 82. Jungle Room
Rainforest
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Rank 83. Niwa
Japanese
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Informal Contemporary
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- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best After-Work Hang
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Rank 86. Delara
Modern Persian
Chef Bardia Ilbeiggi's Persian cooking balances tartness, freshness, and warmth—a bowl of aush with barley and legumes could stand alone, yet the beef short rib's tangy depth demands attention. The dining room, suffused with natural light and local Iranian art, feels both calm and alive.
- Air Canada 2022 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Middle Eastern
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Rank 87. Casa Molina
Spanish
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Editor’s Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Date Night
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Mediterranean
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best New
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best After-Work Hang
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Rank 89. Phnom Penh
Vietnamese
Since 1985, Phnom Penh has anchored Chinatown with a nearly encyclopedic menu of Vietnamese and Cambodian classics that rewards repeat visits and casual ordering—the thin-sliced beef in pineapple and fish sauce (#71) alone justifies the inevitable wait. Fried chicken wings dusted in salt, pepper, and sugar, alongside beef luc lac with fried egg, form the skeleton of meals that overflow the table.
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Rank 91. Ban Bu Xian
Sichuan Chinese
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Rank 93. Suyo
Modern Peruvian
A spare storefront opens onto a plant-filled dining room where Peruvian cuisine arrives refined but unhurried. Hamachi tiradito and arroz con pato with duck confit demonstrate technical restraint that lets ingredient and sauce speak.
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Air Canada 2023 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
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Rank 94. Song
Thai
On East Broadway, Song channels Thai cooking through an idiosyncratic lens: lemongrass wings arrive deep-fried and fragrant, pad Thai stakes a claim on savory perfection, and northern laab blooms with the push-pull of fish sauce and lime against tender pork. The kitchen works from regional ingredients with evident invention, turning familiar dishes into something you won't find elsewhere.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
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Rank 95. Lunch Lady
Vietnamese
The fluorescent glow of Lunch Lady on Commercial Drive reveals a straightforward counter operation where Chef Nguyen Thi Thanh's Vietnamese cooking inspires genuine ambivalence—not from doubt, but from abundance. Fried black tiger prawns arrive glossy with fish sauce; garlic noodles coil with casual precision; wagyu beef broth deepens with time. The real challenge is choosing what to forgo.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Vietnamese
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Rank 97. Vij’s
Indian
Vikram Vij still works the room at his thirty-year-old temple to Indian fine dining, where wine-marinated lamb and paneer curries arrive with the precision of haute cuisine. The cocktails are inventive, the spices articulate, and the owner's belief in his cuisine's place at the table remains unshaken.
- Air Canada 2013 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Indian
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best French
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Rank 99. Ophelía
Mexican
Ophelía's dining room gleams with murals and carved color, a visual feast matching what arrives on the plate. Francisco Higareda cooks his mother's pan-regional Mexican repertoire with precision: corn-crusted octopus swimming in Oaxacan mole blanco, tacos built on locally made tortillas, tres leches cake that tastes like memory. The margaritas are worth the wait for a table.
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Rank 100. Unchai
Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Thai