The Top 100 Places to Eat and Drink Near Maha's
-
Rank 1. Maha's
Egyptian Middle Eastern
Maha Barsoom's Leslieville cafe smells of cardamom and butter, a small homesick shrine to Cairo where you climb to the counter and wait without a reservation. The lentil soup arrives in a warm bowl, vinegar onions and charred pita conspiring to prove why she opened the place at all.
-
-
Rank 3. Puerto Bravo
Mexican
A cramped Mexican seafood counter on Gerrard turns out crisp tostadas and tacos built around octopus and shrimp with minimal fuss and maximum spice. The wera tostada's macha mayo and the charbroiled octopus with poblanos arrive bold and exact, finishing with a creamy carlota.
-
Rank 4. Ricky + Olivia
Creative
The dining room sprawls in cheerful compartments, its walls collecting art and whimsy like a cabinet of curios. Chefs Ricky Casipe and Olivia Simpson assemble plates that prioritize pleasure over logic—roasted carrots crowned with bay leaf ice cream, kofta dressed in rhubarb yogurt—and the effect is a restaurant that refuses solemnity.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Foodism 2025 · Local Icons · ICON Awards · Ricky Casipe, Olivia Simpson and Adrian Proszowski
-
At Civil Works, thematic cocktail menus unfold like curatorial projects—the current program traces Toronto's Garment District through drinks named after its history and served on fabric swatches sourced from nearby mills. The ambition never curdles into pretension; a mad-scientist spirit animates even the Jell-O shots, each one a small experiment in flavor and concept.
- 50 Best 2025 · Best Cocktail Menu Award
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · International Bartender of the Year · Elise Hanson
- 50 Best 2026 · #29 · North America's 50 Best Bars
-
-
Rank 7. The Wood Owl
Contemporary
A narrow room lined with wine bottles glows in sepia tones at this unpretentious Danforth wine bar. The small menu skews vegetable-forward—roasted carrots with green goddess, fried polenta with romesco—but weekly beef specials arrive with shoestring fries that justify their own pilgrimage. Nothing here strains; everything lands.
-
Rank 8. Que Ling Restaurant
Vietnamese
-
-
Rank 10. Don Alfonso 1890
Elevated Italian
Forty stories above Toronto, floor-to-ceiling windows frame the city and waterfront while Davide Ciavattella's eight-course tasting menu commands the view. Wild-rose tagliatelle with eel gelato sits alongside seared duck and porchetta with honey glaze—a vision that layers Amalfi Coast tradition with local precision. This is a room built for occasions that demand a certain formality.
- 50 Top Italy 2025 · #10 · The Best Italian Restaurants In The World
- AAA Four Diamonds
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Fine Dining Experience
-
Rank 11. Restaurant Tiflisi
Central Asian
In the Beaches, the Pkhakadze family cooks Georgian food with uncommon care—cold leek salad yields to khachapuri, a bread cradle of melted cheese and egg yolk that announces itself as pure comfort. Lamb khinkali and kebabs follow in portions built for sharing, each plate seasoned with the kind of confidence that suggests a kitchen cooking from memory.
-
Rank 12. Reign
Canadian
- AAA Four Diamonds
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 1 Pin
- VineRoutes 2025 · Vine Award Winners · Restaurant Awards
-
Rank 13. Library Bar
Cocktail Bar
A jewel-toned Deco den in The Fairmont Royal York where tableside martinis have been poured for half a century, anchored by a literary obsession with Toronto's own history. Beverage director James Grant crafts cocktails inspired by Michael Ondaatje's novels with the precision of a 2021 World Class champion.
- 50 Best 2026 · Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best International Hotel Bar
- 50 Best 2026 · #19 · North America's 50 Best Bars
-
Rank 14. Louix Louis
European
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · Canada's Best Hotel Restaurant
-
Rank 15. Osteria Giulia
Ligurian Italian
Candlelight softens cream walls and blond oak at Chef Rob Rossi's assured dining room, where a poised staff moves with quiet confidence. The menu pivots on Liguria's seafood traditions—vitello tonnato arrives ethereal, snow crab tagliolini gleams with bottarga—while a deep Italian wine list and exceptional cocktails complete an experience of real refinement and warmth.
- 50 Top Italy 2025 · #50 · The Best Italian Restaurants In The World
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Italian Cuisine Restaurant
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
-
Rank 16. TOCA
Traditional Italian
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
- Air Canada 2011 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
-
Rank 17. Canoe
Contemporary New American
A sleek tasting room suspended above the city, where the kitchen's ambition matches the view. Wild Pacific halibut arrives with Savoy cabbage and champagne cream; lamb saddle comes paired with its braised shoulder. Service operates with the precision of a practiced institution, and the tarte au sucre closes the evening with quiet confidence.
-
Rank 18. White Lily Diner
Creative
A bright yellow corner diner where the kitchen smokes its own bacon, bakes biscuits and donuts from scratch, and grows vegetables out back—a working reminder of what diners can be when they commit to doing things right. The hash browns arrive impossibly light, sandwiches built on house bread justify their own meal, and breakfast anchors a menu that treats every hour with equal care.
-
Rank 19. DaNico
Fine Dining Italian
A historic bank vaults into fine dining: dark walls, linen, plush seats, and irreverent art strike an unlikely balance between formality and playfulness. Chef Daniele Corona's Italian cooking—anchored by Ontario produce and refined with almost kaiseki precision—reveals itself in details like spaghettoni boiled in mushroom extract and crab finished tableside with Sicilian olive oil.
- 50 Top Italy 2025 · #3 · The Best Italian Restaurants In The World
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
-
Rank 20. aKin
Asian
Chef Eric Chong's aKin assembles a 10-course tasting menu at a spare, elegantly lit counter, reimagining classic Asian dishes with ingredients sourced across Canada. A raw oyster arrives with jellyfish and horseradish buttermilk; madai, grilled over binchō-tan, meets sauerkraut and mala consommé. His cooking balances spice with lightness, precision with invention.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #27 · Best Restaurants
-
Rank 21. Scaramouche
Traditional French
Descend into what feels like a basement and emerge into a dining room suspended above the Toronto skyline, where Keith Froggett's classical French kitchen has held steady since 1983. Foie gras terrine with sour cherry, rabbit loin wrapped in bacon—the menu trades novelty for rigor, each plate an argument for why some things need not change.
-
Rank 22. Café Boulud
Luxe French
- AAA Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
- Air Canada 2013 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
-
Rank 23. Yan Dining Room
Chinese
Chef Eva Chin serves an eight-course tasting menu three nights weekly, weaving seasonal Canadian ingredients through regional Chinese traditions with restless fusion sensibility. The private dining room demands advance planning but rewards with dishes that feel both rooted and inventive.
- Air Canada 2025 · Best Concept · Best New Restaurants
- Air Canada 2025 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · Recommends
-
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 1 Pin
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
-
Rank 25. One Restaurant
French/Italian
-
Rank 26. Sushi Masaki Saito
Omakase Sushi
Masaki Saito presides over a hinoki counter in a temple-like space, his hands moving with the deliberation of ritual as he seasons rice and sources treasures from Japan's waters with connections few chefs possess. Each piece—whether topped with uni or buried under white truffles—arrives as a small revelation, the evening orchestrated to make you forget everything beyond this room.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Japanese Cuisine Restaurant
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #52 · Best Restaurants
-
Rank 27. Alo
Contemporary
Patrick Kriss's renovated dining room pairs European technique with Asian flourishes across a surprise tasting menu, the marble chefs counter offering ringside views of an unhurried kitchen. The bar treats walk-ins like regulars, and the whole place hums with the confidence of a restaurant that has learned not to take itself seriously.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #7 · Best Restaurants
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best French Cuisine Restaurant
-
Rank 28. SAMMARCO
Steakhouse
Sammarco arrives as a steakhouse unafraid of elaboration: oxblood leather banquettes and gold leaf frame Ontario beef dry-aged sixty days alongside composed salads and theatrical seafood. The tableside Martini trolley and polished desserts suggest a restaurant that treats restraint as a suggestion, not a doctrine.
- Canada's 100 Best 2025 · #7 · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #37 · Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
Rank 29. Azura
Mediterranean Cuisine
Warm honeyed light and a central bar frame Chef Adam Ryan's seasonal tasting menu of Mediterranean dishes—striking canapés, a short rib tagine arranged with care—where locally foraged ingredients meet considered wine and cocktail pairings in a neighborhood space that feels both ambitious and unhurried.
-
Rank 30. Quetzal
Mexican
A 10-metre grill dominates this sleek dining room where chef Steven Molnar builds nearly every dish around open flame and ember, from daily-ground corn tortillas to grilled secreto and charred scallops with popcorn and Tajín. Eight years in, Quetzal's upscale Mexican cuisine rewards the discipline this primal cooking demands, its flavours crackling with smoke and sophistication.
- 50 Best 2025 · #11 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #4 · Best Restaurants
-
Rank 31. Pompette
French Cocktail Bar
A Parisian-style cocktail bar where bentwood chairs and a marble counter frame drinks built on unexpected flavors—curry leaf and rum, masala chai with cognac. The bartenders' research and restraint make even their most baroque combinations feel effortless and clear.
- 50 Best 2025 · Art of Hospitality Award
- 50 Best 2025 · #55 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 50 Best 2026 · #8 · North America's 50 Best Bars
-
-
Rank 33. Bar Raval
Spanish
The mahogany cocoon wraps around communal tables where diners lose hours over house-cured jamón and pintxos, the room itself as essential as what arrives on the plate. Smith's kitchen and Figueiredo's drinks program—vermouth-forward cocktails, a deep sherry list—keep the place vital across its second decade.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best International Restaurant Bar
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #10 · Best Bars
- Air Canada 2015 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
-
-
Rank 35. Opus Restaurant
Global
-
Rank 36. Enigma
Contemporary
Sam Corkum, an Alo alumnus, commands this Yorkville kitchen with restrained sophistication—a scallop arrives with potato chowder and spicy XO oil, nothing wasted. The eight-course tasting menu unfolds with Nordic and Japanese influences in careful balance, each plate a study in complementary flavors and deliberate texture.
-
Rank 37. Edulis
Spanish Mediterranean
A modest house on Niagara Street where Michael Caballo and Tobey Nemeth cook the tasting menu with the discipline of classical European dining, phones off, table yours for the evening. Impeccable seafood and house-cured charcuterie speak to their debt to Spain and France, down to the crusty red fife bread and langoustine tartare that justifies the ritual.
- Air Canada 2012 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Mediterranean Cuisine Restaurant
-
Rank 38. Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto
Kaiseki Japanese
You navigate narrow corridors to private dining rooms where Chef Masaki Hashimoto's kaiseki unfolds with seasonal precision—kinmedai soups, bamboo shoots with shima-aji, grilled Miyazaki wagyu. The cooking favors restraint and clarity over spectacle, each course balanced and complete, a philosophy matched by the hushed, intimate setting and carefully chosen sake pairings.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Japanese Cuisine Restaurant
-
Rank 39. Alder
Wood-Fired Mediterranean
Dark brick and tall windows frame Patrick Kriss's Mediterranean kitchen at ground level of the Ace hotel, where a serious brigade works a wood-fired program around roast chicken, lamb, and beef. The cucumber salad—shaved fennel, dukkah, hazelnuts—outshines its reputation, and the coconut cream pie arrives almost weightless.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
Rank 40. Lucie
French
Yannick Bigourdan named this French restaurant for his grandmother, and her influence settles into the warm dining room like soft light filtering through pendant fixtures above an open kitchen. The cooking is rooted in classical technique but tilted toward the present—the cocktails, too, carry a French sensibility.
-
Rank 41. Lai Wah Heen
Cantonese Chinese
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Recommended
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · Top 50 Honourees · Elite 30 Canada
-
Rank 42. MIMI Chinese
Regional Chinese
Lipstick-red banquettes and dim light frame David Schwartz's polished take on regional Chinese cooking, where shrimp toast and four-foot belt noodles arrive with the precision of fine dining. The kitchen handles high-quality ingredients and refined technique without ceremony, leaving room for the chef's judgment and a wine list that knows what it's doing.
- Air Canada 2022 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Chinese Restaurant Awards 2025 · #12 · Elite 30 Canada
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · Recommends
-
Rank 43. Suite 115
Cocktail Bar
Suite 115 hides behind a publicly posted code, its long bar staffed by owners who craft drinks like an Ackee & Saltfish Martini with theatrical precision. Warm lighting and food-forward cocktails served with playful sides—mango rice cake, homemade lollipops—reward those who enter.
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- 50 Best 2026 · #74 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Canada
-
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Landmark Restaurant
- VineRoutes 2025 · Vine Award Winners · Restaurant Awards
-
Rank 45. KAPPO SATO
Japanese
Chef Takeshi Sato orchestrates a kinetic counter experience where a young team moves in controlled chaos, guided by his knife work and command of Japanese ingredients flown daily from across the water. Dashi broths anchor clever pivots—tempura mackerel with shiso, seared toro with scallion—that feel less ceremonial than instinctual.
- Air Canada 2023 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · North America's Best Japanese Cuisine Restaurant
-
Rank 46. Jacobs & Co
Steakhouse
A sleek steakhouse in CIBC Square where bookmatched veneer and marble converge beneath a live pianist's touch. The kitchen moves deftly between raw bar seafood and an austere selection of aged beef—striploins sourced from Canada, Australia, Japan—while warm popovers studded with garlic and oregano arrive unbidden. This is a room built for the kind of meal that wants both ambition and grace.
-
A cramped, cluttered shrine to cocktail irreverence that outlasted its parent restaurant by reinventing itself without losing the Absinthe Whip. Fifteen years on, it still mixes housemade classics with playful new drinks like the agave-based Deep Cut.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #49 · Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
-
Rank 48. Evangeline
Cocktail Bar
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
-
Rank 49. Restaurant 20 Victoria
Contemporary Mexican
In a compact financial-district room with an open kitchen, chef Rafa Covarrubias delivers a tasting menu of vivid, finely executed Mexican cuisine—bluefin tuna with salsa macha, crisp-skinned Pekin duck with chilmole negro. The space is polished yet unstuffy, the service unhurried and warm, the experience calibrated to feel both sophisticated and genuinely at ease.
- Air Canada 2022 · #1 · Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #10 · Best Restaurants
-
Rank 50. Civil Liberties
Cocktail Bar
A no-menu speakeasy on Bloor West where bartenders construct custom cocktails from house-made liqueurs—herbal, bright, deliberately unconventional—in a room that swings from nerdy deep-dive to full dance floor depending on the hour. Civil operates like a neighbourhood bar with ambitions beyond the ordinary, unpretentious even when it's intellectually rigorous about what goes in the glass.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada
- 50 Best 2026 · #54 · North America's 50 Best Bars
-
Rank 51. Aburi Hana
Kyō-Kaiseki Japanese
Down a Yorkville staircase into austere, drama-free rooms where Chef Ryusuke Nakagawa's modern Kyō-Kaiseki unfolds on historic Arita porcelain—each plate a study in layered technique and color. The maguro flower, a rose of raw tuna in two cuts, and duck breast with foie gras and black truffle announce a kitchen thinking carefully about restraint and indulgence in equal measure.
-
A narrow College Street trattoria where owners Kolomeir and Imola fold Italo-Jewish culinary history into house-made pastas and charcoal-grilled secondi built from local vegetables and proteins. The liver toast—bridging Tuscan and Jewish traditions—and the rugelach on dessert charts suggest a kitchen working in deliberate conversation with two deep roots.
-
Massimo Zitti's fermentation-forward cocktails—kombucha, lacto-ferments, house distillates—anchor a bar where technique meets ingredient obsession. The minimal backbar and chiaroscuro lighting frame drinks like the Toasted Chai Piña Colada with a restrained elegance that feels earned rather than affected.
- 50 Best 2026 · #22 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Europe
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #48 · Best Bars
-
Rank 54. R&D
Fusion
In a Chinatown storefront born from a mentorship between two televised chefs, R&D serves dim sum and mains that blur continents without apology: sou pastries harboring foie gras, bao stuffed with kimchi and galbi, lobster poached in butter and finished with dashi. The cooking is playful rather than precious, more interested in what works than what's proper.
-
Rank 55. Linny’s
Jewish American Steakhouse
A mid-century steakhouse wrapped in golden light, where David Schwartz channels Jewish-American nostalgia through impeccably seared beef brushed with pastrami tallow and whole roasted lamb. The menu's intelligence—from chicken liver mousse on dark rye to kasha varnishkes—cuts through richness with pickles and a bar that builds cocktails from deli ingredients.
- Air Canada 2025 · Best Cocktail · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #14 · Best Restaurants
- Air Canada 2025 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
-
- 50 Best 2026 · #90 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Canada
-
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 62. Maven
Polish-Jewish Eastern European
-
Rank 63. Amal
Lebanese Middle Eastern
Amal's sleek dining room fills with weekend energy from belly dancers and DJs, drawing crowds for modern Lebanese mezze and grilled skewers executed with uncommon refinement. The halal menu balances authenticity with polish, from seared halloumi to a delightful kanafeh finale.
-
Rank 64. Le Swan
French
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- Air Canada 2019 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
-
Rank 65. Cherry Street Bar-B-Que
Barbecue
A 1920 bank marooned in construction now radiates warmth through its red neon, where pitmaster Lawrence La Pianta's Southern barbecue traditions—brisket, ribs, charred wings—emerge from a shipping-container smoker on the patio. The snappy sausage and judicious smoke speak to years spent on the Kansas City circuit, though weekend visitors should arrive early before the meat sells out.
-
Rank 66. XXX
Cocktail Bar
Down a staircase beneath Little Sister, a 20-seat speakeasy channels 1970s Amsterdam through groovy design and a bar stocked with outlier ingredients—carrot-cake-infused whisky, vermouth, sherry—mixed into high-concept cocktails by H, the barman who redesigned the space in 2023. Intimate, nervy, self-aware.
-
Rank 67. Sushi Yūgen
Omakase Sushi
At an eight-seat counter in the rear, Kyohei Igarashi orchestrates a kaiseki-inflected omakase of eighteen courses sourced entirely from Japan, where seasonal rarities like okoze arrive alongside a wine list tilted toward rarefied white Burgundies and Japanese whiskies found nowhere else in the country. The precision feels less like service and more like a conversation conducted in fish.
-
-
Rank 69. Mott 32
Elevated Chinese
-
Rank 70. Mhel
Japanese Fusion Korean
A modest storefront on a residential Toronto street conceals a kitchen where Korean-Japanese small plates rotate with the seasons, each one assembled with quiet precision from imported luxuries. The husband-and-wife team demonstrates particular mastery with fish—witness charcoal-grilled grouper finished with anchovy oil and karasumi—and a thoughtful sake list anchors the experience.
- 50 Best 2025 · #44 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Air Canada 2024 · Top 10 · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #30 · Best Restaurants
-
Rank 71. Sang-Ji Fried Bao
Chinese
-
Rank 72. Madrina Bar y Tapas
Spanish
In the Distillery District, Madrina occupies a converted industrial space where Catalan traditions meet contemporary swagger. The tapas menu swings between anchored classics—pan con tomate, rice pudding croquetas—and inventive riffs that trust their ingredients more than theatrics, backed by a Spanish wine list and a gin section that takes itself seriously.
-
Rank 73. Bar Mordecai
Cocktail Bar
Bar Mordecai orchestrates controlled chaos across two floors—a polished cocktail den above, karaoke den below—where the drinks swing from guava-chocolate hybrids to boozy soft-serve, and the fizzy wine list spans Champagne to sparkling sake. The calendar brims with bachata classes and drag-hosted bingo nights, creating a place less concerned with quiet romance than spirited revelry.
- 50 Best 2026 · #94 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
-
Rank 74. Prime Seafood Palace
Steakhouse
A pale wood cathedral softened by tan leather and civil-volume soundtrack, Matty Matheson's steakhouse has matured into a serious venue for special occasions and indulgent evenings alike. The Australian wagyu ribeye under black truffle and bordelaise, the Sicilian crudo, the inventive vegetables—each element settles into place with the confidence of a kitchen that knows exactly what it's doing.
- Air Canada 2022 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #41 · Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
In a slender room with a storied past, Chef Rebekah Bruce composes small plates where Filipino flavors—coconut, chili, the bite of kinilaw—surface alongside her own sensibility. The scallop arrives silken and sharp; the breads from the wood-fired oven are impossible to resist. Work is precise, portions modest, satisfaction complete.
-
The counter at Lonely Diner stretches beneath wood panelling and vintage paper, a refuge for regulars nursing cold beers and cocktails that drift toward the savory and strange—Szechuan peppercorn in a White Negroni, black garlic brine in the Martini. Greasy spoon classics get lifted: Atlantic cod arrives beneath yuzu-tartar and caviar. It's comfort food in conversation with itself.
-
A whitewashed brick gallery conceals a glowing curved bar where a bouncer guards the threshold and the crowd stays cool. The narrative-driven cocktail menu riffs on Toronto deep cuts and Yellow Pages nostalgia, executing even unlikely combinations—say, gin and Greek yogurt—with serious technique. This is a place where the art on the walls matters as much as what's in your glass.
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- 50 Best 2026 · #69 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada
-
A no-reservation bar on Bathurst that trades reservations and flair for candlelit informality and unpretentious food. Years of requests softened its stance on cocktails, though the place still refuses to genuflect to mixology theater.
-
Rank 79. Lunch Lady
Street Food Vietnamese
A cavernous room on Ossington hums with the energy of a Vietnamese street kitchen transplanted through Vancouver and now run by Benedict Lim and chef Allan Lu. The late Nguyen Thi Thanh's recipes—crispy shrimp with nuoc cham, eggplant glazed in tamarind and soy—land somewhere between Saigon memory and Toronto appetite.
-
-
Rank 81. No Vacancy
Cocktail Bar
Exposed brick and soft amber light frame a gleaming bar at this November 2024 newcomer on Ossington, where Troy Gilchrist and Kat Yu craft Japanese-influenced cocktails with genuine ambition alongside excellent small plates and a thoughtful selection of beer and wine. The design alone drew crowds; the drinks and food keep them returning.
- 50 Best 2026 · #82 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- Canada's 100 Best 2026 · #14 · Best Bars
-
Rank 82. ARDO
Italian
In a King Street corner that catches the afternoon light, ARDO trades fussiness for a Southern Italian ease—chickpea fritters and arancini emerge golden and unselfconscious, while a dry-aged beef ragu and grilled octopus with marinated artichoke suggest a kitchen that knows when to restrain itself. The cannoli arrive as a small statement of competence, ricotta creamy and unfussy.
-
A narrow storefront on Bayview houses a neighborhood kitchen that moves between Indian street snacks and regional curries with equal ease, its dining room glowing under reclaimed wood and murals. Order the thali to feel the range—cauliflower fried bright in chili glaze, savory chaats dressed in chutneys, dhal swimming in cream—or trust the servers to steer you right.
-
Rank 84. Bar Vendetta
Italian
A sliver of a room on Dundas West where Jen Agg's kitchen, barely bigger than a closet, produces fresh pasta and bread at an improbable clip. The ricotta-filled cacio e pepe is the signature, though the oxtail ragu and rosemary focaccia deserve equal attention. White-and-orange tiles, wood, and vintage posters set the scene; many come just for the wine list.
-
-
-
A basement room painted in bold hues serves som tam with the fermented fish funk of Isan tradition, the salted-crab version a textbook example of the form. Grilled pork jowl arrives succulent and charred; the heat scale climbs to eleven for those who want it. No liquor, but drinks flow from the adjacent café—a straightforward operation that trades comfort for conviction.
-
Rank 88. GEORGE Restaurant
Contemporary
A red brick room with industrial bones and bistro polish draws a steady crowd to Queen Street East. The kitchen executes a disciplined hand—seared halibut arrives over potato puree with crispy lardons and peas—while the chef's spontaneous tasting menus reward repeat visits. Half pours and modest wine glasses suggest a place that respects restraint as much as appetite.
-
-
Rank 90. 苍蝇馆子 Cheng Du Street Food
Sichuan Chinese
-
Rank 91. Linny’s
Steakhouse
A steakhouse with deli inflections and an old-school convivial hum, Linny's trades croutons for crispy chicken skin and serves challah with house-made sauerkraut and whipped cheese dotted with berry jam. The caramelized apple cake, finished tableside with chantilly cream, suggests a chef who understands that comfort, seasoned properly, never goes out of style.
-
Rank 92. Bar Goa
Indian
The dining room at Bar Goa exudes a sense of purpose without pretension. A Goan prawn curry arrives creamy and perfectly calibrated, while a crab-laden appam and Punjabi goat shank with keema pao reveal a kitchen that understands regional Indian cooking with genuine depth. There's a seven-course tasting menu if you want to surrender the evening to their vision.
-
Rank 93. DaiLo
New Asian/French
At DaiLo, chef Nick Liu treats the sharing table as theater: whole fried trout arrives glossy with nam jim and soy, while Hainanese chicken harbors black truffle beneath its skin, paired with foie fat rice. Hand-folded dumplings shift with the seasons, and the cocktail list matches the kitchen's generosity of spirit.
-
Rank 94. Planta
Vegetarian
-
Rank 95. RASA
Contemporary
A gastropub where the kitchen moves with infectious energy, unburdened by a single cuisine. Chickpea fritters with lemon mascarpone sit alongside truffle gnodi and lamb vindaloo dumplings; a beef cheek burger on house-made brioche arrives slathered in gochujang mayo. The portions are generous, the flavors assertive, the whole enterprise designed for repeat visits.
-
Rank 96. Sushi Okeya Kyujiro
Japanese
At the counter, drums thunder overhead while chefs break down whole fish and slice them in real time, each course arriving in rapid succession—kelp-cured botan ebi, grilled unagi with sancho pepper, pressed mackerel. The room moves at the rhythm of the kitchen's energy, a theatrical display of grilling and frying that justifies the premium price by sheer force of spectacle and skill.
-
Rank 97. Shoushin
Edomae Sushi
At a hinoki counter opposite Jackie Lin, an omakase progression unfolds with surgical precision: kohada gives way to angler, seasonal uni, the rice a two-blend whisper calibrated to let fish speak. Service moves with intelligence, sakes arrive rare and considered, and the whole experience suggests a chef thinking several courses ahead.
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · World's Best Japanese Cuisine Restaurant
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- World Culinary Awards 2025 · Winner · North America's Best Japanese Cuisine Restaurant
-
Rank 98. The Cottage Cheese
Indian
Sunlight floods the windows of this Kensington Market dining room, where an Indian kitchen takes familiar classics—chaats, curries, claypots—and renders them with uncommon care. The butter chicken arrives vivid and silken; a coastal fish curry tastes of depth and salt. Naan comes crisp and garlicked, though rice proves essential for the generous, well-seasoned sauces that demand mopping up.
-
Rank 99. Simpl Things
Cocktail Bar
Evelyn Chick's cocktails at this pastel Parkdale bar traffic in nostalgic pleasure—Cosmos and caviar-topped Martinis alongside playful riffs like banana daiquiri—with enough polish to satisfy. Chef Cody Wilkes pivots from daytime focaccia sandwiches to evening Asian comfort: creamy udon carbonara threaded with lap cheong and chili crisp.
- The Pinnacle Guide 2026 · 1 Pin
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- Air Canada 2023 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
-
Rank 100. Black + Blue
Canadian