Monday, August 31, 2026

The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Matia Kitchen

  1. Eastsound, on Orcas Island, is not where you expect to find a restaurant that landed on the New York Times's restaurant list, but here we are. Matia Kitchen (say "may-shah") is a small, ingredient-driven restaurant where local produce gets the kind of careful treatment that earned a James Beard nomination. The menu shifts with the season, and the cooking has a quiet confidence that the room itself, unpretentious as it is, seems entirely unbothered by.




  2. Rank 4. Ursa Minor

    Regional New American


  3. A noodle bar tucked into a Lopez Island alleyway, where the chef makes his own ramen and udon and also, apparently, throws his own ceramics, which explains why the bowls are so good-looking. The broth is rich and deeply savory, the eggs are that soft jammy orange that makes everything look intentional. Reserve ahead: the handful of outdoor counter seats and high-tops fill up even when the ferry crossing feels like a bad idea.




  4. Rank 8. Pilgrimme

    Seasonal New American




  5. Lingcod Bourguignon, with bacon and pearl onions, is about as far from a typical sushi menu as you can get, which tells you something about what the kitchen is up to here. Marilena is a fine dining raw bar where the nigiri and sashimi lean on sustainable local seafood and the rest of the menu keeps the same restless energy. Vancouver Magazine gave it the gold for Best Victoria restaurant, which tracks.






  6. Rank 16. end dive

    Seafood Dive Bar





  7. Rank 20. Baan Lao

    Royal Thai

    A 20-seat fine dining room in Steveston Village, which is otherwise known for fish and chips and frozen yogurt, turns out to be an oddly perfect home for royal Thai cuisine. White-gloved servers bring each course of an 18-dish tasting menu to white-clothed tables overlooking the Fraser River. The chef trained privately with Bangkok cooks before opening this, having no restaurant background at all. Canada's 100 Best ranks it among the country's top 25.








  8. Rank 27. The Fish Man

    Seafood Chinese




  9. Rank 30. Uno Beef Noodle

    Chinese Noodles



  10. Rank 32. Max Noodle House

    Hong Kong-style Noodles



  11. Rank 34. Long’s Noodle

    Shanghainese Noodles


  12. Rank 35. Memory Corner

    Taiwanese Chinese



  13. Rank 37. Chengdu Street Food

    Chengdu Chinese



  14. Rank 39. Osmanthus

    Shanghainese



  15. Rank 41. Car's Dessert

    Chinese Dessert




  16. Rank 44. Cha Kee

    Cantonese


  17. Rank 45. Lanxuan Restauant

    Traditional Cantonese




  18. A pizza spot in two stacks: a casual counter downstairs and an adults-only dining room up top, both turning out wildly creative pies built on heirloom Red Russian wheat milled by nearby sixth-generation farmers. The meat pizza somehow reads as a vegetable dish, with kale, squash, and Moroccan-spiced toum doing the heavy lifting and bacon playing backup. Upstairs pastas are quietly serious. The soundtrack on any given night might go from '90s hip-hop to something resembling the Inspector Gadget theme.


  19. Rank 49. Masayoshi

    Edomae Sushi

    Counter seats at this intimate omakase spot put you close enough to watch each piece of nigiri take shape in real time, which is either meditative or nerve-wracking depending on your personality. Chef Masayoshi Baba runs a jewel-box Edomae sushi room on Fraser Street, letting BC's local catch guide the progression. The room is quiet, the pacing is ceremonial, and the tab reflects all of that. It holds a Michelin star.


  20. Rank 50. Uno Beef Noodle

    Chinese Noodles


  21. Rank 51. Sumibiyaki Arashi

    Yakitori Japanese

    A lantern outside, a curtain to slip past, and fourteen seats at a Douglas fir counter where the binchōtan grill is the whole point. Sumibiyaki Arashi is a yakitori omakase counter in Mount Pleasant, and the chef runs heritage birds through every cut imaginable, thigh to heart to chicken knee, over charcoal hot enough to demand constant attention. A Michelin star and the tare on that grill go back decades. Reservations are scarce.


  22. Rank 52. Burdock & Co

    Farm-to-table New American

    Andrea Carlson's tasting menu at this Mount Pleasant corner spot shifts thematically with the season, so the October menu is genuinely a different argument than the June one. The bread course alone sets the tone: nori cornbread, herb gougères, sourdough, aged sake kasu butter. Farm-to-table without the earnest lecture. Carlson holds a Michelin star, and the non-alcoholic pairings are, unusually, not an afterthought.


  23. The tartare here arrives bright with herbs and anchovy salt, which tells you most of what you need to know about Chez Céline's register. It's a French bistro and bar on Fraser Street, the kind of neighbourhood spot that somehow also reads as subtly refined, in the Quebec casse-croûte tradition. J-C Poirier and Margaux Herder's room is cozy without being sleepy, and the cocktail program is serious enough to earn a Spirited Awards regional nod.



  24. Rank 55. June

    Bistro French

    The room arrives before the menu does: red-tinged lighting, curves everywhere, the kind of design that makes a Tuesday feel like an occasion. June is a French bistro and serious cocktail bar on Cambie that landed at number 17 on North America's 50 Best Bars and fourth on Canada's 100 Best new restaurants in the same year, which is a neat trick. The food runs to butter-heavy, comforting bistro standards; the drinks list is the other reason to come.


  25. Rank 56. Bravo

    Seafood

    The dry-aged fish program is the detail that separates this buzzy Fraser Street seafood spot from every other neighborhood bar doing a raw bar. The menu is small and shifts often, but the cooking stays bold and punchy, from hiramasa with aguachile to squid tagliolini that goes places pasta doesn't usually go. Vancouver Magazine gave it gold for both informal dining and seafood, and the Michelin Guide has taken notice too. Service is friendly without being precious.



  26. Rank 58. Suyo

    Modern Peruvian

    The whitewashed facade on Main Street gives nothing away, but inside, tall tropical plants and plush seating set the mood for modern Peruvian fine dining done without a trace of fuss. The kitchen runs citrus-bright ceviches and tiraditos alongside bolder, earthier plates, and the bar program is the kind that earns its own reputation. A Michelin Selected restaurant with a AAA Four Diamond rating.


  27. The roast duck arrives at the table as a ceremony, sliced tableside and served with the kind of precision that makes you feel underdressed even if you aren't. This gold-accented fine dining room on Cambie is the Vancouver outpost of a centuries-old Beijing institution, and it holds a Michelin star. The menu runs from crispy duck to bird's nest and abalone, but simple stir-fried greens with garlic pull their weight just as quietly alongside the showpieces.


  28. Rank 60. AnnaLena

    New American

    Lego figurines and Star Wars memorabilia crowd the shelves of this moody navy-walled Kitsilano tasting menu restaurant, which is exactly the right amount of strange given what comes out of the kitchen. Chef Mike Robbins writes his courses in crayon on the menu, holds a Michelin star, and lands at number 35 on North America's 50 Best. The food draws on B.C. seasons and global technique in equal measure, and the wine program runs deep on small producers.


  29. Rank 61. Kissa Tanto

    Italian fusion Japanese

    Upstairs in a Chinatown walkup, rose banquettes and antique Japanese panels recreate the jazz cafés of 1960s Tokyo, which is a strange and perfect setting for a Michelin-starred restaurant fusing Japanese and Italian cooking. The kitchen plays it straight: hand-cut pasta with miso-cured egg yolk and parmesan, tiramisu made with plum wine-soaked tofu. Cult Japanese whiskies share the drinks list with Italian amari, and the cocktails split the difference. Dress up a little.


  30. The room is divided into zones shaped by wood, water, and wind, which tells you something about how seriously this Mount Pleasant restaurant takes itself. Chef Vish Mayekar runs a globally roaming menu that pulls from South Asia, the Middle East, and Europe without announcing the detour each time. You can order à la carte or hand the kitchen the wheel entirely. The cocktail program runs on a zero-waste brief and keeps pace with the food.


  31. Rank 63. St. Lawrence

    Québécois French

    The savory éclair filled with duck liver mousse has become something of a calling card here, and it explains a lot about the place. St. Lawrence is an elegant Québécois French tasting restaurant with a convivial front bar, a semi-open kitchen, and a Michelin star. The fixed menu rotates by season, sometimes leaning into sugar shack classics, sometimes into French bourgeois cooking, always with sauces that deserve more attention than they get.


  32. Rank 64. Okeya Kyujiro

    Omakase Japanese

    A black curtain drops at the exact minute of your reservation, which tells you everything about what follows. This omakase counter imports nearly all its fish and produce directly from Japan, but the kitchen goes further with live music, Buddhist chanting, and bamboo leaf carving woven between courses. It holds a Michelin star and reads less like dinner than like a ceremony someone spent years choreographing. Dress accordingly.


  33. Rank 65. Lila

    Plant-Based Indian


  34. Rank 66. Sushi Hyun

    Omakase Sushi

    The counter is a single slab of hinoki cypress, two centuries old, polished by hand before every service until it releases a faint citrus scent. That kind of obsessive care sets the tone for this intimate omakase room tucked off Robson Street, where the chef holds a Michelin star and sources his tuna through Japan's most revered merchant, authentication papers displayed quietly at your elbow. The vibe, somehow, is kitchen party.



  35. Rank 68. Gary's

    Rustic French

    Rye rolls arrive warm with green garlic butter before you've even settled in, which tells you most of what you need to know about Gary's. It's a snug neighborhood restaurant in the Cambie corridor doing rustic French cooking, the kind that leans on parsley sauces and saffron rouilles rather than anything fussy. The Michelin Guide has given it a Bib Gourmand, and the room tends to fill with locals who seem to know each other.


  36. Rank 69. The Acorn

    Vegetarian

    Sunchoke with salal berry and burnt onion isn't a dish you'd find yourself ordering on instinct, which is part of the point at this creative vegetarian fine-dining room in Mount Pleasant. The kitchen names its organic BC suppliers on the menu and takes texture as seriously as flavor. The Michelin Guide has it selected, and first-timers tend to do well surrendering to the tasting menu rather than pretending they know what salal berry tastes like.


  37. Rank 70. Elio Volpe

    Coastal Italian

    A mechanic shop turned coastal Italian osteria in Cambie Village, Elio Volpe does wood-fired pizza with a brunch version that gives people a reason to leave the house on a Sunday. The room has bar seating for solo meals and enough shared plates, including a whole grilled branzino, to make a group feel purposeful. Vancouver Magazine handed it gold for both Best New and Best Italian in the same year, which is the restaurant equivalent of a very good report card.


  38. Rank 71. Anh and Chi

    Vietnamese

    A blue neon sign salvaged from the family restaurant that stood here for a generation anchors the bar of this sleek, midcentury-modern Vietnamese spot on Main Street. The brother-and-sister team behind it treat the menu as a love letter to Vietnam, running from pho to softshell crab salad to grilled prawn mousse with fresh herbs. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks.


  39. Vikram Vij built his reputation working the room personally, stopping at tables each night in a dining room that takes Indian cuisine seriously without taking itself too seriously. This is an elegant sit-down restaurant where the cocktail list is designed to hold its own against heavily spiced food, and the Michelin Bib Gourmand keeps showing up for a reason. The lamb popsicles in fenugreek sauce have their own devoted following.



  40. Hand-painted imported tile floors and marble-topped bars set the tone at this upscale seafood restaurant inside the Sutton Place Hotel on Burrard. The room is large but pulls together through chic lighting and buttery leather seating, and the menu matches the mood: baked oysters, house-made pasta loaded with Pacific shellfish, and a mixed shellfish platter that gets its own trio of sauces. Roger Ma took Vancouver Magazine's Chef of the Year in 2026.


  41. Rank 75. Bacchus

    European-inspired New American

    A grand piano sits in the corner like it's been there forever, and at Bacchus, inside the Wedgewood Hotel, that's more or less the point. This is a white-tablecloth hotel restaurant where the flower arrangements are serious and the chandelier means business. The kitchen turns out European-leaning classics with enough care to feel considered rather than comfortable. A spot on Canada's 100 Best list and a AAA Four Diamond rating confirm the room isn't just dressing.


  42. Rank 76. Folke

    Vegetarian

    Seaweed pressings on deep blue walls and dried grasses set the coastal mood at this small, plant-forward restaurant in Kitsilano. The menu rotates around whatever vegetables the kitchen is currently obsessing over, and the cooking is the kind that makes omnivores forget to keep score. A no-tipping policy made headlines when it opened, but the food is what keeps people coming back. It holds a Michelin Guide selection.


  43. Rank 77. Nero Tondo

    Farm-to-table New American

    An 18-seat farm-to-table restaurant on Powell where nearly everything on the plate comes from British Columbia, and the wine list follows the same rule. The menu shifts constantly with the season, building dishes around a single ingredient and crediting the growers by name. Counter seats wrap around an open kitchen stuffed floor to rafters with preserving jars and glassware. The Michelin Guide has it selected, and Air Canada named it one of Canada's top new restaurants in 2025.


  44. Rank 78. Ban Bu Xian

    Ancient-Style Sichuan


  45. Rank 79. Dynasty

    Cantonese

    The fish tanks near the entrance set the tone: this is a grand Cantonese seafood restaurant where the crab you're eyeing is still very much alive. The dining room runs to white tablecloths and banquet-scale celebrations, but the kitchen handles a casual dim sum lunch with equal care. Vancouver Magazine named it Restaurant of the Year, and it holds a Michelin Guide selection. Regulars know to call ahead for off-menu specials that never quite make it onto paper.


  46. Rank 80. Good Thief

    Vietnamese

    Pull back the velvet curtain and you're inside the world of nhậu, the Vietnamese tradition of drinking and eating with friends until things get blurry. Good Thief is a cocktail bar and restaurant on Main Street, the self-described rebellious younger sibling to Anh and Chi next door. The drinks lean boldly Vietnamese, the food runs from binchotan skewers to Dungeness crab garlic noodles, and the whole menu is designed to share. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.


  47. Natural light and blonde wood keep things calm at this small, counter-forward sushi shop on Main, where the focus is squarely on the fish. The chef's approach is classic: beautifully cut sashimi, seasonal ingredients, and just enough acidity to lift the sweetness of top-notch seafood. Easier on the wallet than the city's omakase circuit, and a Michelin Bib Gourmand. One judge called it the first place they'd send an out-of-towner, which tracks.


  48. Rank 82. Kavita

    Modern Indian

    Pine needles and deer lichen aren't typical pantry staples, but the chef at this modern Indian restaurant near Olympic Village uses foraged and hyper-local ingredients as the backbone of a daily-changing tasting menu. Whole spices are roasted and ground in-house, and the effect reads less as fusion than as a very specific argument about where Vancouver actually is. Canada's 100 Best listed it among the country's top restaurants for 2026.


  49. Tucked onto the second floor of a shopping mall on Marine Drive, this sprawling Cantonese banquet hall is the kind of place locals fill on weekends without needing to tell anyone about it. Dim sum runs through the afternoon, with dumplings packed with shrimp that actually justify the wait. Dinner pivots to a broader seafood menu, lobster and abalone among them. The room fits large groups comfortably, which is the whole point.



  50. Rank 85. Elisa

    Steakhouse

    A custom wood-fired grill anchors the room at this Yaletown steakhouse and bar, open flame flickering against warm wood tones while the kitchen runs tartares alongside Canadian and wagyu cuts. The butcher shop next door feeds the kitchen's sourcing philosophy. It holds a spot on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list and took Vancouver Magazine's Restaurant of the Year. Dress up a little; the room expects it.



  51. The kitchen is the room at this Michelin-starred fine dining counter on East Pender, where an L-shaped bar puts you close enough to watch every move the chef makes. Patrick Hennessy came up at Eleven Madison Park and carries that precision into cooking that reads simple on paper but lands as something more considered on the plate. Local sourcing is the quiet backbone of the menu, though the technique is doing most of the talking.


  52. Rank 88. Niwa

    Japanese

    Closed weekends by design so the staff can have a life, Niwa is a small Japanese dining room on Powell Street where blonde wood, filmy lights, and a kitchen counter set a mood of deliberate calm. The chef, formerly of Le Crocodile and Farmer's Apprentice, runs a menu tied to whatever the Pacific Northwest offers right now. Pickles, rice bowls, mochi sourdough, sake, and clarified cocktails. Weekdays suddenly feel like a reward.




  53. Rob Feenie, the chef behind the beloved and long-mourned Lumière, took over this longstanding French fine dining institution and quietly made it new again. The bones remain, foie gras terrine, Dover sole, veal with morel sauce, Alsatian apple tart, but the sauces have lightened and Asian grace notes have crept in without the menu losing its French accent. The renovated room is warmer, blonder, and easier to love than before.


  54. A shimmering chandelier and a floor-to-ceiling wine wall set the scene at David Hawksworth's eponymous fine dining room inside the Rosewood Hotel Georgia. The crowd looks freshly styled, and the cooking matches the room's composure: contemporary and precise, built on simple luxuries done with care. You can enter through the hotel lobby or slip in directly from Georgia Street, which suits both the suits and everyone else.


  55. Rank 93. Selene

    Fine-dining Greek

    The oyster mushroom souvlaki arrives with walnut skordalia and tarragon vinegar, which tells you pretty quickly that this isn't the whitewashed-walls-and-ouzo setup you've been to before. Selene is a fine-dining Greek restaurant in Hastings-Sunrise that takes the canon seriously enough to know exactly where to bend it. Vancouver Magazine gave it a Gold Medal for Best Mediterranean, and the room has earned the quiet confidence that comes with it.


  56. A casual Thai restaurant on East Broadway where the green curry beef shank reportedly stops conversations cold. Song holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and Vancouver Magazine's gold for best Thai, and the room feels built for lingering over pomelo salad and lemongrass wings with a group that shows up hungry. The menu runs deeper than the familiar standards, though the pad Thai earns its place on the table without apology.


  57. Rank 95. Botanist

    West Coast New American

    The bar at Botanist sits just inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim, intimate and posh enough that dressing up feels like the point. This is fine dining with a serious cocktail program, and the drinks lean into a nature-obsessed identity, including a glass-fronted lab where the team produces things like a martini built with kombu and sea asparagus. North America's 50 Best Bars placed it at number 38. The kitchen behind it runs hyper-local West Coast tasting menus alongside à la carte.


  58. Six seats tucked into the corner of an unrelated restaurant, accessed through a print shop, which tells you everything and nothing about what follows. This is a Michelin-starred omakase counter where the chef trained at a top Tokyo bar, and the room is so spare that the food has nowhere to hide. His wife runs hospitality with the kind of quiet attentiveness that makes a long tasting meal feel effortless rather than ceremonial.


  59. Finding a seat at this perpetually packed Spanish tapas bar on East Seventh requires luck, persistence, or both. The room runs on the warm, slightly chaotic energy of a good Madrid bodega, with conservas lined up alongside the fritos and raciones. Rare Spanish wines are the move, and the servers know them well enough to steer you right. A Michelin Selected pick that draws a neighborhood crowd happy to wait.


  60. Rank 98. Yuwa

    Japanese

    The interior leans European, all Armani-quiet sleekness, but the kitchen stays firmly in Japan. Yuwa is a chic Japanese restaurant in Kitsilano where the menu shifts daily around whatever is freshest, and the co-owner doubles as one of Vancouver's sharpest sommeliers, which shows in a sake and wine list that keeps food people talking. The monied west-side crowd dresses accordingly and never needs to ask how anything works.


  61. Rank 99. Savio Volpe

    Contemporary Italian

    The room on Kingsway could pass for somewhere in Milan, white marble and warm tiles, the kind of osteria that doesn't need to tell you it has good taste. Savio Volpe has been holding its corner of East Vancouver for a good while now, turning out contemporary Italian that leans on regional tradition without getting museum-y about it. The wine list has a little nerve to it, and the Michelin Guide has taken notice.


  62. Rank 100. Chupito

    Mexican

    A covered outdoor taqueria on Yukon Street that feels like someone smuggled a great Mexico City back-alley spot into a Vancouver residential neighbourhood. The Mexican cooking leans a little ambitious, and the cocktail program punches well above the taqueria average. A Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the kind of place regulars quietly hope you won't find out about.


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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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      Stay Score

      The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. It runs on the scored places nearby: more good stuff within reach, higher score. If it looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.