The Top 100 Restaurants Near Cactus Club Cafe
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Rank 1. 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 3. 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 4. 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 5. 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 7. 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 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Chef of the Year · Roger Ma
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Rank 8. 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 9. 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 10. Dovetail
California-Inspired
- Air Canada 2024 · Finalist · Best New Restaurants
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Winner · New Venue of the Year
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Cocktail Experience
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Rank 12. 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 13. 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 14. Giardino
Tuscan Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Bobby Copiak
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Hall of Fame · Umberto Menghi
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Italian
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Rank 15. 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 16. 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 17. 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 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best French
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Rank 18. 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 19. 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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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 22. Nook
Italian
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · 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 23. Maxine's
European
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Winner · Best Brunch Experience
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Runner Up · Best Patio Experience
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Rank 24. Maruhachi Ra-men
Japanese Noodles
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 25. 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 26. 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 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
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Rank 27. 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
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver
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Rank 28. 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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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 30. 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 31. 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 2026 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Informal Contemporary
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Restaurant Awards: Sommelier of the Year · Chris Rielly
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Rank 32. Per Se Social Corner
Italian
A corner room where the menu pivots easily from a quick tapa to a full meal, the service unhurried and genuinely warm. The lobster and crab ravioli arrives in a chipotle coconut broth that justifies the return visit alone.
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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Patios
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Patio Experience
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver
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Rank 34. Sushi Jin
Sushi
A six-seat counter in an unmarked storefront serves omakase with distinctive refinement: live lobster sashimi with caviar, ankimo in ponzu, nigiri balanced between sweet and salty. The chef's restraint elevates each course without flourish.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Japanese
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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 2024 · 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
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- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Elizabeth Blau - Blau + Associates
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Steakhouses
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Rank 38. 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 40. 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 41. 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 42. Seaport City Seafood
Chinese
Seaport City Seafood's elegant dining room, anchored by live fish tanks, serves dim sum that balances tradition with contemporary flourishes like black truffle fried rice. Steamed pork ribs and stir-fried cumin lamb shank showcase the kitchen's command of umami-rich comfort.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chinese
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · 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 44. Chef's Choice
Cantonese Chinese
Copper and wood panels wrap a dining room where the kitchen pursues both obscurity and tradition with equal fervor. Duck tongues marinated in rice wine, soup dumplings trembling with seafood broth, and a signature chicken glazed in black truffle sauce arrive as proof that Chef's Choice operates beyond the usual repertoire of neighborhood Chinese restaurants.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Chinese
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In Vancouver
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Rank 45. Casa Molina
Spanish
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Editor’s Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best Date Night
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best New
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Mediterranean
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Rank 46. 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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Rank 47. Straight Brooklyn Pizza
Neapolitan Pizza
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Rank 48. Dante Italian Sandwich
Italian
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Rank 49. 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 50. Din Tai Fung
Taiwanese Chinese
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Rank 51. Café Medina
Mediterranean
Café Medina hums with the clatter of espresso cups and the shuffle of locals queuing for Belgian waffles, their kitchen exhaling steam and the smell of saffron all morning long. The paella—orzo studded with chorizo, vegetables, avocado, and a perfect fried egg—arrives as a small argument for staying put.
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Rank 52. 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 55. 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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- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 60. 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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Rank 61. 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 62. Haifa
Jewish/Palestinian
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Rank 63. Japadog
Japanese
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- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Editors’ Choice · Restaurant Awards: Best After-Work Hang
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Rank 65. Acquafarina
Italian
A downtown Italian space with soaring ceilings and wood-burning ovens overhead pivoted from pizzeria to fine dining without losing its ease. The kitchen excels at direct, unfussy work—a chilled tomato soup with jamón, gossamer pasta in simple sauce—while servers in uniform remain genuinely warm rather than stiff. The enclosed patio strikes the rare balance between ceremony and comfort.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Upscale Italian
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Rank 66. 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 67. Thai Basil
Thai
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Rank 69. Gotham
Steakhouse
Gotham occupies a polished Downtown Vancouver corner where the cocktails arrive in proper glassware and the room hums with the particular confidence of old money. It's a refined steakhouse where the meat is treated with the seriousness it deserves, and you should plan to dress up and spend accordingly.
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Steakhouses
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Steakhouses
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Rank 71. A.BENTO
Taiwanese
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Rank 72. Ban Bu Xian
Sichuan Chinese
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Dark wood and brass fixtures recall a Vancouver that knew how to linger over a cocktail, and Hy's delivers the old-school steakhouse experience with a ribeye that justifies the trip. The cheesy bread and onion rings are pure nostalgia, the kind of sides that taste like they haven't changed in decades because they don't need to.
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Silver Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Steakhouses
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Bronze Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Steakhouses
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Rank 74. 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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- 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 76. Carlino
Northern Italian
Tucked on a hotel terrace, this dining room channels the alpine borderlands of Friuli with quiet sophistication. Freshly made cjarsons arrive topped with poppy seed butter; a braised cabbage agrodolce cuts through rich Milanese cutlet. The kitchen sources locally and lets seasonal produce speak, Italian restraint as philosophy.
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Rank 78. 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 79. 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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- Vancouver Magazine 2026 · Restaurant Awards: Premier Crew · Nick Bertoia
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best French
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Rank 82. 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 83. 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 84. Farmer's Apprentice
Contemporary
A narrow room filled with neighborhood regulars shares Chef Alden Ong's produce-driven cooking—striped bass crusted with shrimp and finished in XO sauce, kale rapini swimmy with vadouvan butter, daily sourdough that asks no permission. Weekend lunch pivots to Basta Barbecue, where Filipino-Tausug beef cheeks arrive tender enough to surrender to buttery lettuce and sunchoke kimchi.
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Rank 86. 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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Rank 87. Salmon n' Bannock
Indigenous
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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 90. Pinche Taco Shop
Mexican
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Rank 91. Di Beppe
Italian
- Golden Owl Awards 2024 · Runner Up · Best Pizza Experience
- Sprudge The Sprudge Guide To Coffee Shops In Vancouver, BC
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Rank 92. 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 93. 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 94. 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 95. 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 2024 · Gold Medal · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
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Rank 97. Riley's Fish & Steak
Steakhouse
Downtown Vancouver's waterfront steakhouse trades in nautical polish and high-roller glamour, but the kitchen's precision elevates familiar dishes—Baby Gem lettuce cradling lump crab in the Louie salad, fish and chips with an impossibly crisp, light batter—beyond their obvious appeal. The staff's warmth suggests this isn't merely a room for expense accounts.
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Rank 98. 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 100. Maruhachi Ra-men
Noodles
- Vancouver Magazine 2024 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Vancouver Magazine 2025 · Honourable Mention · Restaurant Awards: Best Chain
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Vancouver