29 Best Restaurants in Toronto, Ontario

Spearheaded by world-renowned restaurateur Daniel Boulud, Café Boulud occupies the coveted dining room of the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and presents itself as a serene, airy French brasserie decked out with sage-green banquettes and gilded accents. The café does simple, well-executed classic and contemporary French fare, like mouthwatering rotisserie duck, a signature Frenchie burger and cocktails like the French 55.

Huge dining-room windows frame breathtaking views of the Toronto Islands and the lake at this restaurant, on the 54th floor of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower. Dishes like an appetizer of bison tartare with bannock bread and foie gras and entrées like crispy pork jowl roasted with chaga and an aged tournedos paired with truffled celeriac nod to both tradition and trend.

Book a table at the chef's rail for a close-range perspective on the kitchen's artistry.

These award-winning cakey brioche donuts are fried fresh in the wee hours of the morning, dipped, and then ready to fly off the shelves by the time the converted storefront opens at 8:30 am. From the milky London Fog with an Earl Grey glaze to mini salted caramel Boston Creme bombs, you just can't go wrong.

European bistro meets local forager is the theme at Edulis, where the five- and seven-course tasting menus are devoted to classic rustic dishes. Rough-hewn wood walls and burlap breadbaskets evoke a farmhouse feel, and the soft lighting adds to the intimate atmosphere.

With a 5,000-square-foot, year-round patio and stunning floor-to-ceiling murals, El Catrin is the hottest place in the Distillery District. Delicious eats include traditional tacos al pastor with shaved pork and pineapple salsa, ceviche, 24-hour-braised short rib in mole sauce, and guacamole prepared table-side. Finish the evening on a sugar high with churros rolled in sugar served with a trio of chocolate, strawberry, and dulce de leche dipping sauces.

Like the appealingly bare-bones aesthetic of its space (exposed brick, hardwoods, and candlelight), this creative contemporary Pan-Asian bistro offers unadorned dishes that are jammed with flavor. After traveling for a year, chef-owner Tom Thai returned to Toronto with inspiration from Asia, Latin America, and the Mediterranean to produce a menu featuring tapas-style offerings like arctic char ceviche, lamb and duck prosciutto dumplings, and grilled side ribs with a sticky shallot glaze. The restaurant doesn't take reservations, so get here early or late to avoid the rush.

Named for a street in Bangkok bursting with nightlife and excellent street eats, Khao San Road lives up to its moniker. The squash fritters are a head-turning crispy delight that you'll want to order when you see them show up at another table. For heartier dishes, try for the khao soi, a dish of egg noodles in a rich coconut milk sauce, or try the warming massaman, a tamarind-infused curry with peanuts, potatoes, and deep-fried shallots.

Known as one of the city's tried-and-true French bistros, this brightly decorated spot lives up to expectations with a menu full of excellent standards, including steak frites, rare venison chop, and mussels in white wine. The long bar at the front of the restaurant is a great spot for drinks or solo dining.

A Leslieville staple, this brunch spot occupies an airy two-floor space with huge windows in a converted old home just north of the main Queen East drag. It's a lovely spot for hearty, homey dishes like cheddar jalapeño waffles, washed down with coffee in vintage Corningware mugs.

Japanese perfectionism merges with French tradition at this minimalist coffee and pastry shop. The owners are always dreaming up new croissant creations like a flaky croissant cube (that needs to be seen to be believed), and the croffle, a—you guessed it—croissant/waffle hybrid prepared in a half-dozen ways, from churro-caramel sweet to ham-and-pesto savory.

It's hard not to feel a little giddy sitting in the opulent whiskey-barrel-inspired dining room on the 31st floor of the St. Regis. Upward gazes are met with a swirling painted ceiling with floral glass chandeliers to mimic melting ice cubes. The French-leaning menu features stunners like a fruit-speckled scallop ceviche served on ice in a half shell, rough-cut beef tartare accented by a fermented black garlic reduction to be devoured with taro chips, and a showstopping truffle butter, sous-vide whole organic chicken served both roasted and fried. Cocktails are dainty and balanced wizardry with elaborate details like dehydrated Aperol–salted rims and vegan egg white foam.

Duck out of a double-feature at the TIFF Bell Lightbox to grab a meal at Luma, a mini-oasis on the second floor of the bustling glass-paneled film venue. Even if you're not going to a film, it's a great restaurant, complete with a patio overlooking the lively Entertainment District and the CN Tower. Start with a whole charcoal-grilled branzino and finish things off with a gooey apple confit soaked in crème anglaise.

From the "mindblowing chicken sandwich" to the Pharaoh's po' boy with fried shrimp, it's hard to go wrong at this cheerful, intimate family-run Egyptian brunch joint, located at Little India's eastern edge.

The Danforth might be the epicenter of Greek food in Toronto, but across town on trendy Ossington, Mamakas is doing some of the city’s best Greek cooking—Aegean to be exact. Diners snack on classic mezes like rich, creamy tzatziki and roasted eggplant before diving into more unusual dishes like lamb tartare or tea-brined chicken. After opening in 2014, it's now a mini empire of four restaurants, including the nearby Bar Koukla.

A good drive away from Toronto's two Chinatowns on the edge of Yorkville, MIMI Chinese offers a memorable dining experience built on regional dishes from the Guangdong, Sichuan, and Hunan regions of China. It's an upscale yet unpretentious room, with a dark red-and-black aesthetic, waiters in black bow ties, and one-way kitchen mirrors that give you a full view of bustling chefs plating dishes and slicing up glistening barbecue pork char siu (though they can't see you). The sharing-style menu, which had a cult following before the restaurant even opened, is split into sections including Raw & Cooling, Savoury & Warming, and Noodles & Rice, all meant to play off each other. The best bet is the $100-per-person Chef's Choice, but either way you won't want to miss the social-media-famous Four Foot Belt Noodle, sliced up tableside with scissors. A playful drink list includes a shareable Tea Ceremony green tea cocktail, a Jungle Panda tiki creation with Chinese baijiu, and an extensive collection of sakes. 

The modern dining room at One, inside the Hazelton Hotel, is all rich woods, smoked glass, cowhide, and onyx—and thankfully the food lives up to all the razzle-dazzle. "Lobster spoons" with vermouth butter and miso-glazed black cod share space on a broad, varied menu with fresh pastas and exceptional house-aged steaks sourced from Prince Edward Island and Alberta.

The Asian-Jamaican mishmash you see at hip Dundas West joint Patois is unlike any other in town. The spot is fueled by dishes from chef Craig Wong's Jamaican-Chinese upbringing, with plenty of tropical cocktails to wash it all down.

On a quiet stretch of Harbord lies this low-lit modern trattoria, popular with couples and families alike. The menu spans from antipasti and fresh pastas (the mushroom cavatelli and giant ravioli are crowd-pleasers) to excellent blistered-crust pizzas and picturesque desserts—but whatever you order is bound to be great.

This intimate establishment serves refined, European classic fare made with thought and painstaking care, beautifully presented and delicious on the palate. Warm and friendly staff greet guests inside this modern space with old-world charm; here, the pace is relaxed, and the restaurant’s minimalist kitchen is on full display. Advanced reservations are required for the dining room, where guests partake in the seasonal tasting menu which can be accompanied by thoughtful wine pairings—spots are released mid-month for the coming month. If you’re unable to obtain a coveted dining room reservation, the restaurant’s bar area is open for walk-ins where you can order from a curated à la carte menu.

Fulfill your dessert fantasies by picking up a sweet treat from Roselle, one of the city’s finest dessert shops. Stephanie Duong and Bruce Lee opened Roselle in 2015; since then, they’ve fed the sweet cravings of Torontonians with their playful take on classic flavors using French techniques. Offering curbside pickup only, the seasonality of Roselle’s offerings sets them apart and contributes to their enduring popularity: their pavlova toppings change several times a year; their summer soft-serve ice cream is creamy and refreshing; and their rotating cake cup flavors are perfectly portioned treats. Staples such as the banana éclair and Earl Grey cake slices are available year-round, and the shop also specializes in cookies and caramels.   

With only 10 seats, this taco joint almost always has long lines, but it's worth the wait. The menu brings the best of SoCal and Tijuana seafood together, featuring taco options like the gobernador (smoked marlin and shrimp), and a vegetarian option with corn fungus (trust us, it tastes better than it sounds).

Downtown Toronto's quintessential dim sum eatery overlooks all of Chinatown from its secret rooftop perch at the Dragon City Mall. Carts with towers of bamboo steamed baskets containing shrimp dumplings or black-bean-sauce chicken feet ("phoenix claws" in Chinese), banquet-size platters of noodles, and traditional delicacies like black or yellow curried cuttlefish are pushed around the hall by gregarious servers who tick off boxes from your order list as they are served. There's also an extensive à la carte menu.

This southern Italian hideaway has been a magnet for visiting celebrities and well-heeled Yorkville locals since the early 1990s, and it's still one of the city's most popular posh restaurants. The dozen or so pastas, including freshly made gnocchi, are reliably excellent, but the grilled seafood options, spanning yellowfin tuna to tiger shrimp to calamari, are stellar.

Bold Middle Eastern flavors and spices are showcased at Tabülè, where traditional appetizers include baba ghanoush and hummus served with warm flatbread, and standout falafel fried to a deep golden brown and served with thick, rich tahini sauce. Grilled meats and seafood are also excellent.

The thin-crust pies at this airy family-run pizzeria are authentically Neapolitan and consistently earn top marks on local (and even global) critics' lists thanks to their fresh ingredients and use of traditional methods. Pasta mains (with gluten-free options) like a fiery Naples-style rigatoni and seafood linguini may take second place but are certainly worth a look.