66 Best Restaurants in Canada

One of the hippest coffee shops you'll ever set foot in—but completely devoid of snobbery—shares space with a bicycle shop, cleverly named Icycle Sport. The service is superfriendly, and the coffee is, quite simply, stellar, as are the baked goods. Several members of the same family run different angles of the operation.

This cozy downtown bakery is a great stop for a breakfast of tasty muffins and other confections or a lunch of sandwiches and wraps. Freshly baked cookies, cakes, and artisanal breads are also available, along with a wide variety of coffees and teas. Popular with locals and visitors, this place with just a few tables for dining inside can be packed during peak times. The owners also run the Other Paw, two blocks away.

So much more than a specialty coffee shop, Radium's only café offers a full selection of grab-and-go soup and sandwiches, breakfast burritos, quiche, and baked goods for breakfast and lunch. A bright, spacious room with high, open-duct industrial-style ceilings contrasts nicely with the warmth of the custom-made Douglas fir tabletops, plants throughout, and a wall filled with locally made BC products. Free Wi-Fi is available, as well as charging stations if you need to catch up on work or research. The outdoor patio (with umbrellas) is the perfect place to enjoy a beverage and people-watch.

This cozy café serves a variety of hot beverages, breakfast, and lunch options. Windows all-round provide light and an airy interior seating, while outside tables provide a sunny alternative during the summer months.

Another Calgary icon, Bottlescrew Bills is a second-generation family establishment that has been serving high-quality versions of classic pub food and an enormous selection of beer for more than 40 years. Daily specials and a generous happy hour only add to the fun; if you're feeling adventurous, try their unique riff on the traditional Caesar (a Canadian cocktail invented in Calgary) that includes a “prairie oyster”. If you’re in town long enough, you can try to fill your Around the World in 80 Beers passport. 

Come hungry—really hungry—to this foodie destination, where the full-service, family butcher shop dating back to 1943 also hosts a café and gourmet food market featuring locally made artisanal products. Tuck into a thick rib steak with a local saison beer, select from the hot and cold buffets, or go for the “menu of the day” and watch butchers in action as you dine. Vintage meat market tools are on display. Don’t worry about saving room for dessert, because you can purchase a selection of fine chocolates and other sweets for later. Not very hungry? Come anyway and nibble top-quality cheeses with a glass of wine. Come early for dinner, though—the shop closes at 5:30 pm, or 6 on Thursday and Friday.

This café is a great place to enjoy coffee, tea, or ice cream, grab-and-go breakfasts, fine chocolates, or baked goods before or after a hike. There's also a variety of hot and cold sandwiches, pizza, hamburgers, stew, burgers, fries, and poutine. They even micro-roast organic fairly traded coffee beans in small batches, and you can have local beer or BC wine with your meal if you dine inside. There are picnic tables if you wish to dine outside and enjoy the magnificent scenery.

On a sunny day, there's no better place to grab a coffee and house-baked cookie or a light lunch than at the newish log cabin next to the bridge at the Emerald Lake Lodge entry houses. The patio with its bright yellow umbrella tables has stunning views of the lake, and the interior is equally stunning with sweeping cathedral ceilings, wood accents, and a grand river-stone fireplace. The menu has options like burgers, classic poutine, pizza, and wild game chili. Ingredients are local and the wild game is sourced from their own ranch in the foothills close to Calgary.

Breakfast or lunch at this mountainside restaurant involves a ride up the sightseeing chairlift to a cool retro-style chalet. The food is delicious and unpretentious; brunch is served all day, the salads are meal-sized, and the nachos and the charcuterie board are great for sharing. Local craft beers, sodas, and Canadian wines are also on offer.

More than 80 varieties of loose leaf teas, craft beverages, and artisan coffees are served alongside fresh, healthy, and local food at this downtown café. Look for pad Thai noodle bowls, rice bowls, salads, sandwiches, and delicious wraps. There are many vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options on the menu as well.

The Prestige Radium Hot Springs Hotel houses both these restaurants, with the added bonus that you can order from either menu in both the cantina-style Don Agave Mexican-theme room with a long bar, or the large, airy Conrad's Kitchen & Grill side which has magnificent mountain views. Conrad's dinner menu features favorites like pizza, pasta, and burgers, while the Don Agave menu is all about Mexican food, from tacos to fajitas. The breakfast menu is extensive, including dishes with a Mexican flair, like huevos rancheros and a Mexican omelet. The outdoor patio overlooking the Sinclair Creek Canyon is a locals' favorite hangout spot to indulge in appetizers and Mexican-themed cocktails on long summer evenings.

Located in the back corner of a shopping mall, this family-run restaurant has a casual menu, a kids menu, and a pet-friendly patio. Along with burgers and pizza, you'll find steaks, shrimp, salmon, ribs, and a few specialties like bibimbap and bulgogi (the owners immigrated from South Korea). The restaurant has specials that are served before 5 pm. There are five craft beers on tap and six wine choices.

Every lick of the small-batch artisan ice cream made at Dee Dee's is pure pleasure whether you opt for classic vanilla, banana cardamom, Mexican chocolate, or one of the many other flavors on offer.

On any day, this specialty coffee roaster carries 15--20 different environmentally grown and socially responsible coffees which they roast on-site---they've won numerous roasting competitions. Each aromatic blend is perfectly brewed and can be enjoyed with baked goods, snacks, wraps, and other light fare. There are two locations in Canmore.

A funky atmosphere and an "evil"-inspired menu make this Jasper restaurant a fun place to dine. Local favorites among the globally inspired, locally sourced entrées include the Malevolent Meatloaf (Alberta bison wrapped in wild boar bacon), Nefarious Chicken (fried chicken with chili bourbon maple sauce, served on a toasted waffle), and the gluten-free El Diablo Bowl (marinated free-range chicken, chipotle sauce, jasmine rice, corn salsa, black beans, and corn tortilla sticks). There's always a chef's cut steak special as well as a seafood feature, and the Cowboy sushi made with grilled beef tenderloin is a fun appetizer. Save room for WTF dessert---fried banana spring rolls with chocolate and caramel sauce.

Home to ridiculous milkshakes topped with cotton candy and slices of birthday cake or cheesecake, as well as stacked cones and a massive selection of international candy, Flynn's is a delight. There's also a branch in the Hydrostone neighborhood. 

A small all-day breakfast place that has been around for more than 25 years, the Galaxie Diner is a great option for a fair-priced breakfast (especially if you slept past noon). The decor is vintage diner, the staff is friendly and helpful, and you can have as many hash browns as you like.

This spot resembles an old English pub in every way, including having a red phone booth and the best fish-and-chips in town. Other British pub classics like Scotch eggs, bangers and mash, stuffed Yorkshire pudding, shepherd's pie, and beef Wellington are on the menu alongside Canadian favorites like salads, burgers, poutine, and steak sandwiches. The breakfast menu is also very good. The bar is one of the biggest in Canmore with more than a dozen beers on tap as well as a nice selection of cocktails, spirits, ciders, and wines. FYI: The Georgetown is named after a ghost town not far from Canmore.

Spacious and bright with large tables, Beltline’s Good Earth is a great spot to grab fresh-baked goods and as ethical and responsible a coffee you will ever find. This feel-good coffee house also serves fresh and nutritious sandwiches, soups, and salads. It's also just one of several locations in the greater Downtown area.

Everything is local, fresh and made from scratch at this coffee shop in downtown Pincher Creek. Soups are made fresh daily and sandwiches are prepared to order. There are a variety of fresh baked goods made daily and the coffee is fresh ground and locally sourced.

Always cozy and full of sunshine, Higher Ground has been the go-to coffee shop in Kensington for decades. They serve 100% organic coffee and tea, so you can feel good about quaffing a hot beverage while sampling one of their fresh-baked goods or all-day breakfast items (particularly the Tuscan Sunrise---a panini with egg, sausage, tomato, onion, Swiss cheese, and basil pesto).

This pub offers good eats in a lively atmosphere with indoor and outdoor seating. The extensive menu ranges from crowd-pleasing appetizers like stuffed bacon-wrapped prawns to Asian stir-fries and curries, soups, salads, burgers, and pub classics like Philly cheesesteak. It's the only place in Radium with live shows, hosting weekly free "Music Mondays" from 7--9 pm and regular ticketed events like drag and comedy shows. A pub shuttle can be booked for a safe ride home.

Traditional Vietnamese subs, noodle soups and bowls, fusion tacos, and more at this fast-service spot just across from the Halifax Public Gardens.

The views are amazing from the newly renovated rooftop patio of this popular downtown Jasper restaurant. Pizza from the wood-fired and traditional pizza ovens is the star attraction here, but you'll also find burgers, pastas, salads, and a broad selection of appetizers. The dessert menu is pretty much non-existent, but it's easy to forgive when you taste the pizza. The King of New York wood-fired pizza is so authentic, you'll want to fold your slice before eating it. The restaurant has three beers on tap, a good selection of craft beer, cocktails, spirits, and wine.

A relatively small, locally owned chain, JavaMoose has its own small-batch roasting facility in Saint John and a small chain of cafés, where locals flock for the great-tasting coffee and quick bites such as muffins and breakfast sandwiches. The main branch is on Prince William Street, and they are also in Saint John City Market and the McAllister Place Shopping Centre on Westmorland Road.

Trained baristas brew up a great cup of coffee from house-roasted beans, along with a wide selection of espresso-based drinks and chemical-free decaf. They also have a good variety of locally blended organic loose-leaf teas and a menu of locally sourced food, including sandwiches, fresh pastries, and desserts.