1031 Best Restaurants in Canada

Five minutes from the ski slopes and right on Lac Moore, this rustic restaurant, which opens onto a terrace during the summer months, looks a bit shabby from the outside but has garnered much praise for its Italian dishes. These include tried-and-true favorites such as veal marsala and veal fiorentina (cooked with spinach and cheese). Hosts Nino and Kay are reputed to be some of the friendliest folks you'll ever meet.

Auguste placed Sherbrooke on the foodie map when it opened in 2008, and it continues to impress. Local ingredients take pride of place in this minimalist bistro-style restaurant, which features dishes like mushroom risotto or sweet potato ravioli. An absolute must is the pouding chômeur (poor man's pudding), a classic French Canadian dessert in which maple syrup or caramel is poured over cake and served warm.

Fresh local ingredients and made-from-scratch fare keep regulars and visitors well fed at this family-run spot on Ganges' waterfront boardwalk. Here chef Shawn Walton takes it up a notch with, for example, duck confit with pear-and-Gorgonzola ravioli, or beef tenderloin with port demi-glace. The art-filled interior is welcoming, and on warm evenings the marina-view patio is positively romantic.

Named for a 19th-century book by Philippe-Aubert de Gaspé, who once resided in the 1675 house, this establishment offers an authentic taste of French Canadian cooking. While it boasts a surprisingly good wine list, most guests come for the traditional Québec menu featuring hearty dishes like pea soup, tourtière (meat pie), meatball stew, and baked beans. You might also find more elaborate options such as wild game creton, bison bourguignon, or Lac St-Jean meat pie with wild meats. Servers in period costume enhance the historical ambiance, and each of the five dining rooms, like the bright vaisselier (dish room) with its colorful antique dishes and fireplace, offers a unique theme.  Grab one of the city's best dining deals: a delightful three-course lunch, starting at just C$39.95, available daily from 12 to 5PM.

Pick up a frosty treat—and some truffles or chocolate bars to take home—at this ice cream shop and chocolatier just off the main Danforth drag.

The most ambitious restaurant to call this part of town home is a warmly modern tasting-menu spot that draws from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors, Canadian ingredients, and fine-dining techniques. Plan for a couple of leisurely hours to experience the menu, which marries dukkah spice, za'atar, and pomegranate with foie mousse, Arctic char, and Iberico ham over a dozen well-considered, painstakingly plated small courses.

Sit back and relax in the cozy dining rooms of this converted old house and sample updated traditional fare. Bacalao, pronounced "back-allow," is Portuguese for "salted cod," a historic staple of Newfoundlanders and the Mediterraneans who came here to fish; a variation of it is featured every night. Other nouvelle-Newfoundland options include moose and caribou dishes, and mussels in Quidi Vidi Iceberg beer. Off-street parking keeps this spot attractive to its more suburban customer base.

For superfresh seafood and views overlooking Bras d'Or Lake, head for this former legion hall. There are just four options on the main-course menu—lobster, planked salmon, snow crab, and grilled steak—each of which can also come as a fixed-price feast with unlimited mussels, seafood chowder, homemade rolls and biscuits, desserts, and nonalcoholic beverages (yes, all of these items are unlimited). The space can seat 100 diners inside, and more on the deck, but it gets busy, particularly when a tour bus unloads (though these are by reservation only so you can call to check whether one is expected). Unlike some similar spots, this one is fully licensed so you can wash all that down with a cold brew. Dinner service starts at 4 pm.

The name belies the menu at this cozy spot on Duckworth Street where you can get excellent food for any meal of the day. Generous breakfast offerings bring local ingredients to traditional dishes. The with eclectic decor and soft lighting, the atmosphere is both relaxed and intimate. 

This bustling, light-filled café on Main Street dishes out excellent pastries, soups, sandwiches, espresso drinks, and a full slate of alcoholic beverages, including beer, cider, and wine. The seating area often fills up, but you can wander among the cool shops down the hallway while sipping your coffee.

The lines might be long at this ice cream shop specializing in artisanal options like "Cinnamon Toast" (malted cinnamon ice cream) and "London Fog" (Earl Grey tea)—but oh is it worth the wait. The flavors are good on their own, but the queues form for their incredible ice cream sandwiches made with freshly baked cookies, Hong Kong waffles, carrot cake, and cinnamon buns.

Imagine yourself lost at a Saigon night market at this trendy sandwich and snack bar that specializes in Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. Not satisfied with the traditional crusty white bread, Banh Haus offers whole-wheat and fried banh tieu (Vietnamese donut) buns as a vessel for fillings like grilled lemongrass chicken, five-spice sweet pork sausage, or deep-fried tiger shrimp. Other modernized street food classics include rice-paper-wrapped summer rolls and green mango salad.

Brothers David, Philip, and Peter Chau have banh mi in their blood—their parents opened one of the original Vietnamese sandwich shops in Chinatown—but they've taken the classic and decked it out with top-notch ingredients such as melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, duck confit, and kalbi beef. Other offerings include Asian-inspired tacos and steamed bao.

Start with an eclectic Chinatown storefront, stir in funky Asian-flavored cocktails, then add a creative take on traditional Chinese dishes, and the result is this hip and happening hangout. Load up your table with nibbles like Chinese pickles and steamed prawn, scallop, and chive dumplings, or tapas-size dishes like shao bing (sesame flatbread with cumin-scented lamb, pickled red onion, cilantro, and chilis), mantou (steamed buns stuffed with pork belly and preserved turnip), or steelhead trout with kabocha cumin gnocchi, rapini, and shiso butter clam sauce. To drink, perhaps a Mr. Miao (bourbon, Martini Bianco, beet juice, rosemary, and lemon) or a Plum Flower Paw (rum, sherry, plum juice, peppercorn, bitters, and dark lager). Old Chinatown may have been tasty, but it never cooked up anything this fun.

In business since 1991, the restaurant is regionally known for seafood, which is processed on the premises; steamed snow crab is a highlight. Some dishes swing Italian—there’s a seafood pizza, crab calzone, seafood risotto, and penne with mussels and clams. The dining room is grand but nothing fancy. Natural wood trim barely lightens the mostly olive green color scheme.

Funky Barb's, a tin-roofed takeout shack, floats on the quay at Fisherman's Wharf, west of the Inner Harbour off St. Lawrence Street. Halibut, salmon, oysters, mussels, crab, burgers, and chowder are all prepared fresh. The picnic tables on the wharf provide a front-row view of the brightly colored houseboats moored here, or you can carry your food to the grassy park nearby. Ferries sail to Fisherman's Wharf from the Inner Harbour, or you can work up an appetite with a leisurely stroll along the waterfront. 

A Toronto landmark since 1959, Barberian’s is known for wheeling, dealing—and plenty of eating. It also has a romantic footnote in history: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton got engaged here (for the first time). One of the city’s oldest steakhouses, it serves classic dishes like Caesar salad and jumbo shrimp cocktail. Mains focus on steak, but the fish of the day and grilled free-range capon are also solid picks.

This stone cottage offers a bright interior with both sofa and table seating and a view of Random Island in Trinity Bay. In finer weather, you can enjoy your coffee from an Adirondack chair on the patio overlooking the water. Enjoy coffee from small batch roasters in the province, as well as a light meal or baked treats that include gluten-friendly options.

In the original 1917 lodge building, this small lakeside pine dining room offers an ever-changing prix-fixe menu of contemporary Canadian cuisine, which might kick off with fennel and mustard-rubbed pork belly and move on to pistachio and cherry-crusted Australian rack of lamb or the house specialty, beef tenderloin. Fish and vegetarian options, such as sweet-potato gnocchi with shaved Gruyère, are always available. Desserts, included with the meal, always include some variation of crème brûlée (perhaps a chocolate-chili version), and homemade pie.

This little café has great coffee and snacks as well as a variety of fresh options for a quick breakfast or lunch. It is located perfectly to help energize you before hiking Signal Hill or to let you refresh and relax after a tour of downtown or the Battery. Enjoy the cozy indoors on chilly days, or order through the window and enjoy the sun at an outdoor table. 

Serving up bold, homey Filipino flavors, this cozy Parkdale spot is a favorite from brunch to dinner. Mornings bring silogs (a classic Filipino breakfast dish served with a protein, fried eggs, and garlic fried rice), ube pancakes, and calamansi mimosas, while dinner shifts into heartier Filipino food with a modern twist, like adobo fried chicken. Pair it with mango juice or San Miguel beer and settle in—this is comfort food at its best.

Whether inside the terraced dining room or on the heated beachside patio, almost every table at this 1912 seaside house has views over Burrard Inlet and Stanley Park. The Pacific Northwest menu focuses on unpretentious seafood dishes, such as sea bass or roasted salmon, along with steak, burger, and pasta choices. Lunch is a particularly good option here, followed by a stroll along the pier or the seaside walkway.

Owned by esteemed local chef Martin Ruiz Salvador, each thoughtful dish embraces fresh, local produce and meat, as well as incredible seafood. The Mediterranean-inspired menu elevates mussels and scallops to another level, their pasta is all handmade, and service is exceptional. Be sure to save room for one of their decadent desserts. This bright and modern restaurant somehow fits perfectly into a historic property, and the waterfront location makes for beautiful views whether you dine inside or on the patio.

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. And, at night, the place turns into Ursidae Lair, a scotch-tasting lounge.

Located at Spirit Ridge Resort on the traditional land of the Syilx people of the Okanagan Nation, this restaurant's name and menu is largely inspired by its Indigenous roots. The "Root" offerings range from maple roasted delicata squash to bannock with a white bean sumac spread, The "Fish" options include salmon, lingcod, and clams, The Bear (aka meat) will have you feasting on bison and duck, and as for The Berry (dessert), get ready to dig into honey and pear pavlova and assorted homemade sorbets.

Beaufort Bistro, a cross between haute cuisine and comfort food, has received a lot of attention since it opened in 2014. Since then, this part restaurant, part busy café-bar has moved to a much larger space to better accommodate more—and more types of—diners. As owner Jean-François Girard says, he wants Beaufort to welcome everyone from families with kids to remote workers with laptops, the young and young at heart, bohemians, bankers, and solo diners who want to sit at the bar. A fan of Norwegian cuisine, Girard features cod fritters, gravlax pavé, Nordic shrimp rolls, and Icelandic cod with pan-fried black rice, almonds, and mushrooms, along with more standard bistro mainstays such as tartare, pasta, and ratatouille—and for the kids: Thérèse's mac and cheese. 

A culinary tribute to beer, the creative menu here incorporates its star ingredient in every dish, but in subtle and clever ways without causing a malted-flavor overload. Start the hoppy journey with a taster flight of three draft beers, and follow that with a gooey beer-braised beef poutine or a bowl of mussels in a beer-based broth.