1031 Best Restaurants in Canada

A neighborhood favorite with serious cult status, this Parkdale sandwich stop punches well above its weight. The tiny space (and even tinier menu) focuses on a handful of craveable classics: the eggy Gold Standard breakfast sandwich, delicious burgers, and vegan-friendly options are all crowd-pleasers. With most items under $10, it’s a budget-friendly gem for breakfast or lunch on the go. Seating is minimal, so plan to stroll with your sandwich in hand.

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 coffeehouse also serves fresh and nutritious sandwiches, soups, and salads. It's also just one of several locations in the greater Downtown area.

Sydney's first mayor, Walter Crowe, once lived in this Victorian home, built in the late 1800s. The restaurant, with hardwood floors, a fireplace, and high ceilings, is known for fresh seafood and hand-cut steaks, though there are lighter options such as salads, wraps, and burgers. Desserts are all house-made. There's regular live entertainment.

This artisan bakery-café with a shaded streetside terrace is a great place to drop in for a quick bite, with an inviting aroma of fresh-baked bread and freshly brewed coffee to greet you. There's a deli counter with a great range of cheeses plus quick counter service for delicious soups, sandwiches, omelets, panini, pizzas, salads, and tempting pastries; table-service breakfasts run until 1 pm on weekends.

The latest entrepreneurial turn for a sixth-generation heritage family farm, this restaurant within a garden center is the true definition of a farm-to-table experience. Enjoy seasonal cuisine in the deli-style café inside Murray's Garden Centre, bright with natural light and lively with guests of all ages. After lunch, take a stroll through the flowers and potted trees and imagine how you would build your own Newfoundland paradise.

Be sure to try the house-made ice cream at this tiny sweet shop along the main road just past Fogo Island Inn. An island favorite, they offer both unique and classic flavors.

The owner-chef is fixing up this old clapboard building, but it's the treats that await within that really matter. A well-constructed menu features specialties like shrimp and scallop flambé, pork tenderloin in a red onion wine sauce, and maple-glazed salmon, and there's a less fancy but equally enticing comfort food list and kids' menu. Local wines, beers, spirits, and cocktails fill out the beverage list.

Chef Thane Mallory trained at the Institut Paul Bocuse in France and studied classic Italian food in Italy. Now he brings his expertise to this lovely riverside spot in Gagetown with a regularly changing menu reflecting availability of fresh local ingredients. The indoor dining room is charming and distinctive, and there are tables on the deck in summer.

Eclectic may be the best way to describe the food at this scarlet-colored restaurant, as the dishes combine a French bistro feel with a little bit of the American Southwest. The seasonings are down to a science here, and the proof is in the homemade ketchups, hot sauces, and salsas that are generously offered at each table. As with many restaurants, the menu changes with the seasons, but the Caesar salad made à la minute and the copious Baileys fudge chocolate cake are popular constants. The meat and seafood are carefully sourced; any of the nightly available options are always a great choice.

If you're in the neighborhood during lobster season, this site is well worth a visit. It's one of the largest lobster-holding facilities in Canada, storing live lobsters in temperature-controlled pounds until they can be packed and shipped to international destinations. You can pick out a lobster and have it prepared in the "cook shack" and delivered to you in the waterfront dining room. Or buy a live one to go.

This funky doughnut shop makes delicious yeast and cake doughnuts fresh every day. The classics—cinnamon sugar, Boston cream, jelly—are all here but expect over-the-top creations adorned with candy and cookies, too. 

As the name suggests, the focus of this restaurant is ham in all its many incarnations. The menu changes seasonally but charcuteries and marinated vegetables imported from Europe are ever-present. The dining room is modern and spacious, with huge windows and long communal tables that stimulate conversations. And diners of all sorts do convene here, from trendsetters to suit-and-tie corporates along with flip-flop-clad tourists.

Serving small plates designed for sharing, this spirited Japanese tapas bar is known for the seared mackerel sashimi. Also worth trying are the ebi mayo (tempura shrimp with spicy mayonnaise), the ishi-yaki (a Korean-style stone bowl filled with rice, pork, and vegetables), and anything on the daily fresh sheet. Sake and Japanese beer are the drinks of choice.

The name means "working together" in Swahili, and the family that owns this welcoming restaurant does just that as it introduces guests to traditional Ethiopian fare. Savory stews are served atop platter-size pancakes of injera, a tangy, spongy flatbread used to scoop up every morsel. The bread does the job of cutlery, so you won't find knives and forks here. Order a combination platter to sample a range of flavors. The vegetarian version, which includes spinach, lentils, peas, assorted vegetables, and salad, is especially tasty. The space is colorful, and the walls are hung with Ethiopian artwork. Unlike some Ethiopian restaurants with traditional low seating, there are regular tables and chairs here.

Bucking the trend toward relaxed fine dining, Harbour Sixty's four-floor complex goes for sheer opulence, the drama of which is apparent from the get-go as you walk up stone steps to the grand entrance of the restored Harbour Commission building. The kitchen rises to the occasion with starters like blinis with beluga caviar and mains like Australian wagyu tomahawk steaks and a shareable seafood tower. The fluffy coconut cream pie is a must-eat dessert.

This sweet coffee shop serves perfectly poured espresso drinks, breakfast sandwiches, and fresh-baked treats. It's worth diverting from the highway for this spot. 

This hip yet neighborhood-cozy Chinatown eatery is the sister restaurant of Burdock & Co. Enjoy health-conscious dishes that are delicious and hearty, like rice noodles with charred chili and almond-hazelnut sauce, ramen with squash and miso broth, and udon with sake kazu chicken, all of which incorporate the very best of seasonally available produce. Harvest is also a minigrocer, offering urban produce and small-production vegan and local foods.

Old Havana meets new Vancouver in this lofty, energetic spot, where the kitchen puts a west coast spin on Cuban classics. Start with ceviche, avocado tostones, or birria tacos, then try the Cubano (porchetta, honey ham, and Swiss cheese on a Cuban bun), the paella, or the grilled octopus. It's easy to make an evening of it. After dark, Havana morphs into a lively hangout, with mojitos, margaritas, and sangria, plus rum flights, craft beer, and signature sippers like the Hemingway Daiquiri. The patio is one of the best on the Drive, and there's even an intimate 60-seat theater in the back room hosting an eclectic mix of music, dance, theater, and comedy.

Front-row sushi bar seating, ultra-fresh ingredients, and minimalist wood-sculpted trappings keep diners coming back for these briny hand rolls and raw sashimi boats. The secret is a nori \"humidor\" that keeps seaweed sheets in a perfectly dry and crispy condition, making every bite as satisfying as the last. Sit back and marvel as chefs grill meats before your eyes with a hand torch and a binchotan charcoal stick.

Banff's newest sushi restaurant was designed to feel like a mix between a 1970s ski lodge and a traditional Japanese restaurant with wood paneling in the main dining area and a long sushi bar; private karaoke rooms are in the back. The menu has classics like miso soup, tempura, and a variety of sushi rolls, sashimi, and ramen alongside more inventive fare like cheeseburger gyoza, oshi (press) sushi, hand roll tacos, and build-your-own bao buns. The Japanese BBQ menu highlights Alberta beef and chicken. This restaurant celebrates happy hour daily, with the exception of holidays and long weekends, between 4-5 pm with half-price sushi and discounted drinks and ramen.

At this pub in what was once the house of a prominent Canadian politician, Haligonian brewers uphold beer-making traditions dating back to 1754, and you can sample the results, along with craft and bottled beers from beyond the city. The food is impressive, too—especially the Nova Scotia salt cod fish cakes and beer-battered fish-and-chips. In winter fireplaces keep the ironstone building toasty.

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).

Pretty much everything at this gorgeous family-owned café is made on-site, from the hand-rolled bagels to the preserves used in the truly delicious sandwiches. They even roast their coffee—grab a bag of their Village People branded beans to take home. Stop here for breakfast or lunch either inside or on their sunny patio, or grab food to go as they offer perfect picnic fixings.

In this historic house-turned-ice-cream-parlor, delicious gourmet ice cream is made from scratch, using fresh natural ingredients. They offer all the classic flavors and more—and even the crisp, light waffle cones are handmade on-site. There's also an authentic old soda fountain, pumping out hand-crafted sodas and floats, and you can enjoy your treat(s) inside or out in the pleasant garden.

With amazing views overlooking Okanagan Lake, Home Block, the restaurant located inside Cedar Creek Estate Winery, serves a locally inspired menu alongside limited-edition wines. The menu is always changing, but past favorites include crispy artichokes with mushrooms or sockeye salmon with charred asparagus. In the summer, snag a seat on the amazing outdoor terrace.

Chicken is the specialty at this classy bistro where the juicy rotisserie-roasted birds are served with potato salad, coleslaw, and biscuits. Other creative comfort foods include Arctic char with an annatto seed crust and lamb shank with cauliflower ragu. And save room for dessert—they always have something worth ordering. The space is interesting, too. Half the restaurant is in a restored historic structure (with details like mosaic tiles and a tin ceiling), while the other side of the dining room is set in a new condo building.

A local institution in the heart of town, Honeybeans serves coffee so good that there’s a regular early morning line of locals stretching out of the door.