Canada’s most celebrated tasting menu — reimagined and reborn for 2026

Alo Restaurant is, by nearly every measure, the finest restaurant in Canada. Chef Patrick Kriss’s Michelin-starred tasting menu experience — perched on the third floor of a Victorian heritage building at Queen and Spadina — has held the top position on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list for five consecutive years and ranked in the World’s Top 100. After a major renovation completed in late March 2026, Alo has returned with a completely reimagined dining room and two new tasting formats: a six-course menu ($185 per person) and a sweeping ten-course progression ($245 per person), both blind and season-driven. The kitchen, led by chef de cuisine Tim Yun, blends classical French technique with Japanese sensibility — expect Hudson Valley foie gras mille-feuille, Spanish Dover sole with bone marrow and razor clam, and a Parlour Room bar serving aperitivo-style cocktails alongside an abbreviated tasting menu. The chef’s counter seats, overlooking the open kitchen, remain the most coveted reservation in the city. Reservations release on the first Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. and sell out within minutes — plan accordingly.

► Explore Toronto’s legendary nightlife after your tasting menu — Top 10 Bars in Toronto →

Thirty seats, one seating per night — and the fourth-best restaurant in all of Canada

There are perhaps thirty restaurants in the world that feel like dining in someone’s home and simultaneously deliver cooking of genuine Michelin-starred brilliance. Edulis is one of them. Hidden inside a converted worker’s cottage on Niagara Street in downtown Toronto’s west end, chef-owners Tobey Nemeth and Michael Caballo have built one of Canada’s most singular restaurants around just 24 to 30 seats, a single nightly seating, and a seasonal tasting menu that changes entirely as the ingredients dictate. The kitchen centres on pristine Canadian seafood, wild mushrooms, and vegetables sourced from small local farms, prepared with Spanish cooking traditions and European finesse. Ranked fourth on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants in 2025, Edulis has also received the Michelin Service Award for the warmth and intelligence of its front-of-house team. The restaurant operates on pre-paid reservations released monthly and sells out in under a minute — the waitlist function on Tock is essential. The signature must-try is whatever the bluefin tuna course looks like this week.

Michelin-starred Ligurian Italian — the most romantic dining room in Yorkville

Osteria Giulia holds a Michelin star, a 50 Best Discovery listing, and a place on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants — yet the dining room feels like stepping into a serene, candlelit dream rather than a prestige institution. Chef Rob Rossi and partner David Minicucci have created something genuinely rare: a fine-dining Italian restaurant in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood that channels the seafood-rich cooking traditions of Liguria with absolute precision and zero pretension. The space — cream walls, blond-oak tables, flickering light — is designed for lingering. The menu centres on coastal ingredients and handmade pasta: the wild snow crab tagliolini with smoked bottarga is widely considered one of the most extraordinary pasta dishes served anywhere in Canada. The focaccia di recco, a thin Ligurian flatbread filled with melting stracchino cheese, arrives as a signature opener that signals the evening to come. The wine list is deep, and the cocktail program is inventive and Italian-rooted.

► Discover Toronto’s best coffee and cafe culture to start your day — Top 10 Cafes in Toronto →

Toronto’s most acclaimed steakhouse — now reimagined at CIBC Square with a world-class dry-aging room

Since 2007, Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse has set the standard for serious steak dining in Toronto, and the move to a spectacular new home at CIBC Square in 2024 has only elevated its standing. Under Executive Chef Danny McCallum, the menu changes daily based on available cuts — an approach that treats beef the way a sommelier treats wine, sourcing from ranches across Canada, Australia, and Japan and ageing each cut to its peak in an on-site dry-aging room visible from the dining room. The Michelin-recommended experience opens with complimentary aged white cheddar popovers and ends with the promise of coffee cake muffins to take home. The tableside Caesar salad ($34) is a mandatory ritual, and the chefs’ tasting of striploins from three continents is the definitive way to understand what great steak can be. The live pianist, striking contemporary interior, and marble-topped cocktail bar make this as much an event as a meal.

► Planning a full Toronto adventure? Explore the city’s best attractions first — Top 10 Tourist Places in Toronto →

The restaurant that single-handedly revitalised Thai dining in Toronto — with a Michelin star to prove it

Pai Northern Thai Kitchen is not just the best Thai restaurant in Toronto — it is the restaurant that, according to the Toronto Star, was “credited with revitalising Toronto’s Thai dining scene.” Founded by chef Nuit Regular and her husband Jeff, Pai opened on Duncan Street in 2014 and became an instant city legend, with lines stretching out the door on any given evening. The Michelin Guide describes its menu as “extensive,” with “fresh, tasty dishes and vibrant curries” — and the khao soi, a rich coconut-milk noodle broth with braised beef and egg noodles, is widely considered one of the signature dishes of Toronto dining. Chef Nuit’s pad thai is the most-ordered dish in the house and has been called the best version in the city by multiple critics. The mod-bohemian dining room feels like a celebration on a busy Saturday night, with notable celebrity patrons including Jason Momoa and James Harden having made it a destination.

Eastern Mediterranean sharing plates in a century-old building — Toronto’s most celebrated Middle Eastern dining

Set inside a century-old building on Duncan Street — steps from the Entertainment District — Byblos Downtown has been one of the most talked-about restaurants in Toronto since opening, ranked #19 of over 5,700 restaurants in the city on Tripadvisor. The menu is a love letter to the flavours of Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, and beyond: lamb ribs glazed with raz el hanout and red chili schug, Turkish manti dumplings with eggplant and yogurt sauce, Persian-spiced hummus royale topped with beef tenderloin and pomegranate, and a branzino preparation that draws rapturous reviews. Everything is designed for sharing, making the communal table experience particularly joyful. The tea service — with its spirit-infused cold teas — is a signature theatrical touch unique to Byblos. Note: the Uptown location closed in October 2025; Duncan Street is now the sole Toronto address.

► Continue the evening at one of Toronto’s best nightclubs nearby — Top 10 Nightclubs in Toronto →

54 floors above the city — a 30-year institution of contemporary Canadian fine dining

There are few settings in Canadian dining as iconic as Canoe Restaurant & Bar. Perched on the 54th floor of the TD Bank Tower in Toronto’s Financial District — with floor-to-ceiling windows framing the CN Tower, Lake Ontario, and the entire city skyline — Canoe has been a landmark of contemporary Canadian fine dining for thirty years. The kitchen draws on the full breadth of Canadian ingredients: B.C. salmon, Owen Sound pheasant, northern woods mushrooms, Prairie bison, prepared with precision and creativity. The signature Taste Canoe tasting menu showcases the kitchen’s seasonal range in five courses and remains one of the finest representations of Canadian culinary identity available anywhere. The bar programme, served in the lounge with the same sweeping views, is an event in itself. Note that Canoe is closed Saturday and Sunday, operating exclusively Monday through Friday.

Toronto’s most beloved fine-dining institution — 45 years of classical French excellence with skyline views

There are restaurants that open and close with the tides of culinary fashion, and then there is Scaramouche — a place that has anchored Toronto’s fine dining identity since 1980 and continues to earn recognition that newer restaurants would envy. Under Chef Keith Froggett, who has helmed the kitchen since 1983, Scaramouche holds a Michelin Plate recognition, a La Liste ranking, and a spot on the Opinionated About Dining North America list. Perched above Midtown on Benvenuto Place, the restaurant offers some of the most magnificent city skyline views in Toronto — and the classical French cuisine, rooted in seasonal Canadian ingredients, delivers rack of lamb, foie gras terrine, and Canadian triple-A filet mignon that remain benchmarks of the genre. The Coconut Cream Pie is one of the most famous desserts in Canadian dining and can be ordered for takeout Tuesdays through Saturdays between 5–5:30 PM.

► Before dinner, discover Toronto’s best outdoor escapes — Top 10 Picnic Spots in Toronto →

Inside Toronto’s iconic 1917 Harbour Commission Building — reimagined as a multi-level dining landmark

Harbour Sixty Steakhouse occupies one of the most historically significant addresses in Toronto dining — the 1917 Harbour Commission Building on Harbour Street, steps from the waterfront. Following a multimillion-dollar renovation and reopening in March 2025, Harbour 60 has been reimagined as a multi-level dining destination featuring the original steakhouse, a new Italian concept called Arianna, and six private dining rooms. The menu centres on USDA Prime beef representing the top one percent of all beef, alongside Dover sole flown in from France, stone crab claws from Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, and true Japanese Kobe beef. The wine cellar is one of the most impressive in the city, and the 2025 DiRoNA Award confirms its status as a formal dining institution. Complimentary valet parking is available, and Union Station subway is just one block away. Included here as a celebrated exception given its iconic cultural status in Toronto dining.

The sassy little sister to Michelin-starred Osteria Giulia — handmade pastas and wood-fired pizza on College Street

If Osteria Giulia is the refined elder sibling, Giulietta is the one who stays out late, laughs loud, and always orders the best bottle on the list. Opened by Chef Rob Rossi and David Minicucci — the same partnership behind the Michelin-starred Osteria Giulia — Giulietta sits on College Street in Toronto’s vibrant Little Italy neighbourhood and has become the city’s most beloved neighbourhood Italian restaurant since opening in 2018. The menu celebrates handmade pasta and wood-fired pizzas with genuine creative ambition: the artichoke fritters, the La Giulietta pizza, and the in-house pasta dishes change with the season and are made fresh daily. Toronto Life and Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants have both featured Giulietta, and the chic-but-relaxed dining room fills early and stays busy all night. The canestri alla vodka has become one of the most talked-about pasta dishes in the city, and the wood-fired kitchen produces pizzas that rank among the finest in Toronto.

► Make a weekend of it — find the best shopping Toronto has to offer — Top 10 Malls in Toronto →

What are the best restaurants in Toronto for a special occasion in 2026?

For a truly unforgettable special-occasion dinner, Alo Restaurant (reopened March 2026 with a reimagined interior) and Osteria Giulia are the gold standard — both hold Michelin stars and deliver tasting-menu experiences of the highest calibre. Edulis, ranked fourth on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants, offers a more intimate but equally extraordinary experience. For spectacular views alongside exceptional food, Canoe at the top of the TD Bank Tower and Scaramouche in Midtown both offer the theatrical backdrop that special moments deserve. All five require advance reservations, with Alo and Edulis particularly difficult to book.

How far in advance do I need to book restaurants in Toronto?

Booking timelines vary significantly by restaurant. Alo releases reservations on the first Tuesday of each month for dates two months ahead, and tables sell out within minutes — set a calendar reminder. Edulis pre-paid reservations on Tock sell out in under a minute on their monthly release date. Osteria Giulia and Jacobs & Co. are bookable 14 days ahead via OpenTable but fill quickly on weekends. Canoe (Mon–Fri only), Scaramouche, and Byblos Downtown are generally easier to book with 1–2 weeks’ notice. Book as early as possible for any weekend dining.

Which Toronto restaurants have Michelin stars in 2025?

The Michelin Guide Toronto 2025 awarded One Michelin Stars to Alo Restaurant, Edulis, Osteria Giulia, and Pai Northern Thai Kitchen, among several other establishments. Jacobs & Co. and Canoe hold Michelin Recommended status, while Scaramouche has received the Michelin Plate distinction for 2024 and 2025. Toronto’s Michelin selection spans 16 one-star restaurants, 26 Bib Gourmands, and over 60 Recommended venues across the 2025 guide — one of the most comprehensive Michelin selections of any Canadian city.

What is the best steakhouse in Toronto in 2026?

Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse at CIBC Square is widely considered the finest steakhouse in Toronto, with Michelin Recommended status and a daily-changing menu of dry-aged cuts sourced from the world’s best ranches. The tableside Caesar salad and the chefs’ tasting of striploins from Canada, Australia, and Japan are the defining experiences. Harbour Sixty, which reopened in March 2025 after a major multi-level renovation, is the second landmark choice — its USDA Prime programme, Japanese Kobe beef, and iconic Harbour Commission Building setting make it an enduring Toronto institution. Both accept reservations via OpenTable.

What are the best restaurants in Toronto for a big group or celebration?

For groups, Byblos Downtown’s sharing-style Eastern Mediterranean menu is perfectly designed for convivial dining — dishes arrive in a parade and everyone eats together. Canoe offers private dining rooms ideal for corporate events or milestone celebrations. Harbour Sixty has six private dining spaces accommodating small groups to large buyouts. Pai Northern Thai Kitchen accommodates larger parties at both its downtown and uptown locations, with group menus available. For milestone celebrations with tasting menus, Jacobs & Co. and Alo both offer private dining rooms for parties of up to 30 and 14 guests respectively.