Rank: #1 "A modern, elegant, softly lit culinary oasis tucked away on the third floor of a Spadina Avenue warehouse, Alo forged its reputation on tasting menus that run three hours long. In its fifth year the disciplined kitchen continues to turn out dishes with the same elevated finesse that regulars demand and are so contentedly accustomed to."

Rank: #4 "Seasonal, regional cooking doesn’t get much closer to the source than this. Many of the restaurant’s ingredients are harvested from the property’s kitchen gardens and the surrounding Carolinian forest. Chef Jason Bangerter’s terroir-driven cuisine isn’t dogmatic though, and B.C. sablefish is more than happy to partner with a velouté of the restaurant’s own cauliflower and lemongrass."

Rank: #8 "It’s been two years since Top Chef Canada runner-up Rob Rossi partnered with David Minicucci of L’Unità to open Giulietta, and the lust of Toronto diners for top-notch cacio e pepe remains unsated. The duo draw on their Italian heritage to give classic Italian cuisine a fresh spin that’s light and correct."

Rank: #9 "Down a side street just off busy and hip King Street West lies Edulis, a modest neighbourhood bistro in looks but a power – house of fine dining in execution. Devotees border on cultish—and this loyalty has not waned one bit since the restaurant opened in 2012."

"Slip through the navy blue noren, pull open the grand wooden door, and you’ll find a staircase cast in marble up to its handrails. While the risers seem a normal size, figuratively by our count each one represents some 500 kilometres. For just behind the door at the top, Tokyo is waiting for you. More specifically, a sushiya of transporting excellence, delivering an Edomae-style culinary experience as good as any as any you’ll find in the old Edo district of Tokyo."

Rank: #11 "Chef Rob Gentile’s idea for this third iteration of Buca Osteria & Bar was to apply his much-admired customary culinary approach (part traditional, part iconoclastic) to the underexplored realm of coastal Italian cooking. And while sustainably harvested fish and seafood remain the culinary raison d’être, the approach has over the years become less doctrinaire. If you fancy prime rib with truffle-infused brown butter or duck egg bigoli with duck offal ragù, no problem."

Rank: #15 "Barely a year old, this charming 30-seater in a converted townhouse on Harbord Street has established itself as one of the city’s most coveted reservations. Zach Kolomeir’s reputation preceded him—he was formerly chef de cuisine at Montreal’s hallowed Joe Beef—and the city’s been quick to embrace his exuberant, careful, but relaxed style of modern French cooking."

Rank: #17 "The Restaurant at Pearl Morissette’s thoughtful and inventive tasting menus keep hoisting the bar higher for Niagara wine country dining. Daniel Hadida and Eric Robertson, Ontario-reared chefs with cutting-edge experience in Paris and rural Belgium, respectively, are in charge of the kitchen."

Rank: #18 "In a residential neighbourhood in Toronto’s Harbord Village sits a modest Japanese restaurant with some of the best sushi and Japanese plates in the country. Go to Skippa for seasonal omakase menus featuring the freshest of fish—much of it sourced from the Fukuoka Fish Market, alongside produce from small local farms."

Rank: #26 "Arguably the most stylish of Ottawa’s restaurants, Riviera is housed in a heritage bank building, just steps from Parliament Hill on the pedestrian stretch of Sparks Street. Food and drink both take inspiration from the art deco retro vibe, offering magnificent updates on classic steakhouse fare: shrimp salad cocktails, dry-aged steaks, lobster pappardelle, mushrooms on toast and all manner of magnificent ceviches and tartares."

Rank: #27 "Canoe started its 25th year with a design makeover: new fixtures and furnishings, softer lighting and, most important, a considerably improved kitchen. Chef de Cuisine Ron McKinlay, the latest in a long, distinguished line of Canoe CDCs, has grown in his role here these past few years, and now has his kitchen team exactly where he wants it. Read: highly disciplined and cooking with admirable finesse. The outlook remains, as always, on haute Canadiana, expressed by the best possible Canadian ingredients, sourced coast to coast."

"Seven years in, Bar Isabel has made the transition from it girl to grand dame of the west end restaurant scene—without slowing down the party. Against the odds, and throughout the unrelentingly bustling nights, culinary standards have remained very high."

Rank: #29 "Alobar is located just off of Cumberland in a newly developed nook with slits of light set in the stone walkway that feels like the Yellow Brick Road to happy hour. The room is lovely and dark with deep banquettes in caramel, oxblood and sea-foam green— pops of colour amid the polished neutrals and a bar glowing amber. It’s very Drake-meets-Yorkville."

Rank: #32 "Atelier has bucked trends since opening in 2008. At a time when so many other fine-dining restaurants were abandoning the tasting-menu business, Atelier was forging ahead with razor-sharp focus on just that. For the past dozen years, Chef Marc Lepine has remained committed to blind menus of 12 dishes."

"Liberty Entertainment kingpin Nick Di Donato had long harboured a plan to deliver to Toronto a dining experience of uniquely European grandeur. In 2017, while holidaying on the Amalfi coast, he found the partner he needed just outside of Positano at the two-Michelin-starred Don Alfonso 1890."

"Scaramouche may be one of just a handful of “special occasion” restaurants left in Toronto. While one would think that means old and stodgy, instead it maintains a fresh aura of sophistication—along with its always-dazzling twilight views over the city. And the place is always packed."

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