Toronto‘s downtown boasts a vibrant and diverse culinary scene that caters to every palate. From luxurious Parisian-inspired dining to traditional English pub fare, the city’s restaurants offer a unique blend of global flavours and local flair. Whether you’re in the mood for an upscale dining experience while you feast on premium-grade steaks, or chat and mingle over freshly prepared sushi, the best restaurants in downtown Toronto promise a memorable time whatever you’re craving.
What you’re to find in these restaurants is their commitment to fresh, high-quality ingredients, innovative cooking techniques, and exceptional service. Toronto’s downtown dining scene has something to offer everyone in some of the most lively and fun gems downtown has to offer.
Explore the best restaurants Toronto has to offer, all bookable on OpenTable today.
Keep reading to dig into 12 of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto
For special occasions – head over to Frenchy Bar et Brasserie in the Financial District
Frenchy Bar et Brasserie promises to be Toronto’s answer to Parisian dining. With an elegantly designed lobby bar and lounge located inside the Hilton Toronto, adorned in romantic red details and gold features, you’ll forget where you are. Try classic French dishes such as beef tartare with cornichons, shallots and toasted baguette, tuna nicoise salad, or foie grois terrine with an ice wine and sour cherry gastrique. For a fun activity, afternoon tea is another inviting option offered at Frenchy Bar et Brasserie, with an assortment of small sandwiches, tea options, pastries, scones and even an optional glass of bubbly.
For a top steakhouse experience at one of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto – visit Hy’s Steakhouse – Toronto in the Financial District
Hy’s Steakhouse – Toronto offers you a sophisticated dining experience, with the highest quality Canadian Prime Grade steaks and tableside services. Welcoming you to an elegant dining room replete with high ceilings, dangling modern chandeliers, wood panelling, and moody lighting, you may never want to leave. Start your stay at Hy’s with cheese toast for two, a favourite since 1955, enjoy a Caesar salad prepared in the dining room, some escargot and oysters Rockefeller baked with spinach and hollandaise sauce. Hy’s prime steaks have been aged a minimum of 28 days and are grilled to order, and include New York strip, bone-in rib steak served with your choice of baked potato, fries or mashed potatoes. The steak tartare, steak diane and dessert bananas foster are prepared tableside for a memorable experience.
For one of the best restaurants in Toronto for date night – check out Daphne in the Financial District
To wow a special someone with a romantic date night, look no further than Daphne’s stunning dining room. Featuring large arches with ambient lighting, unique chairs, a striking red wall and a red velvet seating area, Daphne invites you to fulfil your heart’s every desire, making it one of Toronto’s best downtown restaurants for romance-filled meals. With two wood-fired grills, almost every dish includes a unique smoky flavour. From the wood-grilled granzino served with a jalapeno salsa tuna steak with brumale truffle ponzu and shiso chimichurri to classic wood-grilled pizzas the black truffle each bite is infused with Daphne’s signature smoky flavour.
For the best views of downtown – visit The Chase in the Financial District
The Chase offers casual elegance, with fine white interiors, and elegant glass chandeliers, its rooftop location gives you some of the best views of the city. With a menu that takes inspiration from both Italian and French cuisines and the finest of local ingredients in simple yet tasty dishes, The Chase earned OpenTable’s Diners’ Choice 2024 award. Bluefin tuna otoro sashimi is served with lemongrass cream, while fresh oysters come with a green apple mignonette. Miso glazed black cod with lotus chips and grilled branzino reflects its influences while taking on the multicultural flavours of Toronto.
For a transportive dining experience at one of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto – check out Leña Restaurante in the Financial District
Leña Restaurante is chef Anthony Walsh’s homage to South American cuisine with a touch of Italian influence. Named after his Arengentian mother-in-law, Elena, chef Walsh has drawn from her a passion and love of cooking rooted in South American dining, making it one of Toronto’s best downtown restaurants. With lavish interiors that bring to mind art deco, with bright pops of red, blue and green and a hexagonal-shaped bar that’s uniquely shaped with lighting that brings to mind a palm tree with open fronds, you’ll be sure to find yourself transported to South America. From Susana’s gaucho empanadas with chiminasty sauce, housemade chorizo faina a chickpea flour pancake topped with melted provoleta with salsa criolla, you’ll see the influence of South America and Italian flavourings combine in a unique yet flavourful dining experience like no other.
For one of the best restaurants for groups – visit Alobar Downtown in the Financial District
Alobar Downtown’s chef Patrick Kriss has created a menu that offers only the best in seafood, and prime steaks. With walls decorated with world-class wines, a uniquely patterned tiled floor and floor-to-ceiling windows that bring in all the natural light, Alobar Downtown delivers a world-class ambience, making it one of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto. Appetizer offerings include East Coast oysters, Nova Scotia lobster with jalapeno, lime avocado and nori, and Creekstone beef carpaccio. Next, choose from mains, whether it’s any of Alobar’s prime cuts, including bacon wrapped filet mignon, A5 wagyu striploin, classic grilled sea bream and confit duck pappardelle. Alobar also offers a five-course prix fixe menu with seafood and canapé selections, and a group-dining family-style menu made for 11 to 18 guests.
For a romantic date night at one of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto – check out LOUIX LOUIS in the Financial District
LOUIX LOUIS glitters high atop Toronto’s The St. Regis hotel, offering fine views of the city in a gilded dining room. Paying homage to Toronto’s distillery heritage, the interiors are meant to make you feel like you’re inside a whiskey glass. As you dine in a golden reverie in the clouds, enjoy kaluga caviar with blinis, half dozen oysters with champagne mignonette before making your way to the mains. The LOUIX LOUIS burger is made with a 60-day dry-aged beef blend and features truffle relish and red onion marmalade. The Royal brunch invites you to enjoy a weekend of indulgence, with smoked salmon and caviar and lobster and asparagus crepes just to name some of the offerings. The bar is two stories high, with over 500 dark spirits available, and living up to its whiskey glass interiors, The Macallan tasting flight takes you on a journey through some of the best Macallan has to offer. With gold accents, amber lighting, wooden flooring and seating, LOUIX LOUIS has earned its spot as one of Toronto’s best downtown restaurants.
For one of the best Japanese restaurants in Toronto – head to Omai in Chinatown/Kensington Market
Omai is a classically Japanese-decorated, intimate restaurant with only 20 seats – so make sure to book your spot ASAP. With cozy wood interiors, and moody lighting perfect for mingling with old friends and new, Omai invites you to enjoy your meal without too much fuss. Serving the freshest sashimi, perfectly paired with sake, and natural wines. With a changing menu that includes oyster caviar, lobster noodles, flat iron wagyu, Omai also offers a tasting menu with seven dishes perfect for taking the guesswork out of ordering and putting yourself in Omai’s capable hands.
For one of the gastropubs in Toronto – drop by The Rabbit Hole in the Financial District
The Rabbit Hole is all about uniting traditional British cooking with a Canadian sense of hospitality. Complete with a classic English pub interior, with wood panelling, seating for large groups, a fireplace and an area for watching sports, you’ll feel right at home at The Rabbit Hole, one of Toronto’s best restaurants in downtown. Promising “cheeky twists on old-fashioned pub food”, The Rabbit Hole invites you to chow down on Welsh rarebit a savoury dish of melted cheese and mustard on toast bread, bay scallops with black pudding and scotch egg with piccalilli. Of course, ale-battered halibut and chips is another classic must-try, along with plenty of beer and other drink options. Happy hour, served weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays to Fridays from 8:30 p.m. and all-day Saturday, includes $12 The Rabbit Hole favourite cocktails, $10 select wines and $6.95 select draught beer.
For top-notch seafood at one of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto – stop by Estiatorio VOLOS in the Financial District
Estiatorio VOLOS prides itself on offering authentic Greek cuisine with a side of Philoxenia, or hospitality that greets strangers like old friends. Welcoming you into a Mediterranean-styled dining room complete with family-style seating, quaint lighting fixtures and nods to Greek architecture, you’ll find yourself in the heart of the Greek Islands at Estiatorio VOLOS, one of Toronto’s best downtown restaurants. With dishes that add a Greek twist to Canadian ingredients, enjoy tiger prawn saganaki with olives, green peppers in an Ouzo tomato sauce. Next, a sesame-crusted Pacific salmon served with spanakorizo or Greek spinach rice awaits you, or enjoy the classic grilled whole Mediterranean Sea bass with a classic horiatiki salad. Indulge your sweet tooth with saffron Ice cream, served with pistachios, rose water and vanilla or a classic baklava.
For one of the best family-friendly restaurants in downtown Toronto – head on over to SmoQue N’ Bones – Baldwin in Chinatown/Kensington Market
SmoQue N’ Bones – Baldwin transports you and your tastebuds to the heart of America’s south, all the way from Texas to the Carolinas. With a dining room featuring tabletops made of reclaimed wood from an old house in Palmerston, lit with both bunker and prison lights from WWII. Executive chef Alex Rad has designed a menu centred around Scratch Cooking, or food made with real ingredients. Start with hickory smoked rib tips or pulled pork mac n’cheese before making your way to the main BBQ event. Baby back ribs doused in a signature spice rub as well as the signature SmoQued sauce and barbecue sauce, maple SmoQued chicken, and buttermilk fried chicken served with Carolina red slaw and SmoQued Sundried Aioli. Desserts include traditional bread pudding and bourbon spiked pecan pie. And true to tradition, SmoQue N’ Bones offers a family experience for a truly authentic Southern dining experience, showcasing the best locally sourced meats. Happy hour, served between 3 to 6 p.m. every day includes $10 BBQ Bites, $10 premium cocktails, $3 off signature cocktails, $8 wines and $6 beers.
For fine Japanese cuisine at one of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto – visit JaBistro in the Entertainment District
JaBistro is a sophisticated space serving top-notch washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine. Adorned with wood panels, exposed brick and ambient lighting, catch up with friends or enjoy an intimate date night while feasting on tasty dishes such as lobster miso soup, wagyu carpaccio and of course classic nigiri pieces. Conveniently located blocks away from major entertainment venues such as Roy Thompson Hall and Nathan Phillips Square, JaBistro is the ideal spot for after-event drinks and snacks in the heart of Toronto’s entertainment district. From plenty of cold and hot sake options to Japanese whiskeys to choose from, plum wine and signature cocktails like the ume negroni, why not stay a while at JaBistro?
Downtown Toronto is home to a variety of different cuisines, dining experiences and moods no matter what you’re craving or what occasion you’re enjoying. From a formal dining experience best for large groups or intimate dining rooms to catch up, mingle or get to know, you’ll be sure to never be disappointed no matter where you book in downtown Toronto.
Don’t miss out on a spot at some of the best restaurants in downtown Toronto, all bookable on OpenTable
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