I couldn’t find anything recent in this thread, so I’ll start one. We’ll be in Toronto in early August. Any restaurant or other suggestions are appreciated. Based in Yorktown.
Paging @Tran_Bronstein
Thanks, we have time.
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I’m both an obsessive planner and a little ADHD. 
I’m a little out of the loop as I don’t go into the city as much as I used to, but…
Regardless of where you’re staying (Yorkville is central enough), I’d start with trying to get reso’s at any of Edulis, Alo (or any of Kriss’s places, his Alobar is in Yorkville) or Actinolite.
Have read good things with Matty Matheson’s Prime Seafood Palace, but haven’t been, nor know anyone with 1st hand knowledge.
If you like a specific type of cuisine, it could be easier to narrow down choices too. As an example, Toronto has some amazing Chinese food.
I’m sure others will have useful additional suggestions.
Restaurant Pearl Morissette is worth the drive. Make sure to watch when they open reservations for August as it will fill in minutes. Michelin Guide just did Toronto:
We like Chinese food but limited by not wanting spicy food. We love Japanese but not interested in $300 tasting menus.
Pear Morissette would be good, but I won’t be able to get my wife to double back to go there (we’ll be passing by W and M).
I remembered the Canada’s Top 100 list from searching in Vancouver last summer. Bill was very helpful, but I forgot to report back.
No Eater Toronto resource which seems surprising.
I appreciate the help.
Top places for me when I was in Toronto last June:
PAI –
18 Duncan Street
Thai food – rustic and hipster but high quality food.
Has the ambience of a Thai night market.
Good beer list.
Highly recommend for the scene and food.
Bar Raval –
505 College Street
In Toronto Little Italy section
Pinxtos/tapas – high quality ingredients and good wine list.
Excellent food. Casual bar/food scene –
Very good service. Highly recommend.
Also paging @J_D_Antonio
I assume you mean that you’re staying in Yorkville.
How long are you here? Just two people? What are you looking to do while in the city? Are you just looking for sit-down lunch/dinner places, or are you also looking for sights/areas of the city to explore, some snacky-type places to graze/nosh at? Wine only? Cocktails? Types of cuisine you enjoy? You mentioned Japanese, but most of the good places here are pretty spendy.
For restaurants, are you looking for quiet or more lively environments?
I don’t know you, Tom, so I’m trying to get an idea of what you’re looking for before making too many recommendations. I can suggest places from wandering in Kensington eating some tacos and churros to Michelin-starred dining - and everything in between.
Note that wine lists here usually have egregious markups and rarely stuff with any age on it. I can always recommend some BYO places, but then you’d need to lug wine with you or shop at our ridiculous monopoly. That said, you’re ahead approximately 30 cents on the dollar up here.
Feel free to PM if that’s your preference.
+1 on Edulis (especially) and Alo.
Ive had mixed experiences at Actinolite, pre COVID. Too clever by half and don’t go hungry.
Also Scaramouche for high end main stream.
City has an amazing variety of cuisines, hopefully others will post. Eg Pukka for Indian.
Following with interest.
Byo would be +.
Willing to drive north of 401, as well.
We’re there Tuesday 8/1 to Monday 8/7. Driving from Finger Lakes.
Sights and areas to explore is good, I’ll have my car so can drive to other neighborhoods. Light hiking type of activity works too. Maybe some kind of boat tour, but no hokey duck boats.
Wine and cocktails are good. We’ll definitely go to Bar Isabel. A mix of byob, more upscale restaurant is good. My wife isn’t crazy about museums, but there has to be something interesting. I may slip off to the Hockey Museum on my own
Here’s an idea for an afternoon/ evening. Does your wife (or you) like Art?
The AGO / Art Gallery of Ontario is on Dundas St. just into Chinatown. Visit the AGO in the afternoon and walk across the street to Asian Legend (you’ll need google maps to find it). Remarkably good dim sum and Chinese cuisine. BYO was $10 or $15 the last time I was there. Not ideal, but you’ll want to bring stems as well, as they have the cheap Libby wine glasses. You’ll leave stuffed and won’t know how you got out for so little $.
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I meant Bar Raval, but Bar Isabel looks good.
Raval and Isabel are owned by the same team. Raval doesn’t take reservations, so depending on time of day/day of week, you may have to wait.
I’ll reply with more suggestions this weekend, but Quetzal and Edulis should also be on your list. Reservations a must.
In addition to my earlier suggestions:
For cocktails, the bar at the Ace Hotel is quite nice, BarChef and Prequel & Co Apothcary are very good. Reservations often required at the latter two, but it depends on day of the week.
If you’d like a really nice setting and view of the city, go to the Writers Room Bar at the Park Hyatt. It’s conveniently located near your hotel in Yorkville. See if you can get seats on the terrace.
Prime Seafood Palace was listed above. I haven’t been yet, either, but close friends go frequently and really enjoy it - even if it’s pretty spendy.
I enjoy the food at Lapinou and Sara, and Richmond Station is consistently good. If going to the latter, I suggest getting seats at the counter and have the tasting menu.
I was at the new Chantecler location on Friday and they continue to tick over with some tasty food. Sadly, they’ve taken the seared foie gras off the menu for the summer.
All of these places allow BYO. Expect to pay somewhere in the range of $40-75 for corkage, Prime Seafood Palace being on the high end of that scale.
Wander around Kensington Market for lunch and go eat some tacos at Seven Lives (standing room only - definitely try their Gobernador, which is smoked blue marlin, shrimp, cheese, and more), and jerk pork or jerk chicken at Rasta Pasta, which is a Toronto (and Kensington) institution. Mother’s Dumplings is a very popular dumpling joint on Spadina. New Sky (corkage approx. $10) is pretty tasty also for non-dumpling dishes and not overly greasy like some places in Chinatown. Nothing fancy in this section, but the food is good.
I could go on and on, but I think this gives you a decent number of options.
A reminder that if you plan on driving around in the core, expect delays and slow-moving traffic. There is a ton of construction and lane reductions/closures are pretty ridiculous right now. Plan accordingly. And watch signage/don’t trust Google Maps if you’re on King St. There’s no through traffic in most intersections on this street in the core, and it’s very possible that you will get pulled over and get a ticket if you violate these rules.
Thanks, I appreciate all your help here. I’ll need to start planning and reserving in earnest.
Oops. Only just seeing this thread right now! 
Fortunately, I got to it before the visit in August. First off, if you will be staying in Yorkville, please note that TWEC ™ and board members Jay Shampur and myself live in Yorkville and fellow TWEC ™ members Michael Grammer, Michael Wright and Tim Burnett all live within driving distance and we could arrange for a get together if you’d like. To give credit where it is due, Jay is the one who actually knows where all the good places are, I just drag myself along and do the reporting.
First off, Yorkville is a ritzy midtown area and on the main Avenue Road strip, you are literally walking distance between dozens of high end restaurants and bars. If you’re up for a culinary adventure, just take a walk around the area and take a chance on any of the restaurants and bars in the area.
Now if you’d like recommendations for good restaurants in general and don’t mind traveling to them, here are some recommendations:
- The closest high end you’ll love is Sash at Yonge/Summerhill which is walking distance from Yorkville and across from the flagship Summerhill LCBO. You’ll see many other fine restaurants on that short strip on Yonge leading up to it including Caren, Sorrel, and Quanto Basta but I have not frequented any of them yet
- Also nearby on Avenue and Davenport streets is Adrak, a unique high end Indian restaurant
- The absolute top high end near you would be the venerable Opus. Tell Tony and Mario that Jay and I recommended it to you.
- For food and shopping, you could hit up the Eataly at Yonge/Bloor inside the Manulife Centre
From then on, in no particular order or with any regard to actual distance, restaurants I’d personally recommend are:
- Alo (if you could get in)
- Sara
- Frank’s Kitchen
- Scaramouche
- Pukka
- Actinolite
- Enoteca Social
- Salt
- Yasu
- Auberge du Pommier
Feel free to reach out to the Toronto Wine Elitist Cabal ™ as you get closer to the date of heading in to Toronto. We’d love to meet up.
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We were in town to see family a couple weeks ago and thankfully found this thread had finally started! I didn’t realise that all the other Toronto recs were scattered about in their own threads.
We ended up taking the combination of the advice her and after intersecting with availability on short notice we ended up at Actinolite with their late spring/early summer menu. The food was excellent, simple, yet innovative, and coming from LA the pricing wasn’t terrible. I just wish there’d been more meat and slightly larger portions.
We’ve gone before to a place just over the Don Valley at (iirc) Queen St. called Il Ponte. Great food. They let us bring some wine for my dad’s birthday, although I think we had to get special permission. Food was also excellent.
Hopefully one of these trips up we’ll have the availability to meet the TWEC!