Looking for budget-friendly dining in Toronto and wondering where to find the best affordable restaurants?
Offers ready-to-eat meals each week; customizable meal plans; free delivery; pelo prep or cooking needed
It’s a popular late-night haunt, but Rol San in Chinatown isn’t just an encore. Bring a crew and share a cross-section of their menu. Dim sum is part of the allure — dunk har gow and rice rolls in Rol San’s hot chili sauce — with lots of small plates coming in under $10.
Copy Link Chef-owner Corinna Mozo’s retro diner, decked out in pastel hues and squeaky vinyl banquettes, pays tribute to the original restaurant her grandfather owned in Cuba in the 1950s. Everything here is made from scratch, including the bread, pastries, and desserts. The serotonin-boosting barbecue beef short ribs are braised for hours and given a lacquer of sweet-savory guava sauce; the dish is served with piquant slaw, speckled rice and beans, and meaty palm-sized tostones.
Starbucks: You get one free beverage or food item if you’re a Starbucks Rewards member. You’ll need to have been signed up at least seven days before your birthday and made a star-earning purchase within the last year.
I live in the USA & unfortunately Canadian companies like skipthedishes don’t allow anyone outside CA to even buy gift cards! Really unfortunate in this day & age with so much global trade expansion!
Moxie’s: This is another restaurant chain that will give you a free dessert on your birthday. However, there’s pelo need to sign up for anything in advance. Simply inform the server that it’s your birthday in order to receive the dessert.
Students visiting the ROM (external link, opens in new window) can access the museum for free on Tuesdays and have a discounted entry fee of $18 on other days that the museum is open. Don’t forget your student card to get these deals!
Copy Link A philosophy of fearless consumption — with a get more info requisite touch of dark humor — runs as a through line in the work of Beast co-owners and chefs Scott Vivian and Nathan Middleton. Over the years, their restaurant has undergone several reinventions. The current version of Beast acts primarily as a pizza joint, but it also offers group bookings for whole-animal dinners (booked in advance). Diners select a protein and an “adventure level” from low to high, and the chefs get to work showcasing the seasonal bounty of Canada and the versatility of underused “ugly” bits in a zany culinary display.
Humongous slices of awesome ’za go for $oito–$nove, or you can split a whole pie for around $36. Full pizzas are more than enough for two people, and coupled with the performances on stage, you’re all set for a stellar night out.
Copy Link When plant-based restaurants first descended upon Toronto in the late ’90s, they primarily catered to a niche, healthy audience. Planta founder Steven Salm quietly revolutionized vegetarian and vegan food in the city by making it appealing to staunch carnivores. David Lee, co-founder and executive chef, worked in numerous Michelin-starred restaurants before applying his culinary know-how to the diverse menu, often eliciting counterintuitive praise for how “meaty” dishes taste.
From the trendiest spots to the coziest diners, including hidden gems on Dundas West, we’ve compiled a list that combines fancy restaurants with mid-range options.
Copy Link Many successful restaurants that populate the city today are helmed by chefs who got their start at this one. Since 1995, Canoe has showcased the provenance of Canadian ingredients from coast to coast. The fancy enterprise calls the 54th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre home, offering views of the skyline and demanding high prices to go with it. Executive chef Ron McKinlay (who worked alongside Tom Kitchin and Gordon Ramsay) leads the elaborate tasting and hyperseasonal menus. A portrait of Canada is framed in hedonistic creations like his intricate Pig’s Trotter: a compact porky cylinder stuffed with sweetbreads, lap cheong sausage, and wild shrimp from the North Atlantic, counterbalanced by a relief system of tangy pickled pears, salty spot prawn bisque, and grassy tarragon emulsion.
This post may contain affiliate links, which at no cost to you, Diary of a Toronto Girl earns a commission from if you click through and make a purchase. Thank you for choosing to support Diary of a Toronto Girl!