Sure, dining at a Michelin-star restaurant in Toronto can be a huge, blow-the-budget experience that no one at the table will ever financially recover from — but it doesn’t have to be. Michelin-star restaurants are known for offering the best of food, atmosphere and service, but that doesn’t always have to equate to a massive price tag. There are plenty of ways to dine at Michelin restaurants on a budget — a $100 per person budget to be precise.
We’re all feeling the pinch right now. So instead of racing out to every new Toronto restaurant opening, we’re saving ourselves (and our wallets) for the ones we’re really excited about, or choosing the spots that are known for being the best restaurants in the city, like the ones on Toronto’s Michelin Guide.
There are a lot of great cheap eats in Toronto and plenty of happy hour deals to save our wallets, too. While we might be confused about some of the Michelin Guide’s choices (like abandoning the Green Star), we do appreciate the Bib Gourmand designation that highlights great cooking at a lower price point.
However, there are also ways to dine at Michelin-star and Michelin-recommended restaurants and stay on budget. Here, we’ve rounded up our favourite ways to dine at Toronto’s Michelin restaurants for around $100 per person, so you can still enjoy a celebratory night out and see what all the Michelin hype is about without breaking the bank.
Michelin-star and Michelin-recommended restaurants you can dine at for $100 per person
1. Osteria Giulia
134 Avenue Rd.
Inside this sleek and simple space, soothing light wood and cream walls draw guests in for Italian fare and wine. Chef Rob Rossi’s menu leans into seafood and other dishes that the coastal Liguria region in Italy is known for. Start with the Stracchino Stuffed Ligurian Flatbread, opt for two pasta dishes or one pasta and a main like the red sea bream, split a dessert, and you can still squeeze in a glass of wine or a cocktail each for about $100 per person.
2. Grey Gardens
199 Augusta Ave.
Jen Agg’s opinion of the Michelin Guide isn't exactly glowing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a Michelin-recognized meal at one of her restaurants for under $100. Grey Gardens in Kensington Market is always a vibe, with its knockout wine selection and menu of crudos, pasta and more. On the last Monday of every month, Grey Mondays offers a six-course shared menu for $95 before tax and tip, spanning a snack, crudo, vegetable, carb, protein and dessert. It’s the kind of special-menu magic usually reserved for big occasions like New Year’s Eve — only here, it’s designed to kickstart your week.
3. Bar Isabel
797 College St.
Carmen Cheung
Carmen Cheung
Carmen Cheung
Carmen Cheung
Carmen Cheung
With its low lighting, vintage tilework and curved wood archways, the space invites you to linger over drinks and tapas late into the evening, making it a great place for high-end bites without committing to a rigid dinner agenda. Hovering comfortably around the $100 mark for two, you can pair a Spanish gin and tonic or a house cocktail with classic pan con tomate and a portion of roast veal bone marrow, or a quarter portion of their legendary whole grilled octopus. Ending on a slice of their signature warm Basque cake with hot sherry cream proves that navigating Michelin-recommended restaurants in the city can be every bit as satisfying through shared small plates as a formal multi-course tasting menu.
Juicy tentacles and Spanish tapas at Bar Isabel
Originally the only game in town for tapas, the groundbreaking Bar Isabel switched focus from Blackbeard bacchanal to curated cuisine.
Read more4. Alo
163 Spadina Ave.
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Daniel Neuhause
Chef Patrick Kriss’s one-Michelin-star Toronto restaurant has been earning accolades as the crème de la crème of Toronto dining since long before the Guide came to town. Snagging a reservation here is almost as difficult as buying Taylor Swift tickets, but you’ll be rewarded with Kriss’s masterpiece of a tasting menu. The dishes offer familiar ingredients combined in inventive ways, the service is impeccable and the atmosphere is sophisticated and celebratory without being stuffy.
If you’re on a budget, book the four-course tasting menu for $115 per person, available Tuesdays to Thursdays in the Parlour Room. It’s a little over the $100 per person mark, but it’s worth it to be able to cross this experience off your foodie bucket list. If you’re willing to shell out a little more, opt for one glass of wine instead of the wine pairing. The expert sommeliers can guide you to the perfect pour for your meal.
5. DaNico
440 College St.
If you don't think about it as "the poors have to dine outside behind the restaurant," then DaNico's new glass-atrium-enclosed patio with its own (much more affordable) menu is a super cute idea. Inside the plush dining room, the prix-fixe à la carte menu runs you $160, while the tasting menu is $240. Gulp. But outside on the patio, LuNa by DaNico serves a lounge menu of Italian share plates, cocktails and wine at a more wallet-friendly price point. It offers a taste of the cooking that earned DaNico its Michelin star, but in a more relaxed, open-air atmosphere.
For $16, the DaNico amuse-bouche lets you imagine what the tasting menu would be like, with four expertly prepared bites. A variety of crudos all come in under $30, while share plates range in price from chips and black truffle at the low end to pastas and charcuterie in the middle and Australian wagyu shishito peppers at the top end — but it's all under $50 a plate. If you play your cards right, you can easily have a romantic al fresco date night for $100 per person at a one-Michelin-star restaurant (sort of).
6. Edulis
169 Niagara St.
Dining at this charming converted house on Niagara Street doesn’t come cheap, but there is one way to lower the price. On Sundays, Edulis serves a $120 per person luncheon inspired by the husband-and-wife chef-owners’ love of long, lingering European Sunday lunch feasts. It’s not $100 per person, but it’s definitely a discounted way to experience the seasonal, Mediterranean menu. Bottles of wine are half-priced, too. Now you just have to pray to the reservation gods that you can get a table.
7. Giulietta
972 College St.
Another Toronto Michelin restaurant from chef Rob Rossi, Giulietta also serves coastal, seafood-forward Italian fare, this time in a Michelin-recommended, rather than a Michelin-star, restaurant. The food, atmosphere and service are still top-notch, though. Make a reservation for the counter to watch with mouths agape as the chefs whip up every dish with a seamless precision that's reminiscent of watching the ballet. Full disclosure: It will make you want to order absolutely everything on the menu.
If you can split an appetizer and a pasta dish, then you can save room in your budget to spring for the grilled tiger prawns with white wine, smoked chili, garlic, butter and lemon. We're still dreaming about how juicy they are. A list of local and Italian wines by the glass can fit in the budget, too.
8. Henry's Restaurant
922 Queen St. W.
One of those effortlessly cool West Queen West spots, Henry's Restaurant overflows with romance and charm. The menu changes often, but you can always expect to find seasonal dishes with fresh and interesting flavour combinations. We never skip the sinfully delicious shrimp toast. As a wine bar first and foremost, the list is impeccable. Make a meal out of some snack plates and a main to share, and ask the expert staff for a glass of wine that pairs with it all — they'll be happy to guide you in the right direction, and you'll stay under budget.
9. Liliana
1198 Queen St. W.
Chef-owner Marvin Palermo has received a lot of hype in the last year over his new restaurant Liliana. After a fire forced Vela, where he was executive chef, to close down, Palomo set his sights on his own restaurant. At Liliana, he blends Italian fare with Asian influences. There are plenty of plates in the $28–$48 range, from oxtail ragu pasta and stuffed chicken wings to ocean trout and tiger shrimp. Cocktails come in around $20.
10. Pai Northern Thai Kitchen
Multiple locations
This beloved Michelin-recommended Toronto restaurant is frequented by locals and visiting celebs alike. With heaping bowls of pad Thai, khao soi and a whole selection of curries all coming in under $30, it's easy to stay on budget here. The hardest part is grabbing a table at the ever-popular downtown location. Chef Nuit Regular has been recognized by the Thai government for cooking that's authentic to her homeland, and it shows in every bite.
11. Gia Restaurant
1214 Dundas St. W.
This Dundas West spot has been our go-to for plant-forward pastas for years, and it continues to earn its place as a Michelin-recommended Toronto restaurant. We've heard the other plates are good, but we can't help but order the agnolotti every single time. It's obsession-worthy. Start with the burrata, add a glass of wine each, and you can still stick to your $100 per person budget.
Gia Restaurant
The plant-forward Italian restaurant on Dundas West has once again landed on Toronto's Michelin Guide. I sample the menu and let Gia's forward-thinking approach to conscious eating blow me away.
Read more12. Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen
104 Portland St.
This vibrant Caribbean spot is Michelin-recommended, and the tropical space features lush greenery, woven rattan details and bright colours that immediately set the scene for a high-energy meal built around authentic, sun-soaked Jamaican flavours. You can easily feast here while keeping your total right around $60 to $80 per person before tax and tip. Start with a refreshing rum punch, then dive into their signature jerk chicken cooked over a wood fire. Adding an order of saltfish fritters completes the spread that proves Michelin-star restaurants in Toronto don't always mean white tablecloths or tiny tasting portions.
13. Bar Allegro
597 College St.
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
Jessica Blaine Smith
From the Pompette Group, Bar Allegro is churning out some of the best cocktails in the city, starting from around $16. Since drinks are the main draw, filling up on bread isn't a bad idea, especially when the bone marrow bourguignon comes with a pillowy pull-apart bun to soak everything up. Add on the nduja mussels and you've practically got yourself a meal and stayed under budget for date night.
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Read moreMichelin Bib Gourmand restaurants
14. Cherry St. Bar-B-Que
275 Cherry St.
Pitmaster Lawrence La Pianta’s smoked meat hub holds a Bib Gourmand recommendation among Michelin-star restaurants in Toronto. The casual, industrial-chic space centres on Southern-style live-oak pit smoking, filling the dining room and outdoor patio with rich hickory aromas. Landing well under $100 per person before tax and tip, you can load up on a half-pound of tender AAA brisket or sweet pit-smoked ribs, mac and cheese, pit beans and a cold craft beer. It delivers all the punch of a top-tier kitchen with none of the fine dining fuss — just exceptional pit-master craft served on butcher paper.
15. Ricky + Olivia
996 Queen St. E.
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
Brilynn Ferguson
This vibrant Leslieville favourite earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in Toronto for its playful, deeply nostalgic take on local ingredients. The bright dining room sets the stage for an inventive menu that elevates classic Canadian comfort food with clever twists. For around $70 to $80 per person before tax and tip, you can sip on a local craft pour or low-intervention wine while digging into crowd-pleasers like their steak tartare with hickory sticks, signature potato salad or fried chicken with house pickles.
Ricky + Olivia, an all-Ontario wine bar in Leslieville, is serving 90s nostalgia
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Read more16. White Lily Diner
678 Queen St. E.
While there’s usually a waiting list, it’s for good reason. This diner has been dubbed a Michelin Bib Gourmand, where high-end comfort food centered on hyper-local ingredients, house-cured meats and produce are the stars. For well under $50 per person before tax and tip, you can pair a fresh pastry or buttermilk biscuit with their famous house-smoked bacon and egg breakfast, a hot lunch sandwich or a stack-high plate of pancakes. And don’t forget to save room for the house-made seasonal doughnuts that made our Toronto Tastiest 50 list.
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