17 Best Restaurants in Yorkville, Church and Wellesley, Rosedale, and Cabbagetown, Toronto

Spearheaded by world-renowned restaurateur Daniel Boulud, Café Boulud occupies the coveted dining room of the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto and presents itself as a serene, airy French brasserie decked out with sage-green banquettes and gilded accents. The café does simple, well-executed classic and contemporary French fare, like mouthwatering rotisserie duck, a signature Frenchie burger and cocktails like the French 55.

A good drive away from Toronto's two Chinatowns on the edge of Yorkville, MIMI Chinese offers a memorable dining experience built on regional dishes from the Guangdong, Sichuan, and Hunan regions of China. It's an upscale yet unpretentious room, with a dark red-and-black aesthetic, waiters in black bow ties, and one-way kitchen mirrors that give you a full view of bustling chefs plating dishes and slicing up glistening barbecue pork char siu (though they can't see you). The sharing-style menu, which had a cult following before the restaurant even opened, is split into sections including Raw & Cooling, Savoury & Warming, and Noodles & Rice, all meant to play off each other. The best bet is the $100-per-person Chef's Choice, but either way you won't want to miss the social-media-famous Four Foot Belt Noodle, sliced up tableside with scissors. A playful drink list includes a shareable Tea Ceremony green tea cocktail, a Jungle Panda tiki creation with Chinese baijiu, and an extensive collection of sakes. 

The modern dining room at One, inside the Hazelton Hotel, is all rich woods, smoked glass, cowhide, and onyx—and thankfully the food lives up to all the razzle-dazzle. "Lobster spoons" with vermouth butter and miso-glazed black cod share space on a broad, varied menu with fresh pastas and exceptional house-aged steaks sourced from Prince Edward Island and Alberta.

This southern Italian hideaway has been a magnet for visiting celebrities and well-heeled Yorkville locals since the early 1990s, and it's still one of the city's most popular posh restaurants. The dozen or so pastas, including freshly made gnocchi, are reliably excellent, but the grilled seafood options, spanning yellowfin tuna to tiger shrimp to calamari, are stellar.

No late-night craving goes unsatisfied at this decades-running 24-hour eatery specializing in lighter fare. Soups like Moroccan or vegetarian chili and sandwiches like sloppy joes and herbed chicken with honey mustard are comforting and filling. There is also a brunch menu.

This tiny café, just outside the Rosedale subway station, serves some of the city's favorite sandwiches.

The original location of the artisan coffee shop/wine-and-spirit bar mini-chain that now has eclectic locations throughout the city, this Summerhill spot is a relaxed but lively spot from morning to evening. Located in a two-story Victorian home (and former dry cleaner), Boxcar Social has a bustling bar, a quiet and sophisticated upstairs lounge, a nice back patio, and a next-door bottle shop for those who prefer takeout.

On the ground floor of the renovated Anndore House hotel, this sprawling spot's open kitchen turns out varied fare like Middle Eastern mezes, pastas, and gorgeously plated desserts. Grilled meats are great here---especially the lamb burger---but vegetarian options abound. 

Actor-turned-baker Craig Pike started this local chain of cookie shops as a small pop-up, but they've since gone viral and then turned ubiquitous throughout the city. The signature is a simple but addictive chocolate chip cookie with a little bit of salt to balance out the sweet, though there are many, many more options in this Church Street location's glass display case. The chocolate chip base becomes a vessel for all sorts of fillings like peanut butter cups, Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies, chocolate bars like Twix and Toblerone, and, for a cookie-within-a-cookie, Oreo. 

Eataly's wonderland of fresh Italian groceries can also be enjoyed on-site in seven different restaurants, bars, counters, and cafés. There's the Trattoria Milano for northern Italian dishes and aperitivo, La Piazza for shareable plates like salumi and cheese, La Pizza & La Pasta (pretty self-explanatory), Birroteca for fresh beer in partnership with Indie Alehouse, multiple big patios to sip drinks like Aperol spritzes and wines, plus multiple cafés for pastries, sandwiches, pizzas, chocolates, and gelatos. 

Sensuous paintings of nudes and the sea and signed celebrity photos line the walls at this two-story seafood institution. The kitchen prepares dishes from the Dalmatian side of the Adriatic Sea, and members of the international artistic community who frequent the place adore the unusual and healthy array of seafood and fish. The black risotto with squid, served in a shareable portion size, is a must, as are the grilled prawns with lemon garlic butter.

In hotly debated "best pizza in the city" barroom discussions, this local pizza chain is one of the top contenders. This location is a top spot in the Village for a tasty and crispy pie, slice, or handful of garlic knots.

This fast-casual takeout spot is an offshoot of one of the city's top catering companies, the Food Dudes---and though the salads and proteins here are produced in massive quantities, everything is handled with a deft, flavorful touch. Pick a combo size, then choose from the daily mix of multicultural offerings in the display case. Favorites include moist grilled salmon and various types of chicken (jerk, peri peri, shawarma, etc.), ricotta meatballs, truffle mac and cheese, and Mexican street cauliflower.

The upscale-yet-whimsical take on vegan food at Planta caused quite a stir when it opened in 2016, and the restaurant (now one of four in the city) is still a favorite of the Yorkville crowd. Menu standouts include satisfying thin-crust pizzas with plant-based mozzarella, an excellent veggie burger, and a queso dip that will fool even the pickiest cheese lover.

If you want your latte made by a robot, this is the spot to get it. The first location of a new automated coffee kiosk concept that's slowly creeping across the city, the Robo Café makes the specialty espresso-based coffee drinks like cappuccinos, cortados, and flat whites---complete with ice or oat milk---you'll find at indie coffee shops throughout the city, but taking the barista out of the equation. A step above vending machine coffee (they actually don't use the "v" word), it's a blue window with a screen where you press in your order, pay with a tap of your debit card, and then you're on your way.   

Yorkville is filled with ice cream and gelato shops, but Summer's is the most beloved. A family-run shop since the '80s, this ice cream parlor doesn't do anything fancy or trendy but excels with the classic, made-in-house flavors. There are always at least 26 of them, with favorites like chocolate fudge brownie, pralines 'n' cream, and Toronto Pothole (a little bit of everything) often seen on cones throughout the village. 

Local Italian mini-chain Terroni has several locations around the city but this one, with the ground-floor Bar Centrale wine bar inspired by Italian train stations, is especially popular. Head upstairs to the bi-level Terroni for locally beloved thin-crust pizzas, seafood spaghetti, and Italian cheeses and mushrooms, along with stunning views.

Service is particular: no substitutions, no cheese on seafood dishes, and they won't cut your pie for you. Some find it a deal breaker; others say it adds to the Italian authenticity.