The 5 Must-Book Toronto Restaurants for Fall

by OpenTable

Updated August 24, 2021

After emerging from one of the world’s longest pandemic-related lockdowns, the Toronto dining scene is coming back with a bang. Many long-awaited restaurants are finally making their debuts, while others that opened for takeout-only are getting a chance to spread their culinary wings and introduce the city to their full menus and spaces. Here are some of the most exciting and innovative Toronto restaurants to discover this fall.

Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse - Eglinton

4.2

4.2 (1135)

CAN$51 and over

Steakhouse

Midtown / Uptown

About the restaurant

La Latina takes over an outpost of popular Brazilian steakhouse chain Copacabana, known for its all-you-can-eat menu of skewered meats. The new restaurant, which comes from the same team behind Copacabana, trades bottomless beef ribs and piri piri chicken for an a la carte approach to South American street food. From house-smoked meats to freshly baked bread, much of La Latina’s fare is made from scratch. The drink menu also plays up the restaurant’s Latin American influences with cocktails such as the pisco sour and the margarita, as well as a wine list that’s big on bottles from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. With its rainbow-hued lighting, the restaurant feels as vibrant and inviting as its predecessor.

Top review

Jaybid Justice

Dined 6 days ago

It was wonderful even though there were standing situation for over an hour

Enigma Yorkville

4.8

4.8 (541)

CAN$51 and over

International

Yorkville

About the restaurant

Opened just before Toronto entered its second indoor dining shutdown last fall, Enigma Fine Dining is finally able to present its refined, seasonal tasting menus to the city. The restaurant’s five-course menus change regularly but feature a focus on European culinary techniques and elegant plating. A typical menu might begin with scorched hamachi fish with wasabi emulsion and delicate dollops of passion fruit gel, follow it with Darjeeling tea-smoked quail, and finish with a selection of petit fours that includes housemade pistachio financiers. The wine list offers a mix of Old and New World bottles, while the restaurant’s grand design is a natural fit for its location in the city’s historic Yorkville neighbourhood.

Top review

DirkVIP

Dined 7 days ago

A memorable experience, once again. Every interaction with the staff was exceptional. And Chef Quinton’s food demonstrated why Michelin recognizes Enigma. Inventive interpretations of classic plates, made from the best ingredients, with a skilled team executing. Biting into the food made me giggle. The Christmas Eve dinner ended with a swag bag that was so surprising. More delicious morsels for home. Looking forward to the next menu so we can return in the new year.

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Experience

The Macallan Lounge Multi-Sensory Experience

Experience

Lunch 5 Courses Set Menu (Friday-Saturday)

Experience

Tasting Menu 8 Courses

The Rabbit Hole

4.5

4.5 (738)

CAN$30 and under

Contemporary British

Financial District

About the restaurant

Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality’s handsome new watering hole draws on district executive chef John Horne’s years spent working in England for its menu of imaginative British gastropub fare. Using locally sourced ingredients, The Rabbit Hole refreshes classic pub dishes like steak and mushroom pie and puts fine dining riffs on others — the beef tartare, for example, sees Sunday roast staple Yorkshire pudding paired with a Scotch quail egg. The restaurant’s wood-clad interior nods to Alice in Wonderland, the story that inspired its name, with details such as a wall of mismatched clocks and subtle recurring rabbit motifs. The cocktail menu strikes a balance between traditional and whimsical with drinks like the Queen’s Tea, a spin on a Long Island iced tea that’s served in a teapot.

Top review

Sarah

Dined 5 days ago

Great dinner, great ambience, great servers. Hostess was a little surly, not sure why, but that was the only down point of the evening. Would highly recommend the rabbit hole.

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Pai Northern Thai - Uptown

4.6

4.6 (1810)

CAN$30 and under

Thai

Yonge and Eglinton

About the restaurant

More than seven years into its run, Pai’s original location still regularly garnered out-the-door line-ups pre-pandemic for its authentic Northern Thai cuisine. Now Nuit and Jeff Regular, the Toronto Thai cuisine power couple behind the restaurant, have opened a second Pai outpost at Yonge and Eglinton. Diners north of Bloor will no longer have to travel across the city to enjoy popular dishes such as richly flavoured khao soi or Thai chicken wings with lemongrass and sweet tamarind sauce. Like the first location, Pai Uptown pays homage to its namesake town in Thailand with its bohemian aesthetic, but this one features a larger, two-storey space with private dining areas and a stage for future live performances.

Top review

Mary

Dined 5 days ago

The food at PAI was awesome and the servers were very polite and attentive even though we took a while to decide on what to eat. The portions are large even the starter sized Tom Yun Soup was likely enough for a meal. We ordered that, some delicious an subtle flavored shrimp chips that came with an excellent tamarind dipping sauce. For our main courses we ate khai soi and pad kraw see. The khai soi was in a fantastic creamy coconut curry that came with chili oil that gave it as much spice as I wanted though the flavor was great on its own. Truly some of the best Thai food I have had anywhere, and the Uptown location was fairly open as opposed to the packed main spot. I would highly recommend coming here to try other dishes.

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