Toronto’s Top 100 Restaurants to Dine for Under $100: Toronto Star Reveals New Curated List for Anyone Who Wants to Go Out
TORONTO, June 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Toronto Star has revealed its new 'Top 100 Under $100' restaurants list: the top picks for the most breathtakingly delicious and one-of-a-kind places around Toronto and the GTA where two people can eat for $100 or less.
Led by the Star and veteran food critic Chris Nuttall-Smith, the Star’s team of 11 reviewers spent months researching, consulting with food experts across the region and eating in more than 150 places to draw up the final restaurant list. Unlike most other ‘best restaurant lists’, the Star’s team always visited unannounced and paid their own bills.
Project editor and lead reviewer Chris Nuttall-Smith shared: “We’re so excited to announce our Top 100 Under $100. Our goal from the start was to make the most trusted, most delicious and most useful restaurants list in Canada, filled with picks where anyone can afford to eat. And none of these restaurants are just 'good for the price.' Every one of them is a benchmark for us: the best of its kind in town.”
Laura deCarufel, Director of Lifestyle and Culture, Toronto Star, said: “The Star’s new Top 100 Under $100 celebrates the best of Toronto’s dining scene without the sticker shock. We’ve curated 100 incredible spots where outstanding flavour meets warm, welcoming ambiance — all at a price that lets you keep exploring. Your challenge? See how many you can cross off the list.”
The Star’s digital feature allows readers to keep track of their own visits to the Top 100 Under $100. The upcoming print edition of the Saturday June 6, 2026 Toronto Star includes a Top 100 Under $100 magazine.
The Star’s Top 100 Under $100 is in partnership with Motion Entertainment, a WPP Media Company, and its presenting sponsor is Airalo. The list features a range of restaurants and 100 reviews that read together as a love letter to Toronto’s food scene:
- a meal for under $16: “This is slow food, served fast, at fine-dining-level deliciousness. Like the juicy, wobbly whole lamb shank with decadent dill-and-fava-strewn rice, served with rich, golden lamb jus on the side.” (Shamshiri)
- $12 kakiage: “tempura-fried clusters of high-summery corn: golden, salty, juicy-crunchy niblets of batter-shrouded sunshine that burst somehow with a buttery, popcorny kiss.” (Imanishi Japanese Kitchen)
- steak frites for around $25: a “humble cut of beef elevated to the tender, perfectly seasoned point that it swaggers nearly like ribeye, cloaked in its creamy peppercorn sauce.” (Le Paradis)
- a $10 martini: “served on a gold tray, with an olive, a pickled onion and a lemon twist. It comes with a perfectly shucked halfshell oyster, also, on a miniature bowl of pebbled ice. It’s an affordable actual luxury, which is pretty much the ethos of the place.” (Aloette Bay)
- to Haitian fare and rum and coke service that makes “the place one of the city’s most enthralling nights out...” where “even the ice cubes are sexy.” (Rhum Corner)
The Star’s Top 100 Under $100 was written by Chris Nuttall-Smith, project editor and lead reviewer, Toronto Star staff and reviewers: Karon Liu, Jake Edmiston, Akrit Michael, Janet Hurley, Angelyn Francis and external reviewers: Jennifer Chan, Alex Baldinger, Chi Nguyễn, Eshun Mott, Camilla Wynne.
Contact:
Melanie Karalis, Toronto Star public relations
+1 548 588 1279
mkaralis@torstar.ca
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