Top food and wine destinations in 2025: 22 restaurants across Canada earn recognition for outstanding food and wine experiences
This year’s dining landscape in Canada has been shaped by a perfect storm: trade tensions, shrinking consumer spending, and rising competition for attention. Early in 2025, Ontario and several other provinces enacted bans on U.S. wine and alcohol imports via their crown-corporation liquor boards — a retaliatory move in response to new U.S. tariffs (see our coverage here).
Meanwhile, a new report from Restaurants Canada paints a sobering picture: three in four Canadians say they’re eating out less because of the rising cost of living, and among 18 to 34-year-olds the figure rises to 81 percent. These younger diners—often the future core of the industry—now demand value, convenience, and authenticity, forcing restaurateurs to adapt or risk being left behind.
Amid these headwinds, the expansion of Michelin’s footprint in Canada has injected renewed energy into the national dining scene. Since 2022, Michelin guides have covered Toronto and Vancouver; in spring 2025, Montreal and Quebec City joined their ranks. This marks a turning point in Canadian gastronomic aspiration — diners are more curious, critical, and adventurous than ever before. (Michelin’s arrival has also prompted restaurants to sharpen their standards and wine programs.)
Don Alfonso 1890 is one of nine downtown Toronto restaurants to win an award in 2025.
In this moment of challenge and transition, there could be no more fitting time to unveil VineRoutes’ 2025 Restaurant Awards. These accolades honour restaurants that have refused to compromise — those that continue to deliver memorable food-and-wine journeys even as the wider market tightens.
Across the country, 22 restaurants have been recognized in three award tiers: Regional Excellence, Award of Distinction, and the top honour, the Vine Award – For Best in Distinction. These winners span coast to coast, from Vancouver to Halifax, and represent 13 cities and small towns (including 10 in Ontario).
Learn more about our Restaurant Awards categories
Sixteen restaurants earned the Award of Distinction, recognized for carrying wine lists that span multiple regions and varietals, meeting minimum standards of depth, balance, and curation.
Treadwell Cuisine in Niagara-on-the-Lake stood apart; the only restaurant to receive the Regional Excellence Award for its steadfast promotion of Canadian wines — with over 50 percent of its cellar dedicated to local labels.
But at the pinnacle are the five Vine Award winners, celebrated for the ultimate synergy of cuisine, wine, and hospitality. These restaurants maintain wine lists numbering 300 or more selections; their programming displays global perspective, breadth, and a refined sense of excellence, checking all the boxes in offering the ultimate dining experience, including creative presentation, flawless customer service, comprehensive wine knowledge and an overall atmosphere worthy of such an experience. Qualifying candidates were also required to meet a defined threshold of Canadian wine.
The restaurant at The Royal Hotel, in Picton, Ontario, is one of 18 Restaurant Award winners located in Ontario.
Interestingly, many applicants used the three-and-a-half month application window to uplift their wine inventories and boost local content in hopes of qualifying. While the wine list is only one dimension of the Vine Award, this response is a promising signal: Canadian wine is gaining visibility on restaurant menus in thoughtful, elevated ways.
“We have worked hard to balance our wine with our food philosophy,” says Brie Dema Markovic, wine director for Elora Mill, a Vine Award winner for 2025. “We wanted to focus on VQA and Ontario wines. That was an important goal, given that our food philosophy is very much local.”
In entire Europe or Argentina and Chile, one rarely questions drinking local wine at a restaurant. The question is: why shouldn’t Canada offer the same expectation?
“We have something for everyone, but for us it’s a case of discovering what’s fabulous in our region and showcasing it so that guests can discover,” notes Mya Brown, wine director and head sommelier at H Tasting Lounge, in Vancouver – also a Vine Award winning restaurant for 2025.
Detailed profiles of the five Vine Award winners can be found in the Awards Class of 2025 section of VineRoutes.com or via the button below.
Over the course of the next year, VineRoutes will spotlight these restaurants with interesting category roundups, in-depth Q&As, and behind-the-scenes tours. Sign up for the Vine & Dine newsletter so you never miss a pour.
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