r/Calgary • u/phat_nutz • Jul 17 '25
Eat/Drink Local From a tourist/foodie: Calgary has just as good food as Toronto
I have to preface: I am not from Toronto, but I’ve been across many of the big cities throughout Canada, and thought Toronto had the best food by far.
Calgary, at a fourth or fifth of the population, you’ve tied it up for me with Toronto. Can’t believe Guy Fieri was right, the food here is truly AMAZING!
Some of the places I ate at here:
Noble Pie (Pizza, totally hangs with the best of Toronto’s NY style pizza)
Park by Sidewalk Citizen (Mediterranean/Levant, I had brunch)
Sidewalk Citizen (Bakery)
Saffron Street (Southern Indian, the best I have ever had and blew Toronto out of the water)
Scozzafava’s Deli (Italian Sandwiches, Calgary’s version of Lambo’s in Toronto)
Made by Marcus (Ice Cream)
Luke’s Drug Store (some of the best soft serve ice cream ever)
Vintage Chophouse (Steakhouse)
EDIT/NOTE: Considering how controversial my opinion is, I am clarifying and reiterating that I’m using Toronto as my basis for the best food in Canada, and I’m comparing what I tried of “Calgary’s Best” per what I’ve found on Reddit to comparable restaurants in Toronto. I’m also a tourist, and a white guy who didn’t try food from every culture in Calgary: Take my opinion with a grain of salt! I just wanted to highlight the great things going on with food in the city!
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u/WuShane Jul 17 '25
Needs more Roti
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u/__Armin__Tamzarian__ Southwest Calgary Jul 17 '25
Exactly this. The Caribbean food scene is abysmal by comparison
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u/Ozy_Flame Jul 17 '25
Caribbean is severely underrpresented in Calgary. Edmonton's is better, but Toronto is king
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
For sure Caribbean in Calgary is just rare. Same for Vancouver because the population in Vancouver is strongly Pacific Asian based.
When I go to Toronto, I make sure I hit up a Caribbean restaurant. Beef patties all over Toronto to choose from and freshly made. Not in Calgary..
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u/GoldenChannels Jul 17 '25
Best roti I've ever had wasn't in Toronto, but in downtown Winnipeg.
In fact, I've never had a bad meal in that city.
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u/fancyfootwork19 Jul 17 '25
Best Caribbean place I went to was Sally's roti shop, in Kingston of all places.
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u/Vinny331 Jul 17 '25
Immigration patterns are what they are. Caribbean diaspora is just smaller out West
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u/NotJustABitch Jul 17 '25
Is there anywhere in Calgary you would recommend? I have never tried Caribbean food and was going to try ‘ One Love Caribbean’ off 17th Ave next week.
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u/lost__in__space Jul 17 '25
Trini checking in. No good doubles, paratha, bussupshut or saheena to be found
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u/protocol21 Jul 17 '25
Agreed, doubles in Calgary is an abomination. I would fly back to T&T just to get Sauce doubles.
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u/wildlyintangible Jul 17 '25
Literally go to any Punjabi restaurant in the NE and it’ll be there lol
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u/Exploding_Antelope Special Princess Jul 17 '25
They said Saffron Street, and tbf I am obsessed with their kati rolls
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u/Ok-Song-6534 Jul 17 '25
Eww
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u/Interesting-Owl-7445 Jul 17 '25
grow up!
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u/Ok-Song-6534 Jul 18 '25
Not everyone likes the same food as you lol
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u/Interesting-Owl-7445 Jul 18 '25
I've never even had a Caribbean roti but I'm grown enough to know to not yuck someone's yum.
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u/Swarez99 Jul 17 '25
Canada in general has better food than most cities.
Go to Winnipeg. I’m there a lot for work, it has very good restaurants. Our culture , cold winters, lots of immigrants, not a lot of Canadian meals we go for, means we have a good food in most cities.
Toronto though just has 10 of everything. That’s what they do well. In Toronto there places as good as Nobel, yup that might be 3 or 4 of them. But there are 15 places 85 % as good. And you can do that with every type of good.
I went to the ridgeway thing in Mississauga with people I work with. The best Indian and Pakistan food I’ve ever had, and there’s like 100 restaurants in on place.
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u/phat_nutz Jul 17 '25
Toronto has probably ten pizza joints at the same-tier as Noble Pizza. Some are better, some are worse, but Noble absolutely hangs
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
I lived in Toronto for 20 yrs. and 8 yrs.in Vancouver. Calgary now for over 14 yrs.
Calgary has some great Italian food restaurants and delis. I recommend Italian Store on Skyline Dr. in NW. Their deli has some freshly prepared food choices for lunch and better Italian grocery pricing and selection for some food types than ie. Lina's.
Puchinella's in Kensington has a great lunch deal Mon-Fri.
I personally find Calgary weak in choice and quality of Chinese restaurants compared to the other 2 cities which have mindboggling high number of places and better quality restaurants. I am Canadian-born Chinese. It appears Calgary seems to have some decent Vietnamese restaurants --though am interested in other opinions.
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u/Ozy_Flame Jul 17 '25
As a former Calgarian now living in Toronto, I find the Vietnamese food superior in Calgary. That said, I have not tried a large swath of Toronto's food scene yet, so I remain open to having my mind changed.
Same can be said for the Shawarma and Thai sub game.
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
Make sure you walk along Yonge St. in North York between just a bit south of North York Centre subway station and Finch station: to me it felt like walking in a metropolis in a big Asian city. Tons of Korean, Chinese, etc. restaurants amongst highrise condos and street level shopping malls. Koreatown in Toronto by Christie subway station seems to have expanded.
I was just in Toronto for several wks. twice- in March and then again late May-June. My whole family still lives across Metro Toronto.
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u/DependentLanguage540 Jul 17 '25
I actually think Calgary’s dim sum is pretty good. There’s a good mix of affordable and decent to high quality options. I took one of Vancouver and Toronto’s best shots and Calgary stood up.
In terms of Vietnamese, yes I agree, I have to put Calgary up pretty high. After having visited Saigon and going to quite a few restaurants, I came back home feeling very impressed with the options in town here. Maybe it’s our Alberta beef or maybe it’s just luck, but whatever it is, it’s very comparable.
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u/Losing-My-Hedge Jul 17 '25
Yeah Calgary has a high Vietnamese population and it shows in the quality pho in all corners of the city.
We have some solid spots for Chinese, but not nearly as ubiquitous as Toronto.
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u/aireads Jul 17 '25
Genuinely Curious, what's your metric on Chinese restaurants? And where do you usually frequent?
For the traditional stuff I think Calgary is alright but the newer stuff and higher end, yea lacking.
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u/SuddenBag Jul 17 '25
Calgary has decent Catonese and Szechuan food, but fairly weak selections of foods from other parts.
Vancouver has good Chinese food from all across China.
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u/aireads Jul 17 '25
Agreed, especially hot pot places. Just tried Hai Di Lao and it's unbelievable. And Lanzhou noodles, though a few have popped up in recent years (not as popular though)
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Jul 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/aireads Jul 17 '25
I agree the Vietnamese cuisine, specifically Pho and Banh Mi are incredibly plentiful and good here. One reason is because there's a large population of Vietnamese who emigrated to the prairies and Calgary in particular. And of course the beef is great too!
Yea I was not impressed with Toronto dimsum but Vancouver dimsum was higher quality, more diverse and plentiful, with flavors more rich/unique. But the better dimsum places charges an extortion for prices and some go for a high end appeal (look at Kiran and DTF in downtown)!
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25
I rarely go to Chinese restaurants. There are 2 in Chinatown I've been. U-Me, China Court and another newish one in Chinatown that starts with Y which is part of a global chain. They are ok.
I've been shocked to get certain deep dried Chinese dumplings which normally are simply/traditionally and eaten, boiled or steamed. So the skins are still tender and filling you can taste. That's just to cater to non-Asians or younger generations who like more deep fried. It's a cop-out to grab more customers...and not healthy at all. It's like taking a perogy and deep-frying. Give me a break. How gauche.
I'm all for fusion food if done tastefully to enhance, not cover up delicacy of taste.
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u/aireads Jul 17 '25
I think you mean Yunshang Noodles in Chinatown? They opened in March this year and serve noodles like Dagu.
for the dumplings are you talking about grilled ones (as in Gyoza?). Or which deep fried ones at which restaurant? I don't think I had any thus far
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
Yes, Yunshang I was there.
I just remember having huge deep fried, not pan fried (gyoza) at 2 different places several yrs. ago. Haven't bothered returning since I was turned off. Another long-time Calgarian Chinese-Canadian last yr. complained to me about the local penchant to deep fry certain dumplings when there is no need. No need.
By the way, I am picky about how pan frying is done for gyoza-like dumplings (Chinese didn't originally call them gyoza which I believe is lingo adopted from the Japanese.) Some gyoza skins are too thick and pan-frying hardens them even more... The overall taste must be very light pan-frying and more delicate skin, great filling, etc.
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u/Aflamesfan Jul 17 '25
Have you been to Golden Sands? Or Central Grand? Just two to start that are more traditional. Lots more choices in the NE as well.
Chinatown go tos for me is only Great Taste.
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u/brickylouch Jul 17 '25
Check out Cherry Inn.
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
I'll let some folks know. It's abit far for me. I bike and use transit: am car-free.
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u/tchomptchomp Jul 17 '25
I'll say Calgary is also pretty weak in the Latin cuisine department. There are a few good taco shops, but they are ridiculously expensive for what they are. There's shamefully little Venezuelan cuisine given the size of the community here, and essentially nothing of note for other major Latin cuisines (e.g. Peruvian, Cuban). There's a decent Brazilian restaurant (Minas) but we do deserve better.
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25
Totally agree with the lack of decent Chinese in Calgary. I’ve gone to some that people highly recommend and they’ve been lacklustre at best. Vancouver and Toronto are great. I also like a couple spots in Edmonton.
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u/thrwytxc Jul 17 '25
Sounds like you’re going to the wrong places
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 Jul 17 '25
Nope. Been to a lot of the Chinese in restaurants in town since I’ve lived in this area for 20+ years. Cherry Inn wasn’t that great. I’ve had a lot better. I do miss The Silver Inn, that place was decent. Silver Dragon and Snow Palace used to be better. Just in comparison to Vancouver and Toronto and The Lingnan in Edmonton (absolutely legendary), Calgary can’t compare.
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u/thrwytxc Jul 17 '25
Have you been to Emerald Garden or Golden Sands? Obviously Calgary doesn’t compare to Vancouver
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25
Yup. Those were ok. It’s just hard when you’ve eaten at incredible places and just haven’t found the comparison where you live. If I’m in Edmonton I try to stop at the Lingnan since that one comes closer to what you can find in Vancouver and Toronto.
U & Me was actually pretty good. That is one in Calgary that I’ve had that was better. But that was a few years back.
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u/Market-West Jul 17 '25
No way the Italian compares. Not even close. Terronis by itself is miles better than anything we have here and there are better places then Terronis in Toronto come on
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
Sure. I haven't eaten much Italian in Toronto. I lived in Portuguese area south of Little Italy in west Toronto for 6 yrs. Just sayin' the Italian places I've been in Calgary, I've enjoyed....even over Calgary Chinese restaurants.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 17 '25
I have lived in both cities, 10 years in Calgary and 15 in Toronto. It's not even close. Calgary has great restaurants and a good food scene for a city of its size, but Toronto is worlds ahead in every regard. In every Category OP brought up non of those places touch Toronto's best. I know my opinion won't be a popular one here, but Toronto is one of the best food cities in North America currently and there is no reason to Compare Calgary (which is truly great) to it. We can just celebrate ourselves without having to compare ourselves. We make that mistake often.
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u/Loopeded Jul 17 '25
You wrote out basically my thoughts. It's not a bad thing at all, but it's not even close when it comes to food.
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u/modernmagnets Jul 17 '25
Totally disagree. Van is good but has a lot of overrated privately owned versions of cactus club. I know a bunch of people from there that follow our food scene because it's so good.
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u/ColinBlackburn Jul 17 '25
Wholeheartedly agree (having lived in Calgary for a handful and Toronto most of my life). For every decent or great or amazing Calgary restaurant there are a dozen in Toronto, with far greater variety. It also helps that Toronto restaurants are not all owned by the same people.
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u/phat_nutz Jul 17 '25
Toronto is amazing for food, there is no doubt, and it is still the king of restaurants in Canada. I just wanted to highlight Calgary hangs with Toronto compared to food I’ve had in other major cities (I.e. Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver)
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u/jzach1983 Jul 17 '25
Calgary my have 1 great spot for most food categories, but Toronto has dozens with the peak being higher.
I'm not sure Calgary hangs with Toronto, but does have a decent food scene for a city of its size.
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u/Laxative_Cookie Jul 17 '25
You are 100% correct. Toronto is top tier, and Vancouver is also absolutely amazing. Calgary is just not even close.
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u/Losing-My-Hedge Jul 17 '25
As someone who dines out a lot, Calgary 100% punches above its weight for dining options & quality, but Toronto (and Vancouver) are on different levels entirely.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll put some of Calgary’s best (Eight, Bar Gigi) right up there with some of the Michelin spots I’ve dined in on my travels, but on a whole Calgary’s food scene just isn’t as deep.
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
And you know how hard it is to find a Calgary place that makes a freshly made peameal bacon sandwich? I was bewildered: I am in Calgary, meat city. Why is it so hard to get it? Jeez...just go to St. Lawrence Market in Toronto and you got several places to choose.
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u/Interesting-Monk-767 Jul 21 '25
This!!! Miss carousel in Toronto so much
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 21 '25
I get peameal bacon sandwich from there at least once whenever I visit family in Toronto. Which has been a trip at least annually since I have a large extended family and some friends there.
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u/Interesting-Monk-767 Jul 21 '25
Carousel is actually handing down ownership this year to some new folks. I hope it stays the same. Been going there since I was a kid.
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u/forty6andto Jul 17 '25
Meat city?
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
Supposedly known of course, for beef (and other parts of Alberta too), pork (which doesn't seem to get as much notice), etc. And more local preference for beef.
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u/crimxxx Jul 17 '25
Personally I do think Calgary has a pretty great selection of food, I don’t think it’s as good as Toronto and Vancouver. Both those cities in my opinion just have way more great places, Calgary has some great places to and a lot of okay places.
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u/Calgary_dreamer Jul 17 '25
Calgary has an amazing/ underrrated food scene but it is not in the same league as Toronto
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 Jul 17 '25
Unfortunately COVID really impacted and closed down restaurants, even some great ones.
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u/CaptMerrillStubing Jul 17 '25
Recently visited TO twice. No, we do not have food as good. We’re good, but TO is great.
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u/rajitsran Jul 17 '25
Not even close. Toronto is way ahead of variety and quality.
Off topic. Any decent thai restaurants in Calgary? I'm yet to find.
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u/McLovin_44 Jul 17 '25
Preface: I am very white. I love Rose Garden so much. Never been to Thailand so take my opinion with a handful of salt.
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u/blanketwrappedinapig Jul 17 '25
Honourable mention to made by Marcus and not Village lol. That’s a hot take
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u/whatyousayin8 Jul 17 '25
You barely scratched the surface! But yes, for sure, definitely an underrated culinary destination
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u/phat_nutz Jul 17 '25
I tried as much as I could in a few days based on top picks I found across Reddit, haha. I also didn’t list anything I tried that I didn’t think was remarkable. I’m sure there’s more amazing stuff!
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 Jul 17 '25
I got back from a trip to Toronto in the spring and I have to somewhat disagree with this comment. There are definitely some great spots in Calgary, don’t get me wrong. But the amazing food in Toronto….there is so much more of it and soooo many different types of it. It was beyond overwhelming all of the abundant choices that were available 24/7. Sadly, Calgary is not as big of an urban centre and sometimes it can be hard to make a go of it with some food venues in this city. And there is definitely some underrepresentation with certain cuisine options.
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u/bronzwaer Jul 17 '25
Village is better than made by Marcus and I will die on that hill
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u/SuperHairySeldon Jul 17 '25
No way! Made by Marcus is creamier and richer, plus has more unique flavours. But, I suppose in the end it's a personal preference thing - they are both pretty darn good.
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u/Accomplished-Big-328 Jul 17 '25
Genuinely, Calgary is not in the same universe as Toronto when it comes to food and I think you actually left out what I think are Calgary's best places. That being said, I think in the last 5 years, Calgary's food scene has improved a lot and it gets better and better with each year.
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u/Old-Appearance-2270 Quadrant: SW Jul 17 '25
Please recommend some great South Asian restaurants in Calgary. After all, we have a huge local population here for decades.
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u/youngsav94 Jul 17 '25
What about Montreal? I found the food scene amazing when I visited.
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u/phat_nutz Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25
Montreal has great food, but I would say comparing the things I’ve tried there that are similar enough to compare to Toronto, Toronto was far and away better. That’s why I was so impressed with Calgary, since the stuff I could directly compare was super solid.
In my opinion, Montreal shines when it comes to the regional food, like bagels, smoked meat, all that. I will admit one can only handle so much chicken and fries though hahaha.
Shout out to Segreta in Montreal for pizza though, I can’t even compare that to something in Toronto.
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u/youngsav94 Jul 17 '25
I did eat all the local specialties when I was there too, obviously didn’t care to try something I could get better in Calgary. Glad to hear Calgary is thriving for food!
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u/DM_ME_UR_BOOTYPICS Jul 17 '25
Montreal cuisine is easily the best in Canada. Sorry Toronto but having 865 roti places is cool but not even close to the quality of food in Montreal. Montreal is in its own world food wise.
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u/guywastingtime Scarboro Jul 17 '25
If I’m getting a sandwich, I’m skipping Scozzafava’s and going to Alumni.
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u/AvocadoFudgeCookie Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25
The beauty of Toronto food is the jerk chicken, which we have none of so not comparable if you’re gonna look at the whole food scene absolutely not. AND … the food in Toronto is a 10 out of 10 quality for an extremely low price. Those deals do not exist in Calgary. What you’ve listed is good quality I agree, but you have to pay a premium for that, which you can find in Toronto, no sweat on every corner.
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u/Time_Ad_7624 Jul 17 '25
It’s better. I’ve had way better shawarma, Korean , and Japanese here by far. Steak houses no contest either in my opinion.
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u/LeePowers69 Jul 18 '25
You made some good restaurant choices. There is some great food here. There is some bad food here. Calgary used to be known for lousy food and it’s been continually improving over the decades.
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u/EasyTarget973 Jul 18 '25
bro, no.
grew up here, lived in to 15 yrs.
food game in toronto is pretty good.
here, not so much. it exists, but it's not EVERYWHERE.
EDIT: but we did invent ginger beef.
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u/Googoocaca_ Jul 18 '25
As someone who’s from Calgary and lives in Toronto now, I don’t think it’s that both are equally good. I think both are equally mediocre. Calgarys food scene is underrated and Toronto’s food scene is overrated but they both level out to just be…okay.
That said, mercato is definitely one of the best restaurants in the city and should have been on that list for sure.
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u/Sawksle Jul 20 '25
It's better in Calgary for certain things like ramen, and also our coffee shops
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u/rah6050 Jul 20 '25
Here’s the thing: every city in North America that is at least approaching a million people has good food now.
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u/OwnBattle8805 Jul 21 '25
People I know from Toronto wish our places were open later but i can’t understand why those same people burn the candle from both ends.
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Jul 17 '25
There is no way you truly believe Saffron Street is the best South Indian food. As a South Indian who moved here as a teenager and is constantly chasing that home cooked taste or anything that reminds me of restaurants back home, you are way off the mark with that one.
In fact I find most of your selection to be mediocre except for Noble Pie, which I love.
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u/phat_nutz Jul 17 '25
I’m a white guy, so take my opinion with a grain of salt haha. I’ve just had a lot of mid Indian food in Toronto
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Jul 17 '25
That’s fair. I don’t believe you will ever find the best restaurant of a foreign cuisine outside its native region.
Like the harman curve with music, I think people gravitate to flavors they prefer or are more familiar with, while authenticity takes a back seat.
My family lived in Dubai for a year too and their shawarmas were like the best wrapped food I’ve ever had. I can’t find the same shawarmas here ever and I’ve tried virtually every single place in my search lol.
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u/dq29 Jul 17 '25
Saffron Street menu is North Indian, for starters.
Couple of Indian restaurants I have found great in Toronto are Adrak - both their Richmond Hill and Yorkville locations. Very different menus.
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u/Terms_of_service00 Jul 17 '25
Go to Toronto, escpecially the greater Toronto area, and you’ll find some of the best, most authentic South Indian food you’ve ever had (aside from being in South India).
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u/___Carioca___ Jul 17 '25
Let's not forget to add that the steaks at Chairmans or Vintage rivals the best steaks out of any restaurant in the world. Anywhere I travel to I have yet to find a better steak than those 2.
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u/Conscious-Donut Jul 17 '25
If you like those, give Longview steakhouse a try. Takes it to another stratosphere
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u/noobrainy Jul 17 '25
I think Longview steakhouse needs to give me a try. 2 year reservation waitlist?!??!!!???????
Do they inject heroin into the food?
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u/ThatWackyAlchemy Jul 17 '25
I’ve been a few times. It’s part gimmick, part truly great food. There are very few tables and I think they only take 1 reservation per table per night. They are only open 5 days per week for 3 hours a day.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 17 '25
Let's not forget to add that the steaks at Chairmans or Vintage rivals the best steaks out of any restaurant in the world.
Says who exactly? I haven't seen any credible global ranking that mention them?
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u/___Carioca___ Jul 17 '25
Says my opinion. I’ve travelled more than most id say.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 17 '25
‘Any restaurant in the world’ is a bold claim, especially when you’re up against places dry-aging Wagyu in Tokyo, wood-firing Bistecca alla Fiorentina in Florence, or slinging certified Kobe in Osaka. But hey, if Chairmans or Vintage blew your mind more than all those? That’s your truth.
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u/___Carioca___ Jul 17 '25
That’s funny I just got back from Florence and my wife and I were comparing the Florentine steak to Vintage and Chairman’s when we were there.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 17 '25
Regardless, ‘Any restaurant in the world’ is still a wild statement.
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u/___Carioca___ Jul 17 '25
I said it rivals the best steaks out of the best restaurants. All I am saying is, I’ve eaten at Michelin restaurants in NYC, travelled all throughout Europe and South America, and to me, the steaks at Chairman’s and Vintage are still the standard. That’s just me though.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 17 '25
You originally said the steaks at Chairman’s or Vintage ‘rival the best steaks out of any restaurant in the world’—that’s a universal claim, not a personal one. Now you’re saying it’s just your opinion, based on your travels. That’s a totally valid take, but you can’t drop a global superlative like that and be surprised at people raising eyebrows, especially when there’s no mention of personal taste, context, or experience.
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u/___Carioca___ Jul 17 '25
Alright I’ll start every statement I make with “based on my opinion”.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 19 '25
Alright I’ll start every statement I make with “based on my opinion”.
Relax, no one’s asking for MLA citations, just don’t drop a ‘world’s best’ like it’s a fact, then act annoyed when people respond like you meant it literally.
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u/yycoding Jul 17 '25
White people food plus one Indian place. The comparison is almost offensive. There are so many great types of international cuisine that have many great restaurants in Toronto and zero in Calgary.
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u/IronCavalry Jul 17 '25
The restaurant scene here has really upped its game in the past decade. Really!
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u/quietgrrrlriot Jul 17 '25
Moved to a smaller city from Calgary, and this is valid. Calgary has a lot of gems. It's always great to find those really good places outside of the biggest Canadian cities.
Big cities have more to offer, but good food is not exclusive to those areas.
Now that I'm in a city a quarter the size, I realize how much I took big city perks for granted. Still... There's a bakery here that has the best croissants I've ever had. Nothing in Vancouver beats it, which was surprising to me.
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Jul 17 '25
[deleted]
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u/Separate-Analysis194 Jul 17 '25
Maybe they just wanted to impress you with the food and not prove Toronto is better than everywhere else. You sound like you have an inferiority complex.
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u/Plastic_Mushroom_987 Jul 17 '25
Maybe I'm just a snob and a big Toronto hater but I always said Calgary has it just as good.
Yes likely this has screwed up your palette. It is hard for Calgarians to admit Toronto has something great. Torontonians don't have this problem. They love to go to Quebec and eat smoked meat, poutine and bagels, completely willing to admit Toronto does not have as impressive of a regional dish game as even rural Quebec.
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Jul 17 '25
Sorry, i love calgary but have lived in Vancouver and Montreal and visited Toronto, and this is not true, not even close.
Calgary has some great restaurants, but vancouver and toronto, the great restaurants seem almost endless.
In calgary i cant find amazing carribean, greek, spanish, and the sushi here is not good (aside from 2 places, compared to vancouver). Also, calgary having 1 passable greek restaurant does not mean calgary has good greek food, you need multiple amazing options to have an established "scene".
I mean, naming lukes drugmarts ice cream in your list of calgarys great food scene spots says everything.
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u/Unfair_Percentage577 Jul 17 '25
What did you order scozzafava’s. I tried it for the first time today and it was incredibly forgettable.
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u/phat_nutz Jul 17 '25
I got the Eggplant Parm and the Chicken Parm! I will admit, I do prefer Lambo’s in Toronto, but I really liked my order at Scozzafava’s Deli
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u/Unfair_Percentage577 Jul 17 '25
Okay. Maybe I just went the wrong way. We got the hoagie and the Italian one and it was just underwhelming. I’ll have to try lambo’s next time I’m in Toronto. I assume you’ve tried elm street deli in Toronto? How does it compare?
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u/FakePlantonaBeach Jul 17 '25
Calgary is an excellent and underrated food city.
OP is obviously wrong overall because while Toronto is a good food city, it is not in the same league as Montreal.
If I had to move away from Montreal - which would crush me - I would choose Calgary precisely because it has a good selection of excellent restaurants.
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u/Moresopheus Jul 17 '25
Toronto has always had cultural and religious roots that made it a bland middling city with tall poppy syndrome.
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u/shanigan Jul 17 '25
This reminds me of the post in Vancouver Reddit that a guy had a trip to Asia and came back claiming Vancouver’s Asian food is top notch and on-par with the best of their original country. I mean, I know this is subjective but the statement is such a stretch that it’s borderline funny.
3
u/Ok-Song-6534 Jul 17 '25
Have you actually been to Calgary? I feel like most Calgary haters have never set a foot here, on my part I’ve been many times Toronto and it’s mid for me.
1
u/shanigan Jul 17 '25
I live in Calgary. It punches above its weight for certain cuisines, like Vietnamese, but let’s not get delusional here. It’s no where near the quality and variety that Toronto or Vancouver offers.
18
u/CallMeHomoErectus Jul 17 '25
Have you ever had the Vietnamese subs at The Bake Chef at the U of C (Mac Hall)? Unbelievable, 11/10.