Top 5 restaurants in Vancouver

Vancouver Magazine named AnnaLena its Restaurant of the Year for 2024 and took the gold award for Best Upscale Restaurant in 2025, writing that it 'continues to impress time and time again.' The Georgia Straight listed it among B.C.'s top 10 restaurants in Canada for 2025, calling it 'a Kitsilano favourite making its first top 10 appearance.' In October 2026 Daily Hive reported that AnnaLena became Vancouver's first two-Michelin-star restaurant, writing that 'effortless service, expertly prepared cocktails, and astute wine pairings are all part of the magic.'

• “It's proof that fun and fine dining don't have to be mutually exclusive.”

  Vancouver Magazine, the Editors · best-of list · May 6, 2024 (opens in a new tab)

• “continues to impress time and time again”

  Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Magazine · best-of list · May 5, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “Just behind it is AnnaLena at #10, a Kitsilano favourite making its first top 10 appearance.”

  Georgia Straight, Vicki Duong · best-of list · May 6, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “Effortless service, expertly prepared cocktails, and astute wine pairings are all part of the magic”

  Daily Hive, Marco Ovies · best-of list · October 6, 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Photo: AnnaLena's website

The Georgia Straight described Published on Main in April 2025 as 'routinely honoured as one of the top restaurants in Canada,' and in a separate article the same outlet wrote it is 'holding strong as a Mount Pleasant mainstay with a reputation for thoughtful, precise cooking.' Vancouver Magazine's 2025 Upscale awards listed it as a 'rich and rebellious eatery with dishes like Dungeness crab with green grapes and koji.' The Georgia Straight also named it Best Restaurant in Vancouver and Best Fine Dining in its 2025 Golden Plates awards.

• “Published on Main is routinely honoured as one of the top restaurants in Canada.”

  Georgia Straight, Nathan Caddell · review · April 17, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “Leading the pack for B.C. is Published on Main at #9, holding strong as a Mount Pleasant mainstay with a reputation for thoughtful, precise cooking.”

  Georgia Straight, Vicki Duong · best-of list · May 6, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “rich and rebellious eatery with dishes like Dungeness crab with green grapes and koji”

  Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Magazine · best-of list · May 5, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “Published on Main, which was named Canada's best for 2022, did make the top 10, coming in at number nine.”

  Daily Hive, Marco Ovies · best-of list · May 6, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Published on Main's website

Vancouver Magazine's 2025 Readers' Choice awards named Kissa Tanto Best Chinatown restaurant for the second year in a row, writing that 'the vibey second-floor eatery expertly marries Italian and Japanese cuisines through their common ground: masterfully crafted house-made noodles, delicate seafood and bold, addictive sauces.' Daily Hive's 2026 Canada's 100 Best coverage ranked it 15th in Canada, noting that 'soft lighting and rose-hued banquettes suggest a lot of the jazu kissa (jazz cafes) of 1960s Tokyo.'

• “The vibey second-floor eatery expertly marries Italian and Japanese cuisines through their common ground: masterfully crafted house-made noodles, delicate seafood and bold, addictive sauces.”

  Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Magazine · reader award · May 5, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “Kissa Tanto (under chef Joel Watanabe) wields a confident new Italian-Japanese culinary vocabulary, with one judge saying: 'The tajarin with butter, roasted mushrooms and miso-cured yolk is hard to beat.'”

  Vancouver Magazine, the Editors · best-of list · May 6, 2024 (opens in a new tab)

• “Upstairs, in a nondescript building in Chinatown, soft lighting and rose-hued banquettes suggest a lot (tanto in Italian) of the jazu kissa (jazz cafés) of 1960s Tokyo.”

  Daily Hive, Marco Ovies · best-of list · May 5, 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Kissa Tanto's website

Vancouver Magazine gave Maenam the gold award for Best Thai Restaurant in its 2025 awards, writing that 'consistency, focus and passion are still going strong after all these years' and praising dishes such as the crispy rice salad, Massaman lamb curry and stir-fried purple eggplant. Daily Hive listed Maenam in January 2024 among Michelin-recommended restaurants for Dine Out Vancouver, noting it offers 'a West Coast spin on Thai classics in a cozy, modern setting.'

• “Consistency, focus and passion are still going strong after all these years”

  Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Magazine · best-of list · May 5, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “Enjoy a West Coast spin on Thai classics in a cozy, modern setting at Maenam in Kitsilano.”

  Daily Hive, Katy Brennan · best-of list · January 12, 2024 (opens in a new tab)

Photo: Maenam's website

Vancouver Magazine gave L'Abattoir its silver award for Best Upscale Contemporary Restaurant in 2025, noting chef Lee Cooper's 'unyielding dedication to inventive takes on French-inspired West Coast cuisine' and singling out the baked Pacific oysters with whipped garlic butter and black truffle. In the magazine's 2024 Best Contemporary awards L'Abattoir also took silver, with judges highlighting the glazed lingcod 'accompanied by a mushroom that almost defied description in its deliciousness.'

• “chef Lee Cooper's unyielding dedication to inventive takes on French-inspired West Coast cuisine: the baked Pacific oysters with whipped garlic butter and black truffle is a perfect example.”

  Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Magazine · best-of list · May 5, 2025 (opens in a new tab)

• “L'Abattoir secures silver, with our 2024 Chef of the Year Lee Cooper at the helm. Judges highlighted the glazed lingcod 'accompanied by a mushroom that almost defied description in its deliciousness'”

  Vancouver Magazine, the Editors · best-of list · May 6, 2024 (opens in a new tab)

Photo: L'Abattoir's website