You don’t need to spend big to eat very well in Toronto.
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You → need → Toronto
From blistered sourdough pizza and bubbling Korean stews to charcoal-grilled kebabs, smoked meat and some of the city’s best sandwiches, these restaurants prove that great cooking can still come at a modest price.
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cooking → bubble → price
Our team of 11 food experts selected the spots below as being extra special: they made our Top 100 Under $100 guide to delicious, affordable restaurants in Toronto and the GTA.
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they → select → Toronto
Here are 10 standout restaurants where you can eat for $50 or less.
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Let us know what you think.
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This Little Portugal pizzeria has all the low-charm charm of a legit slice joint — the flimsy paper plates, the solitary shaker of red-pepper flakes, the tear-as-you-go roll of paper towels.
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you → have → towels
But there’s serious craft coming out of the oven here: a unique, sourdough hybrid of Neapolitan (the light, puffy lip) and New York-style (it’s easy to fold in half and eat on the go).
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Husband-and-wife co-founders Thalia Ly and Hugh Nguyen settled on a 48-to-72-hour cold fermentation to produce the eggshell-crisp bases for their pies, which come out of the electric deck oven with the kind of blistering more readily associated with wood-fired.
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which → settle → fired
Toppings lean classic but with subtle flourishes: The Snow in Marinara pie is an ideal showcase for the crust, with a generous layer of house-blended sauce, accented with creamy blobs of burrata hiding little pools of olive oil.
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pie → lean → oil
And their take on the Hawaiian swaps ham for thick, curly strips of smoky bacon.
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take → swap → bacon
They even make their own Buffalo sauce for the hefty, flour-dredged wings, which come out crispy, saucy and ready to dunk in their own buttermilk ranch.
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which → make → ranch
This Bloor Street Koreatown go-to has always been a specialist in the bubbling, red chili-stained stews called soondubu jjigae.
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to → bubble → stews
Available in spiciness increments from gently warming to blow-your-face-off and served with hot stone bowls of purple rice, they are marvels of depth and delicious balance, grounded with the house-made sesame, garlic and chili paste called dadaegi, and enriched with custard-soft nubs of tofu.
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they → warm → tofu
The jjigae come in varied combinations of pork, beef, shellfish or vegetables; the soybean paste (doenjang) variation is a can’t-miss outlier, rich and velvety with a top note of fermenty tang.
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It’s what miso soup aspires to but will never quite be.
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Whichever one you pick, crack in the raw egg (it cooks in no time), then scoop it all up with spoonfuls of rice.
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It’s hard to think of a better use for $16.
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Chef and co-owner Miyoung Kim’s kitchen recently expanded its offerings; highlights include excellent tteokbokki, the springy rice cake noodles in sweet-spicy broth, and a wildly satisfying pork bone soup.
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highlights → expand → broth
The first of these, the Original double, is a potato-roll-enveloped stack of prodigiously juicy griddle-crusted beef, oozy processed cheese, the sweet-mellow hum of savoury, slow-caramelized onions and a homemade pickle’s tangy snap, all of them in just the right balance to grab every human blisspoint, hard.
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all → crust → blisspoint
That other item, the American double, is similar, except with iceberg lettuce instead of pickles, and a sauce that Burger Drops’ menu calls “ketchup relish,” but which chef-owner Greg Bourolias (ex of Aloette) refers to as “chunky fermented pickled umami textures and peppers and vegetables.”
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Bourolias → call → textures
, it’s a masterpiece worthy of the Flavour Engineering Hall of Fame; it takes what already would be a standout smash-burger way up into a league of its own.
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what → ’ → own
Burger Drops’ fries (from-frozen curlies) and breaded, heavy onion rings, by contrast, aren’t at the same level, but really, those aren’t why you’re here.
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you → bread → level
Contact: 416-538-1732
There’s a glorious imperfection in what Georgia Hamilton does.
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Her Jamaican patties, huge by any measure, have misaligned folds and whole chunks of meat inside.
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Rather than being a machine-produced emergency snack, hers are an entire meal unto themselves; you can taste their handmade quality with every bite.
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you → produce → bite
Hamilton’s spicy beef patty practically bursts with savoury, coarse-ground meat and warm, slow-building Scotch bonnet pepper.
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patty → burst → meat
Her chicken patty sings with tender, deep-browned chunks; the thyme and allspice are unmistakable.
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thyme → sing → chunks
And the veg patty here — so often an afterthought at other spots — contains whole, steamed chunks of Jamaican pumpkin, breadfruit, callaloo, sweet potato, whatever Hamilton finds fresh that day; when she hands one over, enormous, you almost need to shift your weight to carry it away.
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Hamilton is a one-woman show, scratch-making her patties in the back of the shop, listening out for the door’s wind chimes as she does.
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Before leaving with an order recently, one customer mentioned that a friend, visiting Montego Bay, was disappointed he couldn’t find patties as good as here.
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The Queen chuckled.
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“No one in Montego Bay can make patties,” she said.
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she → make → patties
At Donna’s, fine-dining discipline elevates even the everyday sandwich.
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With the chefs Peter Jensen and Jed Smith at the stoves and Ann Kim running the room — all three are Momofuku veterans — the casual spot channels years of high-end training into well executed and affordable offerings, particularly at lunchtime.
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Take Donna’s celebrated roast beef sandwich: honey-marinated, medium-rare beef lifted with sharp horseradish bite and sweet boiled parsnip — it’s like a mini Sunday roast perfectly tucked into a soft Portuguese bun.
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Their tempura-fried mushroom sando delivers savoury richness and an audible crunch.
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sando → fry → richness
And the salads are far more delicious than their no-fuss names imply.
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In Donna’s green salad, a brown butter and sumac dressing brings nutty, red fruit and citrus leanings to a plate of mixed greens, pickled green beans, egg and buttery croutons.
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dressing → bring → greens
In the potato salad, chunks of gochujang-kissed Korean sweet potato — a nod to Kim’s heritage — pack serious flavour.
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chunks → kiss → flavour
(The partners’ backgrounds — Jensen is Danish and Smith, British — play throughout the menus.)
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Jensen → play → menus
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
