TastyPals
Login / Sign up
Taste ID
AboutMethodologyApp
GuideUpdated July 16, 2026

4 Best Places for Calamari in Toronto

Where to find the best calamari in Toronto — each restaurant rated 4.0★ or higher. Top-rated at 9.8★. Spanning italian and middle eastern kitchens. Curated by TastyPals.

The best places for calamari in Toronto are Armonia Pasta Bar, KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILL, Bar Sugo, and more. Start with Armonia Pasta Bar if you want the strongest overall first pick.

By Marcus Chen•4 ranked picks•Published July 16, 2026•Updated July 16, 2026
Methodology•Editorial team
Armonia Pasta BarKS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILLBar Sugo
4 Best Places for Calamari in Toronto
Google

Top picks at a glance

#1Armonia Pasta BarItalian • Queen West • $$#2KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILLMiddle Eastern • Thorncliffe Park • value#3Bar SugoPizza • Toronto • $

Who this guide is for

This guide covers the highest-rated spots for calamari in Toronto. Whether you're a local hunting your next regular or visiting and want to eat well, these picks are sorted by quality and review depth.

Quick picks

Armonia Pasta Bar
Italian • Queen West
Queen West has no shortage of Italian restaurants, but what it tends to lack is an Italian *room* — a place where the evening has a shape and nobody at your table is in a hurry to break it.
KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILL
Middle Eastern • Thorncliffe Park
KS2 The Halal Steak Grill addresses a gap in Toronto's steak landscape that most of the city's dining establishment hasn't bothered to close: a room built specifically around halal cooking, treatin…
Bar Sugo
Pizza • Toronto
Bar Sugo has built one of Bloordale's more persistent line-ups outside its Bloor Street door, which in a neighbourhood not short of opinions is a meaningful data point.
Browse all Toronto restaurantsBack to Toronto hub
Editorial details
Author: Marcus Chen
Published: July 16, 2026
Last updated: July 16, 2026

On this page

  1. 1. Armonia Pasta BarView →
  2. 2. KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILLView →
  3. 3. Bar SugoView →
  4. 4. Eastside SocialView →

How the restaurants compare

Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Armonia Pasta Bar
Google
Armonia Pasta Bar
Queen West • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$$
Best for
date night
Mood
Queen West
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILL
Google
KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILL
Thorncliffe Park • Middle Eastern
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Halal comfort
Mood
Thorncliffe Park
Editorial restaurant image stand-in for Bar Sugo
Google
Bar Sugo
Toronto • Pizza
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$
Best for
italian
Mood
Casual
Eastside Social
Leslieville • Brunch
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$
Best for
sunny
Mood
Leslieville

How we chose

We looked for restaurants that feel like a strong fit for the guide topic, not just the most obvious names in the city. The shortlist favors rooms with clear mood, dependable pacing, and enough distinction to help someone decide faster. Read our full methodology →

Room tone

Lighting, pace, and general energy all need to support the reason someone clicked this guide.

Food fit

We favored restaurants that feel best suited for the moment, not just restaurants with broad reputation.

Useful range

The final list tries to give readers enough variation in neighborhood, price, and style to compare real options.

4 ranked picks

Armonia Pasta Bar — Queen West has no shortage of Italian restaurants, but what it tends to lack is an Italian *room* — a place where the evening has a shape and nobody at your table is in a hurry to break it. Armonia Pasta Bar, by most accounts, makes that distinction without making a fuss about it. The lighting is reportedly considered, the pacing deliberate, and at a price point that keeps the second bottle of wine from becoming a negotiation, it occupies that particular position where the atmosphere does as much work as what arrives on the plate. Regulars describe it as the kind of place that starts at seven and becomes eleven without the service ever stalling — which is a harder thing to engineer than menus tend to admit. The cooking is Northern Italian in its bones, and the menu centers on pasta handled with some seriousness. The Linguine Gamberi Sambuca is consistently cited as the dish that brings people back — the sambuca reputedly lifts the prawn preparation into something more floral than briny, with the pasta cooked to retain real texture. The Buckwheat Rigatoni Pasta e Ricotta is known as the dark-horse order, the one regulars stop explaining and simply point toward. The Risotto di Funghi is said to spread rather than mound, which signals something about how it's being treated. The Saffron Arancini opens proceedings with a golden crust that diners consistently single out, while the Lamb Speducci makes a persuasive case for starting with something from the grill before letting the pasta be the main event. Book for a Tuesday or Wednesday if the room at its quietest is what you're after — weekends reportedly skew louder and younger, which suits a different kind of night entirely. Sit toward the back for a date. Split the Lamb Speducci to start, then order the Linguine Gamberi Sambuca and the Buckwheat Rigatoni between two people and the drive home, by all accounts, takes care of itself. View restaurant →
KS2 THE HALAL STEAK & GRILL — KS2 The Halal Steak Grill addresses a gap in Toronto's steak landscape that most of the city's dining establishment hasn't bothered to close: a room built specifically around halal cooking, treating that premise as the point rather than a footnote. Located in Thorncliffe Park and operating as a family-run kitchen, the restaurant has accumulated a near-perfect rating across more than 2,000 reviews — a volume of consistent feedback that suggests something more than novelty is at work here. The owner is reported to maintain a presence on the floor, and that hands-on approach appears to register with the room's regulars. The charcoal-grilled steak is the dish the restaurant is known for and, by most accounts, the reason most tables are there. Diners consistently describe it as a genuinely serious piece of cooking — not a concession to a dietary requirement but the central ambition of the kitchen. The menu extends meaningfully beyond the headline: a lamb shank and a grilled chicken platter reportedly run large enough to anchor a shared table, and the calamari has developed the kind of reputation among regulars that makes skipping it a deliberate choice rather than an oversight. The cooking is understood to be confident and the portions generous, which at a price point positioned as a special-occasion dinner rather than a casual mid-week meal is precisely what the cheque requires. This is not a drop-in proposition. The restaurant closes Sunday evenings and Mondays, so planning is non-negotiable. The arc of a meal here, as reported by the people who return regularly, runs from the calamari starter through to the steak ordered with the same expectations you would bring to any kitchen that takes the cut seriously. Book ahead, and treat it accordingly. View restaurant →
Bar Sugo — Bar Sugo has built one of Bloordale's more persistent line-ups outside its Bloor Street door, which in a neighbourhood not short of opinions is a meaningful data point. The kitchen's proposition is deliberately unfashionable: thin-crust pizza and a tight roster of pastas, served in portions that reportedly justify the wait without inflating the cheque. Diners consistently describe the room as convivial and unguarded — the kind of Italian-American red-sauce environment that has no interest in trend-chasing and considerable interest in getting the basics right. The Vinny Massimo is the pizza regulars name first, and the rotating daily specials are where the kitchen reportedly demonstrates range beyond its core menu. The crust is understood to be thin and built to carry toppings rather than perform on its own. On the pasta side, the rigatoni is the dish most frequently cited by returning customers — reportedly cooked properly and sauced with some weight and balance — while the pesto cream spaghetti is consistently mentioned alongside it as a reason to order two pastas rather than one. The calamari is reportedly lighter than the category average, and the tiramisu is said to follow a traditional approach rather than a reworked one. These are the dishes the menu centres on, and the lack of sprawl appears to be a deliberate choice rather than a constraint. Practically: Bar Sugo does not take reservations in the conventional sense, which means a wait at peak hours is the rule rather than the exception. The room runs loud and social — this is not the occasion for a quiet dinner. Arrive early, go with people you want to share a table with, and plan to order across both the pizza and pasta columns. The value-to-portion ratio is what keeps the queue forming. View restaurant →

Get the App

Save these spots to your Toronto list

Keep the shortlist handy in the TastyPals app and find similar restaurants across Toronto.

Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist

Explore next

LeslievilleQueen WestThorncliffe ParkItalianBrunchMiddle EasternDate Nightdinnertakeout

Related guides

Editorial collage of Toronto dishes
Google

Guide • toronto

Best Restaurants in Toronto 2026

The definitive Toronto restaurant list — Alo at the top, Edulis close behind, and ten picks that span a 40-year institution, a wood-fire Mexican kitchen, a West African tasting menu, and the east end bistro everyone is suddenly talking about.

Read guide

Get the App

Save these spots to your Toronto list

Save these spots to your Toronto list in the TastyPals app, then explore similar restaurants when you want a tighter shortlist for the night.

Personalized city picksCleaner shortlistsBuilt for iPhone and Android
TastyPalsTonight
Your taste. Our picks.
Smarter follow-through after the guide: better restaurant context, quicker narrowing, less second-guessing.
For tonight
Date night spots with warm rooms and polished service
Next step
Keep exploring in the app when you want a tighter shortlist