1
Google
Mediterranean•Harbourfront•$
Queens Harbour
Queens Harbour is not interested in subtlety, and the Harbourfront is better for it.
waterfrontpatioscenic
Read restaurant page
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
9.4 Google
9.4
6,326 Google reviews
GuideUpdated July 16, 2026
9 Best scenic Restaurants in Toronto
The best 9 restaurants for scenic in Toronto — curated by TastyPals editors.
The best scenic restaurants in Toronto are Queens Harbour, SIMONA, Miku Toronto, and more. Start with Queens Harbour if you want the strongest overall first pick.
Google
Top picks at a glance
Who this guide is for
This guide covers the highest-rated restaurants for scenic in Toronto, sorted by Google rating and editorial judgment.
Quick picks
Queens Harbour
Mediterranean • Harbourfront
Queens Harbour is not interested in subtlety, and the Harbourfront is better for it.
SIMONA
Italian • Harbourfront
Simona sits at the waterfront edge of Harbourfront doing something that restaurants in tourist-adjacent Toronto real estate rarely bother to do: taking its food seriously.
Miku Toronto
Japanese • Harbourfront
Miku Toronto is a sensible japanese call in Harbourfront in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.
Editorial details
On this page
How the restaurants compare
Google
Queens Harbour
Harbourfront • Mediterranean
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$
Best for
waterfront
Mood
Harbourfront
Google
SIMONA
Harbourfront • Italian
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
value
Best for
Waterfront patio
Mood
Harbourfront
Google
Miku Toronto
Harbourfront • Japanese
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$
Best for
waterfront
Mood
Harbourfront
Google
Kellys Landing
Harbourfront • Contemporary
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
Price
$$
Best for
waterfront
Mood
Harbourfront
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.
9 ranked picks
Queens Harbour — Queens Harbour is not interested in subtlety, and the Harbourfront is better for it. The 23,000-square-foot lakeside room at 245 Queens Quay West opened in July 2025 with the kind of structural ambition Toronto's waterfront has been slow to produce — a retractable rooftop crowning the Queens Room, an ancient olive tree anchoring the centre of the space, and unobstructed sightlines to the lake that reportedly transform an ordinary Tuesday dinner into a genuinely memorable one. Chef Robert Balint and collaborator Julien Laffargue have built a menu that threads Mediterranean and Japanese sensibilities together, and the room is reportedly as functional at a twelve-top as it is for two — a combination that is harder to pull off at this price point than it looks.
The Miso Black Cod is what diners and early coverage keep returning to — the dish is known for its sweet-savoury lacquer and arrives alongside king oyster mushrooms and bok choi, a pairing that signals the kitchen's cross-cultural approach. The Dips of the Mediterranean anchor the opening of the meal: muhamarra, hummus, and labneh served with puffed pita brushed in sumac and olive oil, a format that lets the table settle in before the heavier plates arrive. For groups with an appetite for spectacle, The Whole Damn Harbour is the centrepiece — a $195 plateau reportedly built around dry ice, a whole lobster, hamachi crudo, salmon tataki, PEI oysters, tuna tartare, and nigiri. It is clearly designed to be seen as much as eaten, and early accounts suggest it delivers on both counts.
Practical notes: the Queens Room — with its retractable roof — is the booking over the patio bar for a first visit, since it gives you open sky without the lake wind. The upper level reportedly offers the best vantage on the olive tree installation. The interactive sushi bar is positioned as the move for solo diners or a two-top. Go at golden hour, lead with the dips, and let the table vote on The Whole Damn Harbour before you order anything else. View restaurant →
SIMONA — Simona sits at the waterfront edge of Harbourfront doing something that restaurants in tourist-adjacent Toronto real estate rarely bother to do: taking its food seriously. The concept is contemporary Italian-leaning, with the Mediterranean as a loose but deliberate throughline — octopus, crudo, branzino, carpaccio, house-made pasta — assembled into a menu that skews toward the kind of refined coastal cooking you'd expect in a room charging considerably more. For a price-point-one destination, the ambition is notable. This is a spot positioned for locals who want a proper dinner on the waterfront rather than a patio concession stand, and for out-of-towners smart enough to look past the tourist-trap gravity of the neighbourhood.
The menu's clearest statement of intent is the Whole Butterflied Branzino — a preparation that signals a kitchen confident enough to center a dish on technique and sourcing rather than sauce. Diners consistently gravitate toward it as the room's benchmark protein. The Lobster Linguine does the work a coastal Italian kitchen should: pairing a luxury ingredient with handmade pasta in a format that rewards the kitchen's discipline. The Wagyu Beef Gnocchi represents the menu's most interesting tension — Italian format, premium Japanese beef, a combination that regulars point to as the dish that distinguishes Simona from straightforward trattorias. On the raw and lighter end, the Sicilian Tuna Tartare and Wagyu Beef Carpaccio GS anchor the opening courses with a crudo sensibility that nods to southern Italian tradition while reading as genuinely contemporary. The Pulpo GS rounds out the starters with the kind of octopus preparation that has become a reliable indicator of a kitchen's overall seriousness.
Book for the early dinner window before the waterfront foot traffic peaks on weekends — the room is more focused then, and service reportedly has more bandwidth. The move that regulars know: open with the Sicilian Tuna Tartare and commit to the Whole Butterflied Branzino as your main rather than hedging toward the steak. The NY Striploin is on the menu, but the fish preparations are where this kitchen distinguishes itself from every other contemporary room in the city. Request a table with sightlines toward the water when you reserve — at this price point, the setting is part of what you're paying for. View restaurant →
2
Google
Italian•Harbourfront•value
SIMONA
Simona sits at the waterfront edge of Harbourfront doing something that restaurants in tourist-adjacent Toronto real estate rarely bother to do: taking its food seriously.
Waterfront patiodinnergroup dinner
Read restaurant page
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
9.2 Google
9.2
1,474 Google reviews
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The Goodman Pub and Kitchen — Harbourfront draws steady foot traffic along Queens Quay West, and The Goodman Pub and Kitchen is one of the few spots on that stretch that rewards slowing down. By all accounts, the room commits to its lakeside context without tipping into theme-bar territory — warm wood finishes, exposed brick, and broad windows that reportedly open the space up considerably in warmer months. The patio overlooking the water is consistently cited as a draw through summer, while a covered outdoor section and an active bar keep things from feeling dead once the season turns. The overall impression from regulars is of a room that breathes well, whether you're two people or a sprawling group at a twelve-top.
The kitchen works in contemporary pub territory, and at a budget-friendly price point, the menu centers on crowd-pleasing dishes that diners return to. The Chicken Pot Pie has developed a reputation as the anchor of the menu — the kind of generous, properly comforting dish that keeps regulars loyal. The Blackened Fish Tacos are described as a brighter counterpoint to the heavier pub fare, bringing heat and contrast to a menu that could otherwise skew rich. The Smash Burger, reportedly exactly what the format promises, is the obvious companion to a pint while the lake does its thing outside. None of these dishes are reinventing anything, but the consistency they're known for at this price level is the point.
The Goodman functions well as a group destination — the kind of room that reportedly holds together without anyone feeling sidelined, which makes it a practical call for post-waterfront wandering, casual team lunches, or long summer evenings. If patio seats are the goal on a weekend, arriving early is the move. Start with the Blackened Fish Tacos or go straight for the Chicken Pot Pie. View restaurant →
7
Google
Gastropub•Harbourfront•$
The Goodman Pub and Kitchen
Harbourfront draws steady foot traffic along Queens Quay West, and The Goodman Pub and Kitchen is one of the few spots on that stretch that rewards slowing down.
waterfrontpatioscenic
Read restaurant page
9.9/10
TastyPals Score
8.6 Google
8.6
4,219 Google reviews
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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