Di An opened in a Scarborough strip mall less than a year ago and has apparently been making the downtown Vietnamese corridor look a little complacent ever since.

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9.8

Based on 1865 reviews

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Burgers•Toronto•$

The Burger Monk (Flame Grilled)

Most burger spots in Toronto have gone all-in on the smash patty, so The Burger Monk's commitment to flame-grilling is a genuine differentiator — and, according to consistent reporting on the place, the point of the whole operation.

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9.8

Based on 1294 reviews

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Burgers•Toronto•$

Crack Burger Toronto

Crack Burger has built a genuine following in Kensington Market on the back of a deliberately minimal menu and a smash patty that, by all accounts, tends to derail conversations mid-bite.

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Viet Garden

Viet Garden lands on Queen Street East in Corktown at an interesting moment for the neighborhood — and by most accounts, the restaurant carries itself with the kind of quiet confidence that neighborhood still hasn't quite figured out yet.

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Mexican•Kensington Market•$

Placos Tacos Mexican Food & Bar

Placos Tacos landed on Kensington Avenue in early 2024 and, by most accounts, hit the ground running.

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Rose's Viet Subs

Let's get one thing straight before you walk in expecting ghosts: this is not the Rose's.

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Gyubee Japanese Grill (Bloor)

Here's what the all-you-can-eat format usually gets wrong: it bets you won't notice the quality because you're too busy managing the grill and timing the next order.

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9.6

Based on 10117 reviews

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•value

PHO DAY

Pho Day has built what appears to be one of the more durable reputations in Scarborough's Vietnamese dining scene, accumulating more than 1,500 reviews at a near-perfect rating around its Sandhurst Circle location.

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9.6

Based on 1525 reviews

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•value

Pho Hue (Vietnamese Cuisine 最美味的越南河粉汤)

Pho Hue isn't running a mood or a brand — it's a Scarborough strip-mall Vietnamese spot operating on the logic that the food should be reason enough.

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9.6

Based on 1412 reviews

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•value

Lang Chai Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine

Lang Chai is what happens when a family stops hedging and starts cooking exactly what they want to cook.

Pholunchtakeout

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9.6

Based on 1389 reviews

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Chinese•East Chinatown•value

Grandma Kitchen阿婆私房菜

East Chinatown doesn't need another pan-Asian shortcut, and Grandma Kitchen on Spadina isn't offering one.

Authentic Chineselunchgroup dinner

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9.6

Based on 971 reviews

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Korean•The Annex•value

Woojoo Bunsik - Bloor

Woojoo Bunsik on Bloor is the kind of Korean street food snack bar The Annex has been quietly deserving — a navy-blue, space-themed room planted a block from the U of T sprawl that, by all accounts, refuses to act stressed about it.

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•$

Pho Anh Vu Scarborough North

Pho Anh Vu's Scarborough North location, which opened on Steeles Avenue, arrives with a proposition that separates it from the considerable field of Toronto phở counters: a menu that actively reaches into Vietnam's regional breadth rathe…

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Chopfire 西门炊烟

Chopfire is doing something specific and unambiguous on Spadina: a mainland Chinese restaurant that refuses to apologize for it.

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The Burger Shop

The Burger Shop is the Queen West outpost from the team behind Top Gun Burger, which already tells you something useful: this isn't a first attempt at smash burgers.

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Nang Saigon

Here's what Nang Saigon is doing that the rest of Toronto's Vietnamese dining scene hasn't caught up to yet: the red wine in the pho broth is not a stunt.

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•value

Minh’s (Scarborough)

Minh's arrived in Scarborough in 2025 as the fifth location of a franchise with an unusually legible origin story: the brand is named for Minh Le, a former banker who left a twenty-six-year career to build a Vietnamese restaurant group f…

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Global•Kensington Market•$

Kensington Kitchen

Kensington Kitchen is doing something that sounds gimmicky on paper — Korean street food out of a compact counter spot on Augusta Avenue — and by every account it's pulling it off with more conviction than the concept deserves on first g…

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

PHO VALLEY TORONTO

PHO VALLEY TORONTO is a vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Korean•Kensington Market•$

Original Ka Chi (Kenshington market)

Original Ka Chi has been operating on St.

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9.4

Based on 2378 reviews

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Thai•The Annex•value

EAT BKK Thai Bar & Restaurant (Annex)

Bloor West between Spadina and Bathurst is one of the most contested stretches of dining real estate in Toronto — every cuisine on earth competing for the same student wallet and the same 7 p.m.

Cheap eatslunchtakeout

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9.4

Based on 2115 reviews

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Burgers•Toronto•$

Firefly Burger Toronto

Firefly Burger on Yonge Street has built a reputation around a cooking method that sounds almost contradictory: Black Angus beef smashed on a flat-top for crust, then finished on a grill for a hit of barbecue char.

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9.4

Based on 1977 reviews

RASA

RASA has held its ground in Harbord Village long enough that the Bib Gourmand recognition feels less like a surprise and more like confirmation of what the neighbourhood already knew: this is a kitchen doing genuinely globe-spanning shar…

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9.4

Based on 1417 reviews

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Mexican•Kensington Market•$

Casa Morales

The origin story here is too good to skip.

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

TRE - Viet Heritage Kitchen & Bar

Tre Viet Heritage Kitchen & Bar occupies a second-floor space at the edge of Toronto's Chinatown, above Flipper's Pancakes, and owner Henry Tran has made something of a statement with the room: bamboo sourced from outside Hanoi lines the…

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The Burger's Priest

The Burger's Priest has a reasonable claim to being the restaurant that rewired Toronto's burger expectations.

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9.2

Based on 5774 reviews

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•$

Linh Anh Vietnamese Cuisine Scarborough

Scarborough doesn't owe downtown Toronto any explanation, and Linh Anh Vietnamese Cuisine is a clean example of why the argument keeps coming up.

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9.2

Based on 3879 reviews

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•$

Pho Metro

What Pho Metro has quietly accomplished out of a Lawrence East strip mall is more interesting than anything happening at half the Vietnamese spots downtown right now.

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9.2

Based on 3831 reviews

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Mexican•Kensington Market•$

Seven Lives Tacos y Mariscos

Seven Lives is the taqueria that Kensington Market has made its own — a counter-service operation doing Baja-style tacos that, by consistent reputation, treats the format as a discipline rather than a loose approximation aimed at an audi…

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9.2

Based on 3781 reviews

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Pho Ha Noi

Pho Ha Noi is a vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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9.2

Based on 1244 reviews

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

MiMi Vietnamese

MiMi Vietnamese has been anchoring Chinatown East for close to 25 years, and the reason it survives — and matters — isn't trendiness or a PR budget.

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Chinese•East Chinatown•value

Que Ling Vietnamese Cuisine

Que Ling Vietnamese Cuisine is a sensible chinese call in East Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

Authentic Chineselunchgroup dinner

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Burgers•Kensington Market•$

Ugly Delicious Toronto

Ugly Delicious Toronto is a sensible burgers call in Kensington Market in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well. The Classic Wagyu Smash and Jalapeños Gone Wild also give you a decent sense of the menu.

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Bao House (Dundas)

Bao House's Dundas Street location — second floor above the Chinatown-AGO corridor, soft-opened in late November 2024 — is the downtown extension of a North York institution that's been making Chinese pastries, bao, dumplings, and noodles.

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Juicy Dumpling

Juicy Dumpling is a sensible chinese call in Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well. If Juicy Dumpling is your kind of order, that is a good sign.

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9.0

Based on 3907 reviews

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Global•Kensington Market•$$

Knockout chicken

Knockout chicken is a global restaurant in Kensington Market in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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9.0

Based on 3800 reviews

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Burgers•Toronto•$

Ozzy's Burgers Toronto

Ozzy's Burgers has held down a spot in Kensington Market on a short list of commitments that are easy to respect: never-frozen beef, hand-cut fries, house-made organic sauces, and a fully halal kitchen.

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9.0

Based on 3396 reviews

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Global•The Annex•value

Fresh Kitchen + Juice Bar

Fresh Kitchen + Juice Bar is a global restaurant in The Annex in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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9.0

Based on 2458 reviews

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Chinese•East Chinatown•value

Oji Seichi

Toronto's ramen defaults to tonkotsu — the heavy pork-bone broth that reads as the whole category to most of the city.

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Bao Bao Dim Sum

Bao Bao Dim Sum is an easy chinese option in Chinatown in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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The Burgernator

The Burgernator has occupied the same Kensington Market corner, and its reputation is built on a premise that is straightforward but not lazy: burgers made from a custom blend of freshly ground chuck that is never frozen, produce sourced…

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8.8

Based on 3134 reviews

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Anh Dao Restaurant

Anh Dao Restaurant is a sensible vietnamese call in Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

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8.8

Based on 1222 reviews

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Chinese•Chinatown•$

Wok Theory | 新天虹

Wok Theory | 新天虹 is a chinese restaurant in Chinatown in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room. Dim Sum Selection and Snacks & Soups also give you a decent sense of the menu.

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Sue Fung's Dimsum Canteen 小鳯食堂

Sue Fung's Dimsum Canteen 小鳯食堂 is a chinese restaurant in Chinatown in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

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Mexican•Kensington Market•$

El Trompo

El Trompo is an easy mexican option in Kensington Market in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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8.6

Based on 2183 reviews

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Dzô Viet Eatery

Dzô Viet Eatery is an easy vietnamese option in Chinatown in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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8.6

Based on 1088 reviews

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Chinese•East Chinatown•value

Dine & Dim

Dine & Dim is a sensible chinese call in East Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

Authentic Chineselunchgroup dinner

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•value

MS PHO Saigon (Scarborough)

MS PHO Saigon (Scarborough) is a sensible vietnamese call in Scarborough in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well. Crispy Pork Spring Rolls and Tempura Shrimp also give you a decent sense of the menu.

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Chinese•East Chinatown•value

Swatow Restaurant

Swatow Restaurant is an easy chinese option in East Chinatown in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation.

Authentic Chineselunchgroup dinner

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8.4

Based on 3057 reviews

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Chinese•Chinatown•$

Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant

Dim Sum King Seafood Restaurant is a sensible chinese call in Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

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8.2

Based on 3879 reviews

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Chinese•Chinatown•$

Mother's Dumplings

Mother's Dumplings is a sensible chinese call in Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

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8.2

Based on 3347 reviews

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Vietnamese•Chinatown•$

Phở Hưng Restaurant

Phở Hưng Restaurant is an easy vietnamese option in Chinatown in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation. Pho and Chao also give you a decent sense of the menu.

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8.2

Based on 3083 reviews

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Global•The Annex•value

The Fortunate Fox

The Fortunate Fox is an easy global option in The Annex in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation.

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Rol San Restaurant

Rol San Restaurant is a sensible chinese call in Chinatown in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

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8.0

Based on 4596 reviews

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Chinese•East Chinatown•value

Wok & Roast Chinese BBQ Restaurant

Wok & Roast Chinese BBQ Restaurant is a chinese restaurant in East Chinatown in Toronto that is worth opening when you want a clearer read on the menu and the room.

Authentic Chineselunchgroup dinner

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8.0

Based on 1072 reviews

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Bistro•The Annex•value

Future Bistro

Future Bistro is a sensible bistro call in The Annex in Toronto when you want something that usually lands well.

Cheap eatslunchtakeout

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8.0

Based on 826 reviews

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Vietnamese•Scarborough•value

Pho Vietnam

Pho Vietnam is an easy vietnamese option in Scarborough in Toronto to suggest without needing a long explanation.

Pholunchtakeout

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7.6

Based on 1031 reviews

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Common questions about cheap eat in Toronto

What are the best restaurants for cheap eat in Toronto?

The top restaurants for cheap eat in Toronto include Momo Kensington market, Haidilao Hot Pot Toronto Downtown, Di An Vietnamese Cuisine Scarborough. TastyPals curates these picks based on occasion tags, Google ratings, and editorial judgment.