Alo Restaurant has once again taken top honors in Canada’s 100 Best Restaurant Rankings.
Nestled on the top floor of one of the trendier parts of downtown Toronto is the best restaurant in Canada. It’s called Alo Restaurant, serving contemporary French cuisine and ludicrously expensive cocktails for anyone lucky enough to have booked a reservation months in advance.
A tasting menu at the restaurant is not cheap. You can expect to shell out between $155 to $175 per person for a tasting menu, depending on the time of year, and that doesn’t include tax, tip, or drinks. As you’d expect from a restaurant that doesn’t provide a set menu (unless you’re at the cocktail bar), portions are tiny but immaculate, with options for wine pairings from their in-house sommelier.
But as previously mentioned, getting a seat there for a tasting menu is next to impossible. Reservations are sold out until September, with booking only opening in three-month blocks. You’ll have to keep track on their website when seats next become available.
This is the second year in a row that Alo has made it to the top of Canada’s Best 100 Restaurants ranking. Now in its fourth year, the rankings are a compiled list of restaurants that are then voted on by “food critics, leading chefs, legendary restaurateurs, elite diners, and food fanatics."
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Once all the votes are in, they’re handed over to international auditing firm KPMG to tally all the points, and then a winner is announced.
While Toronto took top honors, Montreal dominated the top 10 and even took both second and third place. Toqué!, a seasonal fusion restaurant, took second place, while seafood and steakhouse Joe Beef came in third.
In total, Quebec had 27 restaurants in the top 100 list, while Ontario had 24 and British Columbia had 22.
Oh, and if you think that Alo’s tasting menus are a little out of your price range, don’t despair. They know that fine dining isn’t for everyone, and even if you can afford it, a tasting menu often leaves you hungry for more. That’s why they opened Aloette just two floors down in the same building. Burgers, steaks, and an absolutely ridiculous milkshake all await those who didn’t quite fill up on foie gras two staircases up.