A night out at Imanishi was supposed to be a rare escape for Daniella Moss. But the 40-year-old nurse and mother quickly realized that to enjoy her meal, she was going to need a flashlight. Moss and her friends spent the evening hovering their iPhones over their plates at the Dundas West restaurant. “Everywhere I go seems to be dimly lit,” says Moss, who has had similar squint-inducing encounters at spots like DaiLo and Baro. “It ends up feeling like a problem I have to solve.”
Moss is far from the only diner noticing the shift. Across Toronto, many restaurants are getting darker, a deliberate design choice meant to create intimacy and atmosphere but one that many diners say makes it harder to read menus, see their food or even each other.
Systems analyst Mark Ramage, 59, has also had trouble reading menus at several places including Edulis and Harbour 60. “Sometimes it’s even difficult to see my partner’s facial expressions,” he said. Twenty-nine-year-old artist Annie Nguyen recalls struggling to navigate a dim dining room, including kicking a chair leg that suddenly emerged from the murk. As someone who previously worked in the food industry, Nguyen says the lighting also raises concerns about food presentation — and whether diners are really seeing what they ordered.
In recent years, there’s been a noticeable shift in restaurant design toward darker palettes, including richer woods, deeper paint tones and moodier wall coverings, according to Dyonne Fashina, principal designer with Denizens of Design. “The biggest change, though, is in lighting,” she says. “Dim-to-warm, a white-light system that shifts to an amber glow, is now the norm, allowing spaces to transition from early evening to late night with the flip of a switch.”
Many industry insiders say they’ve noticed dining rooms getting darker in recent years, while restaurants like Alder, Favourites Thai, Ardo, Ficoa and the Pompette Group and David Schwartz of Big Hug Hospitality (which includes spots like Linny’s and Mimi Chinese) all confirm that low lighting is a deliberate part of their preferred vibe. “Our lighting is intentionally dim because it’s a key part of the ambiance and how the overall experience feels,” Schwartz says. “I would personally prefer a space that’s a touch too dark versus one that is too bright.”
Several newer spots have leaned especially hard into the look. Jazz club and martini bar Small Talk prioritizes low lighting, while dimness is central to Indo-British restaurant Punch’s design, evoking a private-club atmosphere. Punch executive chef Mandar Kulkarni believes you really do eat with your eyes first. “A darker room sets the mood…The lighting shouldn’t distract from the experience; it should frame it. Softer, darker lighting does exactly that,” he says. “‘Punch’ means five in Hindi, a nod to the five senses. The lighting at Punch plays a key role in activating those senses by shaping anticipation before the first bite is even taken.”
What’s driving restaurants into darkness?
As the industry grapples with closures and softer consumer spending, restaurants are under growing pressure to offer what Fifteen Group vice-president of concept development Alex Fraser calls “unique, insular and intimate dining experiences.” “Dimmed lighting creates warm, softer hues for comfortable vibes that influence a guest’s mood and perception,” he says, noting that the trend migrated from bar environments into restaurants several years ago.
That migration has blurred the line between dinner and a night out, says Parquet general manager Kathleen Chun. “Guests are going out not just to eat but for an evening out. As someone who has worked on King West, I find the Entertainment District restaurants to be the darkest as they are trying to seamlessly blend into the bar/club esthetic.”
Not everyone is pleased with the shift. Famiglia Baldassare owner Leandro Baldassarre, self-identified grumpy old man, says the trend began in the early 2010s, when post-recession dining leaned into fun and affordability for younger diners. “It was a bit of a for-us-by-us attitude and man, it took off,” he says. “Out with tablecloths, the bread, the uniformed servers — and good lighting. Give me my own plate of food and turn the lights up!”
For restaurateurs embracing the darkness, the draw lies in exclusivity. Executive chef Afrim Pristine of the newly opened Small Talk says a dim room, where you’re almost hidden from other diners, helps you hone in on the moment. “As a diner, this creates a more discreet dining experience, and it becomes more about the food and service, which is what dining to me is all about,” he says.
Attempts to remedy the darkness have been hit or miss. Fashina recalls a dinner with a new supplier where the restaurant was so dark they had to use the supplier’s portable lights to see their food, prompting other guests to ask for them, too. She’s also seen taller taper candles replace tea lights, sometimes with near-misses as hair or scarves almost caught fire.
Some spots have invested heavily in lighting design to avoid these issues. At Small Talk, each table has its own micro-environment, with fixture height and angle carefully calibrated so guests can read menus and see their plates without using a phone flashlight.
Lighting is a critically important part of restaurant design, according to Schwartz, but it often gets overlooked. “When it’s done well, it’s almost unnoticeable,” he says. “When the lighting strategy isn’t approached properly, it can really hinder the dining experience.” They keep mobile lamps handy at Linny’s for guests who prefer a bit more light when reading through their menus. While he admits that Mimi Chinese may have leaned overly dark in the past, the renovation they have underway is addressing this, he says: “We’re going to have dedicated table lamps in place when we reopen Mimi, and are going to be changing the tone of light to something a bit warmer and softer.”
A changeable light source is another option; Koh Lipe manager Jake Wongchaiya uses dimmable table lamps to help diners see without compromising mood. “The atmosphere that bring up the laughter among friends, the tender smiles of couples, and the enchantment of kids playing with dimmable lamps,” he says. “These are what I love the most!”
And if they can see their food, they just might want to eat it again.
