Emily Mallett got up bright and early, ready to start work at 8 a.m. But it wasn’t her job she was clocking in for — it was the task of securing a coveted reservation at the buzzy restaurant Public Gardens. Each morning, the restaurant opens its books for the next 14 days. By 8:01 a.m., it was somehow already too late. The restaurant was fully booked. Her friend had the same experience. The next day, they tried again — to no avail.
“When it comes to securing reservations at high-demand establishments, there’s going to be some difficulty,” she says. “I have experienced this before when travelling and trying to get reservations at restaurants in Paris and New York, but this may have been a first for Toronto. We were shocked that none were available at 8:01 a.m.”
Mallett, a content creator who focuses on style, food, and travel, took to TikTok to complain — and the post went viral, thanks to the shared ire of other diners eager to eat at Public Gardens. The restaurant manager reached out to her to help her snag a table, but many other Torontonians without her social clout come up empty-handed in their attempts to land a table at one of the city’s most in-demand restaurants.
What happened to Mallett isn’t just a one-off — it reflects a larger shift in Toronto’s dining culture. As the city bounces back post-pandemic, demand for tables at top restaurants has soared, driven by social media virality, prestigious rankings like Canada’s Top 100, and the Michelin Guide’s arrival. With fewer seats, shorter booking windows, and a surge of eager diners, scoring a prime-time table now often takes strategy — or sheer luck.
Polling social media and speaking with some of the city’s top restaurateurs reveals general consensus on the hardest reservations to get in Toronto — most of which rank high on Canada’s Top 100 Restaurants, released last week. There are the Michelin-starred spots with small rooms and limited seatings, like Edulis (#4), 20 Victoria (#5), and Sushi Masaki Saito (#16). Patrick Kriss’s white whale, Alo (#3), remains infamously hard to get into, as does the newly crowned #1, Restaurant Pearl Morrissette, located a bit further afield. Outside the list, in the King Street West environs, there are TikTok-famous hotspots like Public Gardens and Café Renée, also drawing long lines and booking up quickly, if not instantly.
Post-pandemic, Torontonians are eager to gather around the table once more. According to OpenTable, seated diners via online reservations in Toronto rose by 14 per cent between January and April 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. “There is a narrative that comes from metros like New York City that it is impossible to get reservations at sought-after restaurants. But in Canada, and Toronto specifically, this trend is not impacting the market the way people think it is,” says Matt Davis, senior country director with OpenTable Canada. “It’s always possible to get a reservation if you’re flexible. For example, you aren’t necessarily going to secure a same-day reservation, but if you are prepared to book in advance, dine mid-week, or at an earlier or later time, you could get what you’re looking for.”
Quetzal — a Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant that landed at number 8 on the Top 100 list — has long been one of the tougher reservations in town, with prime weekend slots often booked out a month in advance. They’ve seen a steady rise in demand since earning their first Michelin star a few years ago. Have they received complaints about how hard it is to get a reservation? “Of course we have!” says general manager Louis Kotlyar. “Social media has definitely upped the demand by people who would otherwise not be in the know. I feel like the restaurants I am most excited about trying are from hearing about my friends’ dining experiences.”
Chef Masaki Saito attributes the rise in dining interest to the Michelin Guide’s arrival in Toronto in 2022: “We are seeing a lot of interest for diners to dine out because there are a lot more talented chefs opening restaurants every year.” His own restaurant is one of the hardest to get into, he says, because they only serve 11 guests a night, and there’s only one Saito San: “If I’m sick, we cannot open.” Customers generally reserve at least a month in advance; as of right now, for example, May is booked solid. “I don’t think it’s been more challenging to get reservations in recent years. I think it’s just dining culture has evolved in a good way in Toronto,” he says. “That dining at the best restaurants has become an experience just like a concert or a Broadway show. A great concert or a popular show’s tickets are always difficult to get.”
David Schwartz has a stable of bustling restaurants including Sunnys Chinese and MIMI Chinese; his new deli-inspired steakhouse Linny’s on Ossington’s just might be his most popular reservation yet (they have no primetime weekend tables left for the next month). “Over the past few years, dining out has made a huge comeback. People are eager to reconnect over food, and we’ve seen a surge in reservations, especially for weekends and special occasions,” according to Linny’s general manager Chanelle Amey. This has led to more difficulty in getting the tougher bookings, and, she says, frequent customer complaints about how frustrating it is to not be able to get a table.
“Toronto’s dining scene has grown rapidly, with more people eager to try new restaurants as soon as they open. Social media plays a big role — when a restaurant goes viral or wins an award, it becomes much more difficult to get a reservation,” she says. “At the same time, many restaurants are opting for smaller, more curated dining rooms to create a more intimate experience, which means fewer tables overall.” Plus online platforms make it easier than ever to book, so competition is fierce — especially for peak times and weekends.
When it comes to getting a reservation, there is one foolproof solution diners can try. “Support newer or lesser-known spots, too,” she says. “There’s a lot of talent in this city beyond just the big names.”
