Restaurant Scene
The York Region is not only a 'bedroom community' for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) with about 900,000 residents,
but is also a major manufacturing and head office center with a number of auto & automotive component plants.
A number of major attractions are in this community, including the McMichael Collection in Kleinburg, Canada's Wonderland amusement park in Vaughan, and several conservation areas takinga dvanatage of the wide open spaces.
This means there are a lot of business people, families, and visitors who are looking for suitable pleaces to dine and to entertain.
Our restaurant / dining site covers not everything north of Steeles with communities like Woodbridge, Kleinburg, Maple, Vaughan, Buttonville, Thornhill and Markham, but other communities further away from Toronto like Richmond Hill, Stouffville, Aurora, Newmarket, Georgina and Bradford.
For dining on either side of Steeles, please see the restaurant listings in FoundLocally's Etobicoke / North York / and Scarborough dining sites. For dining on the west and north shores of Lake Simcoe please check out our Barrie-Muskoka restaurant section.
About a third of the residents of the York Region area are visible minorities or born outside Canada, which has created
demand for a number of great restaurants reflecting the ethnically diverse community's dining desires.
It also means the cuisine is authentic as opposed to North American formulaic derivatives that make "foreign" food bland enough for some tastes.
Only good ethnic restaurants survive in this community.
Restaurants tend to be clustered around York Region on the main streets of the traditional communities like Woodbridge, Kleinburg, Maple, Vaughan, Buttonville, Thornhill, Markham, Richmond Hill, Stouffville, Aurora, Newmarket, Georgina and Bradford.
With the construction of high-volume roads connecting the various communities, which also connecting the communities to major highways like the 400, 404 and 407, you will also find a restaurant for pretty well any kind of food along the very street you're driving along.
New "big box" mega malls, and entertainment-focused "power centres", there are clusters of family/casual restaurants and bars, typically part of well-financed chains in such locations as well.
Business parks--especially the office/warehouse focused ones--tend to have the higher-end noon hour restaurants and fine dining establishments, the areas close
to area college campuses have the cheaper eats, and the outlying residential areas have the family-friendly and
affordable dining options. The York Region has over 1000 restaurants.
Use the pop-down list at upper-left to quickly find restaurants by cuisine. You can use the Restaurant Search Form to quickly filter the restaurants by community / neighbourhood AND by cuisine. You can even search by postal code, even by street to find all restaurants really close to you.
Kleinburg Historic Village
Islington Ave, north of Major Mackenzie Drive
Many visit Kleinburg just for the McMichael Museum, with its famed Group of Seven collection., and stay for the scenic beauty and the historic village of Kleinburg's shopping and dining.
Thornhill Historic Village
Yonge and Centre Street
The Thornhill heritage district features a number of unique shops and restaurants.
Market Lane, Woodbridge
This quaint shopping district in Woodbridge's business area is an old-fashioned country square with over 60 shops and restaurants.
Highway 400 & 7 (Vaughan)
This area has a collection of "Power Centres" with free-standing major chains for retail, dining, and entertainment. To the SW, is the "Seven/400" with major stores, to the NW is the "Colossus Centre" anchored by the 18 screen Collossus movie theatre & IMAX. To the SE is "The Interchange", anchored by the 30 screen AMC Theatre, an IKEA and a number of themed sit-down restaurants, bars and retail entertainment.
Unionville
Main Street
This pedestrian-friendly community has many historic buildings, including old mills and churches along the Main Street. There are over 60 unique shops, galleries, restaurants, and street-front cafes. Main Street has number of restaurants and cafes, including Italian (La Grotta, Il Postino), desserts (Living Water, Ice Cream Shop, Polar Bar), and traditional fare (Harvest, Unionville Arms, Jakes, Old Country Inn).
Markham Village
Markham Main Street, north from Highway 7
Markham has a Farmers Market (late April to Thanksgiving), and a number of breakfast and dessert shops, and over a hundred other stores.
There are also a umber of restaurants on Main Street, offering everything from East European (Mr Hungarian), Greek (Famous Souvlaki), Italian (Falco's, Al Dente), Mediterranean (Lemon Bistro), Japanese (Tsukiji Sushi), Pub fare (Duchess of Markham, Artisan), as well as a number of family/casual dining establishments.
Historic Downtown Newmarket
Main Street & Yonge Streets
Newmarket offers a taste of history and shopping, dining, and baked goods in the shops and at the traditional Farmers' Market. Dining in Newmarket offers varied cusines like Cajun (Orleans), Indian (India Gate) Thai (Com Pho), Vietnamese (Pho Saigon) Chinese (Emerald Palace), Seafood (Aw Shucks! Fitzys), Japanese (Kichi Sushi), Italian (Villa Risi, La Spiga, Mamma Mia, and Caribbean (A Taste of the Islands).
We appreciate your feedback and suggestions. Everyone can recommend a restaurant for our listings (please tell us why its "worthy") or you can
send us your themed Top 5 list!
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