If you come to this city, someone will likely tell you that Winnipeg has more restaurants per capita than anywhere in North America. It’s not true, but we continue to believe it with pride in the many Winnipeg restaurants that still seem to outnumber other businesses and services.
Along with variety and number, visitors also take advantage of the fact that the locals are demanding of the restaurants in Winnipeg. Winnipeggers approach a meal out looking for as much value and quality as they can get – Winnipeg’s best-known restaurant critics alone help boost readership of the two daily papers, and people readily share their own opinions about a good or bad meal out. Restaurateurs in Winnipeg know this, and plenty of kitchens offer food worth raving about.
Where To Find The Best Winnipeg Restaurants
It seems that there’s a section or two in every part of Winnipeg that has two or three restaurants per block. Often, they mass in and around the city’s older residential areas. For example, you can probably eat out daily for months along parts of Sargent and Ellice Avenues in the West End without seeing a restaurant twice. Transcona, South Osborne Street and Portage Avenue just west of Polo Park Shopping Mall are other places where Winnipeg restaurants make a strong presence. But wherever you are in Winnipeg, a restaurant is close.
Independent Local Restaurants
Chain restaurants in Winnipeg have made an impact here as everywhere else, but we take pride in the many locally owned kitchens that have fed people for decades. Here a few you’ll hear about if you ask a local for his or her favorite pick:
- Likely the oldest restaurant in Winnipeg, C. Kelekis has kept the same location on Main Street since 1931. Check out the photos of famous past customers while you eat entrées of diner food with a Ukrainian influence for less than $10.
- Right across from Assiniboine Park, the Star Grill is a funky romantic place on Portage Avenue that serves unique sandwiches and burgers for $10-15, as well as entrées for $20-25. A second location right in the park offers a similar menu in a brighter atmosphere adjacent to the park’s impressive greenhouse.
- A couple of upstart Winnipeg restaurants have quickly become favorite places for breakfast and lunch. You can eat for less than $10 at the Black Sheep Diner, on Ellice Avenue in the West End, choosing from an eclectic menu of burgers, sandwiches, homemade soups and good coffee. In downtown Winnipeg, on Main Street, the Tallest Poppy strives to source food from local producers. As a result, the menu changes every few days as patrons get to take part in the variety available to the restaurant’s owner/manager.
Winnipeg For Steak Lovers
Straight up, the beef connoisseurs here will often say the best meals come from Hy’s Steak House, in the base floor of the Richardson Building at Portage and Main, or 529 Wellington in the old and plush neighborhood of Crescentwood. Both offer dinner appetizers for around $15 and entrées for about $40.
But for a little less money, diners can enjoy the historic and hip elegance of Rae and Jerry’s, a place towards the St. James neighborhood that retains the red and black leather and dark wood paneling that epitomized style when it was built in 1957. The lounge is a great place to drink a rusty nail. Appetizers cost around $10; entrées cost around $30.
Winnipeg Vegetarian Restaurants
The Winnipeg Vegetarian Association website gives a long approved list of vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly restaurants. Here are two of the better-known ones:
- The Dandelion Eatery puts emphasis on sustainable agriculture and finds a lot of its food locally. Carnivores and vegetarians can sit here together, each with good meals to eat for $10-15.
- Bread and Circuses on the bustling Corydon Strip offers a lunch of quiche, soups, sandwiches and salads; the dinner menus changes often, but always keeps a creative flavor. Entrées run between $5 and 12. On the way out, treat yourself to one of the breads or desserts baked in-shop.
A small handful of Winnipeg restaurants also help guarantee a strict vegetarian diet that uses no animal products at all. Two good bets for vegan restaurants in Winnipeg:
- A deli-in-a-grocery located in the Wolseley Neighborhood’s Organic Planet Worker Co-op serves sandwiches and salads for less than $10. And you’ll be surprised how good a dessert made without milk or eggs can be.
- In the historic Exchange District, Mondragon Bookstore and Coffeehouse offers a selection of meals all under $10. The Southern Fried Tofu is nice, though you can wait a while for it. Spend the time reading about participatory economics or anarchism in their left-leaning bookstore.
Burgers & More In Winnipeg
We have lots of greasy spoons in Winnipeg, but a few have reached status as local institutions:
- North on Main Street, and not far apart form each other, Super Boy’s and Blondie’s offer visitors a chance to compare two of Winnipeg’s tastiest burgers. Have one with fries and soda for around $8-10.
- Near the centre of the city, V.J.’s Drive-In has often taken top spot in one of the local paper’s annual review of Winnipeg’s best burgers. Order your V.J.’s Special with fries for less than $10, and take it away to eat. The picnic tables beside the small shop make a good place to eat and go.
- The Red Top Restaurant offers plump bench seats on which to enjoy some excellent pressure fried chicken, with a side of fries or spaghetti in meat sauce. Meals here go for around $8-10.