These Are the Finalists for the 2025 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards

They’re heeeeeere! After months of deliberations with our judges and reader polls, we’re thrilled to present your very delicious contenders for the 2025 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards.

A quick warning: this is a dangerous list to read if you’ve only got a sad sandwich packed for lunch. Appetites will, inevitably, be stoked by this monster crop of contenders, with more than 200 restaurants across 35 categories here on our 36th annual Restaurant Awards finalist list.

We’re thrilled to be hosting this year’s awards ceremony on May 5, 2025 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver… and tickets are on sale now. Believe us when we tell you: These always sell out, so grab yours now to be the first to know who takes home the gold in more than 35 different categories, including the coveted Best New Restaurant and Best Restaurant awards.

Before we can announce the winners, though, we need your help. As we have for 36 years, we’ll be presenting our Judged Division winners during the awards, selected over the course of months and months of tasting and debating by our voracious expert judging panel—but for the second year in a row, we have our Readers’ Choice Division to announce, too. And that’s where you come in.

Help us choose those champions (in categories like Best Brunch, Best Wine Bar and Best Mount Pleasant Restaurant) by voting until January 29. (Democracy now!)

But before you start, you’ll probably want to read the full finalist list first—due diligence and all that. So no more dilly-dallying. Here we go. Congratulations to every very-tasty contender here, and best of luck on May 5.

2025 Vanmag Restaurant Awards: Judged Division Finalists

This division is judged by our expert panel—who have been working (and eating) hard since late last summer. For more information on how judging works, you can read this outline.

Best African and Diaspora

Axum
Baby Dahl Roti
Calabash
Fassil
Jambo Grill
Kilimanjaro
Moltaqa

Best Casual

AJ’s Brooklyn Pizza
Casereccio Foods
Chancho Tortilleria
Chinatown BBQ
Crab Hot Lau
Downlow Chicken Shack
Fat Mao
La Grotta del Formaggio
Skewers Souvlaki Pita Bar

Best Chain

Note: Perpetual gold winner Cactus Club Cafe was added to our Hall of Fame last year and is thus no longer eligible for the competition.

Big Way Hot Pot
Bufala
Joey
La Taqueria
Maruhachi Ra-men
Nook
Sula
The Greek

2025 Vanmag Restaurant Awards: Readers’ Choice Division Finalists

The Readers’ Choice Division is back this, and anyone can vote (that means you!). To place your vote, go to this page. To learn more about how Reader’s Choice works, read our info page. Finalists… start your campaigning!