Restaurants in Brantford

The classically trained sushi chefs at Watami split their time between crafting familiar orders of maki and sashimi from seasonal ingredients and inventing their own signature dishes. The restaurant’s idiosyncratic creations include a roll of ginger and wasabi wrapped with salmon rather than traditional packing tape, as well as special rolls made with baked red snapper, diced tomatoes, or mango. Additionally, the kitchen's chefs can pan-fry or simmer hot Japanese entrees such as chicken teriyaki and seafood fried rice.

Solara Mediterranean Bistro's chefs artfully plate classic and contemporary flavours from Greece, Italy, and the Middle East. Seafood and lamb are the dominating themes throughout the menu and pasta selection, but dishes also feature chorizo, chicken, and veal. To wash down the rich and savoury bites, bartenders mix up signature cocktails, pour glasses of wine, and decant local brews from Mill Street Brewery and Old Credit Brewing Company. Modern artwork flecks the dining room, where mood lighting and a fireplace's flickers cultivate a cozy, intimate ambience, and the bar's flat-screen TVs broadcast sporting events or footage about the storm system brewing above the restaurant’s freezer.

Candles in ornate iron candelabras cast flickering light against baroque paisley wallpaper. A sleek white bar, lit by blue floor lights, stretches out from an exposed brick wall. Dark velvet curtains drape down to a hardwood floor around black leather couches. Electronic beats reverberate against vintage mirrors and Buddha statuettes.

In Cello Supper Club, a blend of modern and classical aesthetics enfolds upscale social dining and sipping throughout three floors. Chefs Kris Pageau and Scott Ledger blend culinary influences from across the Mediterranean and Asia and change the menus every two to three months to keep palates entertained and tongues from staging an anti-stamp licking protest. Bartenders pour international wines but also craft specialty coffee cocktails and a roster of 99 martinis. A resident DJ provides the background music for most nightly outings, though the space also hosts charity events and performances from live musicians.

Shoeless Joe’s beckons to passersby with aromas of tasty grill fare—roasted chicken, ribs, and burgers. Named for White Sox outfielder Joe Jackson, who famously made a home-run catch with a bare left foot, Shoeless Joe’s pays tribute to the world of sport, supplementing AAA sirloin steaks, thin-crust pizzas, and pasta dishes with regular broadcasts of baseball, hockey, football, and UFC fights. Guests can wash down their dinners with drafts or cocktails from the drink menu, which boasts classic concoctions as well as inventive creations tinged with ingredients such as maple syrup, blueberry puree, or bacon.

With a turn-of-the-century dining room soaked in stained glass and shades of mahogany, The Parlour extends its opulence to a menu of gastropub and international cuisine. A half-pound burger sports a crispy beret of bacon and old cheddar ($16), and grilled beef tenderloin lounges on a divan of sweet-pea risotto ($30). Diners can also peruse the substantial wine list or hide behind it for impromptu games of peek-a-boo. Additionally, The Parlour's Sunday brunch adds a dash of elegance to weekend routines, warming bellies with salads ($8–$10), egg dishes ($9–$12), and sandwiches ($9–$12).

Chefs at HeyDayz whip up a vast menu of delicately spiced burgers, fried seafood, and seven sauce-soaked poutine platters. The basic burger ensconces a juicy beef patty atop a fresh kaiser bun crowned with red onion and tomato, inviting hands to break from cat's-cradle competitions and hold the hefty burger in a loving embrace. For an additional fee, patrons can also invite cheddar cheese or bacon strips to mingle atop their patty. Dining companions also nosh on french fries and spoon up creamy coleslaw to smother lingering hunger pangs.