Restaurants in Saskatoon

If you peer into the open kitchen at Tusq from visit to visit, you'll rarely see the same process twice. Mirroring its rotating tasting menu, Tusq has recently revamped the restaurant with new chic décor creating a swanky feel and a freshly updated menu to match.The tasting menu include flighty dishes that change at a few weeks' notice, offering a small window of time for guests to sample the likes of pan-roasted scallops or crème brûlée. Those interested in constancy can turn to the regular dinner menu. With duck confit wontons and a 9-ounce strip steak in a root-beer reduction, it's ample evidence of the chef's adventurous streak. Lunch is similarly creative, featuring sandwiches of orange-glazed salmon and penne pasta with wild game sausage.

Tusq serves these plates and made-from-scratch desserts in an upscale dining room. Two private rooms also host gatherings, one in a chic corporate lounge, and one in a bistro-style space with its own bartender. Still, the restaurant's atmosphere avoids pretension—after supper and wine, you can belt out your favourite songs at StaQatto, where a duelling pianos show entertains crowds every Friday and Saturday. The pianists take suggestions from a set list of 2,000 songs, and encourage audiences to participate by dancing, singing, or stretching strings from their mouths to their feet and serving as a standup bass.

On the mezzanine level of the Delta Bessborough hotel, Executive Chef Ryan Marquis unites travellers and locals with artfully arranged dishes inspired by ingredients from Saskatchewan's own farmers and fishermen. High, arching windows in the Garden Court Café provide diners with river-valley views, and ample amounts of natural sunlight illuminate dishes including smoked-salmon frittatas and chicken-and-shrimp fettuccine. During evening hours, the GCC invites diners to pull up to tables draped in white linens to enjoy braised beef ribs, grilled herb-and-honey pork loin, and apple-stilton chicken breast.

In 1985, when Joe and Theresa Klassen opened Joey's Only Seafood Restaurant, they may not have imagined a name change would be necessary. More than 25 years and 69 locations later, the veritable school of Joey's Seafood Restaurants dishes out succulent poached, grilled, and blackened seafood. An affable yellow fish mascot named Finley helms an expansive menu headlined by Joey's signature fish 'n' chips, fried in trans-fat-free canola oil, which shares plate space with St. Louis–style ribs and lightly battered shrimp in a mealtime mélange as diverse as the vending-machine options at the United Nations.

The cooks at Tino's skillfully assemble gourmet pizzas such as the taco pizza with house-made salsa and the donair pizza slicked with olive oil and ornamented with crushed garlic. Individual donairs are piled high with green peppers, black and green olives, and feta cheese and wrapped inside whole-wheat pitas or soft tortillas.

Traditional Pakistani music slaloms through the air in Mogul Divaan's dining room, wafting alongside the spicy aromas that emanate from Pakistani and Indian dishes. In the kitchen, a clay oven brings naan to fluffy fruition and sizzles up specialty dishes such as fiery chicken tikka. Chutneys accompany a selection of samosas, which pocket veggies or meats within a triangular shell. Guests can build custom meals or start a restaurant-wide food fight at an 18-item lunch buffet Tuesday–Friday, or fill their plates with fare from the expanded selection of 21 items at the dinner buffet.