Restaurants in Vaughan

Chefs at Crepe Delicious swirl paper-thin layers of batter onto their piping-hot crepe griddles, perfuming the air with the enticing aroma. Shortly after, the cooks lift away delectable crepes ready to be stuffed with savoury ingredients. The crepes themselves weigh in at only about 130 calories each with just 3.5 grams of fat, but they sate appetites during any meal.

Authentic Caribbean and Chinese entrees nestle side by side on Island Mix Restaurant & Lounge's eclectic menu of fusion fare. Diners can opt for the hot-table lunch to treat taste buds to a two-course noontime nosh, or go for the à la carte option at dinner to pick and choose from the mouth-moistening menu selections. Like a chocolate-coated basement in a gingerbread house, beds of rice serve as a flavourful foundation to a choice of entree from the hot lunch menu including jerk chicken, beef curry, and oxtail. Entrees mingle with an included soup of the day and beverage, and afterwards diners can catch up on work or travel the digital world with the eatery's free Wi-Fi.

When Ronn Teitelbaum opened the first Johnny Rockets location in 1986, his goal was to create a restaurant where people could escape the postmodern blues of everyday life and experience a taste of time-honored Americana. The name itself is a nod to this ideal. It combines the star of a classic American fable, Johnny Appleseed, and a classic car, Oldsmobile’s beefy Rocket 88.

That explains why during dinners at the famous burger joints, you’ll see signs of simpler times, starting with the cooks and servers—dressed head to toe in white, including white paper hats, they look like they’ve fallen out of a wormhole from the 1950s ready to sling shakes and cook up some eats. Behind a stainless-steel bar lined with red leather stools they tend to their traditional diner fare, including burgers and melts with sides such as chili-cheese fries and onion rings. Riding sidecar to each meal is a collection of hand-dipped and hand-spun floats, shakes, and malts topped with whipped cream.

The menu at Mideastro Thornhill includes entrees such as black truffle risotto, veal scallopini, and seafood linguine with homemade pasta. But the fusion elements that went into the original Mideastro are still deliciously present: a seafood duet mixes calamari and jumbo shrimp with citrusy pearl couscous, and the lamb-and-beef kufta highlights Middle Eastern spice. Guests sit down to these suppers beneath modern chandeliers, which also illuminate a stonework bar stocked with spirits. (Groups who book the private party room access an even cozier space.) Other drinks come from a wine list curated by a master sommelier—a title that's only bestowed on you if you can tempt the cork from its bottle like a snake charmer.

Dick's Wings & Grill's spice-emphasizing franchise gathers diners around menus featuring eclectic salads, burgers, sandwiches, and wings. Chicken wings waltz across plates in batches up to 100 pieces dressed in 365 variations of 30 changing sweet and savoury sauces, six dry rub blends, and six levels of heat ranging from none to the restaurant’s secret sauce. Chefs fortify certified Angus-beef burgers with toppings more varied than Charlie Chaplin's bowtie collection, and they cook all dishes using trans fat-free oils. While red walls and bright neon signs surround diners, plates pair with an array of domestic and premium beers ranging from Labatt to Alexander Keith's. The dining area's sports bar atmosphere is filled with paraphernalia such as hockey team photos, and karaoke and trivia nights allow patrons to settle disputes over the best death-metal Beethoven tribute album.