Restaurants in Winnipeg

In 1964, brothers Leroy and Forrest Raffel banded together to come up with a new restaurant concept. Arby's took off almost immediately on the coattails of its hallmark roast-beef sandwich and the founders’ idea of providing customers with fast, quality food. Over the company's 48-year franchise history, its foundational pièce de résistance of thinly sliced, juicy beef has been served in a many permutations, and continues to be popular today, served at more than 3,500 stores in North America. Today’s menu still ignites appetites with traditional beef sandwiches, plus hot and seasoned curly fries, fresh-chopped salads, and desserts good for richly capping off meals or bribing any bridge trolls on the way home.

The Original Pancake House has been serving up homey, scratch-made breakfasts since 1958, when entrepreneur Wally Guberman opened the original location on Pembina Highway. Today, three locations of the Winnipeg institution serve up an expanded menu of more than 40 types of pancakes, crepes, waffles, and french toast, as well as lunch fare such as burgers and soups. Specialties include an enormous oven-baked apple pancake, whose cinnamon-sugar glaze always gets all over the chins of local giants. Guests can wash down their meals with steaming mugs of The Original Pancake House's signature special-blend coffee.

Inside a dining room painted with the bright blue and white of Greece’s flag, Olympia Diner's servers whisk plates of tender marinated lamb, feta-stuffed chicken breast, and prime rib to awaiting diners. During lunch, guests wrap their mitts around American-style bacon cheeseburgers or divvy up Greek-influenced pizzas topped with black olives, tomato, and feta. For dinner, they can warm up their palates with a giant, crisp Greek salad, before freeing morsels of grilled seafood and vegetables from kebob skewers, only to dash their hopes by immediately eating them.

The popular sandwich franchise offers an expansive selection of speedy snacks, including soups and salads. For a trimmer take, try a torpedo or bullet, for which longer, leaner baguettes get packed with yummy stuffings, such as the mozzarella, turkey, and red-wine vinaigrette of the turkey bacon club or the heaping stacks of meat (ham, salami, capicola, and pepperoni) of the Italian. Other sliced-bread standouts include sammies (flat bread), signature sandwiches, and classic subs. View a complete menu here.

The expert kitchen team at Pho Hoang teleports palates to Vietnam through authentic Asian offerings such as pho, rice dishes, and vermicelli served for both lunch and dinner. Shared appetizers foster communal meals and regret for sleeping through fractions classes as eating crews split morsels of fried-prawn tempura ($8.95). Chefs fill bowls with regular ($7.50) and extra-large ($9.50) helpings of pho, which warms stomachs with more than 10 broth, noodle, and meat combinations such as Pho Chin, Bo Vien made with brisket and meatballs. Uncover rice from beneath a roof of barbecue beef short rib ($8.75), or slurp up vermicelli noodles topped with meaty combos such as grilled pork, pork skewer, and spring roll ($8.75). Vietnamese artwork hangs from the casual eatery's walls as diners sip bubble tea ($4.50) infused with flavour choices including avocado and filled with more jelly pearls than a gingerbread house's closet safe.

The donut designers at Mini Donuts and More craft homemade, bite-sized cakes packed with traditional sugary flavours. A bucket of donuts (a $8.93 value) embraces 40 sugar- and cinnamon-sprinkled snacks that boast a low number of calories and flattering pickup lines. Diners can drown their petite confections with a cool Icee drink (a $1.56 value each).