Regardless of how you feel about 2022, New Year's Eve is your chance to kiss the past goodbye, to toast to the future and to celebrate the wins, be they big or small. Not sure where to spend the year's last night? We have the spots best suited to cozy couples, all-out revellers, groups of friends and families bound by the whims of their littles. The adventure you choose is entirely up to you.
This New Year's Eve, gather your gang for a final farewell to the year that was. Dress up, or dress down, dine lavishly on some of the city's best dishes, and look forward to a bright future ahead. Whether you want to stay up until dawn, or be in bed by 9 p.m., Toronto has a New Year's Eve celebration perfectly suited to your year-end mood.
Family Folk
When New Year's Eve is a family affair, it requires a different approach. A night of bubbles and jollity, it also becomes a night of crayon stains, shrill tantrums and more tears than you ever thought you'd witness after graduating the super-charged young adult years. Despite everything, if you do your homework, it can still be fun. Don't cart the kids to a meal where decorum and calm rank high. Instead, take them somewhere they can relax as you unwind with fabulous food and the appropriate amount of wine for the year's end. Leave the house! Don something that sparkles! Greet the world en masse! You'll be glad that you did.
On New Year's Eve, familiarity is a fine friend to anyone with a family (especially one with small tots). This year, sup on Piano Piano favourites as you ring in 2023. Reserve early and you can all be tucked in bed, or at least in your coziest PJs, by the time the clock strikes 12.
Even the merriest among us can feel a bit fried by the season's finale. When decision-making is too much to handle, cart the family to J's Steak Frites, where simplicity and flavour reign. Faced with soup or salad, Angus beef striploin, unlimited frites, and surreal butter sauce, you'll feel the tension melt away. Will the kids eat nothing more than fries and chef Tara Tang's heavenly house-made desserts? Perhaps. But we doubt you'll care when you grasp hold of your stellar steak sandwich on New Year's day.
On the surface, Kasa Moto may not seem to fit the family-friendly bill. Still, with ample booths, menus peppered with kid-friendly finger foods, and a bar that produces layered, nuanced cocktails, Kasa Moto is a stellar choice when trying to appease both adults and tykes. Opt for the 5 pm seating, and milk every minute of the night ahead.
Midnight is a stretch, but 1 Kitchen's countdown to 10:30 pm is a more realistic target. Gather your group and head to one of the city's most sustainable addresses, for a New Year's Eve four-course feast. With the option to order from the à la carte menu for the kids, you can breathe easy knowing everyone will find something to enjoy.
Lovebirds
Love is grand. No argument there. Still, anyone who’s been there can attest to the fact that it tends to exist in the company of some truly novel, often surprising, behaviours and emotions. Not all bad, not — especially for outsiders — all good. If you and your plus one are currently in the throes of ardour, consider celebrating your passion somewhere cozy and calm this New Year’s Eve. Agree on somewhere where the food is divine, the lighting gives everything a gorgeous glow and you can canoodle in peace as you twitter over bites of fancy things. Either that, or order in and do everything you like behind closed doors.
Sultry and slick, Alder's various nooks and crannies are just the thing for couples attempting to hide from prying eyes. Choose between bar or restaurant seating for New Years Eve, and fall under the spell of Patrick Kriss' multi-course menu.
As cozy and inviting as your loved one's embrace, Alma offers the type of subdued luxury we can always use more of in our lives. The restaurant's three-course NYE menu offers myriad sumptuous bites, with a choice of main and dessert.
At Sara, attention to detail always adds up to memorable meals. Surrounded by subtle elegance, dining on a copious number of impeccable bites, you'll be forgiven for, momentarily, neglecting the object of your affection.
Just like your loved one, Auberge has a certain je ne sais quoi that's hard to resist. From the elegant, cozy space and hushed tones, to the elevated French food, a table for two at Auberge promises romance in spades. Ring in the new year with chef Doug Penfold's elaborate tasting menu, and feel your love affair blossom somewhere between the caviar amuse bouche, the turbot with vermouth tarragon cream and the strawberry and white chocolate Chambord mousse with Champagne caviar.
Luxury-Loving BFFs
Luxury loves company... or something to that effect. If you and your team spend every day dripping in designer duds, a cheap and cheerful New Year's Eve outing just isn't going to cut it. Instead, book a table at one of the city's premium spots and prepare to feel right at home. Between sips of Champagne, morsels of foie, the sparkle of gems and the glee of glamour, you'll want for nothing — for a time, at least.
Enjoy the best of times with a glamorous, multi-course New Year's Eve tasting menu at Alo. Put yourself and your crew in the hands of the suavest team in town, and rest assured you'll enjoy every minute.
Show off your enviable style with New Year's Eve reservations at the posh new spot on everyone's lips — AP. Boasting breathtaking views and spectacular cuisine, AP brings famed chef Antonio Park's celebrated cuisine to Toronto for the first time. On the 31st, join other local A-listers for a deluxe, customizable, five-course menu that zips between duck confit and miso cod, omakase sashimi, braised beef short ribs, exotic pavlova and other grand examples of Park's significant talent.
It won't take much to convince your peeps to spend New Year's gazing at the city from the 31st floor of Toronto's St. Regis Hotel. Seated in the lap of luxury, they'll thrill at every extravagant morsel set before them, from tuna crudo and truffle burrata to lobster ravioli and Louix Louis' famed King's Cake. Just remember to prep them with an extra glass of Champagne before trying to persuade them to stay the night.
An aura of glamour and elegance informs every move at Vela. From the sultry room to the exceptional food and drink, it's the sort of place that makes anyone, and any night, feel special. Join the team on New Year's Eve for a singular eight-course tasting menu, served to the tune of live jazz and blues. Stay on for Vela Ball '23, and experience everything Vela has to offer.
Party People
New Year's Eve, or not, the city is your playground every Saturday night. Make this one stand out from the rest, with a party to match your exuberant nature. Go bold, in your fiercest finery, and book a venue that's as boisterous, celebratory and overflowing with vim and vigour as you. With music, food, specialized drinks and rooms teeming with similar-minded creatures, these spots will ensure that your introduction to 2023 will be a blast.
The W Hotel, Bloor Street's liveliest new address, is an adult playground guaranteed to amuse. For its first holiday season, the Living Room is hosting a NYE Party with DJs, light installations, Belvedere welcome drinks, and a 416 Night Market where guests will discover a range of tasty morsels inspired by Toronto's varied neighbourhoods. Feeling extra? Book a VIP booth for you and your party posse.
The Drake makes it easy to eat, drink, and be merry this New Year's Eve. Choose your fate — with a reservation for dinner, bottle service, The Drake's raucous NYE Event, a hotel room, bottomless New Year's Day brunch, or all of the above — and enjoy a one-stop party as you kiss 2022 goodbye.
Spend the last moments of the year with Valerie and you'll wonder how you survived before making her acquaintance. If the thought of spending the night enjoying the cityscape from X Hotel's top floors, grazing on appetizers and sipping memorable cocktails to a backdrop of beats by DJ Kali sets your heart aflutter, you know what to do.
Frequent Flyers
Though you may have started making up for lost time, two travel-less years are hard to forget. Spend the last night of the year at a restaurant that transports you to your favourite international locale. Your bags may not be packed, but you can still enjoy a night of wistful wanderlust at these spots.
Just like its namesake, Café Boulud is fiercely proud of its Gallic roots, putting them wonderfully on display at every chance. New Year's Eve is no exception, with set menus that highlight France's top techniques and tastes.
If Tulum is on your vacation hit list, there's no quicker way there than to spend an evening at Casa Madera, soaking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the coastal Mexican town. For New Year's Eve, the team has added feature dishes, including razor clams, crab salad and Ontario lamb rack, to its already enchanting menu. True, the spell will be broken the second you breathe in Toronto's frigid winter air, but at least you'll have the memories to keep you warm.
Whether you dine at Trattoria Milano or La Pescheria, New Year's Eve at Eataly promises a Buon Anno ahead. Dine on Northern Italian classics or a selection of coastal favourites, and toast to the dolce vita as you welcome 2023.
The food at Kiin doesn't just transport diners to Thailand. Rather, each meticulously made, intoxicatingly fragrant, royal-inspired dish situates guests inside Thailand's palaces, at a table with monarchs. Enjoy Kiin's singular, multi-course, Royal Thai-inspired New Year's Eve tasting menu, complete with exclusive, off-menu offerings, and take a trip unlike any you've ever taken before.
With a menu of high-end, regional Chinese cuisine, a night at MIMI is like a whirlwind jaunt across China's numerous provinces. With one-night-only dishes being offered this New Year's Eve, the trip promises to be more astounding than usual. Reserve one of two available seatings and buckle up for a rapturous ride.
