The 6 Best Restaurants in Calgary That Don’t Have a Michelin Star

Calgary is one of Canada’s biggest cities, and it attracts millions of people a year. This one-time Winter Olympics host city is home to popular attractions and stellar dining, so it may surprise you to learn that not one restaurant in this Albert city has earned a Michelin Star.

That isn’t because there aren’t any restaurants worthy of a coveted star, but because the Michelin restaurant inspectors have yet to visit Calgary. In fact, it wasn’t until 2022 that Michelin reviewed any restaurants in Canada, and that’s only in Toronto and Vancouver. (Calgary does have three Michelin-reviewed hotels , though.)

While the addition of Toronto and Vancouver to the Michelin Guide is exciting, Canada is a big country and has a ton of restaurants that shouldn’t be overlooked. With this in mind, we decided to find the Calgary restaurants that the local experts (i.e. the diners) praise enough that they might be worthy of a Michelin Star once the Guide arrives.

Here are six restaurants in Calgary that people just can’t seem to get enough of (according to Yelp). (If you’re in the U.S., these are the best steakhouses .)

Eight

Eight is the most exclusive dining experience in all of Calgary so it’s easy to see why it can be hard to get into this hideaway restaurant. If you do, you’re sure to have a memorable night thanks to Chef Darren MacLean. Eight has consistently been named one of Canada’s best restaurants.

The Canadian Reflection Menu is an 18-course meal (at $285 a person) that takes the restaurant’s eight guests (yes, only eight are seated every night) on a culinary journey where they can experience all that Canadian cuisine has to offer.

Eight seats four nights a week, Thursday through Sunday, and books seasonally. A look at their website shows that the fall and holiday seatings for 2024 have already sold out, with seatings for the first three months of 2025 opening Nov. 15.

Model Milk

It’s hard to go wrong at a restaurant that serves delicious staples, and that’s just what Model Milk does in a rustic yet stylish atmosphere. What’s more, the owners of Model Milk have built relationships with local farmers and fisheries to ensure the ingredients they use are the best Calgary has to offer.

You might want a small plate, such as fry bread served with salted honey custard and pimento cheese powder, or the East Coast oysters served with orange mignonette, chili, and red pepper hot sauce. Large plates include burgers, ribeye, and fried chicken, or you can try something new, like the harissa glazed octopus or charred beets.

Desserts on this affordable menu include sorbet, apple pie, pandanna cotta, and dark chocolate cremeux.

Alloy

Alloy is a restaurant that appears frequently on “Best Of” lists, offering delicious, internationally-inspired cuisine served in a classy setting.

Chefs and owners Uri Heilik and Rogelio Herrea have made something creative here, combining their Mediterranean and Latin heritages with Asian-inspired flavors and dishes.

If you stop by for lunch, try the meatloaf with white cheddar mashed potatoes, bok choy, and rhubarb and gochujang bbq sauce, or the beef short rib pasta with lumaconi shells, zucchini, rosé sauce, cheese curds, and braised spinach. Dinner offerings include starters such as foie gras pâté and ahi tuna poke nachos, and entrees like duck breast, Pacific halibut, and lamb chops. They also offer an extensive wine menu.

Rouge

Located in a charming, historic house on the Bow River about 10 minutes from downtown Calgary, Rouge offers farm-to-table dining in the city’s oldest neighborhood.

Owners Olivier Reynaud and chef Paul Rogalski honed their culinary skills while traveling across nine different countries and brought those experiences back to create a memorable menu that includes fois gras parfait and braised bison cappelletti as starters; duck breast and pork belly and seared scallop as entrees; and lavender-coated lemon posset for dessert.

Shokunin

Chef Darren MacLean of the restaurant Eight created the concept behind Shokunin , which offers sushi, sashimi, and other Japanese cuisine.

Shokunin has consistently been ranked as one of the top 50 restaurants in Canada and is the go-to Japanese restaurant in Calgary. The focus of the entrees at Shokunin is expert grilling, and if you sit at the Chef’s Bar, you’ll get to see the margin happen.

Starters include charcoal avocado and grilled Napa cabbage, and you’ll enjoy entrees such as shokupan french toast with binchotan grilled Thai prawns, broxburn tomato salsa, and prawn bisque; buttermilk chicken karaage, 24-hour marinated, free-range chicken legs fried in potato starch and served yuzu mayo; or Japanese wagyu aged in beeswax for 30 days.

Vero Bistro Moderne

Vero Bistro , led by Chef Jenny Chan, has won countless accolades for its authentic Italian-inspired meals. Chan travels to Europe every year and brings back inspiration for her menu that uses locally sourced ingredients.

Vero Bistro has been recognized by TripAdvisor as the best restaurant in Calgary and was listed among the top five restaurants in all of Canada, so you know you’re in for a treat.

The menu includes starters such as sweet potato gnocchi and Alberta lamb arrosticini. Entrees include housemade ravioli al telefono, stuffed with caramelized onions, potato, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and tomato cream sauce; pan-seared British Columbia salmon with spinach, radicchio, arugula, cucumber, radish, walnuts, dates, and honey thyme vinaigrette; and steak frites, grilled Canadian Prime New York, herb butter sauce, parmesan frites, and lemon aioli. They also have a family-style dinner and a seafood platter for two. (Here’s a look at the top dining destination in every state of the U.S. )

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