AUTHOR BIO: New York–born Mia Brown began reviewing restaurants in college and kept at it while traveling for a government job. She’s partial to poutine without cheese curds and La Fin Du Monde.
When I first moved from Toronto to Vancouver for work, I figured my weekends would be filled with sushi counters and cocktail bars, the kinds of places that make Vancouver feel perpetually dressed up.
Then one Sunday, craving a bowl of pho, I found myself on the other side of the Fraser, wandering Surrey strip malls in search of the right Vietnamese place. What I found instead was a city that kept pulling me back — not for the gloss or the skyline views, but for restaurants that seemed to care only about the food and the people who came to eat it.
Surrey became my secret detour, the spot I’d return to when I wanted something new, something honest. Which is why this list of Surrey’s best restaurants feels long overdue.
Afghan Kitchen
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Afghan Kitchen has the polish of a modern dining room, but what lands on the table feels closer to someone’s home cooking. The qabili palao comes out heaped with tender lamb and jeweled rice, while the mantu dumplings disappear fast enough you consider a second order. It’s the kind of place where the food feels personal, generous, and built to share with a table that’s not in a hurry.
Best for: Lamb, dumplings, long dinners with friends
Bozzini’s Restaurant
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Bozzini’s Restaurant has been anchoring Greek and Italian dining in Surrey since 1982, a room of wood floors, painted murals, and the kind of energy that comes with four decades of regulars. The menu runs from gyros and roast lamb to Greek-style baby back ribs, with a baked seafood lasagna that has become a staple order. It’s not chasing trends; it’s serving the food people come back for, and it’s doing it with confidence.
Best for: Lamb dinners, lasagna, family nights
Captain’s Oven Pizza
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Captain’s Oven bakes Neapolitan-style pizzas in a stone brick oven imported from Italy, yielding thin, blistered crusts. You’ll find classics (Margherita, pepperoni) alongside more ambitious options like prosciutto-arugula or their “around the world” specialty pizzas. The vibe is relaxed counter-service, all about letting the pies do the talking.
Best for: Thin crust pizza, group orders, casual nights
The Carvery Sandwich Shop
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Carvery turns out roast-meat sandwiches with real weight — the Roast Beast French dip, Motown Philly, and porchetta are staples, with weekend features like beef brisket rotating in. Soups and chowders are made in-house and get nearly as much praise as the sandwiches. The setting is modest — counter ordering, grab-and-go posture — letting the food do the convincing.
Best for: Power lunches, meat lovers, soup + sandwich combos
Clove - The Art of Dining
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Clove-The Art of Dining brings a level of polish to Surrey’s Indian food scene, with soft lighting, white tablecloths, and a menu that blends classic technique with modern touches. Chef Robin D’Souza leans into bold plates like the Citrus Smoked Kasundi Murgh Tikka and the Lucknowi Lamb Chop, both layered with spice and smoke. It’s fine dining without the stiffness, a place where presentation matters but flavor matters more.
Best for: Indian fine dining, date nights, special occasions
Dominion Bar + Kitchen
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Dominion Bar + Kitchen sits in the middle of Surrey’s city centre, a glass-walled reminder that the suburbs don’t have to eat like suburbs. The menu runs from Korean fried cauliflower to a burrata salad and then on to a burger or a striploin, which is exactly how they want you to use the place. Cocktails on tap — including a slushy peach bellini — make the plaza people-watching go down easy.
Best for: After-work drinks, Civic Plaza hangs
Kap’s Café
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Kap’s Café is the rare celebrity project that doesn’t feel like a stunt — comedian Kapil Sharma and his wife have leaned into a bright, pastel space where the food is playful but carefully done. You’ll find chai, matcha lattes, and fresh-made donuts that get stacked into towers on Instagram, but it works just as well for a quiet coffee and cake. It’s more café than restaurant, but it’s quickly become part of the Surrey dining conversation.
Best for: Coffee, chai, dessert stops
Noble at The Hills
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Noble at The Hills is the kind of place that could’ve gone full country-club, all stiff collars and prime rib, but instead chef Travis McCord leans into pizzas, pastas, and a crowd that wants dinner to feel fun. The Honey Trap pizza, with olives and hot honey, has become the order you see landing on every other table, and the house-made pastas are better than you’d expect steps from a driving range. It’s polished without being pretentious, which is maybe exactly what Surrey needed.
Best for: Pizza, pasta, and golf-course people-watching
Philosophy Pizza
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Philosophy Pizza sits tucked into Surrey’s industrial zone, doing its work quietly but with serious devotion to crust and sauce. Pies here lean Neapolitan — thin, blistered, delicate — and the menu includes more inventive options like “Lamb Boy” alongside classics. It’s no-frills, exactly focused on the fundamentals.
Best for: Thin-crust lovers, weekday dinners
Sal y Limon
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Sal y Limon is a counter-service taqueria that’s grown from one Vancouver shop into multiple outposts, including this busy Surrey location. The menu covers the hits — tacos al pastor carved off the spit, carne asada, lengua — along with burritos and tortas that come wrapped in paper and dripping the way they should. The room is casual, usually humming, and always focused on what’s coming out of the kitchen rather than how it looks on Instagram.
Best for: Tacos, quick lunches, no-frills dinners
Sunflower Vietnamese Restaurant
$$$$$ | MAP | INSTAGRAM
Sunflower sits on King George Boulevard and does exactly what you want from a Vietnamese spot: bowls of pho that steam up your glasses, vermicelli plates stacked with grilled meats, and portions that leave no one hungry. The house special noodle soup is the order that keeps regulars coming back, a broth deep enough you wonder how many bones went into it. Nothing about the room is flashy, which is sort of the point — it’s just straight-up comfort food, done right.
Best for: Pho, vermicelli, comfort nights
