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.
I’ve been to Saskatoon more times than I can count, work trips mostly, the kind where you land, shake a few hands, and go looking for dinner before retreating to a chain hotel. The city has always delivered on that front, with old-school steakhouses that know their way around a ribeye and diners where the pie slices arrive thick enough to count as a meal.
Over the years, I’ve eaten my way through Saskatoon, one restaurant at a time, until I could honestly say I’d been to everywhere this city had to offer.
What’s changed over the years is that Saskatoon now has chef-driven spots that don’t just survive here, they’d hold their own in Toronto, Montreal, or New York. Places where the plates are thoughtful without being fussy, where the cooks know the prairie isn’t something to apologize for but something to celebrate.
Which brings us to this list: the restaurants that prove Saskatoon has finally grown into a dining scene worth traveling for.
Dylan & Cam's
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Dylan & Cam’s lives inside Shelter Brewing, and it feels like you’ve found the sweet spot between serious tacos and great beer. The taco lineup — carnitas, birria, chicken asado, papas (potato with soy chorizo), sweet potato — hits with precision, and plates like quesabirria (with consommé) and pozole bring substance to the counter. Pool nachos, chips & guac, and a crispy bunuelos dessert mean you're not just ordering tacos — you're staging a full Mexican-leaning binge in the heart of Saskatoon.
Best for: Serious tacos, casual nights with beer + good bites
Fable Ice Cream & Espresso
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Fable leans hard into the small-batch philosophy: organic milk, cane sugar, and as many local ingredients as possible, all turned into flavors you’ll remember. The affogato — espresso poured over house ice cream — is audacious in its simplicity, and options like prairie berry lavender or sour cherry cheesecake show they’re thinking both playful and precise. The new expansion with cozy indoor seating lets you linger over scoops, lattes, or a shake without feeling rushed.
Best for: Artisanal ice cream and coffee, paired with cozy café vibes
Hearth
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chefs Beth Rogers and Thayne Robstad moved Hearth into the Remai Modern museum, and the new space feels like the right canvas for what they do. The mushroom dish has been on the menu since the beginning, a skillet of prairie fungi that proves you don’t need steak to feel indulgent, and the lake trout has the kind of precision you usually only see in bigger cities. Eating here, surrounded by glass walls and art, feels like Saskatoon declaring itself ready for the national stage.
Best for: Prairie cooking reimagined in a museum setting
Little Grouse on the Prairie
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chef Dale Mackay brings Italy to the Prairies at Little Grouse on the Prairie, serving pasta riffs and risottos that feel intentional, not derivative. The cacio e pepe and corn risotto show that the kitchen can balance restraint with ambition, and the bison-ridge farms ragu strozzapreti is exactly what you want when the room dims and you lean in for dinner. Housed in a warm downtown space with an open kitchen, it’s the kind of place where the food leads the conversation.
Best for: Thoughtful Italian-inspired dinners that lean prairie without ever being rustic
Loqui
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Loqui’s menu changes often, but chef Justin O'Reilly’s cooking never wavers: prairie ingredients treated with respect and given global spins that never feel forced. The room is small, modern, and open enough that you hear the sizzle from the kitchen, a reminder you’re close to the source.
Best for: Globally inspired prairie cooking in a sleek, intimate setting
The Night Oven
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Night Oven takes grain seriously — they stone-mill local organic wheat in house, then turn it into wood-fired breads and pastries that taste like patience. You’ll find sourdough, baguettes, and “square bread” loaves that keep you returning, and Thursday/Friday nights there’s pizza off the hearth. It’s cozy, warm, honest — a place that reminds you good food is built from the ground up.
Best for: Artisanal loaves, rustic baked goods and wood-fired pizza nights
Odd Couple
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
The Yuen family — led by Andy Yuen — has built something Saskatoon can brag about: an Asian-Canadian fusion restaurant that never feels fussy. The maple-glazed bacon atop Chinese BBQ pork over jasmine fried rice is a play on comfort, and the ginger-shiitake and spring rolls are like Hong Kong landed in Saskatchewan. The space is modern and tidy, full of light and low chatter — just the kind of spot you return to when you want flavour first, show second.
Best for: Elevated Chinese-fusion with fun riffs on classics
Odla
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
At Odla, what shows up on the menu likely grazed or grew not far from where you’re sitting. Chef Scott Dicks and Brian Gibbons build plates around what local farms produce — pork belly, lamb, honey — and the result feels less like a concept and more like a closed loop of good sense. It’s a bright, Broadway Avenue space that reads as both restaurant and neighborhood hub.
Best for: Farm-to-table dining with roots you can trace to the source
POP Wine Bar
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
POP Wine Bar is the offshoot that chef Christie Peters and restaurateur Kyle Michael launched after Primal, and it hits with the kind of refined edge you expect from chefs pushing their craft. You come here for oysters, bison tartare or even caviar, but what stays with you is the wine list of low-intervention gems and the cocktails that feel designed just for right here and now. The space is cozy and intimate, the lighting soft — the perfect companion to late nights over plates that whisper rather than shout.
Best for: Natural wines, elevated bar bites, intimate after-hours drinking
Primal
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Chef Christie Peters and restaurateur Kyle Michael have turned Primal into a place people talk about when they want serious food in Saskatoon. Peters’ whole-animal butchery and heritage-grain pastas show a respect for the land, and dishes like the bison carpaccio and spaghetti al limone land with clarity and character. The room is warm, just buzzing enough, with wine pours that dig deep into their craft list — a dinner here feels like being let in on the city’s best secret.
Best for: Italian-inspired, nose-to-tail dining with prairie roots
Stoked Kitchen & Bar
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
Stoked is built for long nights — drinks first, plates that keep arriving until you’ve overstayed. Burgers and steaks come off the grill with smoke and attitude, while smaller plates and cocktails keep things moving. The space has that slightly industrial edge that makes it feel modern but not cold.
Best for: A lively night out with good drinks and serious plates
UNA pizza + wine
$$$$$ | MAP | WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM
UNA leans into thin-crust tradition with pizzas that feel light but purposeful — think margherita, mushroom with truffle honey, or the local bacon and fennel sausage pie. You’ll also find small plates like arancini, whipped ricotta on brioche, and a kale caesar that borders on decadence. The Broadway Avenue spot carries a casual-upscale energy, perfect when you want dinner that tastes grown up without too much fuss.
Best for: Thin-crust pizzas with flair and shared plates
