Restaurant Awards 2023: The Best Casual Restaurants in Vancouver

For a casual date, an awesome lunch, a counter-service gem: these are the best restaurants in the city.

The Best Casual Restaurants in Vancouver 2023

Gold: Chancho Tortilleria

The gold winner of our Best Casual category, Chancho Tortilleria, offers proof that gourmet flavours can be served up on a paper-lined tin tray. Tortillas are often merely the vessel for delivering some attention-grabbing filling—but at Chancho, the made-from-scratch, heirloom-corn wrappers are as beautiful as the hearty carnitas they’re designed to hold. We love the per-pound ordering system; sides as simple as guac and chips are dynamite.

2096 Commercial Dr., Vancouver
chancho.ca

Silver: Fat Mao Noodles

Silver winner Fat Mao Noodles recently opened a downtown room to join its Chinatown outpost, doubling chef Angus An’s service of bowl after bowl of crave-worthy Thai noodle soups (Khao Soi chicken curry noodles are a fave).

Multiple locations
fatmaonoodles.com

food at the bar at fat mao
Photo: Alaina Michelle Photography.

Bronze: HK BBQ Master

Richmond’s HK BBQ Master takes bronze this year with always reliable, always delicious Hong Kong-style barbecued meats that are worth the trip to the ’burbs—said one judge, “It beats the pants off anything in Chinatown.”

4651 No. 3 Rd., Richmond
instagram.com/hkbbqmaster

Photo: HK BBQ Master

Honourable Mentions: Douce Diner and Potluck Hawker Eatery

Honourable mentions go to North Van’s Douce Diner (case in point: challah French toast topped with lemon curd and mascarpone cream) and the cheery Potluck Hawker Eatery for its nostalgia-inspired Southeast Asian street food.

Douce Diner: 1490 Pemberton Ave., North Vancouver
doucediner.com

Potluck Hawker Eatery: 3424 Cambie St., Vancouver
potluckyvr.ca

Looking for more of the best restaurants in Vancouver? See all 70+ restaurants on the list.