Local restaurants among best in Canada

• Restaurants seeing increased in-person dining
• List encourages residents to try new places

After a challenging couple of years, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are getting back into the restaurant scene to celebrate with friends and family.

According to OpenTable, they are seeing an increase in reservations this year compared to 2019.

The online restaurant reservation company released their Top 100 Restaurants in Canada which features a look at this year's highly rated dining spots selected from over 540,000 verified diner reviews across the country.

Four restaurants in the Okanagan are on the list.

They are: Home Block, at CedarCreek Estate Winery in Kelowna; Waterfront Wines in Kelowna; Terrace Restaurant, Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna; and BLOCK ONE Restaurant at 50th Parallel Winery in Lake Country.

In a news release, Country Director for OpenTable Canada Matt Davis, said their findings will hopefully encourage food goers to try new places.

“After more than a year of restrictions, diners are eager to experiment and make up for lost time,” he said.

Overall, British Columbia has the most restaurants featured on the list at 36. Alberta has 33, and Ontario has 28.

According to an OpenTable survey, 49 per cent of British Columbian diners are 'culinary-curious' and interested in trying more experimental foods in 2022. Over 25 per cent of them will dine at new restaurants.

For the full top 100 list, click here.