Restaurant in Toronto, Canada
Two Michelin nods, neighbourhood prices.
Conejo Negro is Toronto's clearest value play in Michelin-recognized dining: two consecutive Bib Gourmand awards at the $$ price point, easy to book, and covering a Caribbean cuisine category the city's top tier barely touches. At 838 College St, it delivers validated kitchen quality without the booking friction or spend of Toronto's $$$$ tasting-menu venues.
Securing a table at Conejo Negro on College Street is easier than you might expect for a two-time Michelin Bib Gourmand recipient. The booking difficulty here is low relative to the recognition the kitchen has earned, which means there is no reason to delay. If you are looking for Caribbean cooking in Toronto that has been independently validated at the $$ price point, this is the clearest answer in the city right now. Book it, and book it for a weekend visit when the kitchen's weekend service is the right format for what this place does well.
Conejo Negro at 838 College St sits in the Little Italy stretch of College Street, a corridor that runs toward Ossington and draws a mix of neighbourhood regulars and destination diners. The kitchen is helmed by chef Yuji Iwasaki, and the cuisine is Caribbean, a category that remains genuinely underrepresented at the recognized end of Toronto's dining scene. The Michelin Bib Gourmand in both 2024 and 2025 signals consistent quality cooking at accessible prices, which is exactly what the Bib designation is designed to identify: good food, good value, not a compromise.
At a $$ price point with back-to-back Bib Gourmand awards, Conejo Negro occupies a specific and useful position. This is not the place to spend a significant amount of money chasing a prestige experience. It is the place to eat well, spend moderately, and leave satisfied. That framing matters when you are deciding how to allocate an evening in a city where the leading end of the dining spectrum runs to $$$$ tasting menus at venues like Alo or Aburi Hana.
The optimal visit to Conejo Negro is a weekend session, when the rhythm of the service aligns with the kind of cooking Caribbean kitchens do at their leading: flavours built over time, dishes that reward a slower pace, and an atmosphere that does not feel rushed. Weekend daytime service at $$ venues in Toronto tends to offer better value than evening sittings at comparable price points, and at a Bib Gourmand restaurant the cooking does not change based on daylight. If you have been once in the evening and are thinking about a return, a weekend visit gives you a different angle on the same kitchen.
College Street in this stretch is a neighbourhood that rewards the unhurried. Coming mid-morning on a Saturday or Sunday, before the lunch crowd consolidates, gives you the room and the pace to eat the way the food is meant to be eaten. For a regular who has already made one evening visit, this is the practical reason to come back: different timing, same kitchen quality, and the Bib Gourmand assurance that the standard holds.
Caribbean cuisine at this level of recognition is rare in Toronto. If you have been exploring the city's dining options and want to track what comparable Caribbean cooking looks like elsewhere, The Lone Star in Mount Standfast and Cane in Washington, D.C. offer useful reference points for how the cuisine performs in other contexts. In Toronto specifically, Conejo Negro holds this ground largely alone at the recognized level, which is a practical reason to prioritize it on any serious Toronto restaurant list.
For those building out a broader Toronto visit, our full Toronto restaurants guide covers the category comprehensively. If you are also planning hotels or bars, the Toronto hotels guide and Toronto bars guide are the logical next steps. The Toronto experiences guide and Toronto wineries guide round out the picture if you are planning a longer stay.
Booking difficulty at Conejo Negro is rated easy, which is a genuine advantage given the recognition it carries. Two consecutive Bib Gourmand years have raised its profile, but the College Street location and $$ positioning mean it has not hit the booking friction of a higher-priced tasting-menu destination. You do not need to plan weeks ahead to secure a table, though weekend slots at popular times will fill faster than mid-week. If you want a specific weekend timeslot, a week's notice is sensible. For mid-week visits, shorter lead times are workable.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty | Michelin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conejo Negro | Caribbean | $$ | Easy | Bib Gourmand ×2 |
| Alo | Contemporary | $$$$ | Hard | Starred |
| Aburi Hana | Kaiseki | $$$$ | Hard | Starred |
| Sushi Masaki Saito | Sushi | $$$$ | Hard | Starred |
| Don Alfonso 1890 | Contemporary Italian | $$$$ | Moderate | Starred |
Conejo Negro operates in a completely different price tier from most of Toronto's Michelin-recognized venues. If you are deciding between a Bib Gourmand Caribbean dinner at $$ and a $$$$ tasting menu at Alo or Sushi Masaki Saito, you are not really comparing like-for-like. Conejo Negro wins on accessibility, both in price and booking ease; the higher-end venues win on ceremony and tasting-menu depth. For a city visit where you want to cover multiple restaurants rather than anchor one night on a single high-spend experience, Conejo Negro belongs on the list alongside, not instead of, the top-tier options.
Against Don Alfonso 1890 and DaNico, which occupy the Italian end of Toronto's recognized dining, Conejo Negro offers a more accessible price point and a cuisine category those kitchens do not touch. If Caribbean cooking is specifically what you want, there is no competition in the recognized tier. If you are open on cuisine and deciding purely on value-per-dollar, Conejo Negro's Bib Gourmand pedigree at $$ gives it a strong argument. For the highest culinary ambition in the city, Aburi Hana remains the kaiseki benchmark, but at a price and booking commitment that requires specific intent.
If you are building a wider Canadian dining itinerary beyond Toronto, AnnaLena in Vancouver and Tanière³ in Quebec City offer comparable quality-to-price ratios in their respective cities. Closer to Toronto, Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Lincoln and The Pine in Creemore are worth adding if a day trip fits the itinerary.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Booking Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conejo Negro | Caribbean | $$ | Easy |
| Alo | Contemporary | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Sushi Masaki Saito | Sushi, Japanese | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Aburi Hana | Kaiseki, Japanese | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Don Alfonso 1890 | Contemporary Italian, Italian | $$$$ | Unknown |
| Edulis | Canadian, Mediterranean Cuisine | $$$$ | Unknown |
What to weigh when choosing between Conejo Negro and alternatives.
Conejo Negro is a neighbourhood-scale restaurant on College Street, so larger groups should check the venue's official channels to confirm capacity. For small groups of two to four, the booking difficulty is rated easy, which works in your favour. Groups seeking a more formal private-dining setup would be better served by somewhere like Don Alfonso 1890 or Alo at their respective higher price points.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, so you are unlikely to need more than a week's notice on most nights. That said, weekends at a back-to-back Bib Gourmand recipient fill faster than the weekday slots. Booking two to three days out for weekday visits and five to seven days out for Friday or Saturday is a reasonable approach.
Tasting menu availability and format are not confirmed in the available venue data for Conejo Negro. What is confirmed: the venue holds Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition for 2024 and 2025, which is awarded specifically for good cooking at a fair price, suggesting the value case is strong regardless of format. Check directly with the restaurant at 838 College St for current menu structure.
It works well for a low-key special occasion where the priority is quality cooking over ceremony. The $$ price range and neighbourhood setting on College Street make it a better fit for a relaxed birthday dinner or anniversary than a formal milestone event. For a more formal occasion with a grander room, Alo or Don Alfonso 1890 are the right comparison points in Toronto.
A casual Caribbean spot at $$ on College Street is generally an easy environment for solo diners, and the easy booking difficulty means you are not committing far in advance. The venue's two consecutive Bib Gourmand awards suggest the food alone justifies a solo visit. Counter or bar seating availability is not confirmed in the data, so worth checking when you book.
Yes, at $$, Conejo Negro carries two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards, which the Michelin guide awards specifically for cooking that overdelivers relative to its price. That combination is difficult to find in Toronto at this price tier. You are getting Michelin-recognised Caribbean cooking without the $$$-$$$$ spend required at most of the city's other recognised venues.
For Michelin-recognised value at a comparable price point, Edulis is the closest Toronto alternative worth considering. If you want to move up the price tier for a more formal experience, Alo and Sushi Masaki Saito are the city's reference points for high-end dining, while Aburi Hana covers Japanese omakase. Conejo Negro is the only Caribbean option among Toronto's Michelin-recognised restaurants as of 2025.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
