Restaurant in Vancouver, Canada
Michelin-recognised Italian. Book ahead.
A Michelin Plate-recognised Italian restaurant in downtown Vancouver with back-to-back 2024 and 2025 recognition and one of the city's most serious wine lists: 745 selections, 8,250 bottles, anchored by Italy and France. Cuisine pricing runs $40–65 for two courses; wine spend can push well beyond that. Book two to three weeks out minimum — this is a hard reservation.
Acquafarina is not the quiet neighbourhood spot its West Georgia address might suggest. This is a Michelin Plate-recognised Italian restaurant (2024 and 2025) with a wine inventory of 8,250 bottles, a 745-selection list weighted toward Italy, France, California, and Canada, and a cuisine price point that sits solidly in the two-course $$$ tier. If you are booking downtown Vancouver for a serious Italian dinner, acquafarina belongs in the shortlist. The question is whether it belongs at the leading of yours.
The short answer: yes, if wine is central to your evening. The list here is one of the more substantive Italian-anchored programs in the city, and the $35 corkage fee is reasonable if you want to bring your own. Book at least two to three weeks out. This is a hard reservation.
Most visitors assume the West Georgia corridor is corporate-dining territory: expense-account steakhouses, hotel restaurants, and safe international options for conference crowds. Acquafarina is the correction to that assumption. It has earned back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition not because it is a novelty in an unexpected postcode, but because it operates at a consistent level that the broader Vancouver dining scene takes seriously.
That matters for the neighbourhood context. Acquafarina at 425 W Georgia sits at the intersection of downtown Vancouver's financial and hospitality district, walkable from major hotels and the convention centre, which means it absorbs a lot of business-dinner traffic. For the food and wine enthusiast, this is actually useful: the kitchen and front-of-house are calibrated for high-volume, high-expectation service. Wine Director Frankie Torng manages a list built for serious exploration, not just safe pours by the glass. Chef Paolo Cattaneo drives the Italian-Canadian kitchen, and General Manager Sephora Jade Janz oversees a room that needs to perform reliably for varied clientele. Owner Fabrizio Foz has built something that serves both the downtown power-lunch crowd and the diner who wants to work through a serious Barolo.
For the explorer profile, the wine list is where acquafarina earns the most attention. 745 selections across 8,250 bottles, with Italian depth as the backbone and meaningful representation from France, California, and Canadian producers. The $$$ wine pricing tier indicates a list with a strong presence of $100-plus bottles, but the range spans enough that you are not forced into the upper register. Corkage is $35 if you have a bottle worth bringing.
Acquafarina serves lunch and dinner, which makes it one of the more practical fine-dining options in the downtown core for midday meals. Many of its direct competitors concentrate service at dinner only. If a working lunch with serious food and wine access matters to your itinerary, this is a concrete advantage over several peers in the $$$$ category.
The Google rating sits at 4.4 across 901 reviews, which for a downtown restaurant with this volume of business traffic is a meaningful signal. It suggests consistent execution rather than occasional brilliance. That consistency is part of the value case here: this is not a restaurant that will disappoint on an off night the way smaller, more volatile kitchens can.
For context within Canadian fine dining, acquafarina's Michelin Plate recognition places it in the company of restaurants like Alo in Toronto and Jérôme Ferrer - Europea in Montreal as part of the country's recognised fine-dining tier. Internationally, for Italian fine dining reference points, Talea by Antonio Guida in Abu Dhabi represents what Italian cuisine looks like at the starred level. Acquafarina is operating below that ceiling, but the Plate recognition confirms it is performing with technical credibility. For other serious Canadian dining options outside Vancouver, Tanière³ in Quebec City and Restaurant Pearl Morissette in Lincoln show how the country's fine-dining range extends beyond its major cities.
Back in Vancouver, if you want to understand where acquafarina sits relative to the full dining picture, our full Vancouver restaurants guide covers the competitive set in detail. For pre-dinner or post-dinner options, the Vancouver bars guide and Vancouver hotels guide are useful companions if you are planning around the area.
See the comparison section below for acquafarina against its Vancouver peers.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| acquafarina | $$$$ | — |
| AnnaLena | $$$$ | — |
| iDen & QuanJuDe Beijing Duck House | $$$$ | — |
| Kissa Tanto | $$$$ | — |
| Masayoshi | $$$$ | — |
| Published on Main | $$$ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between acquafarina and alternatives.
The venue data doesn't specify dietary accommodation policies. Given the Italian focus under chef Paolo Cattaneo and the Michelin Plate recognition, the kitchen is operating at a level where custom requests are standard practice — but check the venue's official channels before booking if you have strict requirements, since no specific details are documented.
A Michelin Plate Italian restaurant in downtown Vancouver warrants putting in some effort: dressed-up casual to business casual is the functional range. Think collared shirts, blazers, or equivalent — not because there's a stated dress code in the available data, but because the price point ($$$$ cuisine, $$$+ wine list) and the Michelin recognition set that expectation.
For a Michelin Plate-recognised Italian restaurant in downtown Vancouver, the $$$$ price point is defensible if you're pairing food with wine. The list runs 745 labels across 8,250 bottles with strong Italy, France, and California representation, and corkage is $35 if you bring your own. If you want Italian without the wine investment, the two-course meal lands in the $40–$65 range, which is reasonable for the Michelin credential and the West Georgia address.
Kissa Tanto is the closest comparator in prestige terms — also Michelin-recognised, with a Japanese-Italian format that suits diners who want creative fusion over traditional Italian. AnnaLena on West 1st is a strong alternative for Canadian fine dining at a slightly lower price ceiling. Published on Main offers chef-driven Canadian cooking with comparable ambition. If your priority is the wine list specifically, acquafarina's 745-label cellar at $$$+ pricing is a differentiator none of these peers match directly.
Book at least one to two weeks out for dinner, longer on weekends. A Michelin Plate listing in a downtown corridor means demand is consistent, and acquafarina serves both lunch and dinner, so there's more flexibility at midday if your schedule allows. Don't count on walk-in availability for a Saturday dinner.
The venue data doesn't confirm private dining or group capacity specifics. Located at 425 W Georgia St in downtown Vancouver, it's positioned as a full-service restaurant running lunch and dinner, which typically supports groups of 6–10 with advance notice. For larger parties or event buyouts, reach out directly; no group policy is documented in available data.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
