Greek Food on the Danforth: Greektown's Story and Four Stops

If you can smell charcoal and oregano from the subway exit, you are on the Danforth, and you are exactly where you should be.

Why is the Danforth Toronto’s Greek food street?

Because the community made it one. The GreekTown on the Danforth BIA says that in the 1970s and early 1980s its area was considered the largest GreekTown in North America. The BIA was established in August 1981 as the Danforth Village Business Improvement Area, and in the fall of that year a competition at Danforth Technical School asked students to design a branding logo. In February 1982 the winning design, inspired by ancient Greece, with Doric columns and laurel leaves, became the official logo. That summer the street signs in the area were replaced with bilingual blue and white signs showing the street names in both Greek and English.

The people behind the counters were local, too. A 1981 City planning survey of area merchants found that 54 per cent lived in the City’s east end or in East York, and that 68 per cent ran small “mom and pop” operations with four or fewer staff. We like to think that neighbourly scale still shapes the street.

The BIA’s name was officially changed to GreekTown on the Danforth in June 1993. Today the BIA describes more than 400 independent member businesses along the corridor. Want the wider neighbourhood story? Our history of East York shows where the Danforth sits in the picture.

How do you get to Greektown?

Take Line 2. Pape Station is at 743 Pape Avenue and is marked accessible by the TTC. Chester Station is at 22 Chester Avenue and is also marked accessible. The BIA’s own walking guide also points to Donlands Station. Get off at whichever station is closer, then walk the avenue and let the smells set your pace.

What is there to see besides food?

Look up. The BIA’s page for its “Down the Danforth” mural, at 583 Danforth Avenue, describes a design from the perspective of a viewer looking down Danforth Avenue itself, as a sister work to a mural from 2020. Over on Pape Avenue, the Classical Greek Art Tribute mural at 724 Pape Avenue takes its inspiration from classical Greek art and its tradition of portraiture. Two more are worth a detour. The Colours of the Danforth mural at 628 Danforth Avenue shows local shops with wide open doors and bright inviting lights, set in the evening. Meanderings, on the side of 836 Danforth Avenue facing Langford Avenue, celebrates Greek flower mythology with plants such as pomegranate, hyacinth, grapevine, fig tree and lily. All of them are a good excuse to slow down between meals. Pair a mural stop with a table and you have a Danforth afternoon.

What about Taste of the Danforth?

1

Taste of the Danforth

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The festival’s own origin story says it officially began in 1994. Its site describes it as having always been a celebration of Greek heritage. Follow the festival’s site and the BIA’s for news about the next one.

Where should you sit down for Greek food?

These four restaurants are all listed in the BIA’s business directory, and each was posting on its own Instagram account in October 2026 when we checked. That is our evidence that the doors are open. Check each restaurant’s own page for hours and menus before you go.

2

Soula's Modern Greek Cuisine

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At 500A Danforth Avenue, Soula’s calls itself a family-owned and run restaurant serving Greek food since 1978. Its site names a Village Salad, a Trilogy of Spreads and a Loin of Lamb, and says it has live entertainment every weekend.

3

Pantheon

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Pantheon, at 407 Danforth Avenue, calls itself a family-run restaurant serving authentic Greek cuisine since 1997, with classics like moussaka and souvlaki and fresh seafood among its specialties.

4

Mezes

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Mezes has two Danforth addresses, 440 Danforth Avenue for dine-in and lounge and 456 Danforth Avenue for take-out and private events, and says its kitchen aims to bring you the truest Greek dishes, prepared faithfully to family recipes. The BIA’s own walking guide describes Mezes as built around a table of small sharing plates. Order a few and take your time.

5

Astoria Shish Kebob House

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The Toronto location, at 390 Danforth Avenue, says it has served authentic Greek cuisine since 1972, and its site offers online ordering.

How should you plan your Greek food walk?

Pick a direction, pick two stops and leave room for a third. Here is one way to do it. Arrive at Pape or Chester with an appetite and stop for a long lunch at one of the sit-down restaurants above. Walk off the meal along the avenue and find the murals.

Our advice is to go slowly. A Danforth lunch is best treated as an afternoon: share a few plates, glance at what the next table ordered, and let the second round be a surprise. If you cannot decide between two restaurants, that is the sign to come back another day. Then settle in for a second, smaller stop, such as a plate to share or a coffee and something sweet, before you head home on Line 2. Begin at Pape and walk toward Chester, or the other way around, and use the BIA’s directory for the places we did not list. For more of the neighbourhood, our East York restaurants guide covers Pape Village and Leaside, and the East York hub pulls everything together. Heading home by transit? Our Line 5 Eglinton guide maps another part of the city worth a ride.

Send this to the friend you would bring for a long Greektown lunch.