Montreal Is the Only Canadian City on Google Maps’ New Foodie List

Montreal is the only Canadian city featured in Google’s first Fan-Favorite Dining Lists, released October 8. The new Google Maps rankings highlight popular restaurants and food trends across 10 cities worldwide, with cinnamon buns getting plenty of attention in Montreal.

According to Google, Montreal saw an 84% year-over-year increase in reviews mentioning cinnamon buns, with local bakeries such as Daddy Roll, Bernice and Guayabito helping fuel the trend.

Under Montreal’s meal category, Google Maps highlights five popular restaurants: Bar George, La Banquise, Ma Poule Mouillée, Schwartz’s Deli and Yokato Yokabai Ramen. The selection covers everything from poutine and Portuguese-style chicken to Montreal smoked meat and Japanese ramen. No mention of St-Viateur for bagels though?

For the best places to grab a drink in Montreal, Google Maps highlights Café Alphabet, Café Olimpico in Centre-Ville, Crew Collective & Cafe, Maison Café and September Cafe. The list focuses largely on the city’s coffee scene, with a mix of neighbourhood cafés and popular downtown spots. Do you agree with Google’s picks, or is your favourite missing from the list?

Montreal wasn’t the only city with a growing appetite for certain foods. In New York, mentions of frozen yogurt jumped 320%, while Tokyo saw a 168% increase in mochi mentions.

Google says the rankings are based on a year’s worth of Google Maps reviews, ratings and direction requests. Each city has lists covering its most-visited dining destinations, affordable restaurants and places suited to different occasions.

The full collection is available at Google Maps Fan Favourites, where users can save restaurant lists directly to Google Maps for future visits.

The launch is part of Google’s broader effort to make Maps more useful for finding places to eat. The company has also introduced AI-powered food ordering through Square and Toast, an AI dining agent for restaurant reservations and AI-powered place recommendations.