Saskatoon’s Oldest Restaurants

A Taste of History

Gibson’s Fish & Chips began serving Saskatoon in 1964. Taverna followed in 1969, Venice House in 1972, and The Cave opened its rock-walled dining room the next year. Their tables have remained through Saskatoon’s expansion along 8th Street, changes to the downtown core, new ownership, and several generations of customers.

Some stayed at one address while others moved, expanded, changed hands, or closed briefly before reopening. The dates below mark the earliest documented opening of each restaurant business rather than the age of its building.

Saskatoon Restaurants That Continue Today

Gibson’s Fish & Chips (1964)

Gibson’s Fish & Chips has served Saskatoon since 1964 and now operates at 1025 Louise Avenue. Fish and chips remain at the centre of a restaurant that has spent more than six decades devoted to one of the simplest forms of dining: battered fish arriving hot beside a pile of fries.

Taverna Italian Kitchen (1969)

Taverna began serving Italian food in downtown Saskatoon in 1969. The restaurant continues on 21st Street East with a menu built around Italian-American cooking, including pasta, pizza, steak, and seafood.

Venice House Pizza (1972)

Venice House Pizza traces its Saskatoon history to 1972. Its Venture Crescent restaurant now combines pizza and family dining with breakfast service, takeout, catering, and a banquet room, carrying the Venice House name into its sixth decade.

The Cave (September 1973)

The Cave opened in September 1973. Sculpted walls, curved openings, recessed lighting, and rock-like partitions gave the 8th Street restaurant an interior unlike any other dining room in the city.

The restaurant closed briefly during an ownership transition in early 2025. It reopened that April under the same name, with longtime manager George Kosmas returning to the operation.

The Granary (1979)

The Granary opened in 1979 in a building designed to resemble a Saskatchewan grain elevator. The 8th Street steakhouse became especially associated with prime rib and its wheeled salad wagon, using one of the province’s most familiar rural structures as the model for its exterior.

Mano’s Restaurant & Lounge (1981)

Louis, Manolis, and Bill Barlas established Mano’s in 1981 after immigrating from Greece. Their first 70-seat restaurant on Idylwyld Drive was described by the family as a “pizza and other things” establishment. It doubled its capacity within a year and eventually moved to its present 8th Street East location.

The restaurant remains connected to the Barlas family and continues the broad family-dining format that grew from its original pizza menu.

Blue Diamond Restaurant (1985)

Blue Diamond Restaurant opened in 1985 and became a fixture on 22nd Street West. Its menu combines Greek and Canadian family-restaurant cooking, served in a dining room that still carries much of the character of the decade in which it opened.

The Katsirias family sold Blue Diamond in 2024 after 39 years in business. The restaurant remained open under its new owners.

Tomas the Cook (1985)

Tomas the Cook has served Saskatoon since 1985. Its current restaurants on Venture Crescent and Central Avenue open for breakfast and continue through lunch and dinner, following the broad-menu family-restaurant model associated with the business.

Calories Restaurant (1986)

Calories began as a small Broadway coffee shop in 1986, when the avenue had yet to become the dining and shopping district familiar to Saskatoon residents today. The café developed into a full restaurant with a longstanding emphasis on local ingredients and an extensive pastry case.

Fuddruckers Saskatoon (January 24, 1986)

Saskatoon’s Fuddruckers opened on January 24, 1986. The restaurant joined a property already devoted to roadside dining and family recreation, where earlier businesses had included the Nite Hawk restaurant, a Dog ’n Suds drive-in, and Putt N’ Bounce miniature golf.

The Saskatoon operation continues as part of the Family Fun Centre, alongside Ruckers and Putt N’ Bounce. Its burgers are served on buns baked at the restaurant, with customers adding their own toppings from the produce bar.

Amigos Cantina (November 1988)

Amigos Cantina opened in November 1988 in Saskatoon’s Broadway district. Its Tex-Mex restaurant shares the building with a live-music room that has hosted local performers and touring acts while maintaining a regular programme of concerts, karaoke, and other events.

The combination made Amigos both a neighbourhood restaurant and a durable part of Saskatoon’s music community.

Saskatoon Restaurants That Have Closed

Joe’s Lunch (Opened 1960; Closed 2006)

Joe opened Joe’s Lunch in downtown Saskatoon in 1960. His son David later operated the small Chinese restaurant and greasy spoon, where customers wrote their orders on slips of paper before choosing from wonton soup, burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

The owners retired in 2006. The diner was demolished, and a parking lot replaced it.

Station Place (Opened 1984; Closed June 27, 2019)

The Arvanitis brothers opened Station Place in 1984 inside Saskatoon’s former Canadian Pacific railway station on Idylwyld Drive. The location gave the restaurant a dining room closely tied to the city’s railway history.

The brothers closed Station Place on June 27, 2019, after 35 years. Stavros Arvanitis attributed the decision to the owners’ retirement, and the property was sold to the Old Spaghetti Factory.

Jerry’s Food Emporium (Opened 1997; Closed February 19, 2020)

Jerry Kristian and his wife opened the first Jerry’s Food Emporium on Grosvenor Avenue in 1997. The business became known for fish and chips, burgers, gelato, and ice-cream cakes. A second restaurant opened on 51st Street in 2012.

Kristian later sold the company to its management team. Both Saskatoon locations closed on February 19, 2020, ending 23 years in business.

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