Toronto restaurant known for giving away free meals closing after 9 years

A Toronto restaurant that gained a reputation for offering free meals to the less fortunate will soon be closing after nearly a decade.

Leslieville's Samaira's Kitchen has been a fixture on Queen East ever since opening its doors in 2016, whereupon it quickly became a staple for locals thanks to its fast-food favourites.

While on the food front, the restaurant became known for its juicy, hearty burgers and gourmet pizzas, it was the owner's inventive solution for combating a growing food security crisis in the community back in 2023 that made Samaira's Kitchen particularly notable.

In November of that year, Chef Rajish, the restaurant's owner, began printing meal tickets and posting them in the front window with a sign that promised anyone in need of a meal could take the receipt from the window, bring it to the front counter, and receive their meal for free.

Patrons who could afford it were also encouraged to donate meals through the program, which allowed a customer to add additional items to their own order, which would then be printed on a separate ticket and added to the window.

Within the first week of the program, Samaira's gained the notice of local news outlets, other restaurants that quickly followed suit, and, most importantly, hundreds of locals who received free meals thanks to the initiative.

Despite its popularity and goodwill, the restaurant took to its Facebook page on June 12 to announce that, after nine years in business, it'll soon be closing its doors for good.