Key takeaways
- The best deals show up when restaurants are quiet: weekday afternoons, early dinners and late evenings.
- Markham's food is spread across plazas and main streets: Highway 7, Steeles and Kennedy, Main Street Unionville, Markham Village and more.
- FIG shows live deals on a map, nearest first, filtered by craving, budget and diet. Deals start January 1, 2027.
- Claim in one tap, show your code at the counter, pay the restaurant as usual. Claims don't time out while the deal runs.
- Reviews on FIG come only from scanned visits, so you can trust what you read.
The short answer
The best restaurant deals in Markham are posted for the hours restaurants are quiet, by the restaurants themselves. Look on weekday afternoons and early evenings, check the areas with lots of independent places close together, and use one map of live deals instead of ten Instagram accounts. That's what FIG is for: every live deal near you, nearest first, filtered to what you actually want to eat.
1. Go when restaurants are quiet
Restaurants are busiest at weekend lunch and dinner. The rest of the week, most have hours with empty tables, and an empty table earns nothing. That's when owners are most willing to offer something.
| When | Why it's good for deals |
|---|---|
| Weekdays, about 2 to 5 pm | Between lunch and dinner: the slowest stretch for many kitchens |
| Early dinner, Monday to Thursday | Before the evening rush, and weeknights are quieter than weekends |
| Late evening | After the dinner rush, for dessert, bubble tea and late snacks |
| Bad weather | Rain and snow empty dining rooms fast: a good time for flash deals |
Every restaurant is different, so treat this as a pattern, not a rule. On FIG, each deal shows its own days and hours.
2. Know where the food is
Markham doesn't have one food street. It has dozens of plazas and a few main streets, each with a different feel:
- Highway 7. The long east-west spine, lined with plazas, and home to Markham Centre, the city's new downtown, where York University's Markham Campus opened in 2024.
- Steeles and Kennedy. Around Pacific Mall, on the northeast corner, which has its own food court and market, Heritage Town.
- Main Street Unionville. The historic village street, with restaurants, pubs and cafés, steps from Toogood Pond.
- Markham Village. The city's other Main Street, in the old town centre, a few kilometres east of Unionville's.
- Neighbourhood plazas in Milliken, Cornell, Cathedraltown and beyond, where many of the places locals love are tucked away.
Because so many restaurants share a plaza, a deal nearby often means a short walk, not a drive.
3. Let the map do the searching
Open FIG and you see live deals around you, nearest first, on Home and on the map. Tell FIG once what you crave, your budget and any diet (halal, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and more), and the list becomes the places that actually fit you.
On the map, pick how far you're willing to go: 1, 2, 5 or 10 km. If nothing's live that close, FIG widens the search to the nearest places rather than showing an empty map. Search has a start screen too: your recent searches, popular cravings and the places on FIG.
FIG works without your location. It shows Markham by default, and deals are never locked to where you are. Turn location on when you want "nearest first" to mean nearest to you.
4. Claim, go, show your code
- Open a restaurant and tap Claim on the deal you want.
- It waits on your Deals page. A claim has no time limit: it works for as long as the deal runs.
- At the restaurant, open your Deals page and tap Show QR. Staff scan it, or, if the restaurant uses a counter code, you scan theirs.
- The deal comes off the bill. You pay the restaurant as usual.
The code on your screen keeps changing, so a screenshot can't be reused. How deals work, step by step.
5. Read the deal properly
A good deal is one that fits what you were going to do anyway. Before you claim, check:
- Days and hours. Many deals run only in quiet hours.
- Dine in or takeout. Some deals are for eating in only; others also work as takeout you pick up.
- Which dishes. Some deals are on the whole order, some on specific dishes from the menu, which you can see on the restaurant's page.
- The daily cap. Popular deals can run out for the day.
6. Trust real reviews
Only diners whose visit was scanned can review a restaurant on FIG, so every review comes from a real meal. Restaurants get stars; deals get likes. Restaurants can reply in public, and paying FIG never hides or changes a review. Reading reviews on FIG, in a minute.
7. Bring friends
Group plans fall apart over "where should we go?". Share the restaurant's link from FIG to your group chat: everyone sees the same place and its live deals. Eating out as a group, with deals.
Five mistakes that cost you the deal
- Showing up outside the hours. Check the deal's days and times before you go.
- Ordering takeout on a dine-in deal. Look for Dine in or takeout.
- Waiting until the evening on a popular deal. Daily caps run out; claim early.
- Showing a screenshot. Codes keep changing: open your Deals page at the counter.
- Forgetting the extras. The deal covers what it says; drinks and sides are usually full price.
Questions
What's the best app for restaurant deals in Markham?
FIG is built for Markham restaurant deals: live deals on a map, set by the restaurants themselves, free for diners, with no ads for now. Deals start January 1, 2027.
When do Markham restaurants post the most deals?
During their quiet hours: typically weekday afternoons, early weeknight dinners and late evenings. Each deal on FIG shows its own days and hours.
Do I pay through the app?
For dine-in, no: you pay the restaurant at the counter as usual. Takeout is paid in the app when you order.
Does FIG need my location?
No. FIG shows Markham by default and deals are never locked to where you are. Location just makes 'nearest first' mean nearest to you.
Do claimed deals expire?
Not on their own. A claim works for as long as the deal runs. It ends only when the restaurant ends the deal, or a flash or dated deal is over.
Is FIG only in Markham?
Markham first, expanding to Richmond Hill and Vaughan Mills.
