How to Make the Most of Your Mississauga Business Trip

Aside from being right in the middle of the business district, Mississauga Celebration Square is also a cultural hub of the area. The grand edifice of the Art Gallery of Mississauga is just behind the square with the Living Arts Center behind it. There’s also the Central Library and the Square One Shopping Center nearby. It’s a popular and award-winning square, with a fun fountain and the Mississauga Legends Row, showcasing the achievements of noteworthy residents of the area.

Toronto Union Station is the main transportation hub for the Greater Toronto Area, with bus and rail links to Mississauga, Milton, Oahawa, Hamilton and many more nearby towns and suburbs. It’s conveniently also right in the heart of Old Toronto, with the CN Tower and Air Canada Center just behind it and the Harbourfront a short walk away. If you want to explore downtown Toronto, it’s a great place to start from. The station itself also hosts a good choice of restaurants, shops and regular special events.

Port Credit, at the mouth of the Credit River, is a little removed from the rest of Mississauga, earning it the nickname of the ‘Village on the Lake’. It has its own unique atmosphere and a vintage look, making it generally a nice place to visit. It also has one of the highest concentrations of good bars and restaurants outside of Toronto, including Spice Lounge, Pump House Grille Co. and Door FiftyFive. There are also plenty of bars and clubs around the Toronto Pearson International Airport, but they are mostly rather risqué and NSFW (Not Safe For Work).

Square One is among the largest malls in Canada, with around 350 shops and services under its expansive roof. It’s located right in the heart of Mississauga, close to Celebration Square. It hosts a huge number of clothing stores, including some big names like Zara, H&M and Gap. There are several department stores, plenty of restaurants, a movie theater, a kids’ play area and lots more. With its glass roof and open design, it’s quite a pleasant mall to walk around. On the other hand, being on only a couple of floors, getting from one end to the other is quite a hike.

Bluntly, Mississauga doesn’t have that much to see and do. However, it’s very convenient for Toronto, where the CN Tower is undoubtedly the most iconic structure on the skyline. At 553.3 meters, it’s among the tallest free-standing structures in the world. Glass-fronted elevators carry you up 346 meters to the LookOut Level – the main observation deck, with views out right across the city and the nearby Lake Ontario. There is even a section with a glass floor, so the views also go straight down, too. It’s undoubtedly the best place to enjoy the sunset, and there’s a revolving restaurant for drinks and dinner afterwards.

The Wilcox Gastropub takes some relatively simple, classic dishes and livens them up with artful presentation and contemporary twists. They specialize in Canadian cuisine, with the iconic poutine (fries topped with cheese curds and gravy) being particularly good. The must-try, however, is the Canadian burger, with smoked aioli, peameal bacon, berry compote, white cheddar, frisee and maple onions, all in a homemade brioche bun. Being a gastropub, you can also expect a great selection of beers and wines, as well as an impressive cocktail menu.

Union Social Eatery is a premium casual restaurant in the midst of the business area of Mississauga, which is particularly popular for its brunches. The dishes are relatively simple, but very well made, using high-quality ingredients. The house-braised short rib firecrackers with Pepper Jack cheese, cream cheese, grilled Bermuda onions, cremini mushrooms and sweet chilli sauce are definitely worth trying. There are a few branches of Union Social around Toronto, but the Mississauga one is the original.

Torontonians are very fond of their sports, which makes the Scotiabank Arena something of a mecca for them. It’s the home ground of the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL team, the Toronto Raptors NBA team and the Toronto Rock lacrosse team. It even hosts teams from Buffalo, just across the US border. When there isn’t a match playing, the arena is often used to host concerts and conventions, with big-name music stars and comedy acts taking to the stage. There’s virtually always something going on at the modern facility, which has plenty of on-site refreshment options.

While the cuisine at Noble Bistro is mostly European – particularly French and Italian – the ingredients are undoubtedly Canadian. The restaurant is very proud of its farm-to-fork fresh, local ingredients, including Canadian venison, beef, lamb, halibut and veggies. Stand-out dishes include the seared Canadian scallops and braised short ribs, served with bacon broth, corn purée, pancetta and pickled serrano pepper. Located a little south-west of Port Credit, the restaurant has a suitably swanky look to go with its fine-dining food, as well as a lengthy wine list.

The rooftop patio of &Company Resto Bar has perhaps the best view of downtown Mississauga and is also well-regarded as a fun nightclub. They boast a broad array of entertaining shows, from belly dancers to Burlesque, as well as renowned DJs. Wednesdays are said to be especially lively, and many an employee of the nearby businesses has been tempted to sneak out of the office an hour early to celebrate the end of hump day here.