Guide to Kitchener & Surrounding Areas

Eateries

There’s more to eat than the usual chains. Join us and discover some of our local haunts.

Common to all of the selections here is some level of vegetarian friendliness. "V" icons denote especially vegetarian or vegan menus. Some of the most popular or fancy restaurants in the region don't make the list due to lack of appeal to picky diets.

• Exotica Fusion - University Lands
  This place disappeared. We saw somewhere they would be moving locations, but now, no physical presence, and the website is broken. We hope it reappears, because it was probably the best counter serve place anywhere. No longer in place. We had read amixture of Indian, Mex and US South all made favouring local ingredients and suppliers. The flavours and texture are amazing for something. Try a Frankie with a side of thier potato wedges. Your tastebuds will thank us!
• Muya Ethiopian Highland/Belmont <MILL>
  Try the vegetarian platter. A good amount of food at a fair price with LOTS of flavor. And one platter is definitely enough for two people, making it fairly inexpensive.
• La Guanaquita Salvadorean King/Water†
  One of our favourite places in town to get central American fare. Papusas and pastellitos are highlights. And the fried plantains with cream. THURSDAY NIGHT Salsa dancing, too. Lesson at 8 with social dancing afterwards. Double check with them for details/schedule.
  
• Red Ginger Thai/Viet Highland/Westmount
  Amazing lunch specials. Very fast. Tasty. Don’t miss this one.
• Madhu's Roti & Doubles Fisher-Hallman/University
  Carribean
  
• Crafty Ramen Water/King
  Giant bowls of noodles! A variety of flavours to choose from.
  
• IZNA Donburi House Japanese Downtown
  Translated as “rice bowl,” it’s their specialty, topped with assorted proteins and vegetables. A bustling place with charming, warm ambiance.
  
• University Commons Food Court University/King
  So, you can’t decide on a single cuisine for your whole gang? The University/King intersection has a lot of variety catering to the student crowd. There’s a flavour for everyone. But find your way into 253 King St N specifically. In one food court, you’ll find a lot of options that are more interesting than the generic chains of a mall food court. For example:
  
  Box Marley Jamaican, Boba Boy (bubble teas + dessert), Sultan’s.  Or the strip plaza just north for:
  
  Meltwich, Poke Box, Sakura Island (sushi), Smoke’s Poutinerie
  
  
• Banh Mi Givral Deli $ Thai/Viet @ Downtown / Market
  $3.50 subs, with great flavour. Try the sesame buns, warmed up! So good!
  
• Chopan Kabop Afghan Highland/Belmont [MILL]
  
• McMullan's Pizza / Pub Highland/Belmont MILL
  The garlic knots are to murder for. We won’t talk about that.
  
• Quesada Burritos Highland/Belmont MILL
  
• Bent Elbow Speakeasy Weber
  Like beer? Peruse their Beer Bible to find just the flavor you like.
  
• Arabella Park Speakeasy Belmont Village
  A wide selection of draft beers and an excellent variety of smaller platters and appetizers
• Lancaster Shawarma Shawarma Lancaster/Union [GUELPH]
  Un-assumingly located in a convenience store, it’s hearty and inexpensive. Try the samosas and veggie platter.
  
• East African Cafe Ethiopian Downtown
  So tasty.
• Bao Sandwich Bar Viet Near WLU
  Scroll down. Drool. Go get some.
• Arabesque Middle Eastern Victoria/River
  Middle eastern sure is popular lately. But for the best in the region, go here. With amazing hummus, and Shisha if you’re into it.
  
• Tres Chiles Mexican Blockline/Homer-Watson
  There aren’t many Mexican options in town. This is one of three. It’s good.
• TWH Social Downtown
  "Kitchener’s destination for community, conversation and forward-thinking food."
• Quick Sandwiches Sandwich University/King
  The name is a lie: it’s not quick. But there’s excellent variety and it’s all very tasty.
  
• Kypreos Greek/Breakfast Lancaster/Guelph [GUELPH]
  Want breakfast starting at 7 a.m.? We suggest the halloumi as a side. Mmm... Salty...
• Crowsfoot Smokehaus German/BBQ Conestoga
  Meat. Lots of meat.
  
• Proof Kitchen & Lounge Semi-Fancy Erb/Caroline
  On the lower level of the hotel by the Perimeter Institute. Be warned the weekly math problem on the blackboard will vex you while you eat your food. Bring paper/pens.
• Beertown Uptown
  On the plus side, has very large selection of plant-based and gluten-free items. On the downside, it's super busy and quite loud.
• Moose Winooski's Sportsworld
  Like BT, it has many plant-based items, along with traditional favourites. It used to be a cosy family eatery inside of Sportsworlds. It's now much larger in a stand-alone building. Some of the charm is lost, but the food is better.
• Concordia Club German Mill/Ottawa [MILL]
  Taste the region’s German history.
  
• Cambridge Mill $$$$
  Overlooking the Grand River, the taste is superb. Portions are filling, but not excessive. Don’t forget the desserts! It’s best experienced on a nice day when all the doors are open.
  
• LoLoAn Lobby Bar $$$$$ Fancy Princess/King
  Expect to be seated for 3 hours and spend $80 (plus drinks) per person. Also expect to be delighted be presentation, flavour and texture of food, along with the ambiance.
  
• Graffiti Market Casual Belmont Village
  Located in Catalyst 137, this is a casual place, but the tables made of computer screens will entertain while the amazing food is being cooked.
  
• Public Kitchen Fancy/Tapas Victoria / Lancaster
  Two identities! Come to dinner and experience a series of tapas! Small plates of the highest quality shared among your group. Or, get lunch take-away!
  
• Wooden Boat Food Co Eclectic Courtland/Stirling
  Sometimes Vietnamese. Sometimes pizza. Often catering/take-away, but always tasty.

• Borealis Local Sportsworld
  It's pretty good. The Kitchner location is tucked into one of the region's original schoolhouses. At some point, they added noise attenuating features to the space, so it's not as loud as it once was (it used to bad enough to so as to not recommend the restaurant). Everything is from nearby farms.

Vegetarian Specific

• Jane Bond Eclectic King/Princess
  All plant-based menu in eclectic space. Nice patio in summer.
  
• Cafe Pyrus Downtown
  All plant-based menu. It was more of a fun place to have a sit with company, but having moved to the base of an office building, now has less personality and more focus on fancy beverages. The food is still good.
  
• Copper Branch Healthy, Uptown
  Plenty of tasty, quick options at this counter-serve spot uptown.
• ODD Burger Vegetarian Fast Food Uptown
  Slowly spreading across the continent, try one of the first ever veg fast food chains. They make versions of other fast food chain's burgers, but better for the planet. Our top choices? The Buffalo Chick'un and the Gyro. For brunch, the Sausage Maple Crunch.
• Pujabi Chaap Corner Fairway/Manitou
  An all vegetarian menu! Specializing in soya chaap, it's flavourful, and the wraps are easily handheld for portable taste. Two doors down from Sector 17. The strip mall is flavour central!  

DoNut Miss These!

• Lady Glaze
  In Belmont village, the best donuts in the region. Okay, this is up for debate. The broad opinion is that LG has the best *looking* donuts around, but Red Eye is where to go for tast & texture.
• Red Eye Cafe
  In Cambridge, but worth a detour. Lots of vegan/GF option, too.
• Debrodniks Donuts (Blockline/Strasburg & Northfield/King)
  Now in self-serve format: get your donut fix in a hurry.
• Wooden Boat
  Uncertain if still available. Known more for their Vietnamese fusion, on Fridays and Saturdays, you can find interesting donut creations.
• Albert’s Doughnuts [far side of Cambridge]
  Also, filled croissants. Like the others, will sell out before they close.
• Zehr's
  Yes, the grocery store. The cronuts are key - I remember them from the 90's, before they were made the rage in NYC food culture. Low key, but great.
• Isabella's Mochi Donut Boutique - Downtown Toronto
  Okay, so hear me out. I know this isn't "local" local, but grab a GO Train from #dtk to #ytz, read a book enroute, and it's kinda like local telporting So far, the best donuts in the province.

Indian Cuisine Scene

All of these have a significant vegetarian menu. The top part of the list are our favourites, that are absolutely worth a extra bit of a trek to seek out, sorted from most amazing to average. Also, "Indian" is a bit of a misnomer - this category also covers other south asian cuisine, and further north like hakka flavours.

• The Grand Mehfil Best Ambiance $$$$ Weber near Fairway
  Definitely one of the tastiest in the region; what sets it apart are the booths and service. Top notch here.
  
• Grain of Salt Best Taste $$$ Hespler (Cambridge)
  The best tasting Indian restaurant in the region. The place to go to make your taste buds rejoice.
• Nawab's Best Taste $$$ Highland & Westmount
  This place might dethrone Grain of Salt for best taste, but the service was... underwhelming, and the music in the background was... confusing and loud. Maybe take-away is the solution? We'll try it again and see if it's better on a different day.
  
• Dakshin Dosas $$ Hespler (Cambridge)
  South Indian; dosas are the specialty, one of the few in the region. Not only are they super tasty, they are HUGE. Careful not to order too much!
• Jayalakshmi South Indian Dosas $$ Across from Kitchener Market
  Another joint with giant dosas. An interesting location, with an attempt at being fancy, but not quite nailing it. But, who cares? Tasty!
  
• Kathi Roll UNIQUE / FUSION /DESSERT $$ Conestoga
  Same place as Holy Shakes; but less popular than the dessert menu, sadly. The Indian fusion cuisine is unique and very tasty
• Sector 17“Fast Food” $$$ Fairway/Manitou
  A “fast food” take-away with a twist. The paneer poutine (note, they haven't stocked this in ages, we can only hope it makes a return) and butterscotch shake are amazing. Kathi roll so flavorful!
• Pujabi Chaap Corner “Fast Food” / VegeTaRian/VEGAN $$ Fairway/Manitou
  An all vegetarian menu! Specializing in soya chaap, it's flavourful, and the wraps are easily handheld for portable taste. Two doors down from Sector 17. The strip mall is flavour central!  
• Bar Naan FUSION $$ Sunrise Centre
  The menu is unique and tasty: select from poutine, bowls or taco with your choice of tasty fillings. Also, try the cookies. Top choice: paneer tacos with the mango sauce. Also pretty quick service.
• Dosa Twist “Fast Food Dosas” $$$ Fairway/Weber
  Dosas. Quick, in a diner like-setting.
• Papa Pancho's “STREET Food” / VegeTaRian/VEGAN $$ University/Weber
  Serving Indian street food and Hakka. Whole menu is vegetarian, more than half vegan. Relatively quick, quite tasty.
• Spice of India Best value / BUFFET $$ Forest Glen Plaza HURON
  Good lunch buffet at a good price.
• Patidar Foods
  Located in a strip mall, they have interesting sandwiches, and the Thali is good, too. Much flavor!
• New Delhi Ottawa/Westmount
  Large menu
  
• Diwa Classic FORMAL $$$ 6/Speedvale (Guelph)
  The food is top-notch, and the presentation is up-market. The ambiance is more formal than most of the picks here (though not quite white linens and candles).
  
• RAPizza Pizza $ Weber/University
  Half the pizza menu is Indian options.
• Woodfired Cafe and Bakecurry Bakery Lancaster/Bridgeport
  Formerly a City Cafe outpost, now you can get your baked goods in the morning, but also thali plates & curries for lunch!

This portion of the list are good, but unranked. If you're in the mood for south asian flavour, but aren't looking for something special, pick the one of these closest to you.

• Pick n’ Move Homer-Watson/Block Line
  A take-away without any seating might seem like an unlikely suspect. You’ll be surprised at how great fast-food can taste.
• Shiri’s Columbia (Waterloo)
  Take-away or very-busy-at-lunch-sitting in an industrial building. It doesn’t look like much, but it really does taste good.
  
• Classic Indian King Street, north of Northfield
  Lunch buffet available, but go for a-la-carte in the evenings
  
• Urwa King/Weber
  Flavourful take-away near the universities
  
• Koh-I-Noor Albert/Philip
  Nothing to note. It just is. If you’re hungry for Indian in the area, it’ll do. Otherwise, go higher up the list.
  
• Bahar King & Water
  This will have to be re-evaluated; while the food was just okay, the menu had a much wider range of options than most, from dosas to egg options.
• Empress Of India
  
• Kismet Restaurant
  
• Vijay's Indian Cuisine
  
• Masala Bay
  
• Bombay Bhel
  
• Tandoori Xpress

(Veggie) Burgers

Where to get the best burgers in town

• Hemlock Street Burger Barn $$
  In the summer, you'll find thier food truck on Mill Street, right in our parking lot. Otherwise, you'll have to take quite a trek, past the St. Jacob's market.

• Burger's Priest $$
  You can get a veggie patty OR a portobello cap. Protip: you can replace the buns with grilled cheeses. CHEESE.
  
  
• ODD Burger Vegetarian Fast Food Uptown
  Slowly spreading across the continent, try one of the first ever veg fast food chains. They make versions of other fast food chain's burgers, but better for the planet. Our top choices? The Buffalo Chick'un and the Gyro. For brunch, the Sausage Maple Crunch.
  

Sushi, Japanese & Korean

Choices abound

• Loo Bap Bap
  Korean, the top picks are definitely the egg toasts, on delightful fluffy bread with fluffy eggs and savoury toppings. Or maybe the Tteokbokki 떡볶이. Of course, there's the bowls, too. It's all good.
• Humble Lotus
  A departure from the normal sushi spot; a-la-carte, you can pick a pack of individual rolls with variety. The vegetarian rolls are probably the best in town, with unique flavour combinations.
• Sushi 168
  AYCE, top choice.
• Ye’s
  The waterloo location is better with an appetizer/dessert bar. AYCE. Lots of choice.
• Ken Sushi
  Best ambiance
• Sushi Stars
  South of downtown
• Kinkaku izakaya
  Right across from City Hall
• Jinakaya
  Uptown

Brunch & Breakfast

• Yeti Cafe
  Across from the market (Kitchener), it’s a great place for a tasty breakfast/brunch. It’s fine for takeaway, but getting the limited interior seating or a patio spot in the summer is ideal. Also, check out the website. Possibly the coolest website on the internet - and yes, you can even order online.
• Mel’s Diner Ottawa/Westmount
  Available all-day long, enjoy a great breakfast. The University Plaza location, which has been renewed after a fire, has a nicer ambiance, but less seating – watch out for busy evenings. Also, they have separate menus for veg/vegan and gluten-free.
  
• Seven Shores Regina/Princess
  Quite busy, but it is THE place, it seems, to bring your laptop and work with your group while having a beverage/meal. The menu is small, but is pretty good and not priced too high.
• Healthy Owl Northfield/King
  Tucked into a pretty generic office/industrial mall, they have a number of tasty breakfast dishes.
  
• Stacked Weber or Conestoga Mall
  Stacks and stacks of pancakes
  
• Old King Bistro Weber
  Breakfast poutine is good. The cheesecake French toast is the big draw. Surprisingly good for breakfast greasy spoon.

Dessert

Cruising for your sugar fix? Try these.

• Esta Chocolates (and Gelato) Victoria/Lackner
  Unfortunately, they have 9-5 hours in an odd location. But, show up for the best gelato around and graba bag and pick your favourite truffles. Ours? The salted caramel.
• HOLY SHAKES King/Northfield
  They sell milkshakes. But better.
• Sugar Marmalade University/Lester
  A great Asian desert experience.
• La Diperie Homer-Watson/Manitou (inside Mr. Sub)
  Thier signature thing: Take ice cream or donuts, and dip them in a flavour of your choice, and then add toppings.They also have cheesecake, cake and other treats.
  
• Foodie Fruitie University/Lester
  More than just desert, but you’ll like the “toast.”
• The Bingsu Uptown
  Bingsu, bubble tea and some other desserts.
  
• Symposium Erb/Ira Needles
  Go to the Ira Needles location for shorter lines. Known as “the Cake Shop,” ask your server for a tour of the cake display. They also have other meals, but really, the cake is what you’ll want.
  
• Four All Uptown <MILL>
  Locally made ice cream. Along the Iron Horse trail, it’s a great pit stop during a summer bike ride. In the same building are numerous art studios, so take a wander through, too. There's a location uptown, and you can find it in freezers around the region
  
• Meet Fresh University/Philip
  “Traditional Taiwanese dessert.” The Taro ball experience is definitely worth a trip.
  
• CE Food Experience “The Bakery” Under Waterloo City Hall
  Offering Gluten-Free, Veg and even keto desserts, along with breakfast treats.
  
• D Spot Fairway Road cinema plaza
  Piles of sugar on top of more sugar.
  
• Sweet Lou’s Cookies Weber/University
  Cookies. Sold at strange hours. Option to put ice cream between the cookies.
  
• Cafe 22 Uptown -King & Erb
  Like stepping into a proper patisserie. All the baked goods and sweets you’d find strolling in Paris. Paris, France, to be clear.

Bakeries / Cafe

Not quite a restaurant, not quite a grocery store, but a good place to get food.

• City Cafe West/Victoria & Ottawa/Charles
  Croissants, bagels & donuts fresh each morning, along with assorted breads.
  
• Wood Fire Bagels Kingsway/Franklin
  Open 6 days/week at the crack of dawn, a legitimate wood fired oven in the back churns out fresh bagels. CLosed when they run out for the day; go early to get maximal freshness.

Groceries

Finding the usual suspects isn’t hard (Zehrs, Sobey’s, Food Basics, Price Choppers, Bulk Barn, Walmart, Etc). Here are some less-common places we like stocking our pantry at.

• Herle’s Market Erb’s Road, past the garbage dump
  Kind of like a small farmer’s market that is always running. Get fresh pies, fresh vegetables, and local cheeses, milks and other groceries. Seasonal! Out of luck when the snow starts!
  
• Vincenzo’s South of Uptown, Off-King
  Some higher quality options, with a large selection of great chocolate, and a custom sandwich bar that’s always raved about. With good reason.
  
• Full Circle Foods Queen & Charles
  A boutique grocery store downtown with a bulk section and focus on organic, lower-impact food.
  
• T&T Supermarket  Westmount & Erb
  For all your Asian cuisine needs
  
• Roua Stirling & Courtland [MILL]
  A middle-eastern grocery that has all the basics
  
• Tazaa Manitou / Homer-Watson
  For most of your Indian snacking needs.
  
• B & T Market King, downtown south
  Vietnamese groceries