General Food, Dining and Nightlife News

[Momo26]

Coop was open for just a hot minute, wow. I guess we are pretty saturated with fried chicken now.

Dave's Hot at Fairview mall is always busy it seems. They have the name behind them too.

With another closure in DTK, it really shows how hard it is to run a sustained business down here.

[tomh009]

With another closure in DTK, it really shows how hard it is to run a sustained business down here.

I don't think this is specific to DTK. Restaurant business is tough everywhere, always has been and likely always will be. Restaurants come and go, you need to get it right and build a solid clientele to survive for the long term. And there are lots of DTK restaurants with 10+ years of operation.

[taylortbb]

Toronto's widely known Beast Pizza is opening a KW location, it'll be at Weber/Scott in the Civic 66 building. https://www.instagram.com/beast_pizza_kw

[Acitta]

Portuguese bakery opening in downtown Kitchener (271 King St. West)

After gaining popularity at the St. Jacob’s Farmers Market, A Portuguesa Bakery expanded to New Hamburg and Cambridge, and will soon be opening a new location in the heart of downtown Kitchener.

The bakery known for its Portuguese pastries and other baked goods is set to open its new location next week, a dream long in the works for owners Mario and Maria De Sousa.

[bravado]

Portuguese bakery opening in downtown Kitchener (271 King St. West)

After gaining popularity at the St. Jacob’s Farmers Market, A Portuguesa Bakery expanded to New Hamburg and Cambridge, and will soon be opening a new location in the heart of downtown Kitchener.

The bakery known for its Portuguese pastries and other baked goods is set to open its new location next week, a dream long in the works for owners Mario and Maria De Sousa.

A Portuguesa has the best bifana in Cambridge AND the best non-gimmicky doughnuts + malasadas. Hope they’re super successful in the new spot.

[Momo26]

Has anyone had Beast Pizza in Toronto?

[taylortbb]

Has anyone had Beast Pizza in Toronto?

I've been to one of their Whole Animal Dinners, and it was quite a good experience.

[bravado]

Two new really promising new pizza places opening in West Galt:

Pizzeria Motola in the Gaslight District
https://pizzeriamotola.scvr.co

Motola said he felt Cambridge was missing a pizza place like this one with an Italian menu focused on wood-fired pizza that adapts seasonally based on local ingredients, paired with quality service. The menu is small, made up of less than two dozen items, consisting of a mix of antipasti, pizza bread sandwiches called a puccia, salads, pizza and desserts.

“It’s a very simple menu, I don’t like it when you go to a restaurant and you have four, five, six pages of menu and you’re just there for 10 or 15 minutes deciding what to get,” Motola said.

This one seems to have quite the italian pedigree and I am really excited for a proper margherita with a bit of gentrified flair..

Willibald Pizza
https://www.instagram.com/eatwillibald/

Formica explained Willibald Farm in Ayr is getting progressively busier and it made more sense to expand with a new location rather than a new build at the farm.

“We felt like a lot of the options were extremely expensive, just because of the limits of where our current infrastructure is at the farm,” Formica said. “We had the space open up in Galt and we felt like it was something we could get done much quicker and something easy for us to service from our current location which is also our production location.”

It looks like the people who do Willibald distillery out in Ayr are taking the amazing space of the Old Galt Bottle Shop and doing "new york style pizza". Here's hoping they sell their amazing gin to go with the pizza, an odd pairing that I never thought of before...

https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news...r-10898929

[neonjoe]

Two new really promising new pizza places opening in West Galt:

Pizzeria Motola in the Gaslight District
https://pizzeriamotola.scvr.co

Motola said he felt Cambridge was missing a pizza place like this one with an Italian menu focused on wood-fired pizza that adapts seasonally based on local ingredients, paired with quality service. The menu is small, made up of less than two dozen items, consisting of a mix of antipasti, pizza bread sandwiches called a puccia, salads, pizza and desserts.

“It’s a very simple menu, I don’t like it when you go to a restaurant and you have four, five, six pages of menu and you’re just there for 10 or 15 minutes deciding what to get,” Motola said.

This one seems to have quite the italian pedigree and I am really excited for a proper margherita with a bit of gentrified flair..

Willibald Pizza
https://www.instagram.com/eatwillibald/

Formica explained Willibald Farm in Ayr is getting progressively busier and it made more sense to expand with a new location rather than a new build at the farm.

“We felt like a lot of the options were extremely expensive, just because of the limits of where our current infrastructure is at the farm,” Formica said. “We had the space open up in Galt and we felt like it was something we could get done much quicker and something easy for us to service from our current location which is also our production location.”

It looks like the people who do Willibald distillery out in Ayr are taking the amazing space of the Old Galt Bottle Shop and doing "new york style pizza". Here's hoping they sell their amazing gin to go with the pizza, an odd pairing that I never thought of before...

https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news...r-10898929

Don't forget that Willibald is also one of the top Craft Breweries in the area. With a pizza operation they may focus more on Draught than spirits.

[GtwoK]

Not sure if it was mentioned already but a new restaurant is moving (has moved?) into the old McCabes space downtown. Called Real Deal. Didn't look inside, but the sign's got a picture of a pizza and billiards ball... If they're using the upstairs space for pool and the downstairs for food, that seems like a pretty good way to utilize the kinda difficult floor plan

[panamaniac]

Not sure if it was mentioned already but a new restaurant is moving (has moved?) into the old McCabes space downtown. Called Real Deal. Didn't look inside, but the sign's got a picture of a pizza and billiards ball... If they're using the upstairs space for pool and the downstairs for food, that seems like a pretty good way to utilize  the kinda difficult floor plan

There's a Real Deal in Guelph, no?

[dtkvictim]

Not sure if it was mentioned already but a new restaurant is moving (has moved?) into the old McCabes space downtown. Called Real Deal. Didn't look inside, but the sign's got a picture of a pizza and billiards ball... If they're using the upstairs space for pool and the downstairs for food, that seems like a pretty good way to utilize  the kinda difficult floor plan

I believe it's still the same owners as McCabes, but it must be a partnership or franchise with whoever owns Real Deal in Guelph because I don't think they own that (could be mistaken though). I was told they intend Players, which they also own, to be a casual pool experience and this new place to be a more competitive place.

The second floor of the building is still apartments. If you meant the rooftop patio on top of the former Beer Store, then I'm not sure but I would guess there won't be pool up there.

[GtwoK]

Oh, I thought I'd remembered walking through a second floor on the way to the roof patio, albeit an empty one. That's where I'd assumed the pool would be. Though I suppose the main floor is plenty big

[Momo26]

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/08/14...kitchener/

[MidTowner]

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/08/14...kitchener/

Sad. What a good place that is, and a unique option for downtown Kitchener. Big blow to the area.