Restaurant casualties of COVID-19

[Acitta]

When did Coffee Culture in Uptown Waterloo? I knew about Kinton Ramen but I didn't realise it replaced CC.

I think it was 2 years ago.

[Acitta]

Rising food and fuel costs are making it harder to run a food business in Waterloo Region

Thompson Tran has just closed his Kitchener restaurant and takeout venue, Wooden Boat Food Company.

[bravado]

Obie's Bar and Grille is closing as well, it was so much better than expected for its little odd location.

https://www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news...id-5584654

[neonjoe]

Rising food and fuel costs are making it harder to run a food business in Waterloo Region

Thompson Tran has just closed his Kitchener restaurant and takeout venue, Wooden Boat Food Company.

 Thats Sad. Wooden Boat was amazing, I enjoyed picking up takeout while also grabbing some beers from Short Finger.

[Acitta]

Rising food and fuel costs are making it harder to run a food business in Waterloo Region

Thompson Tran has just closed his Kitchener restaurant and takeout venue, Wooden Boat Food Company.

 Thats Sad. Wooden Boat was amazing, I enjoyed picking up takeout while also grabbing some beers from Short Finger.

I wanted to buy something from there, but you had to order a day in advance, which is not how I buy takeout.

[ac3r]

Rainbow Cuisine has closed down and have been evicted due to a failure to pay rent. Not sure if it was pandemic related, but it's sure a loss. It was one of the most popular Caribbean restaurants downtown.

Not sure where I'll get my Jamaican patties while in Kitchener now haha...any recommendations would be appreciated if they're vegetable!

[TMKM94]

According to multiple google reviews. Rainbow Cusine got a new owner and the food quality and taste significantly dropped in the last year or so. Some of the reviews are frightening. I haven't been to The Kitchener Farmers market since before the pandemic so I'm not sure the place is still there but I know there was a place that sold different flavours of Jamaican patties, I believe Vegetable was one of the flavours.

[plam]

Rainbow Cuisine has closed down and have been evicted due to a failure to pay rent. Not sure if it was pandemic related, but it's sure a loss. It was one of the most popular Caribbean restaurants downtown.

Not sure where I'll get my Jamaican patties while in Kitchener now haha...any recommendations would be appreciated if they're vegetable!

According to multiple google reviews. Rainbow Cusine got a new owner and the food quality and taste significantly dropped in the last year or so. Some of the reviews are frightening. I haven't been to The Kitchener Farmers market since before the pandemic so I'm not sure the place is still there but I know there was a place that sold different flavours of Jamaican patties, I believe Vegetable was one of the flavours.

That's too bad. I'd only been there once or twice for a patty since 2021.

Here are the worthwhile Jamaican patty options that I know if. There might be more.
* Caribbean Kitchen in the Kitchener market actually has patties that I find to be better than Rainbow, but the hours are lunchtime Tuesday-Saturday; if that works for you, then it's a good option.
* Deyjahs House of Patties (https://www.houseofpatties.com/) was operating at 42 Bridgeport but got evicted. You can still order patties online. I ordered a box once and they have all sorts of options, more than I've ever seen elsewhere.

The ones on campus at the University of Waterloo (EngSoc C&D and math C&D, when that's a thing) are really not that good, but they do stave off starvation.

I tried making some when I was in New Zealand and there was no local supply. They were good but a lot of work!

[tomh009]

Rainbow was sold well before COVID. The new owner had been operating with skeleton staff (and unposted hours!) for the past few years. And, no, they didn't make their own patties. I would check either A to Z (at Water and Victoria) or Beerbaul (at Westheights and Victoria) for frozen patties, it's what Rainbow would have been selling, too, just heated up in a small oven.

And, yes, as plam points out, homemade ones can be far superior but are a LOT of work. This is also why restaurants buy commercially-made frozen patties rather than making them on site. The key is to bake them in an oven (not a microwave!) and give them enough time.

[tomh009]

In addition to the above, Izna Donburi apparently closed about two weeks ago, according to a sign posted on the door. No idea on why they couldn't make a go of it as they generally had a fair number of customers whenever I was there or walked by. However, for sure they had difficulty attracting/retaining staff, as many restaurants do these days.

But I don't think either Rainbow or Izna is really a COVID casualty.

[taylortbb]

I suspect Izna is a victim of that building's issues. They've had their door blocked continuously for the past couple months as the falling bricks are fixed. The same owners also have the Izna noodle place in the University Plaza, and The Bingsu in uptown. So I think it was just closing a less profitable location.

[JoeKW]

We loved Izna Donburi and ordered delivery a number of times through out the pandemic and each time we ordered the quality got noticeably worse. Eventually we stopped ordering; I'm sure we weren't the only ones.

[tomh009]

I suspect Izna is a victim of that building's issues. They've had their door blocked continuously for the past couple months as the falling bricks are fixed. The same owners also have the Izna noodle place in the University Plaza, and The Bingsu in uptown. So I think it was just closing a less profitable location.

The first tenant in the building ... and, alas, the last one, for now, too. I don't know what the owner's strategy is but it sure doesn't look like it's working.

[dtkvictim]

We loved Izna Donburi and ordered delivery a number of times through out the pandemic and each time we ordered the quality got noticeably worse. Eventually we stopped ordering; I'm sure we weren't the only ones.

I went very shortly after they first opened and found the quality bad enough that I, perhaps unfairly, never went back. I also think that stretch of King is a very poor location for restaurants in general, unless the Conestoga students can keep them alive.

The quality of Japanese food in the region is pretty appalling in general though, so they shouldn't have had much competition...

[tomh009]

We loved Izna Donburi and ordered delivery a number of times through out the pandemic and each time we ordered the quality got noticeably worse. Eventually we stopped ordering; I'm sure we weren't the only ones.

I went very shortly after they first opened and found the quality bad enough that I, perhaps unfairly, never went back. I also think that stretch of King is a very poor location for restaurants in general, unless the Conestoga students can keep them alive.

The quality of Japanese food in the region is pretty appalling in general though, so they shouldn't have had much competition...

They really offered something different from the ubiquitous AYCE low-quality sushi, focusing on donburi and other cooked Japanese dishes. Not really authentic, but it was still nice to have (Kinkaku has some such dishes but is AYCE only).

For sushi, I have been meaning to try Enjoy Sushi to see whether their quality is decent (they are not AYCE). I did manage to get some good sushi and sashimi in Tokyo last week though.