Kingston Eats
Since I am both “from” Kingston and the editor/publisher of the CheapEats Restaurant Guides, I get asked often where to go in Kingston for good eats cheap.
Since I’m heading down to Podcasters Across Borders in Kingston this weekend, I decided to share this email which I wrote for a friend headed down to Kingston for the weekend. It includes both cheap, and not-so cheap places mostly within walking distance of the waterfront.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these restaurants and any other recommendations you think should be added to the list of where to eat in Kingston.
Where to Eat in Kingston
Casa Domenico – 35 Brock Street
It’s a new find (for me) and not a CheapEat but it’s a place I was delighted to find. Tasty food, good menu and since I was introduced to it by a vinophile, who also happened to run into her friend, a Lifford wine agent selling to the restaurant, the wine list should be pretty solid. Not a CheapEat. www.casadomenico.com
The Pilot House – 265 King Street East
the spot for a pint and fish & chips in K’ton. Enough said. www.pilothousekingston.ca (Not enough for you? Okay, it’s a great little pub which has been around forever, or at least it feels like that. Limited space inside but a big side patio, great beer selection and good food.) www.pilothousekingston.ca
Kingston Brewing Company – 34 Clarence Street
solid brewpub with some interesting specials and a pub atmosphere. Lots of great nooks and crannies with a big open space upstairs. One of my standard places to hit when I’m looking for good, reliable eats w/ beer. The Dragons Breath Real Ale is the brew-house fave a Premium Bitter/ESB. On the edge of being a CheapEat www.kingstonbrewing.ca
Morrison’s – 318 King Street East
another Kingston tradition. It’s a diner and best for breakfast or lunch (IMHO). If you are from Toronto, you might compare it to Fran’s. If you’re from Ottawa think a cross between Mello’s & the Mayflower. A CheapEat.
Rate This Restaurant
Chez Piggy – 68-R (rear) Princess Street
one of “the” Kingston restaurants. It’s tucked away in an old-limestone courtyard and it’s patio seating is lovely on a sunny afternoon. Generally and interesting and flavourful menu. Not a CheapEat. www.chezpiggy.com
CLOSED – The Sleepless Goat – 91 Princess Street – a BoHo co-op cafe with lots of tables, fair-trade coffee and free WIFI. The food is good, and if you’re looking for a place to grab coffee, breakfast or lunch it’s a good spot to hit. A CheapEat www.thesleeplessgoat.ca
Pan Chanco – 44 Princess Street
originally the bakery for Chez Piggy, it has evolved to have a nice little bistro-style restaurant tucked in the back. Great breads that translate into good sandwiches and excellent bread basket with anything you have. Not a CheapEat panchancho.com
CLOSED –Windmills Café – 184 Princess Street – my mom loves this place and they get attention for being a “foodie’s destination”. I’ve never been overly blown away, but the food is good and solid. (I’ve been known to be a little extra snobby about things at this price point.) Not a CheapEat www.windmills-cafe.com
Hoagie House – 384 Division Street
takeout-only but a Kingston Classic. Kind of like a sub but much better. If you are headed this way a Steak Hoagie is the way to go. Unfortunately, the only location left is on Division Street, so it’s a bit of a hike from downtown if you don’t have a car. Totally a CheapEat.
Star Diner – 849 Princess Street
not downtown so a bit far if you don’t have a car, but a nice little diner for breakfast or lunch. A CheapEat.
These are some places with Good Press but I’ve never been.
CLOSED – Lukes – 264 Princess St. – very young chef who started the restaurant at something like 14 (he’s 18 now) with a focus on French cuisine. Not a CheapEat www.lukesgastronomy.com
AquaTerra by Clark – 1 Johnson Street – Clark (no relation) used to run what was often considered the best place to eat in K’ton. Now he runs a place out of hotel. It’s right on the water and has a great view especially at night. I’ve never eaten there but it next on the pile if I don’t just go back to Casa Domenico www.aquaterrabyclark.com [note – since writing the original email, I have been once for lunch. I think it would be better for dinner. Not a CheapEat]
There are also a number of Vietnamese spots sprinkled around downtown. I haven’t been to a bad one… though I haven’t been blown away either. Generally I hit Saigon Delights –272 Bagot Street
If I were heading up and not planning to cook at all, I’d probably hit:
- The Pilot for dinner Friday,
- The Sleepless Goat for a light breakfast Saturday,
- Hoagie House for lunch Saturday and drive down to the water to eat it,
- Casa Domenico for dinner.
- Morrison’s or Star Diner again for Sunday breakfast (or I’d just skip breakfast and go for another Hoagie or hit a Vietnamese place.)
(Note: this may eventually end up posted on either CETOblog.com or CEOTblog.com or some combination of the two, but I’m too hungry to figure that out now.)
Mmmmmmmmm. Can’t wait!
We visit Kingston 4 times each year and faithfully enjoy:
– Pan Chanchos
– Windmills
– Fourno (nice simple thin crust pizza, lots of variety, wine in tumblers, very simple decor!)
We’ve enjoyed lots of leisurely Tea at a huge tea place Princess and Sydenhame but I’m still searching for a great cup of coffee in Kingston that’s on par with Ottawa’s Wild Oat. Any suggestions??
I live in Kingston and eat out frequently. The recommendations in this are generally right on, but here are a few further thoughts…
First, Morrison’s in NOT anywhere near the quality of Fran’s in Toronto. It’s good, and it’s cheap, but Fran’s it is not.
Secondly, the Star Diner has been under new management for a while and is now open for dinner till 8, not just breaky and lunch. My wife has eaten there and says it’s great (so does Greg Burliuk, the Kingston Whig-Standard restaurant reviewer).
If you’re looking for a quality restaurant, in addition to Casa Dominica, for Italian try Frankie Pesto’s or, if you’re feeling a bit wealthier, the River Mill is excellent choice.
Finally, one of the best kept secrets in Kingston for Viet Namese/Thai food is Golden Viet Thai on Wellington Street downtown. The food is excellent and consistent, and if you go, you absolutley MUST have the hot and sour soup appetizer. It is nothing like the gelatinous dishwater from most Chinese restaurants – the flavours in this soup will blow your mind (and your tastebuds)!
We live in Kingston, too. We mostly eat take-out these days, because the kidlets (6 and 2) tend to be crazy-making in restaurants, and we’ve had a lot of success with Jade Garden for Chinese, Sapporo for Japanese, and Mino’s Take Out for Greek. The Mino’s portions are huge, and come with bread and salad besides, so we need order very few meals to sufficiently suffonsify the lot of us (four), and we always have leftovers. The quality has gone down in recent years, however, and the food tends to be overly salted. Sapporo is pricey but sooooo yummy, and Jade Garden is usually excellent, and very moderately priced. We like the owners at Jade Garden. They have a kid the same age as our youngest, and allow the kids to play a bit in the restaurant (they keep toys there), and they have done lovely things like gift our kids with gigantic apples as we’re on our way out.
I have heard good things about a new sushi restaurant at the front of the Frontenac Mall on Bath Road (the name escapes me at the moment, sorry). The location is notorious for killing restaurants quickly, but this place seems to be hanging in there.
There are actually TWO Hoagie Houses left!
You’ve pegged the one most visitors to Kingston would be able to reasonably show up at, but we do have a second.
It’s located at 708 Front Road, w-a-a-a-y out near the airport. It’s my usual stop when I’m looking for a Hoagie – can only think of one visit to the downtown location in the past 5+years.
I have to disagree with the Golden Viet Thai Restaurant.
I recently moved here from Ottawa (a city with a great assortment of Thai restaurants). My spouse and I had been looking for a great location here for Pad Thai. We checked out the Golden Viet Thai Restaurant.
I have never returned a meal until I ate here. The Pad Thai was swimming in a bloody beef broth-ish soup. It had long boiled white cooking onions mixed in with the undercooked noodles. I tried to stomach it and soldier as they say, but I couldn’t.
Pad Thai should have a smooth peanut sauce with a bit of spice to it, finely sliced green onions, some egg, shrimp or chicken, tender noodles and some bean sprouts.
The only place that comes close to a acceptable Pad Thai is Mango’s.
Mmmmmmmmm. Can’t wait!
We visit Kingston 4 times each year and faithfully enjoy:
– Pan Chanchos
– Windmills
– Fourno (nice simple thin crust pizza, lots of variety, wine in tumblers, very simple decor!)
We’ve enjoyed lots of leisurely Tea at a huge tea place Princess and
Sydenhame but I’m still searching for a great cup of coffee in Kingston
that’s on par with Ottawa’s Wild Oat. Any suggestions??
I live in Kingston and eat out frequently. The recommendations in this
are generally right on, but here are a few further thoughts…
First, Morrison’s in NOT anywhere near the quality of Fran’s in Toronto. It’s good, and it’s cheap, but Fran’s it is not.
Secondly, the Star Diner has been under new management for a while and
is now open for dinner till 8, not just breaky and lunch. My wife has
eaten there and says it’s great (so does Greg Burliuk, the Kingston
Whig-Standard restaurant reviewer).
If you’re looking for a quality restaurant, in addition to Casa
Dominica, for Italian try Frankie Pesto’s or, if you’re feeling a bit
wealthier, the River Mill is excellent choice.
Finally, one of the best kept secrets in Kingston for Viet Namese/Thai
food is Golden Viet Thai on Wellington Street downtown. The food is
excellent and consistent, and if you go, you absolutley MUST have the
hot and sour soup appetizer. It is nothing like the gelatinous
dishwater from most Chinese restaurants – the flavours in this soup will
blow your mind (and your tastebuds)!
We live in Kingston, too. We mostly eat take-out these days, because
the kidlets (6 and 2) tend to be crazy-making in restaurants, and we’ve
had a lot of success with Jade Garden for Chinese, Sapporo for Japanese,
and Mino’s Take Out for Greek. The Mino’s portions are huge, and come
with bread and salad besides, so we need order very few meals to
sufficiently suffonsify the lot of us (four), and we always have
leftovers. The quality has gone down in recent years, however, and the
food tends to be overly salted. Sapporo is pricey but sooooo yummy, and
Jade Garden is usually excellent, and very moderately priced. We like
the owners at Jade Garden. They have a kid the same age as our youngest,
and allow the kids to play a bit in the restaurant (they keep toys
there), and they have done lovely things like gift our kids with
gigantic apples as we’re on our way out.
I have heard good things about a new sushi restaurant at the front of
the Frontenac Mall on Bath Road (the name escapes me at the moment,
sorry). The location is notorious for killing restaurants quickly, but
this place seems to be hanging in there.
There are actually TWO Hoagie Houses left!
You’ve pegged the one most visitors to Kingston would be able to reasonably show up at, but we do have a second.
It’s located at 708 Front Road, w-a-a-a-y out near the airport. It’s my
usual stop when I’m looking for a Hoagie – can only think of one visit
to the downtown location in the past 5+years.
I have to disagree with the Golden Viet Thai Restaurant.
I recently moved here from Ottawa (a city with a great assortment of
Thai restaurants). My spouse and I had been looking for a great location
here for Pad Thai. We checked out the Golden Viet Thai Restaurant.
I have never returned a meal until I ate here. The Pad Thai was
swimming in a bloody beef broth-ish soup. It had long boiled white
cooking onions mixed in with the undercooked noodles. I tried to stomach
it and soldier as they say, but I couldn’t.
Pad Thai should have a smooth peanut sauce with a bit of spice to it,
finely sliced green onions, some egg, shrimp or chicken, tender noodles
and some bean sprouts.
The only place that comes close to a acceptable Pad Thai is Mango’s.
Would love to hear your recommendations for any restaurants in Kingston that are must tries.
My evesdropping over lunch today caused me to write this link on a piece of paper and hand it over to a group talking about “good places to eat in Kingston” and I was dishearted to hear “Jack Astors, Milestones, Greco’s” Not that they aren’t fine, but they aren’t Kingston local restaurants and with some many great places to eat in town, I’d love to see people break away from the non-local chains when visiting new cities and towns.
So what is your favourite local Kingston restaurant?
note: this comment had to be manually transferred due to a hiccup so the date stamp is wrong. Sorry @Drew
@Tommy Vallier note: your comment had to be manually transferred due to a hiccup so the date stamp is wrong. Sorry Tommy.
@Liana Finucan note: your comment had to be manually transferred due to a hiccup so the date stamp is wrong. Sorry Liana
@Dave note: your comment had to be manually transferred due to a hiccup so the date stamp is wrong. Sorry Dave
Mmmmmmmmm. Can’t wait!
We visit Kingston 4 times each year and faithfully enjoy:
– Pan Chanchos
– Windmills
– Fourno (nice simple thin crust pizza, lots of variety, wine in tumblers, very simple decor!)
We’ve enjoyed lots of leisurely Tea at a huge tea place Princess and
Sydenhame but I’m still searching for a great cup of coffee in Kingston
that’s on par with Ottawa’s Wild Oat. Any suggestions??
@Andrea Ross note: your comment had to be manually transferred due to a hiccup so the date stamp is wrong. Sorry
So many to choose from. Shall I list the ones I worked at first?!?
Only if they are still good after you left them.
AlexaClark Hands down the best food in Kingston is a little whole in the wall, next to the strip club, called wok-in. To this day I still dream about #13. Absolutely delicious and made with love! And in case I forgot to mention super cheap!
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