For my mum’s birthday at the end of June, my dad took us all out to the very confusingly named King Street Trio on University in Waterloo. It’s been a favourite of my parents’ for years, actually since before it moved from King Street. It’s probably good that they changed the name in the way they did as University Avenue Trio sounds unwieldy at best.
I believe this was my fourth visit. I went for their weekend brunch with my immediate family shortly after it moved to University. Amy and I went on my former employer’s dime after working overnight for two days straight. A good friend of mine from college was married in Central America a few years ago and they held their reception at the restaurant shortly after their return.
Depending on when one is at the restaurant (particularly Friday and Saturday evenings), they have either a jazz pianist or trio (thus the name). Other times the ambiance is semi-formal (I saw people there with jeans but I don’t think I’d go in less than khakis and a collared shirt). The wait staff are very friendly and fairly attentive, though the kitchen did mess up the ordering of our order.
We weren’t really hungry enough for the main dishes (primarily meat based, lots of options, between about $18 and $35) so we decided to split a handful of appetizers. We tried the calamari, black bean & corn fritters, soup-of-the-day (cream of potato with bacon) and a sort of filo-wrapped brie on a lettuce bed. These were between $6 and $10. The soup was really excellent (though Amy has made better at home) and the baked brie was a whole lot of cheese. It was very tasty but it’s better suited for splitting between a group. The appetizers are also very filling. It would be pretty reasonable to eat an appetizer as a whole meal (particularly as the bread brought out at first is very filling and very good. It contains olives and they provide olive oil with spices to dip it). I wouldn’t order the corn/bean fritters again. I found them very dry and they held a tonne of heat so they were hard to eat. The calamari would have been better had it been the only thing I was eating. It was good but I was terribly full by the time I got to it.
The price and environment give King Street Trio a very special-event sort of restaurant. I don’t think I would put it in my regular rotation if we still lived in Waterloo.