The "J" Page
Last updated: 2000.8.31
Jade Dragon Restaurant
Visited: Sunday, December 5, 7-8:30pm.
David:
Jade Dragon, occupying a corner spot in the Pioneer Plaza strip
mall, is a perfectly pleasant, reasonably priced restaurant serving decent
Chinese food. (Although you have to ask for chopsticks, their menu does
offer more than the typical chicken balls in transmission fluid
schlock).
Beyond that, there's nothing much to say. None of the dishes stuck
out as being particularly good or particularly bad. If I lived in the
area, I'd probably go again because it was close. As it is, living in
Waterloo, I've no compelling reason to return.
Dennis:
On a dark and rainy night this restaurant was a bit
hard to spot. From the main entrance drive straight
to the back of the large and rather empty Pioneer Park Mall.
The Jade Dragon is an end unit which gives it the advantage
of lots of window space. Seats about 40. The decor is
rather charming. The kind that whispers chinese restaurant,
rather than shouting it.
They're open every day except Monday. Their menu offers
Cantonese and Szechuan style dishes (with a few Canadian items
tossed in to appease the typical mall eater).
I had great hopes for the food, having spotted 7 or 8
dishes that offered squid as an ingredient. The one our
group selected was Shee Gyp Squid (tender fresh squid
blended with garlic, black bean and oyster sauce). What
we got was chewy squid buried in sauce and greens.
Not the worst I've had, but nowhere near the best.
The spicy shrimp dish was rated the best of the lot. Most
of the vegetable dishes seemed to specialize in one
variety of vegetable. However, this could have been a
case of running low on supplies, since it was Sunday night
and they don't reopen until Tuesday.
Our meal cost the 5 of us (Jonathan, Nora, Annette, David
and myself) $60 with tax and tip.
This is a middle of the pack restaurant. The food wasn't
bad, but neither was it inspired.
J C Diner
684 King Street West, Kitchener. 578-1935
Visited: September 10, 1999, 6:00pm
:
J D's Eatery
Visited: August 6, 1999
:
Jack Astor's Bar & Grill
Visited: September 1, 1999
:
Janet Lynn's Bistro
Visited: September 18, 1999
:
Jean's Hamburger
Frederick Street Mall, Kitchener, 742-6782.
Visited: Thursday, August 19, 1999, 5:30pm.
Summer/2000 update:
May 31/2000 was the last day for Jean's Hamburgers
under the ownership of Nick. After 3 years of
running the place, he's sold it and plans on trying
is hand at a non-food enterprise.
July/2000 saw Delites by Zeb in action. The
interior has been made over and an ice cream area
has been added. For the time being, they have no evening
hours.
:
Jia Jia Lok Chinese Restaurant
255 King Street North, Waterloo, 888-9926.
Visited: Saturday, October 16, 1999, 6pm.
:
Jimmy's Lunch
Visited: Saturday, November 27, 1999, noon.
Dennis:
From the look of the place, Jimmy's Lunch and it's staff
have been around since the coal yard across the way was
a going concern. The coal yard has long since disappeared.
Jimmy's Lunch remains, an artifact out of the time warp.
Nora, Annette, David and Dennis made this outing for
the club and were pleasantly surprised. See David's review
for more details.
For a meal in the $4-6 range with a 1940's/1950's/1960's feel,
Jimmy's Lunch is the place to go.
David:
Jimmy's Lunch is obviously an institution along the lines of the
Harmony Lunch. It's quite clearly been
there forever, it's a neighbourhood hangout, and the food is pretty good.
The first thing that you notice when you go into Jimmy's is that
it has character. By that I mean it completely lacks the
planned and lifeless atmosphere of your typical strip mall eatery.
I believe that Jimmy's was accumulated rather than built.
The first hint is the presence of five, count 'em, five, OPEN
signs in the window. Some are faded and tattered, and others newer,
but you know Jimmy's is open for business! (Nobody goes out and
deliberately buys five OPEN signs, you just accumulate them).
Only one of the two pop machines at the entrance works, but rather
than fix or remove the first, you just put a sign on it telling
customers to use the second one. The calender behind the counter
of what used to be (still is?) a convenience store section is
stuck at 1989. It has one of those windows behind which a clerk
doles out the goods you request from the shelves. We didn't see anyone
actually buy anything, but they seemed to specialize in Clorex bleach,
tins of tuna, large cans of cooking oil, and cutting keys. This is
character! (Too bad Jonathan wasn't with us that day - I would have been
fascinated by an archaeologist's perspective on the place.)
The staff were well suited, none of them appeared to be under
seventy years of age. They were friendly and competent, but it
was hard to tell just how many of them were actually working there.
I guessed at five. However, that number could be thrown off by
the presence of regular customers who walked in, greeted some of
the staff by name, and helped themselves to food and drink from
behind the counter. That's a neighbourhood place! After we sat
down, one of the staff rang out, "Just make a noise when ya wanna
order, eh?" The menu is scattered amongst boards mounted on the wall,
surrounded by cartoon characters popular in the 50s and 60s.
The food was filling, cheap, and good. Our bill for four was
$25. Nora had a Western sandwich that was the equal of the best
that she'd ever had. She noted that there was just enough egg to
hold the ham and onion together. The french fries, although not
home made, were perfectly done - golden brown without a trace
of grease (I guess miracles do happen!). Annette's hamburger was
very nice, not perhaps a Sonny's burger (assuming you like Sonny's),
but close. The only disappointments were Dennis' fish and chips
and my hot hamburger sandwich. The fish was standard industrial fish.
My hot hamburger was far from bad, but it wasn't great by any
means. The best part of my meal was the milkshake. Not only did
it taste good, but they brought it to the table in the metal
mixing cup! A few retro nouveau (to coin a phrase) places do that
now, but very few still do it with the authenticity of Jimmy's.
Next time (and there will be a next time), I'm having the Western
sandwich.
Joey's Only Seafood Restaurants
Visited: September 24, 1999
:
Jolene's Family Restaurant
725 Ottawa St South (plaza near Strasburg), Kitchener, 578-6080.
Visited: Thursday, November 19, 1999, 7pm.
:
Jonathan's Family Restaurant & Bar
Visited: October 1, 1999
:
Jose's Noodle Factory
Visited: October 7, 1999
:
Jovana's Terrace Restaurant
Visited: October 29, 1999.
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