King's Street Trio on University

King Street Trio on University (Closed)
65 University Ave. East
Waterloo, Ontario N2J 2V9

King's Street Trio is "the" restaurant which inspired me to start my gourmet adventure. Before I "took off", it used to be the only restaurant I would go when I wanted something GOOD. It has been such a long time that I can almost say that I've been thru their ups and downs with them. On the bad days, I've had bread which might make a sound if it dropped on the ground. Or canned/cocktail fruit as the side dish of my sirloin. Or steak which seemed to be smaller than my last visit. All of the above happened before they moved to their current location (65 University E.). I find that the quality of the food/service stabilized after they moved.

Now let's talk about the reasons which kept me going back to this restaurant.
Reason #1: Live Jazz performance, especially the original King's Street Trio. (Sorry I can't recall the name of the lead) Back then, there weren't many places with decent live jazz performance.
Reason #2: Steak. Certified Angus beef. My favorite is their prime rib, which is only available on Fridays and Saturday evenings. I don't know why I have this feeling. Compare with prime ribs done by King Street Trio, the ones offered by Charcoal and Ali Baba are more "macho", bigger portion and smokier. King's Street Trio's rib, to me, can be described as a well-groomed gentleman (not necessarily in a suit but well-dressed). I like prime ribs from all those restaurants. They are just different.
Reason #3: Dessert. My favorite dessert at King's Street Trio used to be the cappuccino cheesecake. I did have some ok slices but in general it was nicely done. After they moved to University Ave., I ordered the same cake once but it was presented in a different way (it tasted different as well) so I never ordered again. Being a creme brulee/creme caramel maniac, I ordered their creme caramel quite a lot. It is nice, very refreshing and creamy.

It is hard to express how I feel about King's Street Trio in just one review. I haven't been back for a while ('cause there are so many other restaurants to try!). Even so, it is still more or less a bench mark for me when it comes to compare fine dining restaurants. I just checked their online menu. They now have lamb loin. Maybe I'll try that next time I visit.