Fireside Deli & Family Restaurant

Fireside Deli & Family Restaurant

800 Ottawa St. S.,
Kitchener, Ontario
519-581-1200


When a door closes, a window opens. With the arrival of Baby Martini, our chance to dine out has been limited. On the other hand, we've been wanting to visit the Fireside Restaurant for a while. Now with a kid of our own, we seem to fit in better in this family restaurant.

We went there around noon on Sunday. The lineup was intimidating -- the tiny reception area was packed shoulder to shoulder, and the line went out the door. Luckily the line moved fast; they seem to have worked out a formula to have a high table turnover rate.

While being seated, we were offered either a high chair or booster seat. By the way, they use Bumbo seats as the high chair. So cute yet so practical. Since this was our first visit, we asked for both breakfast and lunch menus.

We ordered the following items plus drinks:

Pork souvlaki, with rice, french fries, salad and tzatziki sauce.


Fireside's classic burger with additional bacons, served with french fries


Chicken tenders kids meal


We couldn't close our jaws when the food arrived. The portions were HUMONGOUS. I was so full after having the burger alone. TripleQ had less than half of his pork souvlaki. Then all three of us managed to finish the chicken tenders. That was it! We packed the rest and it became our lunch the next day. I don't remember when was the last time I had so many fries at once.

Most of the food was overcooked, but not terribly so. My favorite was the burger. Meaty patty with lettuce, red onions and tomatoes served on grilled bun. A very satisfying experience. The chicken tender dish is also worth mentioning. Although the batter was quite thick and it seemed to be refried (some parts were really overcooked), at least it was made of real chicken meat; unlike the chicken fingers/nuggets normally served in kids meals which are made of ground up and reconsituted meat with filler.  The souvlaki meat was pretty dry, but the typical sides of rice, salad and fries were very generous and well done.

We can totally see ourselves arranging family get-togethers at the Fireside Restaurant, just like many others.  It’s really a fantastic, friendly and down to earth family diner and the long lines and crowds reflect it.  When you do go, it's better to makes reservations since we saw several big groups having to wait (much) longer than we did.