I used to have extensive reviews here, but I spend a lot of time away from K-W these days, and tend to do my eating out then. If you have any recommendations, please drop me a line.
Food in Kitchener-Waterloo is slowly but steadily improving, fuelled by a great local economy and high levels of immigration, bringing new cuisines to town for the first time and sustaining those that manage to find an audience. It's still pretty grim, but not bad for a town this size so close to a major metropolis (Toronto). Recommended: Public Kitchen and Bar, Taco Farm, Ken Sushi, Ethel's Lounge (for Monday burger special), Uptown 21 (for special events and brownbag lunches), Muya Restaurant, Cameron (for dim sum only), Ellison's Bistro, Masala Bay, Gol's Lanzhou Noodle, Yummy Chongqing.
Mostly, I eat out in Kitchener-Waterloo when I haven't got the time or energy to cook. More than half the times I think I haven't got the energy to cook, I contemplate eating out, I run over the possibilities in my mind, and then I get up and cook a meal. You, too, can make a better meal out of a few ingredients bought locally than you can get in the average or even above-average K-W restaurant. For the amount of money you pay for the simplest meal of sludge, you can buy a great cookbook and teach yourself to cook.
If you're planning on opening your own restaurant, we really could use a decent falafel stand, real Mexican (or even proper Tex-Mex), Jamaican, proper tapas, Korean that isn't cheap slop for students, or real Thai.