The tapas were all served hot and fresh and what is most memorable are the scallops and green beans. Don't let the street setting fool you, Public serves up quality dishes. read more

There was such hype around this place when we went and weren't too impressed. For the price I was expecting more and the food wasn't even that great. We ordered 4 dishes. I wouldn't go back. read more

The food is excellent, and the service is excellent. It is basically like eating a variety of tapas for dinner. It is more expensive than your typical restaurant, but well worth it for the quality of the cuisine. They know how to pair wine (I mean really pair it...not from a chart or book but someone there knows what goes with their unique meals. someone must taste them and has enough knowledge to actually pair the food) They are the definition of "fine dining." Unique meals you don't find anywhere else. Only drawback: Its on Lancaster Dr. in Kitchener. Its a kind of run down area..and pretty shady after dark. The only other point...call ahead. They book up far ahead at certain times. (Friday evenings, etc.) Like way ahead..a couple weeks is safe. read more

My sister randomly selected Public Kitchen and Bar for Father's Day dinner with my family this year. How could such a random selection lead to such a perfect meal? I've since been one more time, but would love to arrange all occasions I celebrate in Kitchener here. It is sooo good. Both times I went were on Sundays where they do a four course family style set menu. It is $35 a person and basically all you can eat. The meal starts with a surprise amuse bouche. For Father's Day, it was a huge, perfectly cooked shrimp with a home-made seafood sauce and micro greens. This was followed by a big bowl of salad and a plate of warm, chewy fresh baked focaccia (my favourite part of the meal). Next was a platter of chicken and ribs with sides of roasted potatoes and vegetables. The roasted vegetables were anything but ordinary - among others, beets, zucchinis, cabbage, heirloom carrots, that were perfectly cooked and seasoned. After we ate the full platter of meat, the server came around to ask us if we wanted more. We asked for one serving of ribs and he ended up bringing out an order of chicken too. Dessert was an icecream Sunday with chocolate sauce, peanuts and fresh berries. At my second visit, the amuse was a tart filled with a creamy mussel filling. It was interesting, but probably best left as a tiny amuse (I probably wouldn't have eaten a second). This meal came with a similar salad, bread, potatoes and those amazing roasted vegetables. The main this time was fried chicken with sausage gravy. The fried chicken was better than most barbeque places that specialize in fried chicken! The gravy was thick and flavourful with the odd chunk of sausage. Crème brulee for dessert was perfect. Disclaimer - when you walk in, this place looks like a total hipster hangout. Vintage furniture, bearded servers and a mix of clientele. However, both times the servers were friendly and genuinely excited about the food and the night's menu. The location is a bit odd, in a small plaza on Lancaster. However this place is definitely worth checking out. read more

This restaurant was the substitute choice for my partner's bday, and I'm so glad we ended up there!!! The service is excellent, the food exciting and delicious, as well the space being a lovely spot to spend time with friends. Good beer and wine selections too. I was there on tapas & oyster night and we really enjoyed the oysters. I don't believe that they serve espresso though... Not entirely sure. read more

I had a reservation for 8:00 and waited 30 minutes to be seated. I walked out after the 30 minutes. Very little communication and why we were not being given our table for when we reserved it. Very dissapointed. read more

The food was flavourful and presented beautifully. The cocktail special that night (French Connection) was delicious. Service was on point, too - genuine and attentive. read more

Friendly staff, small food portions and not a very great variety of menu items. It was actually pretty hard for me to find something I wanted to eat, and felt the price justified the meal. read more

Perhaps my review is influenced by the very high expectations I had for this place, or perhaps we just didn't order the right dishes, but overall it was disappointing. We read the previous reviews which were all glowing but warned against expecting much in the way of décor, but the narrow corridor we were seated in was distracting for whomever was seated against the wall because of the constant traffic from clients and wait staff. Other seats in the place were better but it was busy so we had to take what we got (we probably should have just moved our seats to the adjacent side of the table). The wait staff was very attentive and very knowledgeable about the menu so we were pleased with that aspect of our experience. She brought additional toasted bread to eat with the duck pate and was responsive to requests for additional mustard. That being said, based on the food being left behind it was pretty clear we were not enjoying some of the plates but the waitress did not really ask us at any point if we were enjoying the dishes or offer any substitutes. We ordered 6 dishes, of which 2 were very good, two were good, and two were pretty disappointing. The wine we ordered (Tempranillo) was very good and the King Street Station beer from St. Jacobs was also nice - so things started out well. The oysters we started out with were very good. We ordered 6 oytsers so they brought two of each kind (they were Atlantic oysters but I don't recall the names of them). They were accompanied by a chipotle hot sauce, horseradish, a vinegrette type of sauce with onion and small diced tomato, and a lemon. We like our oysters well garnished so we put a little of everything on them and they were delicious. So between the wine, beer and oysters we were out to a good start from a food perspective. The next thing that came was the duck pate. It came with pickles, pickled beats, Oktoberfest mustard, some sort of balsamic raspberry oil, some arugala, and some crusty bread crackers. The combination was nice and the flavors all worked well together. It was pretty good. Next came the special of the day which was a tuna carpaccio taco with pickled cabbaged and red onion and some sauce. The flavor of the dish was really nice - spicy and tangy and just the right balance of flavors. However, it was a very juicy dish and the liquid soaked the soft-shell such that it pretty much fell apart in your hands. so it was pretty messy, but no complaints about the taste. The next dish was the carmelized eggplant and deep fried onions with some other stuff (can't remember). My colleague had recommended it earlier in the week, but neither myself or my wife particularly enjoyed it. It comes with four pieces and we ended leaving two of them. the flavor was just flat and the combination didn't do much for us. The next was the arugala salad with goat cheese and bacon. It was good and there was a decent portion. Can't say there were any surprises in the taste but, OK, it came with what was advertised. The final dish was the crustini hambon (or something like that) and it was all but inedible. I don't recall everything that was on the cracker but there was this mystery brown stuff that didn't look terribly appealing and tasted less appealing. We each had one bite and left the other 3 items untouched. It was a little disappointing that the wait staff did not pick up on the left over food and ask if we didn't enjoy it. However, we didn't want to end on a bad note so we ordered two more oysters to cleanse our palate. They were both very good. We spent about 2 hours and $200 on the dinner. On some notes it was very good, but overall it was not the 4.5 star Yelp experience I was hoping for. For the price, I can't honestly say I will be going back again any time soon. read more

What a great place for dinner. Love the food. Never tried tapas before but will definitely be back here. Great service and food was awesome. read more

Came here for a late dinner on Friday evening, it's a small, cozy restaurant. Between the three of us, we had 1/2 dozen oysters, escargot fricassee, foie gras, crostini with prosciutto, sausage and apple slaw. The food was amazing! Everything came in portions suitable for sharing, and it was just enough food for us. I also had a cocktail with tequila and egg white brulee foam...it was interesting. Service was excellent, our water glasses were always full. Great experience, though on the pricey side. Will definitely be back! Best tapas in KW! read more

Ate here last night. Food was excellent, service was great and it was reasonably priced for how much we got. Highly recommend.

My boyfriend took me here for my birthday. We had been here once a year ago and loved it but for some reason hadn't been back. The service was great and quick. The food came out at just the right time and overall it was delicious! We ordered 4 tapas - the southern fried quail (nice and lemony), the goat arugula salad (good not amazing) the potatas Braves (very good but could have had more sauce - I'm a sauce gal) and the eggplant crostini (very delish) and it really was the perfect amount (or probably a bit much but it was a special occasion). And since it was a birthday we had to have dessert: crime brûlée! Super duper delish!!!!! I'll go again for sure :) read more

I in town from the OKANAGAN and I found this gem of a great tapas bar on the Yelp app,don't miss this place

This is hands down one of our favourite places to go in KW. We were big fans of the old location and are excited for Public that they've been able to expand and move to their new location. Last time we went, we decided to have the kitchen pick all our dishes and it was exciting every time a dish came to the table, and then the best part was we got to eat it. If you enjoy great elevated food dishes that you can share with others, you should check out this place. read more

One of those places where everything is pretty much perfect. The server was attentive without pestering, every dish was better than the last - small dishes that pack a huge punch of flavour, and the atmosphere is classy and unpretentious while still being a 'special occasion' kind of place. Can't wait to go back. read more

Having just been to Spain, we tried MPC to fight tapas withdrawal. It certainly worked in that regard - the food was outstanding and service (obviously) much better than Europe! Thank goodness the prices weren't in Euros, though. For the location, portions and vibe of this place, I think they should consider including some better value items on the menu. read more

The meal was great. The price for it was to much.Service was the best. Most customers are just wannabe foodies. Glad I went but once is enough. read more

Love the new location and comfy chairs! Incredible food with great service. Hands down KW gem. One of top restaurants in town. Shared the salmon (always good) eggplant, grilled sourdough,broccoli and beets. More than enough food for two. Cocktails are always on point. read more

Food is good ... white wines are mediocre at best ... reds much better ... avoid rear of restaurant ... too bright one side ( no dimmer switch, they unscrew light bulbs to dim it ) ...too dark other side ...then stupid kitchen curtain. Too many hard surfaces, inexpensive speakers and too loud music makes talking or hearing even worse. read more

A whole new meaning to dine and dash! Our reservation was for 6pm and we arrived promptly. Our group ordered and we were enjoying the food and company until the server let us know before 7:30 that the table was booked again at 8 so we would need to finish soon as reservations had a limit of 1 1/2 to 2 hours maximum. As we were eating dessert, she brought our bill (a clear sign that we were finished ordering) and asked how we would like to pay. We were rushed out and found ourselves standing outside by 7:55p.m. We booked two months in advance to be pushed to eat and leave. While the food was good, the experience was unacceptable and insulting and we will not be returning. read more

Fantastic food. Great small portions that allow trying of large portions of the menu! The foie gras and scallops were particularly good!

Great tapas and a very friendly efficient staff. Desserts are not quite at the same level of quality as the other things on the menu. Come early if you want oysters as they do occasionally sell out. read more

Tastiest food in the kw region! Worth every penny. Great service and atmosphere, stop reading this review and go have some of their food! Yum! read more

All I heard for the last 12 months is how good Public is. We finally got the time to go and were very dissapointed. It did not live up to the hype. I was especially excited for the steak tartar and the dish just tasted like strong mustard (and I love mustard). A few dishes were also excessivly salty. Not sure if we just hit an off week, but we wont be returning anytime soon. read more

Public Kitchen provided us with a very pleasant dining experience. We shared 6 tapas (warmed olives, crab and shrimp melt, patatas bravas, confit pork ribs, roasted cauliflower salad, and the scallops), and a dessert (fresh doughnuts). Our favourite plate was the crab and shrimp melt - it was perfectly balanced, light and flavourful. The ribs were incredibly tender, but the chimichurri sauce it came with didn't really add anything. The dessert was fantastic, just enough after the meal. We had two cocktails, the Lillet Hound and Basil Lemonade. Both were very tasty. We also had coffee after dessert; it was definitely the worst part of the meal - incredibly underwhelming, bland and obviously not fresh. It was a pretty disappointing end to an otherwise wonderful dinner. Like others have mentioned, it is not an inexpensive way to have a nice dinner, but it is definitely a fantastic way to try a sampling of wonderful foods in a very pleasant, hip atmosphere. read more

If you've searched Public Kitchen & Bar you'll find the reviews are glowing. I received such a review from my next door neighbour who proclaimed it her new favourite restaurant. Made a reservation for 6 and I think that was the problem. The tables were empty except for a couple of tables of stragglers who had finished eating. Nonetheless people were being turned away at the door as every other table had been reserved. We asked how to order and were told to choose four items. The special that night was chicken wings. I'm not a wing guy but given all the raving decided to try one of the three types offered. It was the first to arrive and was indeed delicious. While we were still eating the wings the second dish arrived. Strange. I thought this was a tapas kind of place wherein you order a bunch of dishes, never know what's coming next but do know that the pace is leisurely so you can enjoy that what has been placed in front of you. We hadn't even finished the wings when the third dish also arrived. We had three hot dishes on the table at the same time! The fourth came as we were starting the third. I've been to enough restaurants to know they were trying to flip the table and we had come early enough to allow them to do that, that is providing we ate quickly and got the heck out. Even paying the bill was perfunctory. Elapsed time from being seated to being out the door was about half an hour. Normally I care not for ambience or service because I'm there for the food but this was so off-putting an experience that in their zeal for one more seating they've lost what likely would have been multiple seatings from us. Yes the food is good and for that reason their future is assured. Hope you have a better experience. read more