Patios popping up in uptown Waterloo
Dominion Lane launch sees return of al fresco dining, street art and expanded seating areas
With commodity prices skyrocketing, labour shortages still hindering the hospitality industry and daytime traffic in city cores not yet back, local restaurants are hoping for a much-needed leg up this season following two years of pandemic restrictions.
“Having an outdoor patio is big for everybody,” said Kypp Saunders, part-owner of the Babylon Sisters wine bar, one of four restaurants fronting on King and Erb streets that will serve diners out back on Dominion Lane again, thanks to a renewed partnership with the city and the Uptown Waterloo BIA.
The laneway patio launch party takes place this Saturday at dinnertime, Saunders said, with DJ Nana on the decks at 8 p.m.
“We’ll stay open as long as there are people here,” said Saunders, who primarily caters to the evening crowd, but may consider opening during the daytime this summer.
Because Babylon Sisters just opened last September, it plans to take a wait-and-see approach. Like most restaurant owners, Saunders says evening business has been extremely sporadic so far this spring.
“Why not enjoy a nice wine flat on Sunday afternoon? We’d love to do that,” he said.
“It’s going to be the type of thing, ‘Waterloo, you tell us.’ ”
Taco Farm owner Nick Benninger said “the bounceback” hasn’t been as strong as he’d hoped after pandemic restrictions on indoor dining lifted earlier this year. With the restaurant still closed for lunch two days a week, Benninger is also planning some “late-night activations” to help spur patronage.
He welcomes the return of expanded patios. People want to eat outdoors during the summer and some still aren’t ready to dine inside with others. “For us, to be able to participate in that market is really helpful,” Benninger said.
Other participating business, including Champa Kitchen and S&V Uptown, have worked together to transform the laneway into an avenue for al fresco dining, helping with power-washing and general cleanup to make the space more attractive for guests.
There’s seating cordoned off for about 150 people, according to BIA executive director Tracy Van Kalsbeek, who said the process to close the laneway to cars requires buy-in from 75 per cent of nearby property owners. Garbage collection has shifted to King Street.
Each restaurant pays a portion of the cost for the lighting that’s strung with streamers overhead, a relatively small expense for the business they bring in.
Champa Kitchen owner Tim Goodwin said being able to serve people outside last July was an unexpected but pleasant surprise for him and his wife, after having opened the restaurant — their first — just a month prior.
The patio was filled with diners at times and helped the new business navigate capacity limits indoors, Goodwin said.
He’s now considering buying better patio furniture, as the outdoor concept promises to be an annual attraction.
While last year’s patio was more in response to the pandemic, this year is about providing more of an experience, said Van Kalsbeek.
The BIA built planters to help beautify the space in 2021 and businesses are continuing to maintain them.
Dominion Lane is also a continuation of the Hughes Lane Art Walk that took inspiration from Vancouver’s “Canvas Corridor,” where the back doors of businesses are painted with murals.
Van Kalsbeek said there’s more in the works this year on nearby Princess Street West, which is again being closed to cars at Dorset Street, with pedestrian-only access outside the Loloan Lobby Bar.
Street art and seating areas are being enhanced and the road closure will be extended to a portion of Princess Street East, providing more patio space for the Prohibition Warehouse, which isn’t able to expand to the former post office site this year due to construction.
“We’ll have lights strung up on Princess with fuse lights relocated outside the old Carnegie library and new banners soon coming on King as well as some side streets,” Van Kalsbeek said.
Other plans include a Thursday night market in partnership with the Waterloo Public Library. There will be children’s entertainment, musicians and comedy acts throughout the summer.
“There’s a lot of really great connections and collaborations going on,” said Van Kalsbeek, who also urges people to visit the many patios returning to King Street, including a newly expanded space outside Kentucky Bourbon and BBQ.
There are about 50 patios in the uptown alone. A map can be found at uptownwaterloobia.com.