Princess Cafe — Restaurant in Waterloo

Let me paint the picture. The sun finally shines in the pale grey skies of Waterloo. The weather is approaching positive temperatures, the melted ice is glistening. What better to pair than a nice refreshing drink? I notice a local spot, the princess cafe, which I’d heard many good things about in the past. To my surprise, only 1 customer was in line in front of me. I was ecstatic and scanned the menu only to be unable to find any cold drink options. So I did the next best thing and took a beverage from the fridge, which was nice and cold, however I’d like to note that no prices on these drinks were advertised. To my disappointment, the customer (who only ordered 2 coffees) took approximately 30 minutes. During which time, the workers continued smiling awkwardly at me to acknowledge the delay in the wait. By the time my turn arrived, there was a line of 10 people populated behind me. The cashier read my total to me and I audibly gasped, $10???? Am I being served gold??? I thought to myself. She turned the till to me and confirmed the amount: 10.14. I hesitantly removed my phone from my pocket to pay. The faint ding of the Apple Pay notification displaying from my phone. I retreated, embarrassed and ashamed that I had spent nearly an hour of wage on this ridiculous drink. Perhaps my bank account is not supportive of my dying will to support local businesses. And here I was, a local customer, one wrong financial decision closer to sadness. In addition, my cognitive capacity took another toll as I sipped the drink, hoping to be taken to the stars by the flavourful taste considering the astronomical amount of money I had just paid. But no, the stars were not aligned in my favor, Mars was in retrograde, as my drink was about room...

Princess. I have loved you so long I’m giving 5 stars. This place was the spot throughout my student years. But after leaving the city for several years and returning, I am sad to see it not as happening as it used to be. I leave this note with love because I want to see this place at its best. The food is still spectacular and I crave those sandwiches on the regular. Space is beautiful. But the rules around co-working space just feel unnecessarily rigid and off putting. All the students are packing places like Midnight Run (amazing spot too) because it’s laptop, wifi, and outlet friendly. It was a disappointment to be paying $25+ for lunch recently and be told I had to move because I had a screen open just to read, while there were only two other people in a place with the capacity of I want to say about 30. Frankly, in a student town, rules like this are shooting yourself in the foot. I understand the tables are not small-party friendly, but there’s a solution for that (different seating arrangement) to prevent 1-2 people from taking up the space of 4. Sitting in the Annex should be a choice, not punishment for making the choice of reading on a screen vs a book, writing on a computer vs a notebook. Hoping management sees this and generously reconsiders. When I come to Princess cafe, I want to feel I am at Princess cafe, not in a sad corner...

I went to the Princess Cafe around 3pm on December 18th 2018 and 3 words I have to describe the place is family, busy and inviting, as it was the kind of place that provided a very family/home feeling. The pros of this place: reasonable prices, as I paid $2.65 plus tax for a large coffee and $5.15 total for a coffee and cookie. There is a good variety on the menu between drinks desserts and food. Even though I did not order the food, I noticed how amazing the sandwiches looked and the amount of people ordering them. Great place to get a good photo as there are two sides to the cafe and one is quite vintage looking and the other more modern so you can get two different types of photos there. The cons: I went to the cafe with the purpose of getting work done and even though they had wifi, at around 3/4 capacity in the place I was getting no connection to the internet, I wasn't able to connect until around 4:30 when the place had died down a bit. This may be a pro for others but as I went to the cafe with the purpose of a good environment to get some work done, most of the tables in the cafe you are not allowed to do work on them from 5-7pm and are purely for eating/spending time with others. Overall I highly recommend this place but if you are looking for good wifi, this place will not work for you...