Williams Fresh Cafe — Restaurant in Waterloo

Very good atmosphere; perfect place to hang out with friends or do some work. Here, they serve coffee, desserts, soup/sandwiches, and more. It can get pretty full during peak hours, but you'll usually find lots of seats in the morning/night.

I've tried many things here in the last 4-5 years of attending the University. My top recommendations are the milk shakes or any of the pastries. I was actually shocked with how good the milk shakes are. I was expecting some sweet syrup nonsense like what you get at McDonald's or Harvey's, but no, it tastes like real ice cream with no rubbish sweeteners. I even prefer William's shakes over Marble Slab's. For desserts, my go-to is Nanaimo squares or Dutch squares, I would recommend that.

I am not too into the savoury dishes here to be honest, but if I had to recommend one thing, it would be the avocado and egg bagel. It's on the cheaper side (~$6) and pretty decent.

Also not a massive fan of the coffee, but that's probably just me because I see tons of people drinking it on campus, so give that a...

I dislike this place so much that every time someone suggests hanging out here, I want to cancel the whole plan (I even secretly judge the person who frequently suggests this place).

The service is okay, and the staff are mostly nice. The atmosphere is dark, and the tables are not cleaned promptly. Although the food is expensive, it is either too bland and uninteresting (like the sandwiches) or too overpowering (like the roasted pepper soup). The pastries don't look fresh, and they're too sweet for my taste. The coffee and tea are very disappointing since they are 10/10 times either over-boiled or over-brewed or over-steeped and are not of good quality. The only thing on the menu that is not bad is the waffle, in my opinion (but its vanilla smells like synthetic vanilla and I am skeptical of its other ingredients).

The only reason to go to this branch is that it's quiet, usually has plenty of seating space, and is on campus. Otherwise, it's highly overrated, and I would choose another place...

I've been to a few Williams in the tricity. My first time to the nearby Waterloo campus on a Monday night. The food was average and the presentation was different than I saw at other locations. The wifi is only 5g here. So with an older laptop on 2.4g, well then you will be using your cell phone/data as a hotspot to connect. There are no wall-plugs to charge your laptop. As the part-time employee put it "we are close to the university". Which means jack to me if I am purchasing and sitting here to eat/surf. So expect to stay as much as your battery and data can hold. And that is if you find a seat and table. Lastly, the parking lot was full due to all eatery places and a mass amount of students roaming around. Had to wait like 10 minutes idle. Only plus here is the location closes at 10pm, which is much better than others around closing 8 or 9. Otherwise, I don't think I will be around here anymore in future. Hope this helps...thumbs up if...