UPDATED September 2025
Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest – Waterloo Region’s beloved Bavarian-inspired festival – has been entrenched in the local food-and-beverage culture since 1956. Many people think of steins and suds when they think of Oktoberfest. However, for many more, the festival is all about food and fun!
There are traditional places to find a taste of Oktoberfest during the festival. Each of the festival’s festhallen offer up unique food specialties (apple studel at Habsberg Haus and spaetzle at Hubertus Haus, for example).
While there is, literally, tonnes of food to be eaten in between cheers of “Zigge Zagge Zigge Zagge Hoi Hoi Hoi!” at the festhallen, many other restaurants and food operations in Waterloo Region also join in the Germanic zeitgeist and offer Oktoberfest flavours of their own.
Wondering where to find German inspired dishes and foods that really ‘schmeckt’ (German for tastes really good)? Here are a few favourites to try!
Where to Sample Oktoberfest
Edelweiss Tavern, Kitchener
For nearly half a century, the popular sports bar and meeting place has provided food and cheer and community support. Watch for a robust menu of Oktoberfest foods for the big beer-and-food fest: dinners with cabbage rolls, schnitzel and rolled ribs, classics that shout “Waterloo Region Fare!” There’s also rouladen of sliced beef with bacon, onion, mustard which is topped with beef gravy – and don’t forget those classic pickles too. The slow-cooked pigtail dinner is a secret family recipe and, as with all dinners, comes with homemade German potato salad and German-style sauerkraut. Das Schmeckt!
odd duck | wine & provisions, Kitchener
Chef Jon Rennie and his team at odd duck | wine & provisions have added an entirely new element to unique, thoughtful and delicious dining in downtown Kitchener since they opened on Ontario Street between Charles West and Joseph streets.
They’re also adding a few treats aligned with Kitchener’s Bavarian festival.
This Oktoberfest, odd duck will be featuring two tiny producers not found in the LCBO in their bottle shop. Owner & Sommelier Wes Klassen will be in the shop all week talking about the Unity Red from Weingut Schönhals – a lively light red with big flavours! “Think red currants and wild forest berries like blueberries, juniper, and elderberry,” says Kalssen. He’ll also be talking about a gorgeous white blend: Freiheit Weis from Weingut Biank und Daniel Schmitt. “This wine shows gooseberries, bright flowers and ripe apples,” says Klassen. “It’s fresh and light, with a beautiful texture.”
odd duck will be offering 3oz pours for $10 a pop for both!
Four All Ice Cream, Waterloo
Despite the fact that the calendar says fall, there can still be summer heat in the sun. For that, Four All (with locations in both Uptown Waterloo and their new DTK Scoop Shop in Kitchener) has an apfelstrudel (apple strudel) ice cream, according to Four All owner-entrepreneur and local-source ice cream maven Ajoa Mintah.
“It’s apple ice cream with raisins and oat streusel in it,” she says. “And the apples we use are locally sourced from Martin’s Family Fruit Farm.”
Apfelstrudel pastry is a popular one in Germany but also in Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic and northern Italy.
Four All will also have their plant-based Black Forest Cake Ice Cream – a vanilla base with brownie chunks, candied cherries and fudge swirl – and Plum Sorbet – also plant-based, and inspired by Pflaumenkuchen / Zwetschgenkuchen, a sweet & sour, jammy plum sorbet.
Four All is also bringing back the ultimate ice cream flavour nod to Oktoberfest – Sausage and Sauerkraut! It’s a tangy vanilla ice cream with candied sausage and spiced sauerkraut cake bites that is totally Wunderbar!
AURA-LA Pastries and Provisions, Kitchener
From this popular little bakery in Kitchener comes big flavours – specifically big fall flavours, with the annual appearance of what owner-baker Aura Hertzog calls, “All Things Pumpkin.”
“Our team here refers to it as ‘Pumpkinpalooza,’ and that sums it up very nicely,” Hertzog says.
“As things shift into fall, the bakery becomes a cozy and inviting space full of locals returning from summer frolicking. Our warm-spiced pastries and drinks encourage people to settle in and enjoy the company of their neighbours and friends.”
As the fall rolls in, you can look forward to pumpkin as the flavour base for Aura-La’s luscious scones and whoopie pies, as well as the pumpkin iteration of the bakery’s famous and unique kouign-amann – a Breton laminated and crispy “butter cake.” “We are also preparing for Oktoberfest breakfast brioches – eggs, sauerkraut, mustard and Oktoberfest sausage – as well as an apple-crumble sweet brioche,” Hertzog adds.
Those Pizza Guys, St. Jacobs
In addition to their regular lineup of personal size and hand-stretched wood-fired pizzas – “Greek Freak,” “Pep in your Step,” “Return of the Mac,” among others – turned out from their small restaurant just off the main street of the village, “The Guys” are adding Oktoberfest-themed specials, according to co-owner Pete Tessaro.
“We’ll be creating pizzas that have apple butter and summer sausage, and another one that will feature bratwurst, some mustard and sauerkraut too,” Tessaro says.
Stemmler’s Meats, Heidelberg
Established in 1985 as a small outlet at the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market, Stemmler’s has always prided itself on its quality and close connection with its customers (“Only the Best, From Our Family to Yours,” their website says.) During their nearly four decades in business, Stemmler’s has collaborated with area businesses and producers to create foods with a true local flavour. That includes producing a bratwurst using lager from Waterloo Brewing just for Oktoberfest.
“We sell it in our store in Heidelberg,” says Kevin Stemmler. “Using local ingredients is a long-standing tradition for us.”
That said, make sure you check out Stemmler’s for their range of Oktoberfest and seasonal Waterloo Region fare.
Victoria Street Market, Kitchener
The Victoria Street Market is a destination for a host of unique Oktoberfest mustards, according to owner Bo Gedja.
“These mustards are specially imported from Germany and only available in the fall,” he says. “And only while quantities last!”
Try some of their VSM Oktoberfest Sausage Rolls, suggests Gedja. The rolls are so popular that the store sells them year-round.
“We also make a very popular Waterloo Dark sausage which is a German-style bratwurst with Waterloo Dark beer in the mix,” he says. “There’s also our Oktoberfest sausage made in-house, and we also carry the popular St Jacobs Foods’ sauerkraut too.”
Bingemans Kool Haus, Kitchener
Get ready to indulge in all your Oktoberfest favorites! We’re serving up a delicious array of traditional Bavarian treats, including giant pretzels, savory bratwurst, and, of course, steins of cold beer.
Bingemans offers Oktoberfest Platters that can be pre-ordered so you can enjoy the flavours of the festival anywhere! Choose from their Oktoberfest Hot Platter – shareable helpings of schnitzel, perogies, pretzels, Oktoberfest sausage with mustard and house-made caraway coleslaw – or the Charcuterie Platter – an assortment of finger food favourites sure to be a hit with your group. Platters are available throughout the festival and must be preordered online.
A few more local favourites
Here are a few more places that provide a taste of Oktoberfest year-round:
- The Metro: Known as The Best Schnitzel Place in Town, you can dine in or take out and judge for yourself!
- The Schenke: This restaurant, located at the Concordia Club, offers schnitzel, sausages, spätzle and much more
- The Olde Heidelberg Restaurant & Tavern: Try the smoked pork hock – it’s what they’re famous for!
- Edelweiss Tavern: Enjoy their pork tenderloin schnitzel and choose from the more than 20 taps of cold beers to wash it down with!
- Grainharvest Breadhouse: When you have a craving for an authentic Bavarian pretzel, Grainharvest is the place to go!