Brown Donkatsu Waterloo in Waterloo

150 University Ave W #3, Waterloo, ON N2L 3E4, Canada

★★★★★
(514 reviews)
Categories: Restaurant

About

Casual dining, specializing in Korean style “deep-fried cutlets” (aka “Donkatsu”) made from fresh quality meats, handmade breadcrumbs served with our secret Brown Katsu sauce. We also offer a delicious selection of Ramen & Donburi dishes.

Website
browndonkatsu.ca
Address
150 University Ave W #3, Waterloo, ON N2L 3E4, Canada
Plus Code
FFC7+XJ Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Time Zone
America/Toronto

Business Hours

Monday
11:30 AM–10 PM
Tuesday
12–9 PM
Wednesday
12–9 PM
Thursday
11:30 AM–10 PM
Friday
11:30 AM–10 PM
Saturday
11:30 AM–10 PM
Sunday
11:30 AM–10 PM

Services

Service options
Delivery Takeaway Dine-in
Accessibility
Wheelchair-accessible car park
Dining options
Lunch Dinner Dessert
Amenities
Toilets
Atmosphere
Casual
Payments
Credit cards
Parking
Free of charge street parking Free parking lot Parking

Photos

Reviews

4.8
★★★★★
514 reviews

Most Mentioned

portion sizes (21) atmosphere (13) pork (11) spicy (10) breading (9) carbonara (7) the menu (7) brown sauce (6) curry (5) AC (5)
5 stars
466
4 stars
26
3 stars
3
2 stars
8
1 stars
11
★★★★★
December 13, 2024

Delightfully crispy breading and massive portions befitting of the price tag—come on an empty stomach! We got the combo pork katsu with the brown and cream sauces. Both are pretty tasty, but I thought the cream sauce was a bit heavy on top of the fried katsu. Service was friendly and accommodating but the atmosphere was pretty typical.

★★★★★
November 13, 2024

Tried the Chicken Teri katsu. I Was surprised (in a good way) at the quantity I could only finish half my plate and took the rest home. In addition to quantity, it tasted really good too.

★★★★★
November 11, 2024

Brown Donkatsu is a Korean restaurant that specializes in a breaded fried pork cutlet originating from Seoul, Korea. The food is delicious and fresh, the pork cutlet was crispy on the outside, very tender and juicy on the inside. The signature brown sauce goes well with the pork, it is tangy with a slight tomato taste. Portions are quite large and easily shareable.

★★★★★
October 24, 2024

Amazing food and the portions are huge! Only dish that was a bit dry was the Grilled Chashu. Wish the place was bigger and had more seating!

★★★★★
August 31, 2024

Just ordered from UberEats and the food here is phenomenal 10/10 no notes it’s delicious, fresh and warm I ordered Curry Katsu (Chicken) and I recommend it wholeheartedly Price is good Portions even better All around wonderful Thank you so much 🥹 Edit: Went in person yesterday!!!! I had a good time :) I ordered spicy cheese katsu with boiled vegetables had lunch before a long trip, really filling <3

★★★★★
June 16, 2024

The best katsu ever !!! The portions are HUGE here, be prepared to eat a LOT or take some home or let your friends take over (me). The sauce really makes the dish tasty, and the katsu is one of the better places I’ve eaten. Highly recommend this place if you’re hungry! 🩷🩷

★★★★★
June 12, 2024

My favourite donkatsu spot in now in Waterloo and honestly their katsu is just so good. The signature brown sauce is addicting and I also got the carbo curry katsu and I think it is a new favourite now. Their noodles are also very good! They make everything fresh and chooses the best ingredients ! One portion is def big enough to share !

★★★★★
June 10, 2024

Portion sizes are HUGE—each dish came with two generous pieces of meat! 😍 This not only made it great value for money but also ensured we all left feeling extremely satisfied. We ordered Buldon, Corn Cheese, Carbonara Katsu, Everything Set, Curry Katsu, Cheese Stick Katsu, and Buckwheat Noodles. Overall, everything was super tasty, and the service was amazing! The staff were friendly and attentive, making sure we had everything we needed and more. I highly recommend Brown Donkatsu to anyone in Waterloo looking for a fantastic meal. We can’t wait to come back and try more dishes!

★★★★★
December 23, 2024

One of my favorite places in the plazza.

★★★★★
December 23, 2024

Always love coming here. Food is always great

★★★★★
December 23, 2024

It was an amazing experience, the food was super delicious!! Will come again

★★★★★
December 23, 2024

Super good Noodles and donkatsu!

★★★★★
December 22, 2024

Awesome ramen! It was so tasty

★★★★★
December 22, 2024

Really enjoyed the food and the service was very fast and friendly

★★★★★
Local Guide
December 22, 2024

Left a nice big tip because my server Sohee was friendly and cool, also the food was tasty and portions were large! Had the pork katsu. Very nice

★★★★★
December 21, 2024

Pretty good

★★★★★
Local Guide
December 19, 2024

As some one who is new to waterloo. I want to let everyone know this IS THE PLACE, the pork is perfect, with a CRISP CRUNCH you will never forget. A generous severing of rice and cabbage and corn , wonderful sauce to complement the cabbage hence making the dish even more I HIGHLY RECOMMEND !!!

★★★★★
Local Guide
December 19, 2024

Highly recommend this place. It is an Asian fusion along with Western style cuisine. It is a lot better than Western cuisine itself. This is the best katsu I have eaten in my life. Its very crispy and juicy, and the ratio of meat to flour is greater.

★★★★★
December 18, 2024

Its so delicious

★★★★★
December 17, 2024

nakasaki jjambbong and soba were soooo tasty yay!!!

★★★★★
December 17, 2024

Brown pork cutlet, Nagasaki Champon No fail today too haha It s the perfect Korean taste. Nagasaki is in 3 stages!

December 16, 2024

The waiters IQ is too low. Even though its not a hotel, he didnt let me and my friends sit on a sofa for four people.

★★★★★
December 16, 2024

it is delicious

★★★★★
December 9, 2024

Food was delicious and staffs were very friendly.

★★★★★
December 9, 2024

Large portions!

★★★★★
Local Guide
December 9, 2024

We waited a while to get seated because it was packed. There is a QR Code to get on the waiting list. We ordered the carbonera curry katsu and the cheese bomb katsu. Both were so filling. I chose the chicken carbonera curry katsu. It came with 3 big pieces of chicken, with corn, slaw and rice. The chicken was perfectly cooked and crispy. I didnt think there was enough rice, but the chicken was so saucy that I didnt need more rice. We also got the pork cheese bomb katsu. It was a cheese overload! It was very filling! I highly recommend trying Brown Donkatsu! I would try more menu items next time.

★★★★★
December 9, 2024

Very big portions and very friendly staff Parking: Gud amount of parking Food : 5/5 |

★★★★★
December 9, 2024

Great is Service, Food Portions is amazing!!!

★★
December 9, 2024

The food was good but the meal reminded me of my previous delivery experience here. Why did the delivery driver have to wait behind the long order line? The staff just kept repeating that they were there first but the customer I was representing had already ordered and you should have prepared the food. I always think that delivery orders and normal orders are two different lanes and you should at least tell me how long to wait instead of just letting me wait because the customer came before me and my customer ordered first. I subsequently cancelled the order and this experience makes me feel a little bitter when I eat here again.

★★★★★
December 9, 2024

I ordered a breonkatsu and it was really good and more enough!!

★★★★★
December 2, 2024

Amazong food, always satisfied with quality and service

★★★★★
December 2, 2024

Good food, nice service, kind server (Ellie )

★★★★
Local Guide
December 2, 2024

Huge portions and wonderful taste

★★★★★
November 25, 2024

Takoyaki :3

★★★★★
November 25, 2024

It is really tasty Parking: Food : 5/5 |

★★★★★
November 25, 2024

good

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

it is delicious! The pork cutlet is delicious, but the jjamppong is especially delicious.

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Parking: Safe Food

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Food was very good, lots of it, tasty delicious, good service.

★★★★
Local Guide
November 23, 2024

It was my first time trying, and I have to say first of all the service is so welcoming and friendly by the young gentleman that was working early afternoon. I overall like the flavours of the sauces. Just I found that the meat is very thin and lots of breading. Just a bit oily for my liking. I probably would try it again though. Thank you for such a nice service

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

The cheese bomb gassss

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

The staff is really friendly and the food is really delicious!

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

really nice staff and food was great!!

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

The cheese chestnuts here are steamed.

★★★★
Local Guide
November 23, 2024

The pork katsu was amazing and serving was much bigger than I expected! If I may suggest, it ll be nice to have the sauce in a separate cup instead so the katsu won t get too soggy

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

I enjoyed it so much~~^^ Waterloo first-class pork cutlet

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Good service good people good meat good sauce Wheelchair accessibility: Wheelchair Food : 5/5 |

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Portions were perfect and taste was impeccable

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Good meat good food good people good service good atmosphere

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

The food was very good, the service was friendly and the portions were big. Would come again.

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

nice restaurant

November 23, 2024

Can t believe you guys forgot the sauce for the katsu. How can someone eat this dry stuff without sauce

November 23, 2024

So little portion of rice and giant ass Donkatsu who even come up with this ratio of food, is oily too

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Great food. Staff is attentive and patient. Overall a great place to enjoy a meal

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Great place for Korean Donkatsu. The portions are huge!

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Perfect, its a small yet comfy area and servers good katsu

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Incredible portions, friendly staff, good meal

★★★★★
November 23, 2024

Great taste

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

My favorite katsu place!!

★★★★
October 23, 2024

Food is really good. Any katsu is quite good and massive. Noodles were ok

★★★★★
Local Guide
October 23, 2024

My husband and I are foodies. We were visiting the area of Cambridge/Kitchener/Waterloo and were craving Katsu. We chose Brown Donkatsu because of the reviews, and they lived up for it. I had the carbonara / original Katsu mix, and my husband had the mix of the shrimp, fish and chicken Katsu. Our friends tried the Ramen and the Cheese Katsu. I am telling you, EVERYTHING was delicious. And the portions were gigantic so we had left overs. We are heavy eaters and had to take food home. Anyway, this is a great place!!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Its so delicious

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Bdon is true everywhere!! Its so delicious. Im full~~

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Its delicious and plentiful.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Ordered the pork brown donkatsu. Food portions were massive. Katsu was crispy. Recommended.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Long wait times for dinner (understandable) but it was worth it! The Brown Pork Katsu was so good I got 3 medium sized cutlets. I do think the meat to rice ratio isn t very proportionate but they re very generous with the meat! the rice was a little hard imo but the meat was reaaaalll goood There was so much meat that it basically meal prepped for me LOL

★★
October 23, 2024

The food is good but I don t like the service, is bad

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Happy with their service and food

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

I am very glad I ran into this place. ordered online without knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. amazing fried chicken, fish and shrimp. the dipping sauce were perfect

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Best Tonkatsu Place in Waterloo!!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

The food, atmosphere and service was amazing!! This is a must try when youre in the Waterloo area

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Great service and variety of food- came for lunch and it was such good value, thanks for a great time Parking: Lots of space in the plaza!

★★★★★
Local Guide
October 23, 2024

Ive been here quite a few times now and I always thought Id already left a review... The owner Dominic is super down to earth, the service is always great, the vibes honestly do remind me of Korea. My favourite is probably the combo katsu but everything Ive tried is really good. Highly highly recommend!!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Olivia was such a nice person, and it was delightful having her as our waitress

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Best Donkatsu Place in Waterloo

★★★★★
Local Guide
October 23, 2024

Insane portion size! The brown sauce is very unique and unlike the katsu brown sauce elsewhere. Delicious

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

really delicious

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Their katsudon is amazing

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

The ramen was really good and amazing.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Perfect service!!! I asked for reheat for my meal, the stuff even helped me re-arranged the meal. It s super helpfulll! Btw, best music here!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Awesome food, service was great and on point, would visit often. Worth a shot if nearby waterloo

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

yummy!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

So much food!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

portions were big and food was very good

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Went in for the first time and had an amazing experience! Food was so yummy and staff were super friendly! Highly recommend!!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

The interior was very clean and the service was great. Very big portions for food.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Loved coming in for dinner. Atmosphere was nice and the place was clean. Food portions were big as well.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

It was very amazing

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

The food was very good, large portions. Service was also great

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Very good portions, great and friendly service, food tasted good.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Good food. We will come again.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

I enjoyed the original tonkatsu!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

The rose garlic is so delicious with 2 levels of spiciness The portions are plentiful and delicious, so it s great value for money!

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Portions huge for the price. Delicious and great atomsphere

★★★★★
Local Guide
October 23, 2024

Great place with generous portions! I thought the pork curry katsu was flavorful and definitely enough for two people. Would come back, the service is great too and they accommodated our group of 6 by pushing together tables.

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Its delicious

★★★
Local Guide
October 23, 2024

.no vegetarian dishes no tea

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Super delicious

★★★★★
October 23, 2024

Nice food

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Our server, Ellie, was absolutely great!!! Food was excellent and quantity was unbelievably generous!!

★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

Ordered the chasudon and the portion of meat is very generous. The marinated egg was flavourful, but the chasu was a bit dry. Service was great either way!

★★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

really big portions

★★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

Gargantuan portion sizes. A katsu meal is around $20 but it could easily feed 2 people. Everything is made fresh, and super crispy. Even though it is a donkatsu restaurant, I highly recommend the ebidon with the fried shrimp. The bowl was piled high with shrimps and sauce and the rice is very flavourful. I love the breadcrumbs, it s very light and delicately crispy.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Best katsu place in Waterloo

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Love this place

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Great food

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Very delicious

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Our first katsu dining experience in Waterloo was made better by Brown Donkatsu!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

love this place. quality food and service.

★★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

The fries were crispy, the oil was well removed, there was no meat smell, there was plenty of cheese, and the sauce was delicious. There was a lot of food so I brought it home and ate it again and it was delicious. I dont have a picture of the rice cake skewers, but they are really spicy and the best. However, since this is a pork cutlet restaurant, please do not order cold buckwheat flour haha. The tteokgalbi that I received in a package was also really delicious.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

It was so great. The staff were so kind and the amount of the food were big.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Portions are huge. Great customer service

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Foods are delicious

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Really like the pork!!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Best Donkatsu place in town, recommend.

★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

I want to talk about tonkatsu only: - Portion is large for normal tonkatsu - Normal Katsu is not as flavorful as I expected, can be improved - Gravy is too tomatoey, maybe just personal taste - Katsu breading is plain, can add more seasoning for sure

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

One of my fav food im so glad i get to have it in waterloo <3

★★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

If you don t like this place, you are 100% a foreigner who has never tasted or experienced authentic Korean Donkatsu in your life. Extremely reasonable price for its portion. Don t even try to compare this place to any other Donkatsu place in Canada.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Large portions, good food and good service

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

It is delicious and offers a very large portion for the price.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

It was really delicious! It tasted like a genuine Katsu in South Korea.

★★★★
September 23, 2024

Its delicious

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Very large portion. Crispy and delicious.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

I ordered the pork teri katsu and it was delicious! portions are huge, lots of sauce, and filling. i couldn t finish it so i took it to go, i recommend sharing.

★★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

Was craving tonkatsu like how they do Im south Korea: I was impressed. Portions are really big. Needed a to-go box. Food : 5/5

★★★★
September 23, 2024

Food was excellent, but my only criticism is that they don t serve enough rice, price is a little high, and the seats are slightly cramped. 7/10 would come here again!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Among the pork cutlets Ive eaten since coming to Canada, its the most delicious~~!! I think it tastes better than eating it in Korea~ This is a delicious pork cutlet restaurant recognized by Koreans~~

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

I love Brown Donkatsu! Their Carbonara Katsu is the best ever!!!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Super value for the price. Very tasty too!

September 23, 2024

The main reason why I am leaving a bad review is because the waitress was being very rude to me and my husband. Today at around 2:30pm we walked into the restaurant and waited at the front for a while. The waitress just pointed out a small table for us to sit without saying anything. We asked whether we can get a booth she just said No. that s it. Without explaining anything or apologizing. There were at least 3-4 empty booths and she did not give any reason. The restaurant was not busy at this time either. We would be ok with a small table and we were expecting to order many dishes if she was not being so rude to us. We were very upset over the bad attitude so we left right away. We are not coming back again.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Good service! a very yummy donkatsu place in waterloo.

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Portions are very huge! A very good donkatsu place in waterloo :)

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Looooove this restaurant so much! Insane servings! My fav is the carbonara 10/10

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Big serving and very good service! the best donkatsu place in waterloo!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Delicious!!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

it is delicious!! Good good

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Loved the food and the experience!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

I love their rice cake skewers

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Goated

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Amazing place and such friendly service! Recommend!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

This is one of our favorite places to eat here in waterloo. The carbonara donkatsu is really good and big in serving! Very worth it must try

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Food is really great. Huge portion, tasty dishes and friendly staff. Their jjampong and katsu dishes is really good!

★★★★★
September 23, 2024

Good portion, delicious, will go back every week

★★★★★
Local Guide
September 23, 2024

This place was so good! Top quality. Everything they did, they did very well. We got a Katsu, a Donburi, and Ramen, also the cheese corn appetizer. Everything was delicious, and the portions were very generous...We all had leftovers, and Im 63 and athletic and therefore eat a lot. Also this was lunch and we hadnt eaten breakfast. Especially noteworthy was just how meat they included with the Donburi. They didnt skimp at all (as lots of places do with Donburi) Thanks for the good food!

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Food was very good. I had the carbo curry chicken katsu and it was very tender and flavourful

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Amazing

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Such a great place to dine in

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

It was so good

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Awesome place

★★★★★
Local Guide
August 23, 2024

Very good

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Good service and food

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

olivia went above and beyond with her service, the food is also amazing def a must try!!

★★★★★
Local Guide
August 23, 2024

Very good experience as the food was delicious. Totally recommend. Food

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Kid friendly, exceptional service. They offered to adjust the soup flavour if we wanted, to make it just right for us. Great experience!

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Everything tastes better than the pork cutlet you eat in Korea. They are friendly and all the other menu items are delicious~~

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

The hot and spicy katsu is a must try. Staff is very friendly.

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

The taste is very good and foods was a lot. Happy to find good new restaurant. Also the interior is neat and clean.

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

It is very decent place to enjoy korean style katsu!!!

★★★★★
Local Guide
August 23, 2024

MASSIVE PORTIONS. Had the hot and spicy cheese. Highly recommend. Staff are so nice. Will be coming back.

★★★★★
August 23, 2024

Its delicious and the service is good.^^