The votes are in for the Best of Kingston

The Journal’s annual Best of Kingston survey got voters to weigh in on the best places for brunch, dancing and beers

Laundry Kingston was voted second best for women’s clothing.
Image by: Tyler Ball
Laundry Kingston was voted second best for women’s clothing.

Best Place for Brunch

1. Windmills

2. Pan Chancho

3. Morrison’s

Windmills won by a landslide, with Pan Chancho and Morrison’s as close contenders for second and third place. Cafeterias of various kinds did surprisingly well in our survey, with Ban Righ, KGH and Leonard attracting votes.

Best Place to Take Your Parents to Dinner

1. Woodenheads

2. Aqua Terra

3. Chez Piggy

It seems voters have some generous parents. These choices are some of the nicest restaurants in Kingston and are likely outside the average student’s budget.

Best Place for an Original and Inexpensive Date

1.The Sleepless Goat/Wolfe Island

2. The Waterfront/Atomica

3. Skating in Market Square

There are some lucky boyfriends and girlfriends out there; this was our most answered question, with kayaking along the water, Minotaur’s Game Night and a romantic evening in… Kingston Penitentiary as some other original suggestions.

Best Pizza in Kingston

1. Woodenheads

2. Paradiso

3. Atomica

Woodenheads won by a landslide, with their wood burning oven taking more than 70 per cent of the votes.

Best Late-Night Food

1. Bubba’s

2. Pita Grill

3. A&P

Bubba’s was also a big winner beating out formidable contenders Pita Grill, A&P and Pizza Pizza.

Best-kept (Delicious)Secret

1. Lotus Heart Blossom

2. Mr. Dumpling

3. Saigon Delights

This category recieved the most votes, with Peter’s Place and Wok-In as other voter favourites.

Best Place to Drink

1. QP

2. The Brass/The Brew Pub

3. Iron Duke/Clark Hall

Fans of the QP are apparently quite loyal—the JDUC fave took a large majority of the votes, many of which were embellished with exclamation marks.

Best Place for Coffee or Tea

1. The Tea Room

2. The Sleepless Goat

3. Starbucks

Campus establishments ruled this survey, with The Tea Room as the number one destination for hot beverages.

Best Art Gallery

1. Agnes Etherington

2. Union Gallery

3. Modern Fuel

Although one helpful voter suggested that the Union Gallery be turned into a Pizza Hut, it recieved enough votes to take the number two spot.

Best Live Music Venue

1. The Grad Club

2. Ale House

3. K-ROCK Centre

The Grad Club was a favourite of the CBC this year, and it’s a favourite of students as well. It garnered 82 per cent of the votes.

Best Place to Dance

1. Alfie’s

2. Joy Supper Club

3. Ale House

Students stuck close to campus in voting, as Alfie’s took the top spot above Joy Supper Club and Hub favourite the Ale House.

Best Place for a BNO/GNO

1. MyBar

2. Tango

3. Elixir

MyBar’s pool tables and cheap beers took top spot, while Tango’s “Martinis and Manicures” special attracted the ladies.

Best Place to Celebrate

1. QP

2. TirNaNog

3. Toucan

Pubs reigned supreme for moments of celebration, with downtown pubs TirNaNog, The Toucan and The Kingston Brewing Company as popular choices, although the QP remained unstoppable.

Best Place to Browse

1. Urban Outfitters

2. Indigo

3. Wayfarer Books

Long-standing browser’s staple, Wayfarer Books held its own against big box stores such as Indigo.

Best Place to Buy Men’s Clothing

1. Urban Outfitters

2. Dover’s

3. Value Village

UO was undefeated in all shopping categories this year, despite being new to the Kingston retail scene.

Best Place to Buy Women’s Clothing

1. Urban Outfitters

2. Laundry

3. Cataraqui Centre

Newcomers to Princess Street, super-chain Urban Outfitters and boutique-style Laundry beat out previous favourites Agent 99, Blueprint and American Apparel.

Best Place to Buy a Gift Under $30

1. Modern Primitive

2. Indigo

3. Minotaur

Books, baubles and boardgames were the choices for cheap gifts, although Ghetto Trade, Era and other vintage stores were

also suggested.

Best Place to be Hung-over

1. In bed

2. Morrison’s

3. Back at the bar

Voters wavered between the “hair of the dog” and the “sleep it off” doctrines, while the middle-ground elected a tasty breakfast as the best hang-over cure.

Best Place to Study

1. Douglas Library’s “Harry Potter Room”

2. The Waterfront

3. Stauffer

Voters couldn’t resist the Hogwarts-like appeal of Douglas’ reading room, but honourable mention should go to the Aberdeen Street Student Centre, which was close behind “Club Stauff.”

Best Place to People-watch

1. Stauffer

2. JDUC

3. The Sleepless Goat

Voters seemed most interested in creeping students, but others suggested the always colourful conversations at the Goat for your voyeuristic needs.

Best Public Washroom

1. JDUC’s gender neutral washroom

2. Starbucks

3. City Hall/Legendz

It seems voters have done their research on this topic; the answers were so varied that the JDUC’s spotless gender neutral washroom took the victory by only six votes, beating out less hygenic responses such as “the street.”

Best Post-exam Activity

1. Drinking

2. Sleeping/Eating

3. Sex

In four words that may sum up the undergraduate experience as a whole, students expressed the need for food, drink and some sweet, sweet post-exam lovin’.

Best Place for Class

1. Goodes

2. Dunning

3. BioSci

Although many responses to this question were skeptical that such a place existed, Goodes was decided as the best location for classes. Must be those cushy chairs.

Best Place to Go for a Run

1. The waterfront

2. RMC

3. City Park

The waterfront’s trails appealed to many, while the extremely fit among us preferred the

cross-country trip to RMC.

Best Place to Escape

1. The waterfront

2. Wolfe Island

3. Public library

Although the waterfront continued to be a popular choice for activities of all kinds, one voter offered this sage advice: “[The best place to escape to in Kingston?] Your favourite volunteer place. Lose the Queen’s-ness and just immerse yourself in the community.”

Best Neighbourhood

1. The Ghetto

2. Downtown

3. East of campus

Votes were across the board in this category. People seem happy in all neighbourhoods.

Best Word to Describe this Year

1. Awesome

2. Change

3. Exhausting/Racist/Drama

The tumultuous nature of the year was reflected in the votes, with “exhausting,” “racist” and “drama” tying for third place. A bunch of smart-alecks attemped to describe the year as “2009.” Good one.

Best Word to Describe Kingston

1. Home

2. Quaint

3. Cozy

Despite conflicted votes regarding the year, students were on the same page regarding Kingston.

—Monica Heisey

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

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