Ottawa Foodies

Love the Vietnam Palace!
The pho is amazing if you're looking for a cheap quick meal.
Crispy quail, spring and salad rolls, and the sizzling specials are family favourites.
My dad comes from 4 hours away to visit me but he really just wants to go there for dinner.
One downside, last time, I had to remind my server about 4 times for a coffee I ordered. I think he was new as I had never seen him there before. Other than that, service is always great.

Have had cupcakes from here twice now, gave it a second try after the first less than great attempt.
I appreciate the creative flavours and cute decor of this place but it's missing that important part.
The cupcakes were, as most others have said, dry, crumbly and not as full of flavour as a cupcake should be.
Unfortunately I won't be back for a third.

I loved Vera's burger as a replacement for my beloved Lick's, until a visit last week.

The place was pretty busy with people waiting, but we got to the front, filled out our sheet. In a panic, the girl at the cash asked us to go to the main cash to pay. 2 minutes later, as we are in line, she starts taking people at the burger bar cash causing them to be ahead of the line. Terrible service. Finally received our burgers after a long wait to find a burnt burger and overly cooked fries. Needless to say, after 4 great trips, i doubt i will be going there for a while.

If they are going to keep customers coming back for lunch, they need to organise themselves much better and have burgers coming out quicker than a 20 minute ordeal.

2 egg breaky at Harvey's. Fast, filling and tasty. I think they do a good job for a fast food place.

@snoopy loopy:
Moretti is a beer not a wine.

The Merivale location has had the locks changed as of August 31. No more cheap Tuesdays at this location.

@ksw: Oh that's cool! You learn something new every day.

On that revised bit of info the Quattro pizza was well-topped and presented then.

Theirs was artichokes, prosciutto, some type of mushroom, and I think the fourth was olive, but I am not 100% certain.

My only downside with the pizza would be that sauce and cheese were a little bit bland, but the pizza dough was quite lovely.

Also honesty forces me to clarify that though the location speaks "pleasant neighbourhood restaurant" to me, they may in fact be striving higher, in which case the price ranges are in line with what one would expect.

they certainly know how to make a croissant done right here. they're very flaky and buttery, like a croissant should be. reminds me of great croissants in Montreal at Duc De Lorraine and Au Pain Dore.

these should really be rated much higher on OF. go out and try one and give a thumbs up!

Er... you mean glass? Or that has got to be the cheapest bottle of wine I have ever seen on a menu!

Visited for lunch. Pretty solid margherita pizza, one of the better ones I've had in Ottawa.
Large portion for one, easily two meals. 17$ is a reasonable price.
What's not reasonable is 7$ for a bottle of Moretti...

Went for lunch, pretty good standard burger. Fries were well executed.

So HHH, you went to a place that specializes in beef burgers and expect them to have veggie burgers. Really?

Went for lunch today & loved the burger & loved the fries. The ordering process - not so much.

I certainly don't mind the wait to get a freshly cooked burger, but as soon as there are more than about 2 orders on the go things degenerate into chaos. I thought they would have ironed out the kinks by now. Assigning a simple number scheme would do the trick. Instead the orders were given out rather randomly and we were left to juggle items amongst the other customers.

Like I say, loved the food once I got it, I'd just prefer it if some stranger didn't have to poke my burger first to find out if it had his toppings on it...

I'll keep going back though.

Our first visit to this establishment tonight and somewhat underwhelmed. The first thing I noticed upon entering was the "Cash only" sign - I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned that before. They do have an ATM inside, but it's one of those dodgy looking generic ones.

Several items we tried to order were unavailable. Our server was very enthusiastic and told us how good those dishes normally are ... but that didn't help us too much.

The corn bread that most people rave about was pretty good, but nothing exceptional. Maybe my expectations had been set too high.

For the mains I have to say the chicken was disappointing considering this should be their specialty. The taste was good, but it was pretty chewy. I wouldn't describe the batter as light & crispy at all. Our sides were in the small cups as LWB described previously. The beans were probably my favourite part of the meal, although they are so rich you could have them as dessert.

The bill was surprisingly high (I worked it out afterwards and was correct) so that ATM came in handy (although taking my visa card would be even handier).

So the food was alright, but I didn't think it was good value for money and therefore it's unlikely we'll try again.

I must have driven past Piggys hundreds of times and I'd always dismissed it. Just something about the location & the look didn't appeal. However we were at a bit of a loss as to what to eat the other day and I had a hankering for Italian. I was about to head to Preston Street but then remembered some recent favourable reviews of Piggys so we decided to give it a go, and I'm very glad we did.

We managed to get in with a reservation on a Friday, but only becasue we were early. The place was pretty packed by the time we left.

The decor was very cozy and our server was super helpful / cheery / attentive.

On to the food. My wife started with the bruschetta and claimed it was the best shes ever had. Probably the light sprinkling of parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses on it that made the dish.
I had a hearty soup - Prosciutto & minted pea and damn fine it was too. Very fresh and tasty.

For mains I went for the pasta special of the night, Fusilli with capicollo, peaches, pistachios and leeks in a gorgonzola cream sauce. There was quite a lot going on but I enjoyed it and thought it was very good value for $16.
My wife had the Chicken Toscana. Now shes a fussy eater and doesn't like food on the bone or with skin and I suspected we might end up swapping dishes. However it must have been good becasue she tucked right in and hardly left anything (I normally bank on / hope to get about a third of her main courses ...). Anyway from the few morsels that I managed to get it was very tasty. Lots of fresh rosemary & garlic which I love.

We felt indulgent and went for dessert as well. My wife had the lemon torte which was pretty disappointing. The crust was a bit soggy and the filling was rather bland.
I was in full pig mode and decided to go for rhubarb & fruit crumble. This was good, but was lighter than I expected, which is probably a good thing for most people (especially after two other filling courses...). I was hoping to evoke memories of my childhood, but then my mother used to put about a half inch of crumble on the top ;)

I was pleased to hear they had recently changed their draught beer selection and now had Hogsback (instead of Rickards) so that was an extra plus point.

In summary, I thought the food, service & ambiance were all great. Also the total bill for 2 apps, 2 mains, 2 desserts and a few drinks came to ~$110 including tax (but before tip), which I thought was very good value.

Went here today for a quick lunch break. I'd been there before for drinks and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Some of us order the fish & chips, some of us ordered sandwiches. I got the prime rib sandwich. Big mistake. It was terrible. The bun was one of those generic 'is-this-really-bread' buns. The meat was super dry and tasted like leather. It came with a side of 'jus' which I really did not understand. Why would you need the little cup of jus? Am I supposed to dunk my whole sandwich into it? Or am I supposed to drench the sandwich in the liquid?

Anyways, the french fries also sucked. Tasted as though the oil hadn't been changed in a very long time.

The service was fine - but when you go to a pub, you aren't expecting a fine-dining style of service.

I didn't complain out loud (someone else was paying). The other people I was dining with didn't complain either but also they didn't say if their meals were good.

I'll definitely go back for beer but..not for food.

Estoril Bakery is apparently no longer in operation. Tried Portuguese Bakery and no luck. Thanks anyway!

Hi Beable:
"(another oddity - the toppings were dispersed completely on different pieces, but I could see that appealing to some)"

Just to let you know that a "quattro" pizza is called such because the ingredients are supposed to be separated into four separate sections.

"the Quattro Stagioni has 4 toppings in quadrants--usually prosciutto, carcioffi (artichokes), olives, and one more like tomato or whatever they choose." (from Google)

It's a specific style of pizza - so not an oddity :):)

I tried this place last night with my parents. Overall we found the food a little overpriced (not much just a little) but nice, and the service friendly but somewhat erratic, which could still be covered under growing pains as it's a relatively new restaurant.

Specific service quirks: 1) We sat looking at our bread plates for a long while wondering if any was going to be brought out (why else provide bread plates?) and speculating that this was their way of encouraging people to order appetizers. Then, when the bread finally came out our food almost immediately followed it.
2) It took second requests to get things like water to the table, leftovers packed up, and bills presented. It was busy for a Tuesday though, so they might have been short waitstaff.

Veal piccata was declared tasty by my father.

The pizza quattro ordered by my mother was huge (explaining the $20+ cost). She found it quite lovely - very light and non-greasy compared to pizzeria pizzas which was a plus.

I found the pizza crust nice but the sauce and cheese a little bland and forgettable. The artichokes on the piece I tasted (another oddity - the toppings were dispersed completely on different pieces, but I could see that appealing to some) were fine. Overall pleasant enough but I probably wouldn't order it, even though the crust was good.

I ordered the chicken marsala, and it was tasty - a teensy bit too salty for my tastes but I tend to like most food less salted than average. The side of sweet potato was particularly done well.

Overall the food was good, but not "drive across the city for it" good.

It seems like the sort of restaurant that would make a nice neighbourhood spot for people who live near Merivale/Baseline, but I think it would be better if the price-range fit that neighbourhood restaurant feel.

Full disclosure, my own personal bias: I am an American transplant living in Canada, grew up in a very multi-ethnic neighborhood with a big Mexican population (as well as Dominican, Salvedorian, and Cuban) and my biggest, biggest, gripe with this country is your terrible Mexican food (and frankly, "Latin" food in general. Where oh where can I get my chicharones craving fixed!). Now, I have had good Mexican meals in Canada. But for the most part, "Mexican" up North means smothered in cheese with a sketchy side of beans.

Onto the review:
Ahora is a nice alternative to that. The ingredients are fresh, there is an awesome salsa/hot sauce bar, the food is not covered in Kraft. Given that it is not god-awful, Ahora has a bit of a hype as the "best Mexican" food in town.

But that doesn't make it great, and all the reviews of how "Authentic" it is make me cringe for what passes as authentic here. The food is really, really bland. This mostly comes from the fact that their entire menu can be summed up as "Form of tortilla" + "grilled meat" + "accoutrements".

Ahora is a taqueria, and although I would love to see a place crop up with a kick-ass Mole or veracruz sauce, that is not a taqueria's job. But even for a simple taqueria, the food is remarkably bland. Great, authentic taco fillings are often slow cooked, not grilled. Pork Al Pastor, tongue (yum!), or even tripe braised in a tomato sauce. Now THATs a taco. Ahora strikes me as pretty much the kind of food I can make myself if I had a great hot sauce. Nothing special, but if you're jonesing for Mexican, it'll fit the bill. But I just can't rave about the place.

I went for drinks here on Monday night- I wanted to take advantage of the hot weather and sit out on their rooftop patio.

The patio is awesome and right at the corner of all the action on Beechwood.

The Monday special is 1/2 price pizzas and tall boys for $4.50(?).

We ordered a combination pizza, I had a double caesar and my boyfriend had a pint of Keith's.

The pizza wasn't anything special. It could have come from Metro down the street- it seemed as though it was built on a pre baked crust. Regardless, my boyfriend was happy and at $7.50, you can't really complain. I don't know that I'd be so thrilled to pay the regular price for it.

The Keith's on tap was great- the lines were running well.

My caesar's were good until I got the bill and was charged for the price of a caesar(6.35) and the price of a vodka(5.60), so $11.95 for the same sized glass as a regular caesar. Most places give you a break on the extra shot- I felt as though I was being gouged a bit. My boyfriend brought this to the attention of the server who said that they did not have any other way to charge for the double. I suppose the best solution is to just ask next time.

The server was pretty good- I will definately go back, just probably drink wine the next time and pass on the pizza.