Ottawa Foodies

Went to The Roost this evening, both my wife and I had the quarter leg plate and found the chicken to be amazing, it was perfectly cooked, beautifully smoked, well seasoned and for less than 10$ I wouldn't complain on the price.

I had their "hotter than hell" Q sauce, yeah it was too spicy, to the point where it took away from the chicken's great taste.

All be told the meal was excellent and I will return, I've read the previous reviews and can't believe it's from the same place, I will certainly be back and my wife also. For what it's worth, it's much better than Swiss Chalet or St Hubert, real smoked chicken doesn't compare to those 2 places.

We experience a 5-10 second power outage which ended up sending the vents on fritz and the restaurant started filling with smoke, we were done our dinner so it wasn't a problem but they comped our appetizer and both our beers too due to the hassle and the loud siren.

2 thumbs up.

We also had the free dessert coupon for The Roost (or is it just Roost?). It was nice inside and the menu was fun and sounded tasty. Unfortunately much like The Works I found the place cute and gimmicky but lacking in quality food.

I had the quarter chicken leg dinner with "double mashed taters" (more like not even mashed once, made a week ago and re-heated in the microwave) and I also added the grilled veggie sticks which were pretty good. Hubby had the hot chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries (the sp fries are great same as at The Works). I liked the taste of the chicken, it was smoky and had pretty good flavour but I found the portion pretty small for the price. For our free dessert we were not given an option or even told what it was. We were brought out a brownie with ice cream and whipped cream on top. Like Sourberry mentioned it was pretty small but the normal price for it is just over $3 so in that case it's not bad. It was very good but it's pretty hard to screw up a warm brownie with ice cream. I must mention that the service wasn't the greatest either, the staff just seemed miserable to even be there and we had quite a wait in both getting the food and getting our bill. All in all the meal was not terrible but it was not worth the price when you can get a tastier chicken dinner for less at Swiss Chalet or St. Hubert.

We won't be returning.

Passing through Orleans and hungry for a late lunch, hubby and I debated between The Works or Roost. We both love the The Works but decided to give Roost a shot. Went in, The Works was almost full but Roost was totally empty, that should have been a clue.

Started off with the Trim Road Steamrollers as an appetizer. (From their menu: baked wedges of flour tortilla stuffed with roasted red pepper cream cheese with hot jalapeños, green onions, sweet green chilies & a side of our “hotter than hell” & sour cream for dippin’.) Found the steamrollers to be very tasty with a lot of heat! The "hotter then hell" salsa was at best medium though.

Hubby and I each ordered a quarter leg maple smoked chicken dinner - him with the double smoked bacon and chipotle potato salad (nice flavour) and me with the caramelized onion risotto (good but I can make the same at home). Also came with cornbread (nothing special but I'm not a huge fan of cornbread) and sauce (tasted bland to me). I didn't enjoy the chicken, found it to be very greasy and didn't enjoy the taste.

Capped off dinner with a free dessert (we had received a coupon at our last visit at The Works). Had the choice between a banana split and some sort of brownie. Went with the banana split - teeny tiny cup with half a banana cut in quarters, a small scoop of ice cream, canned whipped cream, two strawberries, some chocolate syrup and peanuts. So glad I didn't pay for that!

Must mention that hubby ordered Root Beer to accompany his meal - menu said bottomless soft drinks were $2.50 - he received a bottle of root beer, finished his bottle, was asked if he wanted a refill, said yes. When the bill came, he had been charged for two root beers, both $3.50. What a rip-off!!! First, root beer is a soft drink and so it should have been $2.50. Second, don't say it's bottomless if it's not, let the client know when he orders that it's from a bottle and excluded from the same deal as other soft drinks (and that's a major pet peeve - what is it with root beer? I could see if they went through extra care, served it in frosted mugs or something but if it's no more trouble to serve than a pepsi - then don't charge more!) Third, don't call it a refill if you're going to charge twice! Anyway, that pissed me off and I would have said something but hubby told me to keep quiet. He's too nice.

Whole meal came to a whopping $47 (including taxes and tip) which I think is ridiculous for a very mediocre lunch. I love The Works but I would never go back to Roost! But anyway, it's a matter of time before they turn the whole place into a large Works.