Ottawa Foodies

Ok call me a skeptic (everyone else does).

When the original post went up in July, I made no comment... afterall I haven't been to The Clock Tower Brew Pub and I also knew that it had a decent following of OF Regulars. So I expected to wait and hear their comments on the Review. And to date there has been little input to state that those original accusations could hold any water.

Mr Chips - Your post (your first one I might add) comes 4-1/2 months after the original comment by User 1972 and the same amount of time since anyone else here spoke of "the incident" you referenced. So I am skeptical, perhaps not so much as to your words, as much as I am of your motives in bringing this up again.

And as such have marked your comment as Questionable.

I was there the night of the incident described by New User 1972, and sadly it was not exaggerated. I am not sure the proper title of the person who spoke with us, but he did present himself as a manager. Several of us wrote letters to the Clocktower about this incident, and never heard back from them.

The fish and chips are delicious and huuuuuuuge.

The Bytown Brown is the best go-to beer. I also had a great seasonal beer. It was some sort of pumpkin pie beer with a dash of cinnamon. Solid performer.

The wings are pretty good too. Solid value during happy hour or wing night.

My girlfriends and I tend to go the Market location.

I always order the Haddock and frites. It comes with a small coleslaw. The fries are fresh and cripsy.

Tartar sauce for the fish was amazing. The second time I had it, it wasn't as strong but still good none the less.

Good atmosphere, staff are attentive and friendly.

I visited the location on Bank today for a snack after the Exhibition.

The bar is beautifully decorated and they have some huge booths which would be a great place to drink with a group of friends.

The highlight is the 3-7 happy hour half priced apps (Sun-Thurs). We decided on just soft drinks and an order of nachos with an add on of chicken. The nachos are a good deal at $5.75 but the server told us the chicken couldn't be discounted ($3.95). I was fine with that but I wasn't too thrilled with the dried out, excessively spiced chicken bits that we received. With the exception of the chicken, the nachos were decent, the chips were fresh and there was a reasonable amount of toppings.

Sandwich platters coming out of the kitchen looked great. Their apps also include three styles of mussels, hummus and pita, wings, zuchini strips, fries including sweet potato, a veggie and dip combo, spinach artichoke dip and onion rings. I like that there were healthier options available.

Service was quite good and friendly.

This used to be my Tuesday night wing spot with my sister (until she moved to Toronto a few months ago, now I just miss her when I go). We would always go to the bank location and had consistently great service, food and beer. Every now and then we would get below average service, but this was rare and often because the place is sooooo busy! we never had problems with the bill, but often spoke with a really nice guy who called himself the general manager. I don't know if that helps...

Something sounds fishy with this comment. To the best of my knowledge there have been no front of house management changes in recent months, nor do they have a "General" Manager (although I could be wrong on that, titles can change).

I have friends who work here. I will confirm and get back to you as soon as I can.

Can anyone confirm this beer overcharging accusation that New User 1972 makes? The post seems sort of questionable, and sour grapes. Overcharging for beer, computer problem or not, is however pretty much a hanging offense in these parts...

I have been to the Clocktower Brew Pub in New Edinburgh every Tuesday for the past 3.5 years. The service is typically wonderful, as well as the atmosphere. I have only missed wing nights at Christmas and a week in the summer, as their food is quite delicious and their beer always cold. The service is usually impecable, except for the last few months once management changed. I am continously ignored by wait staff, am consistently over-charged on my bills (The GM himself told me last week, that though I only had one beer prior to 5pm - after-which their beer then becomes a dollar cheaper - I must pay full price for all the beer, even those after 5pm for my family who did not arrive until 5:15pm, because of a 'computer thing') and this evening had the general manager himself even tell me (on an evening when I was the designated driver and not drinking) to "mind my own f***ing business" with regards to my own bill when I was over-charged for multiple beer amongst my family.

I will never go there again as this was extremely unacceptable behaviour, especially from a so-called 'general manager'.

Was here for lunch today. The Koelsch (sic) and Wishart's Bitter were both absolutely fantastic! Their beers have really improved since they hired a real brewmaster - go Patrick!

I have to agree with Zym: The Kölsch here is a deadringer for the yummy Dom Kölsch which you get in Germany...Köln specifically. Might be my favourite beer. Then again, anyone from Köln will tell you that Kölsh stands alone.

Yum!

Went in for a quick beer and burger yesterday while my kids were in an activity nearby. The Koelsch was a dead-ringer for the ones I've had in Cologne - in particular I'd say Dom Koelsch with it's slight sweetness. For those not in the know, this is the same type of beer that Beau's is brewed after, so anyone who likes that, should love the Clocktower Koelsch.

Just last week I had the ESB and the Brown and I enjoyed both. The ESB was especially flavourful. As far as brew pubs go, it's them and the Draught Horse out in Navan, and that's it to the best of my knowledge. But fortunately a lot of places these days are carrying micros. Click "Beer" on this site for some of my recommendations.

It just wasn't good beer. Not flat to style, but flat as in stale. If you can recommend some good brews they make I'm always willing to give them a chance.

Frequenting brew pubs in Montreal Boston and Toronto for the past decade and a half I had high hopes for Ottawa. Are there any other brew pubs in Ottawa I can try? Localish breweries whose products I love are Millhouse, McAuslen, Heritage. From the New England area, Harpoon, Sam Adams, Dogfish. I lean towards complex hopped beers.

Just curious which beer you had Shamus. If it was one of the cask beers that would explain the flatness since cask beer is often flat (by design)

Have I just been unlucky? Some of the worst pub brew I have ever had has been here. I've tried the location in the Glebe and in new Edinborough and both times the beer was almost undrinkable - flat and flavourless. I am a huge supporter of crafted beer and really wanted to like the Clocktowers offerings but sadly I cannot do this.

Been there a few times the last few weeks since my son is in an activity around the corner. Went for lunch today. $3.45 is the regular price for their own brewed beer! Glass is at least 500ml if not a British Pint (even bigger). Wow! And apparantly Tuesday nights are wing night and beer is half priced!

Their Festive Porter on tap right now is absolutely fantastic! A very drinkable beer even for people who think they don't like dark beer. Smooth, almost toffee-like flavours with no harshness at all from the roasted malts.

We just came back from having supper at the Clock Tower. We were looking forward to having a beer at our first brewpub in Ottawa (we lived in Montreal before, so we were used to great brewpub beer).

Out of their 5 beers, they only had 2, and this is on a Friday night. I had the Classic Vienna Cask Brown and my husband had the Bytown Brown. We were disappointed. Neither beer had any aftertaste - they both cut "short". The Bytown Brown was terribly flat. I don't know whether it was the bottom of the keg, but we don't remember having had beer like that! The Vienna Cask Brown was a bit better, at least it had some carbonation.

We finished those and I ordered a Stella Artois and my hubby a Guinness. We were so happy after the first sip, which is pretty sad considering we were in a brewpub.

Once again, perfect french fries.

Another 2 strong thumbs for their fries. Perfectly crisp on the outside, tender on the inside.

Had fries (w/a burger) here on Friday and I'm still thinking about them -- they were very good. Home-cut fries are so rare these days.

The home-cut fries I had yesterday were absolutely perfect!

Was back at lunch today and this time had the fries with my burger instead of salad. They appear to be home-cut and were very yummy. Nice and crisp on the outside and tender inside. Good job clocktower!

Another absolutely perfect burger today! That will be all ...

Absolutely perfect! Served on a scrumptious kaiser bun with pickles, lettuce and onion. Big burger, and very flavourful. Tough to imagine a better burger.

Once again a very wonderful burger!

Had the "Black and Blue" for lunch today, with blue cheese on it. Mmmmmm, stinky cheese! Everything about it was great except I'm not sure if this was the "black" part or not, but the burger was charcoal black on the outside. Luckily it did not taste really burnt so it was still yummy. I'll try it again next time I'm there and hopefully it won't be so charred. Yummy pickle on the side, served with lots of onion and tomato and lettuce.

I paid a visit to The Clocktower Brew Pub (Glebe) last night for their Tuesday night wing night (Reg $9.75, Tuesdays $4.95). The Clocktower has a good range of flavours, all the heats, including Malaysian (suicide), Sweet Chilli, Hot & Honey, Spicy Maple BBQ, Honey Szechuan, Jerk, or Cajun Dusted. I decided to try the Spicy Maple BBQ for something a little different. They're sufficiently saucy and have a hint of sweet maple and BBQ flavour, they are not spicy though. I was a bit surprised that no carrot sticks, celery or sour cream came with the wings (sour cream is extra), but this would only really be an issue with the hot wings for me. In any case, its definitely worth a visit on wing night, and at the Bank St. location at least, go early! We hung out near the bar for about 30mins before finding a seat in the bar area and ate there - a seat in the dining area didn't come up. The Clocktower has a good selection of their own microbrew as well as other beers, so waiting isn't an issue, trying to stay out of the way when there are no seats is.



To note: My friend had the 5 spice chicken - his review was that it was alright, the veggies seemed to be the best part though.



Wing Size: 7.5

Sauce: 6.5-7.5 (6.5 for advertising them as spicy, 7.5 because they're still good)

Recommended Beer: I had a Fenien Red, which is a little sweet and went nicely with the sweet wings, as well as a Wisharts Bitter which had a nice contrast to the sweet...I wouldn't actually recommend alternating though. Pick one and stick with it.

Best wings in the city.
Cheap on Tuesdays...

Today is Tuesday, allllllllright.

Had a very nice side tossed-salad with my burger today, instead of fries. The veggies were all fresh. They had a choice of maybe 5 different dressings, I chose the blue cheese which was delicious.

I'll order it again.

I am excited to announce that the Clocktower (on Mackay) has changed/added to their menu! As a frequent customer to this pub, I pretty much have their menu memorized and stick to the same old, same old.
So, here is the tuna...I don't think I have the name right but it's the only 'tuna' item on the menu. This was the first time I've actually had a tuna steak, so I really have nothing to compare it to but I really, really, enjoyed it. They serve it on pumpernickel bread (grilled, I think) with some nice wasabi mayo. Such a nice treat having unique choices at a pub. They serve it with either fries or salad...I got the salad which is their standard salad that goes with all the dishes...mixed greens, red onions, grated carrots, chunks of tomatoes, and a honkin' pickle. Dressing is usually on the salad, but I get it on the side!

Can't wait to try the other new items! I'll let you all know of course....

Fresh Foodie: Do you think there should be two separate tags for each Clocktower location? I'm pretty sure that zymurgists' reviews are from the location on Bank, while mine are from Mackay.

There are 2 types of veggie burgers : those that try to look and taste like a hamburger, and those that don't. In my experience the ones that do try are often pretty terrible, while the ones who do not try are often pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, this was one of the ones that tried to look and taste like a hamburger, and while it was not terrible, it was not very good either. I certainly won't be having another. It tasted like soy sauce. Yuck.