Ottawa Foodies

2

Rideau Street - December 8, 2012

Cora’s, I only just discovered, is a chain of restaurants (currently celebrating 25 years in operation) that has 147 restaurants across Canada. Thus far, however, I have never been in one and the only one I have really noticed was the one on Rideau St. in downtown Ottawa which was visible from my hotel room during this last visit to the capital. One morning, during my stay, I decided to give it a try for brunch…

The Meal ... 'The Gargantuan Feast'

Overall
I had a great, and very filling breakfast at Cora’s for a decent price and was treated very well in pleasant surroundings. It is easy to see how the place has managed to become so popular with its patrons and I would happily return. Rating 4 out of 5:

See a full pictorial review at sybaritica.me

I have only been to the St Laurent Cora's location however, after several dissappointing visits, I will not be going back again unless dragged. The food is ok, but a little pricey for the service and the quality and atmosphere. ($40.00 for 2 people for breakfast) I find the Hostesses are great but the warm service seems to stop there. The waiters seem apathetic (maybe it's the high turnover)

I also don't get why they insist on filling the empty space on your plate with random veggies and and fruit. Is it supposed to be a side or a decoration? I got a lettuce leaf, a slice of not so fresh pineapple and a wedge of honeydew melon with my order of crepes...If it's a decoration, put some effort into it and make it look appealing. If it's suposed to be a side, I don't see how this combo enhances my meal.

Anyway, I know lot's of people rave about Cora's and good for them. However, I think the place is a confusing concept and am done trying to get it. If I want to pay this much I will go to a hotel brunch and get nice presentation etc, and if I want a fast breakfast, I will go to a diner. I will try and avoid any further return visits and take my breakfast biz somewhere else.

Very dissapointed.

I found the coffee to be completely watered down. The place seemed to be totally disorganized and unwelcoming, I had to steal creamers from another table since no one brought any to our table.

The food was just ok. The portions are pretty big.

Some staff were already starting to clean the place while customers were there.

To me, Cora's is overhyped. I find alot of their food bland and unsatisfying, but then again, I'm not big on breakfast. Everything I've eaten there, except the waffles, I've ended up leaving on the plate - i.e. the tuna sandwich, that crepe wrap sandwich, homefries (yuck - greasy and mushy), eggs benedict (most disgusting hollandaise sauce ever), and the crepe panini. On a good note, I like their fresh fruit smoothies (sadly, though, they don't serve freshly squeezed orange juice which would be a big plus in my books. I think the grapefruit juice is, though).

My parents go there every weekend so, Cora's is obviously doing something right. It's just not for me.

Fruit is one of my favourite things, but I always get the sense that Cora's just throws a whack of it on any dish in order to cheap out on other ingredients. For example, last time I went, I got the strawberry waffle. There was a mountain of strawberries, but virtually no custard, and it was pretty dry. My friend got a crepe with cream cheese, and we found what amounted to about a teaspoon back in one corner of the folded crepe and virtually no more anywhere else.

Indeed, the last four times or so that I've gone (St. Laurent location), I wound up disappointed. I think that's it for me when it comes to Cora.

I actually like the coffee at Coras... it's nice and robust, not tim hortons watery-weird crap.

by far the best thing on the menu is the crepeomlettes. So delicious. Also worth mentioning are the potatoes (nicely done, fresh - not frozen, panfried - not deep fried) and the fruit that comes with nearly every dish.

My mom requests to go every time she's visiting from out of town.

FYI don't go here if you're expecting the usual '2 eggs, bacon/ham/sausage, and homefries' type breakfast. People seem to forget this isn't their specialty .

As much as I like their fruit platters, I hate paying $10+ for a plate of fruit I could easily carve up at home so I usually stick with their omellettes. Portions are very large and accomodating. Service is great at the Merivale location - there's usually a lineup outside the door, but it moves quickly (I suspect they engineered it this way, the ol' hotspot nightclub trick). Great toast.

Had breakfast this morning at the Merivale location. Coffee was a little too strong but that's my only complaint. I will order a latte or cappuccino next time. I took Fat Cat's advice and ordered the spinach crepomlette - YUM. My orange juice was a generous portion, freshly-squeezed and delicious.

Service was impeccable. Our server came by to check on us 4 or 5 times, kept our coffee cups full, and quickly brought sweetener and milk when we asked for it (usually our request for sweetener and milk is forgotten at other restaurants).

For countless coffees, one orange juice, a crepomlette (with generous portion of lovely fruit) and a joe-something (boyfriend had bacon, eggs, potatoes and toast) we spent $24 + tip.

I know Cora's is a chain but I would venture to say that this a chain that appeals to the foodie in the wild.

I let my daughter choose where to eat lunch on Friday. She had never been to Cora's and we were near the St Laurent location, so we gave it a try. I have to say I liked the setup of the dining room here a little better than the Rideau one...a large plating station in the middle of the room seems to keep the concentration of tables a little less dense. We were given the choice of a badly located but bigger table in the back corner, or a deuce in the middle of the dining room. We took the corner table.

Erin had the Raspberries 4 Lucie, which she really enjoyed.(Crepe with cream cheese, raspberries and custard) I had the Cora's special,(2 eggs, bacon, ham and sausage,toast and 1 pancake) and ended up giving my ham and half the bacon on my plate to the kid. My breakfast was fairly good, it was nice to have toast options beyond white and brown...I chose rye. I didn't care for the potatoes so it wasn't all good. On FatCat's recommendation I had cappucino instead of the coffee...I liked it enough to order two.

Beware of bill-padders like smoothies here, I showed my daughter on the bill how her 2 fairly small smoothies at $3.50 each cost almost as much as her meal at $10 and change.

I wouldn't go to Cora's for the crepes. Trust me, I've tried them twice. They get soggy too quickly and they generally use frozen fruit (like the blueberries). If you want Crepes, go to pure gelato. There is also a new creperie that opened up downtown, I think on bank street...I'm pretty anxious to check that out.

By far the best thing at Cora's is either the Waffles or the Crepes!
These things are HUGE! Even the kiddie portions are enough to fill me. They come with many different types of fruit inside, and sauces too. I never get tired of these crepes. My favourite is the strawberry-banana with chocolate! Yummm.
The Raspberries for Lucy (Yummy cream cheese & Raspberry Waffle) is runner up.