Ottawa Foodies

Date of Visit: July 27, 2012

I hadn’t planned on visiting this place especially but when the restaurant I had intended to eat at turned out to be closed I walked around Byward Market and ended up here. I had a look at the Menu that was posted by the front doors and, when I saw that one of the specials was steak served on a sizzling hot stone, I remembered a friend telling me about it and I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, the experience started out so badly I never got to eat…

Overall
I freely admit that, faced with poor service I can be a little impatient, but this place really takes the cake. It’s is a rare occasion when I have left a restaurant before ordering a meal but this place was so egregiously bad that it left a bad taste in my mouth (despite not having eaten). I can only presume that Cornerstone is doing so well financially that they can afford not to bother with providing good service to their customers. It is probably just as well for them, if that is the case, because they certainly won’t be getting any of my money any time soon!

See full review at: sybaritica.me

I ate here on Saturday for dinner, and then lunch on Sunday (FF, I can't believe I didn't see you?!?!)
Overall very good. On Saturday it was very busy, we showed up and sat at the bar until a table was ready. Their Mojitos are very good, but perhaps a little mild (I had 3 over the course of the night and didn't taste the alcohol at all, nor feel it either!) Make sure to try their raspberry Mojitos too.
For a quick appetizer we split the WonTon Shrimp. These are really good and come with a spicy mayo sauce and another spicy oriental sauce. I wish their was more!
For dinner we (me and my friend) both chose wraps. I had the Jerk chicken wrap, and he had the Fajita wrap. I found the jerk very sweet and not as spicy as I usually like jerk. Still very good, and VERY filling! With it I had some potatos, which were good as well. The Fajita wrap was yummy too, lots of flavor, he had the fries to go with which seemed good, but nothing over and above.
Overall great time, the patio is pretty hard to beat, especially if there is hockey playing in the background. I have to agree with other comments, that it does seem like everything is a bit slow. Superb service though.
I have some photos to come, I just have to take them off my cell.

We came here today (Sunday) for lunch with family and had an enjoyable time. Service was a bit dodgy but the atmosphere was nice and we were pretty happy with the food.

I asked for a poutine upgrade with my wrap but got the plain fries instead. Wifey got my poutine with her burger so we just swapped the sides no problem. My father-in-law got fries instead of the salad he asked for but this was quickly fixed when we pointed it out.

I enjoyed a glass of my favourite Rickards Red. The rest of the drink menu looks great and you can't beat the patio and large open windows on a warm sunny day!

I will return to try the nachos.

Ate here recently, and was fairly happy with the whole night. The service was a bit slow and maybe could have been a bit more informative. The food was good and consistent. We started with Calamari which was very plump and we were told it is marinated in a tempura batter. The pork medallions were cooked medium and very moist. And the Tilapia was very good, fluffy and fresh. We also enjoyed the pizzas, one had proscuitto, spinach and pear chutney on it, not overly cheezy and very original with grilled pizza dough as the base. The beer selection could have been a little more broad. We will be back.

Some reds are actually supossed to be served colder than room temperature for optimum enjoyment - what type of wine did you have? Is it possible that it was chilled on purpose and not due to neglect?

Water had to be asked for twice before it was brought to the table.
Bottle of red wine obviously had been kept in the refrigerator.
My hamburger was good.
My guests' pork tenderloin was anything but and couldn't be finished.

Met some friends here last night...it's central location is about all that was positive. Service was mediocre, it took forever to get our food (I went from not that hungry to absolutely starving while waiting), and the food that did arrive wasn't very appetizing. Pizzas were terribly salty, and the cheese served with a few items was piled on too thick and absolutely tasteless (along the lines of No Name mozzarella).

The final straw was the fact that the draught beer selection was limited to 4 bland Molson brands.

These still looked good from a distance. ;-) But close up, I could see the salsa was doing its usual Ottawa soggy thing to the chips. The cheese wasn't very tasty and there were far too many of the bland red tortilla chips.

However, this was the choice I made for lunch so I had to eat the whole plate! I'd think about getting these for 4-6 people to share as an appetizer but they aren't good enough to be a meal for one.

We didn't try these, but they looked very good from a distance. A nice big plate and I think the salsa was on the side (as it must be for me). :-)

The photo is of my club wrap and poutine. The poutine was pretty good for non-chip wagon fare (cheese curds, yay). The wrap was a bit strange -- a cheddar flavoured tortilla and cold grated cheddar cheese provided most of the flavour. I like my club sandwiches to be loaded with tomato, bacon, and mayo. The rest of the ingredients are no big deal to me. This one had lots of chicken and wrap but not so much of the big three. Anyways I usually don't order wraps so I can't really judge it. I see someone else has given the wraps a thumbs up here. I ate it all and left satisfied. :-)

This time the burger was cooked through -- no pink at all but still very juicy and tasty. I didn't try it but wifey liked it as much as last time. Fries are decent.

Wifey proclaimed this Portobello Swiss to be the best burger she has had in Ottawa -- much better than The Works. I tasted some of the beef and had to agree that flavour and texture were superior to the Works.

The first burger they brought was quite pink/red in the middle (my son almost ate the piece in the photo). We complained and they brought another that was only very slightly pink (more like it is at the Works). This was the one we ate and the one we enjoyed.

So go eat the burger but check that it isn't undercooked!

Two of us had pizze and we were very pleased. Nicely browned crust and generous toppings. Not loads of cheese but that's just fine for some (plus it means you can eat more).

Here is a picture of the pizza we had, found it on their website.