Ottawa Foodies

I ordered a lobster bisque from Pip and Nino's for lunch today. It is a tomato based soup with a rich lobster flavour and the warmth was definitely welcome on a cool fall day like today. I was glad to see the soups come in two sizes: small ($3) and large ($4). I opted for a small this time since I was looking for something lighter for lunch.

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At long last I finally made a trip to Pip and Nino's for lunch today.

For those who haven't been yet it's the same layout as Tossibilities IIRC. Upon entering there is a wall on the left decorated with a few small shelves where chips are displayed. Immediately on entering there is a small seating area then the counter. They have half a dozen types of paninis to pick from - meatball, Cuban, Italian, veggie, and a couple of others. They also have a create your own salad option. They also have daily specials including a soup, a salad, a panini, and an entrée. They now have a facebook page and post their specials on it every day before 10:00 am. If this interests you their facebook page is here: www.facebook.com

Today I ordered a meatball panini. The meatballs themselves are HUGE and very tasty. They are served with a lovely rich tomato sauce, a little parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, then grilled.

My only quibble though is that the bread is mediocre. I agree with ilikerealfood Art-is-in bread would be perfectly paired with the meatballs.

I noticed 240 Sparks is opening alot of franchises in the food court but why would I go to Jimmy the Greek or Teriyaki experience when I can have such a lovely lunch at Pip and Ninos? I am glad I found this gem and I look forward to going back many, many more times.

EDIT: I believe they are now serving wines and beers.

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Another winner from Pip and Nino’s! I finally had the meatball sandwich and it is just as I expected it, delicious. Please people, abandon subway’s polyester, microwave meatballs and head to Pip and Nino’s. For starters, they are huge meatballs, (I believe it’s a pork/beef mix). They are served with a rich, zesty tomato sauce topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. They’ll throw other toppings on if requested. (make sure to request the spicy marinated eggplant)

The sandwich alone came to 7 ish bucks.

Foodies, this should be a go-to lunch destination. This little canteen serves better sandwiches then most sit down restaurants downtown. The proprietor is actually Italian, and I always see an old Nono supervising from the back. Always a good sign. They aren’t stupid about substitutions, the servers are friendly (with a few cuties in there too) and best of all, the food is of high quality.

The bread they use is good, but it could be better. Also, they could have grilled my Panini a tad bit more, but I’ll make sure to ask next time. If they start serving up Art-is-in, they would have a superior sandwich.
Meatball sandwich done right! Highly recommended!

4

Here is a picture of the Cuban club as described by osolomeal.

It was topped with turkey, prosciutto, wicked sour pickle, spicy mustard, red onion and I added spicy, pickled eggplant. yummmmmm!

osolomeal is correct that it is not quite what I expected for aCuban sandwich, but hell, this is a friggen awesome sandwich. With the pop and a beautiful pureed vegetable soup (heavy on the carrot) this came to $10.16. Excellent!

I'm still psyched about trying the meatball sandwich which is topped with some of the biggest meatballs I have ever seen.

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Tried the special at Pip and Nino’s today [yesterday], and I’m sad to say it was awful! Before I continue, I urge businesses to stick to their forte and not branch into seemingly unrelated food styles – it never works! (Think Macdonalds Pizza) I’m also a sucker for anything asian, that I am always fooled by Thai, Indian, Chinese flavoured things (at North American style establishments).

Today I ordered the tandoori chicken. Virtually everything about this meal was wrong or poorly executed. For 10.20 after tax I received a heaping container full of overcooked, overly salty risotto rice (Note** not Basmati). The rice was mushy and a poor accompaniment to the chicken.

I received 3 fairly decent sized chicken breasts covered in a sauce. Pip and Nino’s surely does not have a tandoor oven. I would describe this chicken as boiled/broiled chicken breast in Diana sauce, with a touch of curry. Horrible! The chicken was a bit on the dry side and the sauce was so far from authentic, it was hard to eat. Again, imagine a sweet tomato sauce (ei: an entire jar of Diana sauce) with a dash of curry.

Even more disappointing was the over all arrangement of this dish. There was no salad, vegetables, bread (naan or flatbread), nor did they cover the rice with a substantial amount of sauce.

Really disappointed that I spent 10 dollars on this. I won’t write this place off, but I know to avoid ‘ethnic specials’.

Hope Pip and Nino’s management reads this – I have some tips,

1.If you are going to serve Indian style food, make sure you have basmati rice (it's not that expensive - you can even buy it from dollarama).

2.Don’t serve overcooked, uber salty risotto rice. (In any dish)

3.Include variety in your special offers. There could have been some saving qualities to this dish if it included something other then rice and chicken. (ei: salad, veggies, naan). Look to Indian food restaurants for tips here. I mean, most Indian places usually include a really cheap and easy iceburg salad. The thing is, Pip and Nino’s has awesome salad options so, there is no excuse here.

4.Better yet, ignore these points and stick to Italian/Canadian Panini shop options, because you do these very well.

Waste of 10 dollars….hall food + curry.

And to Paraphrase something freshfoodie said to me once: "there are no good restaurants, just good dishes". So true...

Tried P&N's for the first time, midweek lunch, mid-July 2011.

On a visual level almost nothing has changed from Tossibilities - which was always nice looking so no negative there.

I had the cuban club grilled panini.

As a grilled panini sandwich, this was solid. Fresh ingredients, tasty panini.

Strictly nitpicking, as a 'cuban club', well, i've had better at Havana Cafe and elsewhere in terms of getting the 'cuban' part right - typical cuban club is roast and smoked ham with pickles and mustard. Pini's used one type of ham and added onion and lettuce and the meat and pickle, while tasty, were somewhat lost.

But that aside i enjoyed the sandwich and will go back and try something else soon. The pulled pork looked really good.

I think Pip and Nino's is my ideal lunch place. Love it, Love it, Love it.

Today I asked the server to recommend something and he recommended the Cajan chicken sandwich. It was delicious. It was made with a spicy light mayo and quality pieces of chicken breast. Very impressed that it wasn't dark meat. The sandwich was huge. I'm eating remaining half right now.

I had a custom mixed salad (bacon, onion, chickpeas and snow peas) with my sandwich. Salad and sandwich was $8.50. Great Price!

I highly recommend the pulled pork - which is now a staple item at Pip and Nino's.

On my list of things to try:
Homemade meatball sub
Veal Parmigiano Sandwich
Lasagna
Seafood Salad sandwich (looked amazing)

Although I love exploring the downtown food options, I'm not sure I can find much better then Pip and Nino's for the price. Calvina Gourmet Intl. is perhaps my closest comparison.

This is encouraging. I was bummed when Tossibilities tossed in the towel, but based on your review i'll try P&N's soonest.

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!!!!!! I just discovered a new, worthy lunch place. Pip and Nino’s satisfies everything I look for in a canteen: super friendly service, quality food, original and tasty food, generous with quantity and priced at or below 10 dollars. I was walking down sparks today and I saw Pip and Nino’s where tossabilities used to be. From what I have seen, they retained the ‘tossibilities’ custom salad concept and added a whole bunch more. Pip and Nino’s offers a variety of customizable Paninis and salads in addition to what seems like a rotating hot plate. Today I saw chicken/veal (not sure which) parmigiano in the warming tray.

I am so satisfied with my lunch today mainly because I wasn’t expecting such a great lunch from the unassuming – not yet renovated – Pip and Nino’s (The tossabilities insignia is still on the window). Today I had the lunch special which was a “teriyaki pulled pork and asian slaw Panini”. YUM! I wouldn’t really describe the pork as teriyaki, but it was great nonetheless. Not unlike the amazing pulled pork one might fight at Ribfest. It was sweet, tangy, had a bit of spice and it was juicy, flavourful and they were not stingy with the toppings. I was given the choice between a white, multigrain or pesto bun. I opted for the pesto bun and I thought it was really nice. While my sandwich was in the Panini press, they started assembling my side salad (which was quite large btw). I had a choice between 3 kinds of lettuce (naturally I chose the mixed greens) and 4 toppings (cheese included). I opted for cucumber, broccoli, red onion and goat cheese with a balsamic dressing. Simple and tasty.

On top of all that awesomeness, this meal included a drink, not just a can of coke, they had 500 ml bottles of coke products next to Sanpellegrino sodas. She gave me the choice of either. Thinking about the quantity, I drifted towards the half litre coke, but I couldn’t resist the sanpellegrino chinoto. The best part? This was $10.30 after taxes. If I would have skipped the salad, it would have been $7.50 + tax. It’s really unusual to see 500ml pops included with a meal. Take that every other lunch place! I am friggin full, and I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch. Seems like this will be a new staple for weekday lunches!

The people who work here seem to be genuine and the food speaks for itself. Hope you downtown dwellers give this place a shot, they deserve your business.