Ottawa Foodies

I dined at Cyranos for the first time on Saturday. The food was quite good -- certainly some lovely pasta choices on their menu.

The portions are quite generous at this resto. Although we shared one order of mussels, it was a very large portion. The mussels were very plump and delicious. I noted that the other appetizer plates going to other tables were equally generous.

In my party, we ordered a shrimp linguini, a parmesan chicken, a chicken fettuccine and two scallop linguinis. I had the scallop linguini which was made with spinach linguini and had four very large scallops, porcini mushrooms and bits of prosciutto. It was quite good and even had a bit of a spice with red pepper flakes scattered throughout. What surprised me was how bland it initially was so I had to salt my dish. Two others in my party also had to salt their dishes.

For dessert, there were two orders of chocolate torte, one pecan pie and a crème brûlé. I had the torte which was very good. As strange as it sounds, it wasn't too chocolately or sweet but it was very good. It had a lovely silky texture and again, the serving size was quite large.

The service at Cyranos was fine. Our waitress was nice. I did, however, have to ask for the complementary bread which the other tables already had. It's a good thing we had the bread and order of mussels because the entrées took about 40 minutes. When they did come, three of us got our orders while the other two waited at least another five minutes for theirs.

Overall, a good experience.

Fat Cat - It's too bad then they didn't make other arrangements that night. As a somewhat regular customer, it didn't take away from my overall experience, as I will be returning again (as I am sure youre experience with the new server didn't turn you off either). BUT, that said they absolutely should have a back-up plan for a Bartender for a weekend evening. It makes it too hard on the wait staff... and losing an employee over something that could be / should be covered off is just bad management IMO.

Food and Think - responding to your comment about a bartender at Cyranos. I have seen the wait staff self serving at the bar here as well but it seems only when the owner is not there. I usually see here tend the bar as well as seat patrons and serve some tables as well when needed.

We were here on a Saturday night mid January. The place was packed, thankfully we had a reservation and only ended up waiting about 10 minutes. They were turning away people at the door. Our mains were delicious, I had the salmon and "The Man" had the chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese. We enjoyed a bottle of niagara wine.

Although Cyranos is consistently good, and a place we visit a couple of times a year, I was somewhat disappointed with one thing this time. Our drinks took forever to arrive, as did the wine for dinner. It soon became apparent that the wait staff was "self-serving" at the bar. I'm not sure if this is always the case, to be honest I've never noticed before because everything previously has run so smoothly. So it may have been just a one time thingy, but if not, they really need to hire a bartender. It is too crazy to expect a server to get drink orders, make martinis, open wine, take food orders, serve the food, check back on tables, all the while smiling at a full section of patrons while many many more are waiting at the door. The poor lot were run off their feet! Having a bartender for the weekend should in the very least be a no-brainer, even if it means someone else has to cover at the last minute.

We've been there at least 8-9 times over the last few years. The service is usually attentive, the food is very consistent, the desserts are excellent and they have a revolving selection of wines (some known and some a little more obscure).

Overall, our experience has been very satisfying for a small strip-mall restaurant. We were disappointed a few months ago when they had a new server in training that night and she had difficulty getting our orders right, failed continually to bring my friend (who was on-call and couldn't drink alcohol) some water so she ended up not drinking anything for most of the meal. I suspect this server either got more training or is no longer there.

We haven't been back since this episode but will not hinder an otherwise good rating based on several visits to this solid local-to-Bell's Corners eatery.