Ottawa Foodies

I went to the Green Papaya today to attend a birthday lunch. We went to the location on Queen near Kent passing by the restaurant on Queen east of Bank. The lady that made the reservation didn't realize she was booking a table at the further away location but thankfully they are only one block apart. After the initial confusion of having two locations so close together we finally found our way to the correct spot and settled down at our tables.

We had reserved a table so menus and glasses of water were waiting for us. The waitress came around right away to offer beverages. I was the only one that took her up on the offer and chose a lemongrass tea. I took a quick glance at the wine list for future reference and noticed they had a wide variety of spirits available and about half a dozen reds and half a dozen whites to pick from and nothing spectacular. They also had a few beers on the menu including Singha, Tiger, Tsing Tao, and Sapporo which appealed to me since I prefer to match Asian foods with Asian beer but that's just my personal preference.

Two of the six people chose the daily special which included two fried spring rolls, rice, the curry of the day (seafood with pineapple today) and the stirfry of the day (beef with ginger and shallots today). One diner ordered the pad thai although I didn't get a chance to ask how it was and the other two chose a chicken stirfry. They said they enjoyed it. I ordered the same stir fry as the chicken but opting for the seafood instead so it included squid and shrimp. The squid had a nice texture to it and the shrimp was nicely cooked but I found the sauce too sweet almost as if it was made with pineapple juice. I prefer sauces a little more savoury so it wasn't a big hit with me. The stirfries came with a side order of coleslaw and just a spoonful at that. I found this to be an interesting choice of sides when eggplant or asparagus would have been a better choice IMO. I would not rush back for another meal here.

On a positive note the price is reasonable and the waitress was pleasant and prompt.

I found the food to be average. The starter soup (shrimp and coconut cream) was good, but the Pad Thai was strictly average. You are also paying a heft price premium for being downtown.

Strange... I found the food here was very good, and I really enjoyed my meal, but a few hours later, I was sick with food poisoning! I thought maybe I was just really unlucky and hit an off night, but perhaps this place isn't following health codes!

I went to this restaurant with a friend and will never go back. The service was horrible and the food left 2 out of 3 of us sick...literally!
The ambiance is kind of cheesy and I found the portions to be a bit small. For me, there was no saving grace for this restaurant.