Ottawa Foodies

I liked this restaurant for about the first 5 years it existed and only the original version (Baseline Road).

There is nothing outstanding about this place, the food, or the service.

The quality of the food they use and portion sizes have diminished and the prices have inflated.

It is not an inspiring place to go. Blah.

We went for dinner with friends to this location last night.
Atmosphere was the same as usual and the service was efficient but not overly friendly.

I ordered a Pina Colada to start but I should have stuck with the lime margarita. It did not really have any flavour. Definitely just some type of mix was used, nothing fresh.

For supper I had the same thing I always have: the beef fajita enchiladas. The beef inside the corn tortillas was in tender strips and well cooked, but they don't add anything else to the inside so it's very dry and the corn tortilla was a bit cardboard-ish. Everything else on the plate was good, although we all commented that the condiment portions - salsa, guac and sour cream - are getting smaller and smaller. It's quite insulting actually.

Other meals ordered were the fajitas and the chicken burger with fries.

For dessert two of us shared the deep fried ice cream. It was yummy, but be forewarned - it is no where near the size they show in the picture. Less than half the size actually. They just pile on three times as much whipped cream to hide it!

Overall, everyone was satisfied with their food.

(On a side note, because I like the beef fajita enchiladas so much, my BF ordered them the last time his office went for lunch to the Baseline location. He called me afterwards to say that they were disgusting and tasted pre-frozen. Therefore I asked last night before ordering them to make sure this wasn't a city-wide problem. The waitress assured me that theirs are made fresh to order and I can attest that indeed they are.)

Went with people from the office and this is the consensus:

Tex Mex burger tasted like a regular burger - didn't taste like anything special. It was cooked well and juicy, but really skimpy on the guacamole and cheese. I don't understand how anyone could look at a batch of brown guacamole and try and hide it in a burger. Disappointing.

The salad that came with the burger was laughable. The lettuce was not fresh - I had to pick out a bunch of pieces, including browned core. The dressing looked like it was spoon-a-pulted from across the table. Poor presentation even if it is just a garden salad.

The fajitas are usually good here, but the chicken and beef were rubbery this time. I think because they weren't timed with the ribs properly and probably sat under the heat lamp for the 30 minutes it took to cook the ribs. That's a long time - a bit of warning would have been helpful. I'm just glad the boss was there too, so I wouldn't get a look for going back to the office late. Also the condiments (incl. guacamole!!) sat at the table that whole time. Yuck. A place that is careless enough to screw up their specialty gets crossed off my list of favourites.

Service wasn't good. The waiter seemed very indifferent when one of our diners enquired about the time it was taking. He said, "It's because of the ribs, I can get the manager if you want." ...No apology, very careless. When asked what type of dressings they have this was the reply: "You know the usuals..." and he wasn't kidding. I understand that place is busy during the lunch rush, but I feel like leaving a tip if my waiter has been attentive and informative. This guy just plain didn't care..maybe it was his last day.

So, Lonestar, for me, is falling into the category: "used to be great! what happened?"...They stopped caring? Rich enough already? Skating on good recent reputation? Too bad this happens to alot of nice places.

It would be nice to hear reviews from some of the other locations, so I can go back and enjoy their fajitas again.

Positive notes:
Ribs were fantastic, says our friend, the rib fan.

Tacos weren't crunchy what was expected - they were soft shell, but very tasty and lots of food. The meal includes 3 and he boxed one up.

Best fajitas I've ever had!