ottawa foodies

Wifey and I finally visited on a Saturday night. It's casual inside and the food value is good. We shared a bunch of appetizers and sides and had a one-person 3-meat combo plate as follows:

* Caesar Salad - Tasty all around, generous croutons, and amazing chunks of smoky bacon.
* Baby Back Ribs - Good chewy texture, pretty decent smoke flavour.
* Beef Brisket - Tender, not a lot of smoke taste, I didn't like the sauce.
* Jerk Pork - Tasted like an oven-roasted pork loin, chopped up and tossed with a homemade jerk sauce with good heat. Again, this sauce was not to my taste. We actually left it.
* Mac and Cheese - Really nice, browned on top, macaroni not overcooked, and with tasty cheese.
* Corn Bread - Surprisingly not too sweet but a little dryer than I like. Would benefit from a dab of butter or a sauce worthy of dipping.
* Southern Greens - My favourite dish by far! Tender, tasty greens in a flavourful sauce, adorned with generous hunks of smoky bacon. Spectacular!

Had both the serious mac and cheese and the mariachi mac and cheese and found both to be unfortunately subpar. Maybe we came in later in the day, but the cheese had congealed and the oil had separated and it wasn't so much creamy as gummy :(. The cheese sauce had also curdled in an unpleasant way and to top it all off the pasta they choose to use are big rigatoni-like pieces which were soggy and dry at the same time. The heat lamps were really harsh I guess.

Really expected the mariachi to be more tangy and zesty but found it just to have some cut up veg to differentiate it from the original kind.

I'm making it sound disgusting but it really wasn't that bad. The cheeses they chose to put in tasted great and they chose them well, they had just sat out and separated. A different texture like a breadcrumb topping would have been super welcome.

glycogen stores depleted and in need for small portions of tasty mac & cheese. $6.95 for 12 oz portions. a rare rich carb splurge.

serious bacon mac & cheese = gruyere + gouda + bacon + hint of truffle (left).

serious mac & cheese - perron cheddar + thunderoak + gouda + spices (right).

interesting combos. subtle flavors. would be nice to have golden crisp panko breadcrust for textural contrast. maybe fried onions...

If you're gonna have it, remember there is chili in the bottom so you need to dig in to have chili with every spoonful.

Delicious mac and cheese, however like every one I've had in a resto, not nearly enough cheese. Nice textures and tastes, I liked the croissant crumble on top.

Also, another knock, pricey at $10.95.

Still, thumbs up given it was so tasty.

I am not sure if this is a new addition to the menu or not. I have only ever ordered pizzas here because they are so good in my opinion that it is all I want to order. We did order the Mac n cheese as a supplementary platter to each our pizzas because we were hungry and did not want to share with our 4 year old (lol).

It is very good! Try it! With chunks of mushrooms, bacon, onions and a bit of bread crumbs on top. The pasta was a good texture, not too soft - a pet peeve of mine. Tasted cheesy.

Had the mac & cheese for breakfast this past Sunday. I love the fact that you can order from the regular menu for breakfast! There were 4 different kinds on the menu, and I went with the "plain" regular option (cream and parmesan). It wasn't overly saucy, but the sauce that was there was fresh and nicely seasoned. On top was shredded cheese and panko bread crumbs. I upgraded my side to a poutine, but really should have gone with something less substantial because it was so much food, in addition to my milkshake, that I couldn't finish the poutine. Unlike others who have reviewed, I found the service appropriately speedy for a Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to trying other things on their menu!