ottawa foodies

Hi everyone,

Per my subject, I have recently relocated from Vancouver to Ottawa and I need your help.
There are a number of items that are staples in my diet. Where should I go Ottawians? Is that even correct? Lol

1. Sushi - preferably authentic and Japanese chefs but I won't be too picky. What's the damage on the wallet?

2. Ramen

3. Pho - I was in Chinatown and had some terrible Pho. Can't recall the name unfortunately. I saw a few other ones and I probably just picked the wrong one. I'm hoping.

4. Italian Deli/Sand which

5. French

Please add any must try places as well. Everyone keeps on telling me to try shwarmas? Are they really that exciting out here? There are so many diners here as well.

Thanks!

4 - Sanguiccio on Preston St. Just won the Citizen's award for Best Sandwich in the City so it's now on the map, but I've been going there for a while because I'm friends with Genio's brother-in-law and it's a well deserved award.

Michael you started duplicate threads - could you please go delete the other one? Our host is on vacation in Portugal and probably is not reading the site so we can't leave it for him to do.

4. I would recommend DiRienzo Foods

3. Just throw a stick and you'll hit one. They all seem pretty good. I like Pho Bo Ga II on Somerset not far from Preston

1. Don't know and don't care about authentic, but Sushi 88 on Somerset West is well-regarded.

4. You're never very far from a decent sandwich in Ottawa. If you're downtown try Bottega Nicastro on George (cheap too), or Johnny Farina's on Elgin (weekday lunch counter). Not Italian, and not cheap, but you can't go wrong with a sandwich from Art-is-in bakery.

5. You can fill your boots with fine french/Canadian dining, but I think we're lacking in casual bistro joints. Sure folks who venture across the river more often can suggest something.

As far as what's good, many very tasty restaurants in Ottawa and a couple searches on this website will point them out. We're a bit underserved in the cheap-mid-range though, mostly pubs and chain restaurants.

I don't know about "exciting", but everyone enjoys a good schwarma. It's a matter of finding the right place for you, the one that doesn't make you ill. My favourite is, frustratingly, in Orleans.

Welcome to town!

1. Genji, or, C'est Japon a Suisha/Suisha Gardens
2. Avoid.
3. Pho'licious, Huong's, Pho Bo Ga
4. DiRienzos, La Bottega, Nicastros, The Butchery, Art-is-in
5. Tartuffe, Signatures at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, Baccara, Le Saint-O

Try Lebanese food from Les Grillades, shawarma from Shawarma Prince. Pizza from Zazaza, tennessy willems. Go to Allium on Monday night for delicious small plates. Avoid almost all tacos in this city. Eat pupusas at La Cabana or El Tucan. Drink microbrews and eat good food at the Wellington Gastropub or Murray Street. Eat Afghan food at Salang Kabob House. Check out Rice Pea for the Chinese spice lamb skewers, lamb or pork burgers. Eat great vegan food at Zen Kitchen, cheap vegan food at govindas or green earth. The list goes on and on...

Oh, forgot to add Parma Ravioli to the list for sandwiches, they also do foccaccia pizza slices to go, pasta and salads.

Eat Pascales Ice Cream.

Drink a locally roasted coffee from Happy Goat, Bytown Beanery, or Equator.

Be cool and eat at Mellos Pop Up (the food is really good).

Treat yourself to a beautiful, delicious and expensive multicourse tasting menu at one of the best restaurants in Canada at Atelier.

Drink beer and eat wings at Quinn's, go see a movie at the Mayfair afterwards.

Welcome to Ottawa!

1. Sushi 168 off of Merivale, all you can eat, and pretty solid for the price
4. you have to go to Sherwood Deli for the BBQ chicken with bacon and or Avocado....seriously it's fantastic

Pho 99 off of gladstone... not sure what the street is called, but i wont eat pho anywhere else... And i'll second dirienzo's

I think you're thinking of Bell St. It's highly recommended by a couple of my Viet friends.

Bell street it is! Fantastic food, great service... The mirrored walls are a little unnerving, but you get used to it. They have karaoke at night, never been, but daytime is fantastic.

If you are from Vancouver then I would have to tell you that our Sushi does not compare to what you can get in Vancouver. You have to take what we have for what it is. We don't have the ocean nor the population mix or base. Toronto is better for variety and price.

From what my sister says about Vancouver, you will be very happy with our selection of Vietnamese, that's one of the first type of places she goes to when she's in town visiting.

We don't really have Ramen places, maybe one on Bank Street but I've never been.

You should do well in the sandwish department and for French food as others have suggested.

Welcome to Ottawa, we do have our gems, Ethiopian food (Horn of Africa near the Bytown theatre) as well as Sri Lankan (Ceylonta on Somerset Street) and lots of good Indian (Mia on Richmond Road at Woodroofe is new and very good). Unfortunately, a lot of the Indian places now offer mostly buffet style (East India Company on Somerset near Elgin Street is good). Our chinatown on Somerset between Bronson and Preston is quite good for a city the size of Ottawa. Enjoy and don't hesitate to ask more questions or repor back.

For Pho and Vietnamese I go see Huong !:

Huong's Vietnamese Bistro

Some of the best soups/items are on the specials board and are written ONLY in Vietnamese. So ask.

The real winner for me there is the Crab Soup, with shredded crab meat and crab dumplings in a rich , slightly sour (from tomatoes) broth. a Captain Caper Yumm Yumm Yumm rating.

Here is a link:

ottawafoodies.com

Welcome to Ottawa! I moved from Vancouver about two years ago. Ottawa has a very different restaurant scene than Vancouver. In Ottawa there are more pub-style restaurants rather than the casual fine-dinng places you see in Vancouver. I like the food in Ottawa but you need to change your fast-food tastes from asian to shwarma. If you want Vancouver-style sushi, there is only one place to go. Kiko on Preston street makes me homesick for Vancouver. I mentioned this to the server. It turns out almost everyone involed in the restaraunt is from Vancouver. It is best to avoid any other sushi restaurants. They all kinda make me shiver. Have a good time.

Not responsive to anything the OP asked, but you really have to go try the sri lankan food at CEYLONTA (either location).

Awesome, tasy, unlikely to resemble anything you have eaten anywhere else, unless you've spent quality time in Sri Lanka, of course.

Best sandwich I've found in town is at lucianos at Preston and Somerset.

Thanks for all the warm replies. So I did get a chance to try, 'Bottega' in the Market. You can't complain for the price and it will be my benchmark for Ottawa. I'm hoping Luciano's and the others ones mentioned tops them cause I think there is better.

I will definitely try to check out some of the things I did not have easy access to in Vancouver. Ethiopian, Sri Lanka, and French! Can't wait to try some of the French cuisine. I only have been to one French restaurant - that was, 'Le Crocodile'. I did get a chance to try Shwarma Prince. Much bigger portions than Vancouver and more pickled vegs.

Captain Caper - It sounds like you are describing, 'Bun Rieu'. That's a good sign if they have bun rieu instead of the usual Pho offerings.

And ddueck - I am very much looking forward to Kiko given your high regard. Before I left Vancouver, I must have had sushi every day if not twice a day. Have you been to Sushi Hachi in Richmond? You might want to try when you visit.

Quick question: Every pub here seems to be Irish. I assume there is a large Irish community in Ottawa? Or is it the case, some pubs just throw some clovers, green paint and call themselves Irish?

1. There is nothing on the level of Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver here in Ottawa... Had sushi and seafood there and it was fantastic. The only other place I had sushi better than that is at Lake Las Vegas where the restaurant at the hotel (used to be a Hyatt then something else now Westin / SPG) has one of the few master sushi chef in the US and I had the $100 chef's table/choice with something like 6 courses. A lot of the sushi in Ottawa are not run by Japanese people.

4. Do you just want Italian sandwich or sandwich in general?

Ottawa has a strong Irish heritage linked to the building of the canal and the settlement of the Valley, though you would be hard pressed to find many people from Ireland. Many of the pubs are Irish-owned though and we have a pretty active Irish cultural society.

That said, the best pubs in the city are all English or Canadian. Go to the Manx on Elgin and, if you have a car, the Cheshire in Carp.

I agree about the pubs. When I moved to Ottawa a long time ago I found it interesting how many country pubs were around. There is the Cheshire Cat in Carp as Brian Mc mentioned. There's also the Swan in Carp, the Swan on the Rideau, the Ashton Pub. I've probably forgotten some others. The Swan in Carp has changed from a traditional pub to more of a upscale restaurant but the last time we went the food was very good and it's a nice place to sit on the balcony and enjoy a drink. I haven't been to the one in Ashton in years, but I've been wanting to go since they've become a brew pub. The Cheshire Cat is another that we do still go to and that we'd recommend.

The Manx is a great spot when it comes to pubs in the city.

Re Pubs in Ottawa: many of what may seem to be Irish pubs are actually 'British', 'Scottish' and even 'Atlantic province'.

It's all bollocks really. :)

Re Italian sannies: Love Bottega, but DiRienzo on Beech west of Preston is still my fave, including for the rediculous set-up. Plus they have those cannolis from Mtl that no one else in the city has.

Re sushi in Ottawa: I gave up years ago and just go hardcore in Mtl and Van.

Re shawarma: Shawarma Palace, on Rideau east of Chapel. Discussion over.

RE: Shawarma - I am a Shawarma Palace supporter, however recently I have found their Carling Loaction to be WAAAAYYYY better. Fresher, nicer AND they make a Large Size Sandwich! I used to work near the carling location, and frequented often. Not ONCE have I left disappointed (I ususally leave other shawarma places very disappointed...)

As for Sandwich - Chicken Bacon Avacado at Sherwood Deli. The Rideau Bakery Egg bread they use is a thing of beauty.

Yeah the sushi in Montreal is much better than Ottawa..

Welcome to the city,

I grew up in Vancouver, and spent time iving in Toronto and Ottawa...Other than the discrepency in sushi prices/availability I think you'll find some great little spots in Ottawa.

If you spend a lot of time downtown I would add "Grounded kitchen and coffeehouse" to the sandwich list. Great value and great atmosphere, they also do a pretty strong small plate oriented dinner menu, and bring in a DJ every Thursday.

Got a chance to try DiRienzos. I would give it a, 6/10. The iceberg lettuce may have soured my first impression. I was expecting something more than tomatoes,lettuce and mayo. Might be a case of high expectations.
Still prefer La Bottega.

Also visited Huong's Vietnamese Bistro. The broth is bland and the springs rolls consisted primarily of vermicelli. Interesting that you roll your own salad rolls. Is this the norm here? Between the two of us, my friend and I ordered : a bowl of Pho, Bun Rieu, spring rolls, salad rolls, and a vermicelli bowl with lemongrass chicken. Don't expect too much crab meat in the Bun Rieu.

Think I will cook at home and stick to Lebanese, French, pubs when I eat out. Not fine dining but I really enjoy the chip trucks here.

Next up on my list, will be, 'Grounded kitchen'.

Michael, you will lose your "everything sucks here" West Coast attitude eventually. Haha! It took me about 2 years. :-)

Huong's Vietnamese Bistro definitely has salad rolls and you definitely don't have to roll your own! They're on the appetizer menu. I don't think you ever see them called salad rolls in Ottawa. They're called Gỏi Cuốn (Summer Roll) or "Fresh Spring Rolls" or Goi Cuon. The menu typically makes it pretty obvious which ones are the fried ones and which ones are the soft rice paper ones.

I agree the DiRienzo's sandwiches aren't amazing (except compared to fast food sandwich chains)... the appeal there is the price/value.

Don't lose hope! You just need to find the places you enjoy.

Like FF said: Don't lose hope. You'll establish a few favourites in short time. I just moved away from Ottawa after six years there. A handful of things that I miss, if you're curious:

La Cigale ice cream in Chelsea and Truffle Treasures' gelato
Bread and Sons. Easily the most underrated bakery in the city.
Back Lane Cafe.
Pho Van Van - the satay pho is fantastic.
La Bottega sandwiches.
Shawarma from Shawarma Palace on Rideau Street really is some of the best that you'll have.

I gotta back FF up on this. When I crossed the bridge 7 years ago, I thought the food here was terrible. Over time, my standards gradually lowered ;) Just kidding! The thing with Ottawa is 90% of all restos and shops are horrendous tourist traps, but there are some true gems to be found. It just takes a bit longer to sniff them out.

For Phò, my vote goes to Thu Do, at Somerset and Booth.

French food ? I'm French Canadian and I make a mean Kraft Dinner with hotdog slices, does that count ? :) If you meant fancy-pants "french cuisine", Atelier serves world-class, high-end fare. If you're aiming a little lower, hop on over to Gatineau and try Edgar or Odile for down-to-earth yet finessed meals, but check the hours first - their schedule is quite restrictive.

Also not on your list, but I have to plug them anyway: Pancho Villa on Elgin. I cannot speak to their authenticity, as I'm exactly zero percent Mexican, but it is damn tasty, filling and inexpensive. It is, by far, my favorite restaurant in the city.