Ottawa favourites for 2016 and hidden jewels [General]

2016 Jan 16
I love the restaurant experience but in my opinion there's a lot of hits and misses in Ottawa, either the food is good or the decor is nice or the food is crazy over priced, or the quality varies visit to visit, challenge to get all 4 (decor, food, value, consistency) and sometimes better off to cook and eat at Home... There are still jewels with good value and ambiance I'd love to hear about good sure value spots. Some are in the higher range but no regret when the bill comes if the value us there and the experience special and unique.
My top picks for no miss/sure value in no particular order are:
*LoneStar(tex mex, no surprises, loud place but free chips and salsa and fajitas amf fresh made tortilla are always perfection from my experience)
* Talay Thai and Kao Thai (rice, appetizers and curries)
* tempura at c'est bon at suisha, bentos at wasabi. Sushi (maki veggie) at Gengi and Sushi 88. I'd also add 168 sushi lunch on merivale for ordering on iPad and reasonable lunch menu.
* Afternoon tea experience at Nectar and Chateau Laurier
* Sushi go in the market (small Resto but great value, service and quality!)
* Whalebones for oysters
* Monday Tapas at Allium on Holland
*kS in the keys - modern decor with range of options, awesome crab cakes and pizza

There's probably other places I forget. Would love to hear opinions, thoughts and recommendations:)

2016 Jan 16
I would add gezellig for lunch or brunch. It is good any time but lunch / brunch at $22 is great value with great food and service in a nice surrounding.

2016 Jan 17
Suisha has a chef's choice vegetarian sushi and part of it has tempura veg on the sushi.
It is always good, and half or you at least get 6-8pc avocado sushi, 2pc inari and the rest "other veg".

I usually get that 1 or 2x a month and it is always really good!

Suisha used to have a "bar menu" with apps from wed-fri 4-7pm or so, but they seem to have stopped that for now.
I did go a few times and apps were at most $5 and there was even a chef's choice 3 apps for $10.
I did that once and it was good.

The reg app prices at Suisha are ok still, not too high priced.
Also you can buy their ginger salad dressing to take home.

-Ten Sushi on Bank st is decent for a buffet.
Lunch is just $14 to eat in and their chinese style items are better- like shrimp wonton, eggplant teriyaki, veg dumplings.

They have take-out specials at lunch and the veg tempura meal is really good and only $8.

-if you are going to get sushi at Farm Boy on Bank st, Farm Boy keeps it overnight and it is expensive.
Ten Sushi has cheaper take-out sushi and is made when you order.

2016 Jan 17
Here's a hidden jewel .

Ethiopian coffee beans at Tizita Bake shop. Ottawa's premier injera bakery.

www.tizitabakeshop.com/

Why is this a hidden jewel ?

Great coffee at a great price (and friendly service).

Example: For the home roaster, green organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe @ less than $6/lb. Anywhere else in Ottawa it cost 50% more ... and to get that price on line you usually need to buy 100 pounds.

I'm still dialling in the roasting profile, but the results so far are just delightful.

For home brewers they sell roasted coffee for $6.70/lb.

Where can you get top shelf freshly roasted coffee at less than 7 bucks per pound ? (Bridgehead sells Ethiopian coffee in 3/4 lb (12oz) bags for $16.)