Foods from Zaks Diner
Comments
2012 Apr 20
Date of Visit: March 23, 2012
Zak’s is one of the two decent places I went for breakfast on my last trip to Ottawa. I have passed by Zak’s many times in the past but this time I wanted to try a place for breakfast other than Dunn’s, my regular spot, since, good as that place is, I just felt like something different. Zak’s, as it turned out, was a very good choice …
Meal:
Breakfast Club - Rating 4 out of 5.
Overall
Zak’s is a great restaurant for breakfast and I would very much like to try a lunch or dinner there sometime. There is really nice ‘homey’ feel to the place and the service during my visit was especially pleasant and friendly. The food is reasonably priced and very filling.
RATING: 4 out of 5
See full pictorial review at: sybaritica.me
Zak’s is one of the two decent places I went for breakfast on my last trip to Ottawa. I have passed by Zak’s many times in the past but this time I wanted to try a place for breakfast other than Dunn’s, my regular spot, since, good as that place is, I just felt like something different. Zak’s, as it turned out, was a very good choice …
Meal:
Breakfast Club - Rating 4 out of 5.
Overall
Zak’s is a great restaurant for breakfast and I would very much like to try a lunch or dinner there sometime. There is really nice ‘homey’ feel to the place and the service during my visit was especially pleasant and friendly. The food is reasonably priced and very filling.
RATING: 4 out of 5
See full pictorial review at: sybaritica.me
2012 Jan 27
Met a friend at Zak's in Kanata today. Very good service, plenty of staff, very friendly. Drinks came right away. Orders were taken on an iPhone, which was pretty cool and probably resulted in a quicker turnaround, as I assume the kitchen gets the order immediately upon entering. The food came very quickly.
I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with onions rings and coleslaw. The pulled pork itself was pretty good. Not bbq quality, but it was about what I expected. There was a moderate amount of pork and it came with sauteed red onions on it which were pretty good. The bun was called a baguette in the menu, and did kinda look like a baguette, but that's where the similarities end. It wasn't crusty, yet wasn't soft. As soon as I went to take a bite, hunks of the bun were falling apart. It literally crumbled. I had to eat it piece by piece and most of it with knife and fork. The onion rings were ok. Likely frozen and fried before serving. They were quite greasy, decent sized, slightly crispy. You won't confuse them with rings from Dick's or The Works...the slaw had a pretty good flavour but was a bit too creamy for my liking.
I really expected more from this place for some reason. Nothing was "bad", but nothing was really all that good either. I will likely return at some point, but will probably opt for breakfast next time.
I ordered the pulled pork sandwich with onions rings and coleslaw. The pulled pork itself was pretty good. Not bbq quality, but it was about what I expected. There was a moderate amount of pork and it came with sauteed red onions on it which were pretty good. The bun was called a baguette in the menu, and did kinda look like a baguette, but that's where the similarities end. It wasn't crusty, yet wasn't soft. As soon as I went to take a bite, hunks of the bun were falling apart. It literally crumbled. I had to eat it piece by piece and most of it with knife and fork. The onion rings were ok. Likely frozen and fried before serving. They were quite greasy, decent sized, slightly crispy. You won't confuse them with rings from Dick's or The Works...the slaw had a pretty good flavour but was a bit too creamy for my liking.
I really expected more from this place for some reason. Nothing was "bad", but nothing was really all that good either. I will likely return at some point, but will probably opt for breakfast next time.
2010 Aug 26
The prices here were a little steep, but I suppose that because of the neighbourhood it's in, and its reputation, people are willing to pay.
That said, the milkshakes were incredibly delicious and you got a lot of it, so maybe it's worth the price. (Although you can't take home the leftovers if you don't drink it all, so if you don't normally have a big stomach, it might be best to share with someone else.) I also can't imagine a large family coming in an ordering milkshakes for, say, parents and three kids along with actual meals. That's almost $30 for the shakes alone!
The poutine was yummy - it cost about $9.95 for that basket in the photo.
Good atmosphere, good food - but I don't believe that two milkshakes and a shared poutine should total over $20.
That said, the milkshakes were incredibly delicious and you got a lot of it, so maybe it's worth the price. (Although you can't take home the leftovers if you don't drink it all, so if you don't normally have a big stomach, it might be best to share with someone else.) I also can't imagine a large family coming in an ordering milkshakes for, say, parents and three kids along with actual meals. That's almost $30 for the shakes alone!
The poutine was yummy - it cost about $9.95 for that basket in the photo.
Good atmosphere, good food - but I don't believe that two milkshakes and a shared poutine should total over $20.
2010 Feb 22
Once you call yourself a diner, there are certain expectations: Like the ability to get breakfast for under $10, taxes in. Not going to happen here.
Come here for the novelty, and for the gut-wrenching, greasey food, including my personal favourite the breakfast poutine (hollandaise sauce as orange as the Dutch Olympic outfits!).
It's fine in a pinch, but for the same price as the standard 2 egg, you can get a much nicer breakfast elsewhere.
Come here for the novelty, and for the gut-wrenching, greasey food, including my personal favourite the breakfast poutine (hollandaise sauce as orange as the Dutch Olympic outfits!).
It's fine in a pinch, but for the same price as the standard 2 egg, you can get a much nicer breakfast elsewhere.
2010 Jan 6
Make sure you give yourself enough time to eat here! There was three of us who ate here tonight and we ordered one course each (no appetizers) and it took us 2 hours for our shakes and dinner. The foods decent (I ordered Beer Battered Fish & Chips $11.99 with fries and steamed veggies).. the menu is huge.. service is friendly, just be aware if it's busy you have to wait a while to be served and get your bill :)
2009 Oct 4
Fast service is not in my experience, I arrived there one night after being at work till midnight, got my table no problem and ordered up the steak and egg breakfast. I watch 3 tables fill up around me as I drank coffee, 2 of those table eat, paid and were refilled before I even saw my waitress again. And when I asked about my food she took 10 mins to find out they hadn't even started it yet but they put it on right away. 90 mins and they hadn't even started cooking the steak and eggs. I asked for the bill as I would find somewhere else to eat, so she brought me the the bill, for the entire meal that they hadn't even cooked yet, even the manager came over and insisted I pay the entire bill, and only backed off and settled for payment for the coffee when I told him not to call the cops like he was saying he would and grab the 4 cops that were standing outside the door.
Worse service I have ever seen, backed up by the worst management I ever encountered, as for the food, if it ever gets cooked I'm sure it would be good, they certainly take enough time to prep it.
**the experienced users are claiming my experience to be questionable, LOL, I shared what happened and they basically call me liar, just pray you don't get the waitress I had. I usually hit 3 or 4 places a week, and just found this site this morning, but obviously people only want to hear about good and wonderful experiences, honest opinions are obviously frowned upon, so this will be my only post to your site.
Worse service I have ever seen, backed up by the worst management I ever encountered, as for the food, if it ever gets cooked I'm sure it would be good, they certainly take enough time to prep it.
**the experienced users are claiming my experience to be questionable, LOL, I shared what happened and they basically call me liar, just pray you don't get the waitress I had. I usually hit 3 or 4 places a week, and just found this site this morning, but obviously people only want to hear about good and wonderful experiences, honest opinions are obviously frowned upon, so this will be my only post to your site.
Nominator
When my food came I was immediately turned off. My salad was wilted and mostly consisted of red onion. There was one tiny piece of feta. The onion, the ONION! It seriously looked like they had chunked half a red onion in the tiny bowl to make up for the lack of lettuce. The lettuce was so far gone that I couldn't eat it and some of it was dried up. The bottom of the bowl was filled with numerous olives were not sliced and had pits, which was annoying. How could they serve that to someone? I felt like I was getting someone's leftovers. Unreal!
The wrap was tiny and again mostly (more than 60%) consisted of red onion. I had to pick most of it out and then I was just eating bread with a bit of chicken and tomato. Why so much onion? Onion is cheap, but come on! I paid over $11 for the wrap! There's better value and quality elsewhere.
I wanted to try the shakes but they didn't seem like anything special for the ludicrous price. Not interested in a $6 glass of calories. Again I can get shakes I already know are good elsewhere for better value.
Maybe it was just a bad day, I don't know. I wouldn't risk going again for the prices they charge. I don't send food back, I just never eat there again. I can go somewhere I know will give me edible food.
It's been a while since I was this mad at a restaurant. The food was so terrible I didn't even have the heart to tell the people that invited me to spare their feelings. One of my friends confided to me later that he thought it was a poor choice as well as he too was not happy with his meal. Live and learn.