ottawa foodies

We've eaten here three times in the approximately three weeks we've spent in Ottawa (including weekends prepping to move here, and then since moving). We've been satisfied with everything we've eaten so far. Our group has always included one vegetarian, one gluten-free person, and one kid, as well as other hangers-on, and the waitstaff has been useful at checking what we can eat and altering dishes to fit (putting a burger on a salad, checking that salad dressings were gluten-free, taking meat off eggs benedict, etc).

Highlights:

Poutine: the basic poutine is vegetarian, which made me happy, and an omni among us loved the smoked meat poutine.

Veggie Burger: great tzaziki sauce, tasty homemade patty.

Caesar Salad: gluten-free if you skip the croutons, tasty dressing.

The desserts change regularly, but we were very happy with the ones we ordered, including a blueberry-goat cheese crostata, yum.

Very kid-friendly; my son always got something he liked, and was happily distracted for the whole meal coloring their menu, which is very intricate.

The one possible con is that service is not super fast, but always very friendly.

Went to this establishment this evening and what an awful experience it was.
Firstly waited 20 min for our drinks order to be taken and then another 15 min for the said drinks to arrive.
Placed our food order and waited and waited and waited.
Eventually left the cash for our drinks on the table and walked out.
Drive through salad from Wendy's was our diner in the end.

Yesterday, my girlfriend and I went to the Wellington Diner to grab some lunch. Although the restaurant was not busy whatsoever, we still waited over 45 minutes for our lunch (fish and chips, and a vegetable sandwich). Once we got our food, my girlfriend discovered a fly in her caeser salad. When she brought it up to our server, the server replied "Well it's a restaurant, right?" and walked away. We did not get our salad replaced, nor was anything taken off of our bill (even though the salad was barely touched) . Horrible customer service. We will not be going back.

I so wanted to like this place and was totally let down.

I was in the mood for poutine so I ordered one to go with a calamari starter. I asked not to have the chili dip with the calamari because I have an allergy to chilis. This was done but I was a little disappointed that they didn't have any other dipping sauce to offer. Not the end of the world.

The calamari was pretty rubbery which was unfortunate. They were also cut into strips rather than rings so as I ate it, I thought that they could pass as clam strips.

It struck me when I received my takeout that the order seemed a little "light." Normally, poutine feels like someone put a brick in a takeout box. This felt like part of my order was missing but when I opened the boxes, I saw a rather small order of poutine in a huge take out box.

I didn't like the gravy. It tasted like the gravy I got on Burger King poutine the one time I tried it. Very salty. The fries were nothing special.

What most disappointed me about this place is that the server gave me a takeout order with no napkins, forks or condiments. I made the mistake of not asking because he seemed to have everything all packed up confidently as he handed it to me.

I would probably try this place again but not the same menu items. The restaurant itself has a nice, open atmosphere. It seems like a good place to meet a friend for lunch.

I felt compelled to add that the house gravy (POUTINE!!!) at The Diner is completely vegetarian, as are many other items on the menu. Yum!

I was blown away by how accommodating the staff were with the 13 month old at our table, extremely kid friendly service and a great destination for young family dining. The food is pretty much the same as Elgin St Diner (I believe they are the same owners running the show here), I had the buffalo chicken wrap with the side salad (simple & fresh) & house dressing, others had the burger & fries, and shepherd's pie, everyone was pleased with the meal & value. It was relatively quiet for a Friday evening, would have expected to see more patrons. Overall, a good family place that won't break the bank.

So, what do you do on a lazy rainy Sunday morning?Breakfast in Westboro.. The Wellington Diner. In other reviews it said to expect a long wait on the weekends, we were lucky to get a seat right away.

It was a great place. Great food, great service, great coffee, great location. It's nice being served by a younger yet professional crowd. Here are a few pictures. It looks like a red barn.

Lots of seating, upstairs and on the main floor. We were lucky to sit right at the front window of the restaurant. In Paris, you pay for that kind of real estate!
Below are some pictures of historical Ottawa milestones.

I love taking pictures of the menu! In fact, I didn't even have a chance to open the menu. We both ordered the breakfast special... see below!

All I can say was "wow!". Such an interesting combination, and so tasty. Towards the end the gorgonzola was all I tasted, I think there was a bit too much of it. It's hard to nail the Benedict's, but they sure hit the head!

Check out more pics at theovalley.blogspot.com

Cait and I ended up at The Diner while driving down Richmond Rd looking for a breakfast spot this morning. It was a total fluke decision as this place hasn't exactly gotten rave reviews here in the past, however what we ended up with was an extremely pleasant surprise and one of the better breakfasts we've had in town.

She ordered the Grilled Vegetable Benedict and I had the Breakfast Wrap with homefries instead of french fries.

Cait's eggs were poached to order, the hollandaise sauce was fresh and tasty (with no lumps), and the grilled vegetables were delicious (portobello mushroom, eggplant, zucchini, and roasted red peppers). In fact, she called it the best eggs benedict she's had in Westboro.

My wrap was good - scrambled eggs, salsa, 3 cheeses, lettuce, mayo, and bacon. Pretty hard to mess something like this up...

However, the real star here were the homefries. Not frozen or deep-fried. Fresh cut potatoes with the skins on, lightly seasoned, and fried to a nice crisp. These were probably the best traditional style homefries we've had in town - a lot of places over-season with a ton of paprika and/or salt, or the potatoes are over/under cooked. This was a really nice surprise and made the breakfast stand out.

Another thing worth mentioning was the size of the juice. Normally Cait likes to order a large juice and just ends up with an average to small size glass. This juice was massive. A minor thing, but for someone who likes juice with their breakfast, this is a nice plus (although don't be surprised at the $5 charge for the mondo juice).

We'll definitely be back for breakfast (especially with the long lines plaguing Ottawa's most well-known breakfast/brunch places), and want to give lunch or dinner a try sometime.

We hit up The Diner for the first time on a Saturday at lunch. We were a group of five and didn't have a hard time getting a booth, which was good considering how busy the place was.

What we did find a bit bothersome was the fact that our waiter seemed pretty hung over, or at least really tired. He was a nice guy, but a little off his game - I'm sure at a dinner service on a week night he'd actually be a bit of fun.

My biggest qualm: the chocolate chip pancakes I ordered showed up with green onions in them - all three, so it wasn't a fluke incident. It seems they just hadn't cleaned the surface well enough between hash browns and pancakes. Thankfully this didn't actually affect the taste of the pancakes and the server was fantastic about it: he took the charge for the pancakes off our final bill.

I'd go back again because everyone and every restaurant can have an off day, so I'm willing to give their dinner a try. Plus, I've heard the mac & cheese is worth the trip.

Went to the Diner last Saturday with Q & his 2 kids (11 & 13). Loved the location & environment.
I ordered the roasted veggie club & Q had the cheeseburger. We both thought they were allright.
One of the kids got poutine & reaffirmed my personal rule to only get poutine from a truck. The fries were spindly (not fresh cut) & the gravy was very dark making me suspect that it was not real gravy.
The other kid got the pot roast & was very happy with it (as was Q). It was super tender and tasty.
Service was very kind but could've been a bit more attentive.
In conclusion - we weren't blown away. I don't think I'll go running back to this place when there are so many other places in the city to try out.

This combination of gorganzola cheese, spinach and spicy caplabrese was amazing!

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!

My friend had the Breakfast Club, and she found it quite filling! I tasted the home fries and they were delicious!