ottawa foodies

Ate at the Gloucester location tonight, a miserable meal, but since we were under a deadline (8pm movie across the street) I didn't ask to mention it to the manager, though I might call tomorrow.

Menu advertises 'Texan style' grilled flank steak, 'A BIG Yorkshire bowl filled with goat cheese mashed potatoes or fries, grilled flank steak, berry & beet demi and broccolini.' I figured I'd get some kind of goofy oversized Yorkshire with some mash inside, and then steak, demi-glace, veg, alongside.

What showed up was a saucer-sized 'Yorkshire' that felt and tasted like Bisquick, with a half-inch lip, mash slopped into it, 3-4 stems of broccolini that made me wish it was either asparagus or broccoli, and slices of steak, smothered in a 'demi' that looked and tasted like the gravy from a can of Chunky soup with a palmful of extra salt; I guess there might have been berries or beet somewhere, how would you ever know? All served on a large plate with two thirds white space that could have been put to use presenting the beef and veg. I ate a few broccolini, all of the steak, but only after scraping off the noisome gravy with my knife, putting that white space to use.

The steak was a perfect medium rare, but I can't imagine the eldritch horror I would have experienced had I opted for the fries. I'll never know, this place is on my shit list. Never again.

I ended up at Big Rig to meet some friends for drinks and Apps - feeling slightly apprehensive but ending nicely on the food end of things!

The Spicy Maple wings were a hit for me. Lightly breaded and a tasty unique spicy maple BBQ type glaze.

Deep Fried Pickles were done well - extra dried dill in the coating makes for a little extra zip!

My friend enjoyed his steak sandwich immensely although I didn't try it. Caesar salad had good flavours but a little heavy on the dressing.

The drinks were fun! Beer cocktails and some great house brews made for tricky decisions. The cherry cocktail I had was quite splendid.

The service unfortunately was not epic. It took over 20 minutes for a server to take our drink order in a restaurant that was mostly empty besides the bar. 30 Minutes in we had finally had our drinks and had placed our order but it was another 30 minutes before we received our drinks and ordered a much needed refill.

As I mentioned the food was quite pleasing, prices reasonable, but I sure would have loved my second drink to arrive before finishing my spicyish wings. I am little bit of a stickler for good service and my food management background does make me have slightly higher service expectations but the fact that our server didn't acknowledge the wait or even crack a smile left me a little disappointed.

Not disappointed enough that I won't go and have a beer cocktail the next time I go for a Swedish furniture run at IKEA but I definitely will have to be in the area to merit a visit.

Cheers :)

@ Wheresdafood. The amusing thing about our visit if you could call it that was only two bites were taken from the sandwich and one slice was eaten from the pizza. Our server asked if we wanted boxed and I enthusiastically said NO! Yet she did not ask if there was a problem. It was almost free since our gift card was $50 and we owed $1.32. I did leave a tip since there was nothing wrong with the service apart from the look on her face when she though I was going to complain. I just didn't have the energy to argue with management about their poor product so we just left.

Same here, had a xmas party there 2 weeks ago and went with the pizza. The overload of cheap cheese was all I could taste. I guess the only really good thing here is the Nacho with Pullpork. Ginger IPA was actually really good.

Tis the season of gift cards and we got one. Started with their IPA describes as having a citrus finish of grapefruit. Beer had nothing as described, not much other than a hoppyness to this beer that lacked any real flavour or character. The food was below average to the point of plain bad. My small pepperoni and olive pizza was dreadful. Thick tasteless crust with a red sauce that had no resemblance to tomatoes in the least. Not sure what Montreal style is but this was your typical Mid East style Ottawa pie. The only thing you could taste was the cheap cheese loaded on so thick that you could not even see the eight or so slices of olive buried under it. The pepperoni was of very poor quality and was also steamed under the thick layer of cheese. My wife's jerk chicken applewood smoked bacon sandwich on flat bread was worse than the pizza. I got half after tasting my pizza hoping for a reprieve from the pizza to more dismay. There was no bacon I could taste. The chicken was hard and definitely had no jerk seasoning. All you could taste was the mayo that was not mentioned in the description in the menu. The kicker was the stale microwaved flatbread that surrounded the flavourless interior. The place was packed which puzzled me.

Parmesan chicken sandwich with avocado, tomatoes and lettuce and sriracha mayo with a side of salad. Would like a little more flavour but the chicken was fresh and a big piece. Bread was fresh too. The salad came with balsamic dressing.

I like to inform/ask servers about common ingredients I "detest" in the rare event that they can't read my mind.

It was definitely a beer menu, since I ordered a beer from it lol. It has been a few weeks since I've been there, so maybe they removed them.

It wasn't on their regular menu; although they did have a big sign up about their new spring menu so maybe they replaced the menus that did list their beers with new ones that don't.

I was there a few weeks ago. I also didn't seem to think there was a listing of their beers - but there is, on the regular menu, tucked away on the back - if I remember correctly. But wherever it is, it's not obvious, which is a big departure from all other brewpubs I've been to. Yes, I had a direct line of sight to the big wall-o-beer-list, but my eyesight is not the best.

Had you asked, the waitress would have happily shown you the normal beer list on the menu, as she did to me, then only rattled the 2-3 seasonals.

This said, I agree that beers need to be more visible.

Portion sizes here are ridiculously large (not something I ever complain about). I was ravenous when I ordered, and I opted for a small Quattro Carne pizza with thin crust ($16.95). I managed to eat half of it before hitting cheese overload. The regular crust is really thick and looks good too.

As you can see from the picture, this pizza is very well done -- even charred in places. I like this. The flavour was great in an ooey gooey yet refined way. It is touted as "Montreal style" pizza. I'm not sure what that means, but it's fine with me as a once-in-a-while alternative to the scantily dressed thin crust pizzas I've been enjoying from Ottawa's wood ovens.

I would order this again, although I'd probably pay 3 bucks less and just get the straight bacon one. I didn't think the pepperoni, salami, and meatballs added much to it.

The pulled pork nachos were really nice--the pork is much tastier than the chicken. Condiments are now served on the side and the tiny jalapeño peppers are good!

At $16, these "pulled chicken nachos" are some of the priciest nachos in town but I bet they're also the biggest. I'm tired of seeing a skimpy flat portion of nachos for north of ten bucks (The Brew Table I'm looking at you).

I tasted one and found it to be the delicious tender-crisp kind of tortilla chip I like so much. It will be hard not to order this on my next visit. I would have to wear my eating pants.

I rarely enjoy a beer as much as I enjoyed the seasonal Scotch Ale here!

Rather than try to describe how it tastes, I'll list other beers I've enjoyed so you can see how our tastes match up. I'm not a big beer drinker and I like relatively malty and usually red beers. The beers I have loved in the past include: De Koninck, Boreale Cuivree, Kilkenny, Caffrey's, Beau's Nightmaerzen, Kichesippi 1855, Rickard's Red (draught only), Muskoka Cream Ale.

Most other beers I just don't like very much. :P

This Scotch Ale is something else. Good to the last drop, whereas I often grow tired of a beer half way through the pint.

I picked up a growler of their IPA. Very good on its on. Not so good when your 3 year old pours strawberry yogurt drink into it. Beer + Strawberry Yogurt != Lambic

The #4. A plain burger with 2 grilled cheese with sriracha mayo sandwiches with mayo as buns. The sandwiches were buttery and nice, and added good flavour to the burger. I asked for garlic aioli on the side because I love saucy burgers. I'm glad I did, because I found that the burger itself was missing something (bacon, sauce).

I miss the burger they used to have with the onion strings. It was my true love. I have a picture of it, too.

I was pleased with the freshness and flavour of the rings here! Thick cut onion in a crunchy and tasty beer batter. These are classic rings done right, without any unnecessary cleverness or fancy.

Except for the dip. It was unnecessary and overpoweringly perfumed with liquid smoke. I found myself moving it some distance away so I could enjoy the rings without receiving unwanted input from my nose.

At $8.50 this is not exactly a bargain priced plate of rings, but it's a generous snack and it hits the spot with a pint.

Enjoyed the pulled pork sandwich last night here. The pulled pork was tender, juicy, and not too sweet. Sure, it lacked the wonderful crispy bits found in real charcoal BBQ but it was still good.

The sandwich was accompanied by a mountain of totally addictive salted brown thin fries. I could eat plates and plates of these! Dangerous in a good way.

The "brioche bun" was unnecessary and something I'll ask to be left off next time.