Foods from ARC Lounge

Comments

2013 Jan 13
Ate at ARC Lounge last night. Had the Winterbites menu. My choices were as follows:

Appetizer: Scallop, smoked pork belly, chowder, King Eryngii crisps

Main: B.C. Ling Cod, Dungeness crab-mushroom & apple croquette, celery root, port jus

Dessert: Lavender-vanilla crème brûlée

Everything was great. The crab-mushroom-apple croquette was maybe the best thing I've eaten in a long while. Everything else was awesome. I'm not a big creme brulee fan but these were good. Presentation was good, service was very friendly and fast (too fast?) place was cool, drinks were good (albeit a bit pricey).

Anyways, just wanted to report that we had a fantastic meal at this seemingly underappreciated spot.

2012 Jun 10
Enjoyed a great dinner here and was glad to see that the dining room was the busiest I have ever seen it. Hopefully Jason Duffy is finally getting the recognition he deserves for consistently delivering unique and delicious meals (he is one of eight chefs invited to participate in Gold Medal Plates this year).

This visit we ordered:
- Mariposa Farms duck breast served in a bowl on top of a mixture of peas, Serrano ham and chèvre ($36)
- O’Brien beef tenderloin which came with quite a large helping of heirloom tomato-parsley salad, three large onion rings and a mixture of fingerling potatoes and mushrooms ($38)

Both dishes were “Jason style”- the combination of innovative and scrumptious, rare to find. As always, the dishes were fantastically plated but the beef tenderloin was particularly interesting (sorry no picture) served on a very large wooden board with varying sizes of dallops of sauces mixed amongst the serving.

The service complements the food well and is just the right mix of friendliness, knowledge and professionalism.

We were told that they are going to be doing some renovations this summer so hopefully this will also help to make the room more inviting and draw other people in to try this great restaurant.

2010 Jul 4
Today I attended a post-wedding brunch at ARC Lounge, where the wedding guests were staying here in Ottawa. Unfortunately the wedding party did not have a great experience with the hotel - but that's a whole other story. The Lounge itself was very cool inside, with neat art deco design. The menu was a shortened version of their menu online, which disappointed me - I had pre-chosen the eggs benedARC, but it wasn't on the menu. I opted for the smoked salmon instead, which was good but nothing special - honestly, probably not worth the 17$ that it cost. Other meals at the table, however, were pretty awesome. One friend got the french toast, a cranberry foccacia crusted in oats with maple syrup and orange butter - 3 big pieces which were TRULY fantastic, definitely not your everyday french toast. Another friend had the chicken chilaquiles, which came with tomatillo salsa, scrambled eggs, plenty of avocado and of course chicken (which I didn't try) atop a crispy tortilla, she very very pleased and barely finished - every meal was a very generous portion. The food was good, but I think there are certainly better spots in Ottawa to get "bang for your buck" - Murray Street comes to mind (12$ brunch, AMAZING) or Benny's Bistro, even something at Cora's or Eggspection would probably deliver better. That being said, the food was good, and it had a fun vibe... I would put it on your list of places to check out, but don't move it too high in the queue!

2009 Oct 12
Recently enjoyed a meal at the ARC Lounge and was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. Started with cocktails at the bar, great selection of unique beers and they also have a great selection of martini's to choose from. When we finally sat at our table and ordered our meals the server was very quick to suggest a wine that complimented our plates and our wallets. The menu has something for eveyone from fish to local farmed meats, all done to perfection.
The whole evening was excellent, the food was tasty, the service perfect and the bill didn't knock us out.

2009 Feb 10
I've long been wanting to go here. People in my line of work have told me it is quite fun, especially a chef's table.

However, each and every time I email them to get a copy of the menu or prices and how many people for chef's table, they ignore me. I'm not inclined to go there since the customer service right out the door is bad.

To top it off, we do business with them at the hotel and they knew who I was. Still no service. Bizarre.

2006 Nov 21
The decor is trendy-cool. The menu is imaginative. The presentation very good. The flavors are good and the service varies from good to poor (never great). It's always nice to be there until the bill comes (ouch!) expensive