ottawa foodies

Last review for Il Primo was 2 years ago. I have to report a very positive review for my recent visit. I picked s.o. up at the airport and we decided to eat dinner in the city before heading back to the country. Preston Street restos were packed, with lines! The patio was full but we could get a spot inside.
We both wanted pasta and shared the plain caesar salad to start. It came with 2 garlic toasts and fresh romaine, just the right amount of parmesan and a creamy, not cloying dressing.
He ordered a "signature" dish, Penne Anita, with gorgonzola sauce, chicken, scallions and cranberries. It was incredibly delicious. The veal canneloni was wonderful,spicy and cheesy. We asked about gnocchi and pasta-the pasta is not made in house but is fresh daily.
We had the wine on offer-a red organic which was priced nicely and matched our food. We shared a peach crostada for dessert(small but rich and delicious)with a tea and a cappucino. The desserts are all made in house. $107 total before tip. It was an excellent "date" night and we felt good value. I hope we will be back soon.
All customers (in a full restaurant) seemed happy.

We went to Il Primo the other night with a couple of friends. The restaurant was empty except for a small table in the back and a couple people on the patio.

I had the curry carrot soup, special of the day. It was DELICIOUS! I had never thought of paring carrot and curry in a soup before. I loved it and wanted to lick my bowl! I didn't though.

I ordered the chicken with pear and brie with balsamic reduction and they were nice enough to switch out the mushroom risotto for regular risotto, as I don't care for mushrooms. It was good, nothing spectacular. I do love risotto, which was cooked well. My chicken was a bit dry, but the cheese and balsamic made up for that.
Husband got the salmon with the regular risotto. He said it tasted good, but was a bit over-cooked.

Our friends got two pasta dishes that they really enjoyed. I tried my friend's pasta, which was a special of the day with farfalle, artichoke, sundried tomatoes, prosciutto and a few other things. It tasted very nice and the pasta was cooked well.

I am not sure if I would go back as a choice, but if someone was having a dinner or party I would happily go along to try something new on the menu.

Sadly we went to Pasticceria on Preston for cannoli and gelato afterwards.. then there was a fire that same night!

Roasted vegetable sandwich (I think). Vegetarian Noms.

Salad with warm brie. Not mine - but my friend said it was DAY LISH EE OH SO.

PS the free bread is amazing, and the patio is perfectly sunny in summertime - I've gotten many a sunburn during long 'al fresco' lunches on their lovely deck.

K guys listen up. Il Primo sandwiches rock the hizzouse. I'm never disappointed. Here's a smoked salmon sandwich (they come standard with a yummy caesar salad on the side).

Excellent house wine, delicious garlic butter shrimp app, and I quite enjoyed my warm spinach salad with artichoke hearts and apricots. The portions were very generous - I could not finish my salad! - and my friend and I shared the creme caramel for dessert. I don't have a taste for creme caramel but she said it was excellent. Will probably go here again some time - though we are trying to visit every restaurant on Preston so it may have to wait until the next rotation!

That's interesting FF. Maia ordered an eggs benny from the Queen Mother Cafe here in Victoria and the same thing: it tasted like it was soaked in lighter fluid. It went back to the kitchen twice before she gave up, ate her homefries and enjoyed a bill that only had my meal on it. They were proud that they "grilled" the english muffin, but boy, I can still taste that oily, nasty flavour.

Excellent service... here's the story: We came here for brunch with our kids. They were friendly and accommodating as we settled at a table on the balcony, happily agreeing to split a tortellini soup into two bowls for the kids. We wanted to try the grilled calamari because it's a rarity on Ottawa menus and my wife is of grilled-calamari-loving Portuguese heritage. It arrived, looked delicious, had very good texture, but tasted something like bbq lighter fluid. We almost never complain about food but couldn't eat this and felt compelled to point it out to the server. She did everything right: apologized profusely, told us we wouldn't be charged, and offered to bring us another order. She returned a few minutes later saying a bunch of the staff had tried it and didn't notice any strange flavour. We opted not to try another shot at the same dish and continued with our meal. Could it be that we're just total BBQ snobs and these calamari were grilled over binder-laden charcoal briquettes instead of lump charcoal? Maybe, but even our burps tasted like chemicals after! Anyways, they handled the whole incident perfectly and in good spirits, and that's unusually professional for an Ottawa restaurant!

The brunch special was this yummy scrambled egg, cheese and pancetta panino. The pancetta was quite spicy and cut into thick slices. It tasted good but I felt kind of bad all afternoon (I blame the calamari rather than this sandwich though).