ottawa foodies

I was a bit apprehensive about this place since I’ve heard some questionable/bad stuff about it, but the other day I was craving Chinese and it was the closest place, so I went in.

The atmosphere is a bit glum since it’s in a basement and gets very little natural light. The decor is nothing to write home about. While I was waiting, two of the staff got into an argument (no projectiles or physical violence involved, but seriously, don’t raise your voices in front of customers, it’s not exactly professional) and later, one of the staff started arguing with someone on the phone over what I deduced was a delivery order with some elements missing. None of this was very encouraging.

However, I got my order (beef with 3 mushrooms) faster than expected and it was absolutely delicious! The mushrooms were perfectly seasoned and cooked and they were so juicy and meaty that I liked them more than the beef. (Not that there was anything wrong with the beef, mind you.) Normally I don’t eat the steamed rice that comes with the meal but this time I felt the need to dump it into my bowl to sop up the delicious mushroom sauce.

I don’t intend to dine in at Oriental House because of the aforementioned gloomy atmosphere (or lack thereof) but as far as neighbourhood takeout places go, I’m looking forward to many more meals from this place.

Me and my family were in Ottawa passing through and I had a craving for Chinese. One street from our hotel, there was the Oriental House and we went there to order. A completely empty restaurant is what we found, so my wife got suspicious, but we ordered anyway.

Back at the hotel, we found the food to be not fresh(reheated chicken), but it was edible. Then to our horror, we found a baby cockroach, which had just crawled from the bag. I can recognize a cockroach anywhere as I have lived through an infestation in my teenage years.

Only order food here at your own peril, be warned.

I was sooo disappointed when Friday night I ordered from this restaurant. Nothing was good, some things tasted as if they had stayed too long in the freezer. It was so bad that nobody could take more then two bites and we ended up throwing everything in the garbage. What a waste! Pas mangeable!

THUMBS UP. I've gone into this restaurant several times and it's always nice. I started bringing co-workers here for lunch. Great lunch menu, inexpensive, delicious, good service. Suggestion: Try the daily or house specials - they're written on the marker signs and include seasonal specials - and are always so delicious. Very decent prices even though they're not located in Chinatown.

So after commenting on this the other day, we decided to go in. We ordered two spring rolls, which were tasty - much better than their egg rolls. For our main course, we ordered General Tao's Chicken, Beef with onion and ginger (#22) and mixed vegetables. The ginger dish was amazing and we'll definitely order it again. The chicken in General Tao's was very crispy, but not overly spicy.

The service was prompt, quick and attentive. They're always so polite.

I order from here all the time thanks to my SO who loves it. I'm now addicted to the Spicy Crispy Beef - it's spicy, but not overly so. It's standard Chinese takeout, but the service is quick and friendly.