ottawa foodies

I visited Pub Italia a couple weeks ago with a friend of mine. I was excited to go because it had been a long time since I had been there and I was anxious to peruse the famous Beer Bible again.

The beer was fine and I appreciated the pairings with the proper stemware. Our waitress was friendly and we spent several hours there enjoying the patio.

Where things got disappointing is with the food. It’s average at best, and terrible value.

I ordered a chicken pasta dish and it was the size of a half-order for $18. Still hungry, I ordered an appetizer – potato wedges, which was the equivalent of exactly one potato sliced in 6 pieces. That was $10. They also don’t have ketchup or anything like ketchup. Only ranch dip and another dip I don’t recall that’s mayonnaise based.

As a previous commenter said, go for the beer not the food, although after 4 pints I sure would have appreciated some good munchies.

I don't even go here for the beer anymore... the "beer bible" seems much smaller than I remembered, and lagers/pilsners occupy the lion's share. This beer list is old, old old - it impressed 20 years ago, but seems to not have been kept up to date at all. I think I saw half of these at the LCBO, and not even the Vintages.

There two things 'Italian' about this place; the name and the location. Go for the beer, not the food.

I haven't eaten here in a while, but recently decided to go for dinner with a group of friends, and I was disappointed to see that the quality of the food seems to have slipped since my last visit.

The beer was great as always, but my food was, unfortunately, bordering on inedible. I had the seafood linguine: mussels, shrimp and smoked salmon in a rosé sauce. The seafood was almost criminally overcooked. The smoked salmon had been cooked (no, really, who cooks smoked salmon?!) until it was opaque and burnt around the edges, the shrimp were dry and leathery, and the mussels were unpleasantly chewy. I really should have sent it back, but everyone else had already started on their meals and I didn't want to be the only one sitting around waiting for my dish to be replaced while everyone else ate.

It almost hurts me to post a negative review of this place since I love the beer and the ambiance, but I'd be hesitant to come here for anything other than drinks and appetizers again. I know not to expect authentic Italian cuisine at Pub Italia, but the food used to be at least somewhat decent.

I recently went to Pub Italia with a group of co-workers. The food tasted great, the beer selection is fantastic, but sadly the service from the wait staff was absolutely terrible. We literally had to physically go find the wait staff to order, to get things like cutlery, and finally to pay.
Despite the great tasting food and the superb beer the wait staff really ruined it for us. Not friendly, definitely NOT helpful, never even got the cutlery and had to go find it myself, and by the time we had to go track them down to pay enough was enough.
Sadly not returning here.

My wife and I went to this place on the recommendation of a coworker. An old boss of mine was in town and we figured it would be a great place to have a few pints and get some nice mussels. We ate "outside" in the covered courtyard between the two buildings and the ambiance was very welcoming and the decor was whimsical. The beer bible (what they call their beer menu, apt as it once was a church) was humungous. Really enjoyed the curry meatballs as an appetizer as well as the Irish nachos. We then had a few orders of the mussels and my wife took the ravioli. The food was not excellent but good to very good.

What ruined the evening for us was the waitress that was serving us. She seemed to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and everything was a chore and seemed to treat us with open hostility. Some people should not work in the service industry and she was definitely one of them. So go for the beer and some of the food, but I hope for your sake you don't get our "friendly" server.

DH and I ended up here on Saturday evening after two other strike outs on an impromptu date night. Our summary is - identity crisis, great beer list, meh food.

We picked the place because it looked German as we were driving along Preston. And we were geeked that the interior is at least medieval-oid, but eventually, the lack of authenticity in the details wore on us (we are medieval re-enactors). Not to mention the very modern music blaring!

What we did like though was the beer. We had the pumpkin spice ale, and cider, both on tap. Both were absolutely wonderful, and we can imagine going back for beers, even possibly after medieval events/meetings (our group has business meetings not terribly far away 2x/month). But the food? not so much to recommend. Just average Italian stuff, nothing to write home about. I had the canneloni, he had a special of the evening. Best thing on the table was the fresh baked bread (obviously brought in), but watch out for the heat of the seasoned oil they provide with the bread. Absolutely KILLED my palate for about 10 minutes, which was a bummer with that nice beer and cider at the table.

I think Pub Italia's nachos deserve are good in their own way. They are not your traditional nachos, but rather an Italian version of nachos with mozzarella and bruchetta instead of salsa. I've always enjoyed them.

I had some beers and grub at pub Italia the same night Pasta Lover was at the joint as well.

Amazing, Amazing Beers... not so great food (in our experience).

My father and I sampled quite a few beers - 2 Trappist, barking squirrel, this weird smoky German beer, and a couple of other gems.

For the food we ordered chicken nachos and a pizza (with pepperoni, hot peppers, olives and prosciutto). Both were just ok. My parents own a summer home in Scottsdale, Arizona and my father who just returned wasn't impressed with the nachos. I would say it's an unfair comparison (Arizona tex mex vs. pub italia nachos), but we had to get some Tabasco to douse the nachos. The pizza was slightly better, passable, tasty but still not very great. Thing is, the beers here are so good that I'll be coming back again and again, but I have yet to have good food here.

Last night I went to Pub Italia for a girls night out. The decor was certainly interesting. The pub is divided up into sections with some parts being open dining area then booths have heavy drapes and wrought iron trellises decorated with Christmas lights. All in all it looked like an 18th century monastery.

Onto food and drink. I tried the voodoo meatballs, which are usually on the appetizer menu, but I asked the waitress if they could be served over pasta. The chef gladly obliged and I was charged $13.95 which seems to be fairly consitent with what the other pasta dishes are priced at. The noodles were cooked al dente, the tomato sauce was perfect, and the meatballs were really delicious. I "think" the meatballs were made from lamb (forgot to ask but it tasted like lamb to me) and they were flavoured with curry and hot pepper (jalapeno I think?). The Kichessipi Blonde went down really well with my pasta-;)

I was with a large group of ladies for a girls night out so I missed alot of the dishes. My three closest seatmates ordered spaghetti and meatballs (not sure which) which received praise, a spinach salad which looked delicious, and a margharita pizza which also looked delicious. (We were too busy planning our next meal out at this point so I have no feedback from the spinach salad and pizza.)

With the extensive beer collection and interesting menu items I am clearly going to have to go back!

As mentioned by others, the pizza has an extremely thin (maybe 2 or 3 millimeter) crust. I opted for the "Funghi" pizza. Topped with mushrooms, delightful pancetta, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, it was truly tasty. Our server had recommended this particular pizza and accurately suggested that a drizzle of chili oil would make it awesome.

The pizze at Pub Italia are 10 inches in diameter and they offer whole or half sized ones. The crust is so thin though that it eats like a cracker, meaning you will go hungry if you get a half pizza.

Anyways, maybe not the best pizza in the world but great with beer! :-)

A friend and I split a pesto-mushroom pizza here once and it was tasty - although I probably would have thought *anything* tasted great after all the beers we had sampled.

We ordered 2 of the thin crust pizzas last Friday and were generally pleased with both of them - 4 out of 5 on both counts. In fact the thin crust pizza has been something I've always enjoyed very much here, and I believe it's as good as ever. We were there on a busy Friday and the pizza was still hot. I believe Food Is Hot's comment on "too salty" is because of the proscuitto - I've had a lot of that stuff from various places that is REALLY salty. Our pizzas certainly were not salty.

The pizza is good, but be wary of going on a busy Friday afternoon: I ordered a pizza and it was stone-cold when it got to me.

I found thier pizza WAY too salty. Virtualy inedibly so. The one I tried was the one with procuitto on it - can't remember the exact topping. Perhaps something without a cured meat would be less salty and more appealing.

This was...different.

The standard margherita came with a lot of freshly chopped tomatoes. Pro: fresh. Con: supermarket cardboard variety, not nice plum ones.

The crust is bizarre. It's quite thin, crisp, and crackerlike. It seems to be something ready-made; it had a very 'processed' aspect to it. The edges were very dry, to the point of being more cracker than crust.

But, cheap for a half-pizza; quite good with beer.

Love Pub Italia, but I was very disappointed that they are not able to pour a proper Black and Tan. The Harp and Guinness were mixed, rather than be their own distinct layers.

I was thrilled to discover that they now offer De Koninck in 10, 20, and 38 oz sizes!! And the price has dropped to be in line with their other draught beers. Great news for De Koninck lovers. :-)

Bar none, best beer selection in town. I am drooling a little bit just thinking about the Beer Bible.

I had the most girliest beer on the planet from here the other day.
It was a belgian beer called a Fruli. Its made from strawberries. REALLY good. This is a good beer for anyone who likes the coolers and "girly" drinks of the world.
I can't believe their selection either.
I want to try every beer on the list.

I don't have much to add to the comments already made here. Yes it is a beer haven, especially if you like Belgian beers. If you are looking for good Italian food then you it fails miserably. You can make it at better at home with out much effort.

So go for the beer and eat somewhere else.

My favourite beers are all red, so I was eager to try the exclusive-to-Pub-Italia Satan's Red. Our kind server offered to give me a little taste, warning me that some people like it and some don't. I quite liked it but didn't love it so I decided to try something else -- Der Koninck. It was really very nice and worth having again!

After Der Koninck, I went for a pint of something I really love -- Kilkenny. It was poured perfectly, with a beautiful 3/4" head of creamy foam. Ahhhh!

I love reading through their Beer Bible and picking out something new when I visit. Great little watering hole with a cool decor and vibe. Try your beer with a side calamari and zucchini sticks.

The beer selection here is nothing short of fantastic, as always. I started out the evening with a Beau's All Natural, then a Hacker-Pschorr Munich Lager, and finally an Erdinger Hefeweizen.

Pet peeve time - Hefeweizen is adamantly not served with a wedge of lemon! Grrr. It's close cousin Krystalweizen often is, but Hefeweizen never! And when I went to remove mine I accidentally knocked it into the glass so it did end up flavouring my beer a bit. Normally not a big deal but given the bad experience we were having here last night (see my other comment) this was just adding insult to injury.

This is one of my favourite places to find some delicious beers.

26 beers on tap and over 100 more in the bottle - what's not to like?!! Ok, my wife reading over my shoulder right now says "What's not to like - they have no accommodation for kids - no booster seats or anything". OK, aside from that what's not to like?

As for the food, I've only ever had the pizza and find it to be extremely good thin-crust pizza.

The Spinach Salad I had was not warm and did not have potatoes, but it did have "grilled chicken, cucumber, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts, edamame beans & lemon garlic dressing" (from the menu). Very nicely done -- not life-changing but distinctly better than any other food I've eaten at Pub Italia. Low-fat, with plenty of antioxidants and protein, it is the Confession to offset sinful quantities of beer!

Warm, with tomatoes and, oddly, lightly fried potatoes, which works very well. Great healthy comfort food.

The voodoo meatballs are a delicious appetizer or ask them to toss in some pasta and have a great meal.

Festivale is available as the draught of the month for July/August at Pub Italia. Ordered some last night with my pizza and salad.

Very delicious, refreshing and with a hint of citrus. Yum yum.

My husband and I ordered this dessert to share. The phyllo (in Greek: φύλλο, pronounced FEE-lo) wrapping was an add-on for $2.00. The idea seemed like a good one. The results were not. Although attractively plated the wafer-thin flaky topping and the warmed cheesecake inside was stomach churning. Think of a warmed chocolate cream cheese packaged up in a dry crust. The presentation was attractive, but I hope the kitchen rethinks this one. Cheesecake should be served cool.

Why not shred and bake the phyllo golden, then drench it in honey? You can mound that material on top, and put an almond crusted cheesecake below. A nod to the Greek gods and a better pairing in my view?