ottawa foodies

It was our 8 year anniversary, and my husband knows that the way to my heart is through steak and potatoes. We've done The Keg, Hy's, etc. We really wanted to try Sterling. My husband made the reservation for Friday night, and they only had 8:30pm. Fine. We got there a little early, and the host said "You are very lucky, your table is ready." I'm going to start by saying this was a very nice restaurant - seems small from the outside, but inside is a different story. We were taken upstairs where there was a live pianist playing some jazz, and a very large dining area and bar.

We got our 2-person table at the end of a long booth. The table wobbled quite a bit, so we asked one of the servers to fix it for us. No big deal. It was a pretty busy spot, with a lot of company holiday parties, beautifully dressed women and men everywhere. Our server was a young man, who took our drinks. I asked for a bottle of Riesling, my husband ordered a Corona. He brought back a different bottle of wine because it was "better" and forgot my husband's beer. I stopped him as he was opening the bottle because I saw some bottles for $650-750 and said "How much is this one?" He assured me that it was "heap" like the one I chose. He poured our glasses and took the bottle away, probably because our table was so small. My husband waited about 5 minutes for his beer, then asked our server for it again. "Oh yeah, sure buddy. It's really busy tonight sorry."

When he brought the beer, he took our food order. I ordered beef tartare (as per his recommendation) and an 8oz filet mignon with lobster tail. My husband got calamari and the 20oz porterhouse. Our appetizers arrived after 20mins which I thought was great. My beef tartare was great, my husband got 5 pieces of chewy over-cooked calamari. During this time, I had finished my glass of wine, and our server had disappeared for most of our first course so I didn't get a top up for a while. There was 1 hour that lapsed between our appetizer and main course. At the 52min mark, our server came up to me and said "I'm so sorry, but it has been so busy here tonight, I forgot to punch in your lobster tail. If you'd like I can punch it in now." I was hungry, and not very happy at this point. "I don't want to wait another hour for my food, so I'll just take the filet mignon."

Our steaks were amazing. My filet was like butter, and even my husband's porterhouse was very tender. Our server started refilling my wine glass and checking up on us much more frequently during the main course to make up for forgetting my lobster tail. My poor husband had to listen to me complain about the service through his entire steak. We asked for our bill when we were finished, and weren't in the mood for dessert. Our bill came to $186, and since their portable debit/credit machine was down, we were told to go downstairs to pay. My husband had enough at this point, and paid cash and left.

The food met my expectations about Sterling, however, I'm disappointed to say that based on this first impression I had, I will not be returning any time soon. Definitely not worth the 40 mins drive.

Side note: The next morning when I was reciting my experience to my girlfriends, I remembered that the young man had served me at Messanotte in the summer and mixed up all of our drink orders at the table. Just my luck to get the same guy!

Had another great meal here. Lovely location right on the Gatineau River, with a terrace overlooking it. Dining room is spacious and classy but homey at the same time. Impeccable service, relaxed pace.

We again had the Table d'Hote--$60 for soup (tasty yellow tomato bisque), salad (house caesar--respectable), filet mignon (very good quality, perfectly prepared with much better than average sides for a steak place), and dessert (marquise de chocolat). Extensive and carefully selected wine list with more Ontario offerings than I usually see on the Quebec side.

They offer the branded "Sterling Silver" beef (as does Baton Rouge), which was very good. Do not, however, expect to have a super-nutty, flavourful dry-aged taste here though.

It would be a great choice if you are trying to find a place to satisfy a "mixed" foodie/non-foodie dinner (e.g., when your parents come to visit).

We had a birthday guest requesting dinner in Gatineau who also loves steaks. So Sterling Steakhouse and Seafood Restaurant appeared to fit the bill. It is located at 835 Jacques Cartier Road in the Gatineau. The Sterling Silver beef was excellent for our cuts of tenderloin and the one Papa Cut (20 oz).

Some started with the soup of the day - white turnip and asparagus. Just lovely!!

Then Caesar salads for all. They did a nice job but I do like more garlic and lemon than most. Lovely presentation.

There are many steakhouses in the Ottawa Gatineau area. If you are looking on the Gatineau side, this is going to be a nice spot.

And if all the servers are like Marc, you will enjoy all the attention.

If you want to see pictures and read more, you can go to my blog at:
ottawafood.blogspot.com

Well Cinnapuffy, which was it? : "the service was impeccable" OR "very arrogant and unprofessional"