Ottawa

[hmmboy]

Heading there next week and wondering if anyone has had any outstanding dining experiences.

[giant shrimp]

Heading there next week and wondering if anyone has had any outstanding dining experiences.

i, personally, have had none -- which doesn't mean they don't exist. i intend someday to find one, maybe this spring or summer.

la roma on preston is the best of the few italian restaurants i have eaten at here. like a surprising number of restaurants in the washington area, they didn't exactly know how to make a negroni, but they didn't charge us for them either.

your best bet may be to head for gatineau and look for something french.

bundle up, too. it's cold up there. but you may encounter the opposite problem when you step into a restaurant, because many tend to turn the thermostats way up this time of year.

[Escoffier]

Heading there next week and wondering if anyone has had any outstanding dining experiences.

Go to the Byward Market down at the National Arts Center end of Rideau Street. There are a number of good restaurants in the market. Unfortunately, one of my favorites, Nates Deli closed just after I left last year. People who can't eat well in Ottawa either haven't tried or don't know where to go...

Beckta Dining & Wine (613-238-7063), Juniper (613-728-0220), Signatures (613-236-2499), Domus (613-241-6007), Restaurant 18 (613-244-1188), Castlegarth (White Lake Village; 613-623-3472), Sweetgrass Bistro (613-562-3683), Urban Pear (613-569-9305) and El Meson (613-744-8484). Just across the river in Hull, Le Bacara (819-772-6210), Le Tartuffe (819-776-6424), Sante at 45 Rideau Street (613) 241-7113, Navarra Street, Signatures by Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts, Eight8teen.

Now it's possible that some of these places are long gone, I haven't seriously dined in Ottawa in a number of years (2006 to be exact) but when I was last in Ottawa last Winter, I checked the phone book and all of the places above were still there. YMMV.

[Escoffier]

la roma on preston is the best of the few italian restaurants i have eaten at here.

Interesting that you should have gone to La Roma. La Roma is owned by a friend of mine and I had the interesting experience of being in the restaurant one night when Pierre Trudeau (who was then Prime Minister) came for dinner. The restaurant in the old location only had about 15 tables and there was a crowd at the door. Steve noticed the fuss at the door and made his way there to find a bunch of undercover RCMP officers and Trudeau. He told Trudeau that if he didn't have a reservation, he'd have to wait. Trudeau waited 25 minutes before a table came open, talking, passing out autographs, drinking a glass of wine (on the house) and having a good time. This was before he married Margaret so there was a rather attractive young lady accompanying him. They ate, the RCMP ate (a lot from what I remember), and then they got up, left a large sum of money on the table and left. The original La Roma (which burned in the late '70s) was on Preston near the bocce field in the park, just up the street from a Italian pastry shop that made the best cannoli I have ever had. Eating in Ottawa can be a joy or a job...I followed my Italian friends, they never led me astray (well, when it came to food anyway...)

[xcanuck]

Now it's possible that some of these places are long gone, I haven't seriously dined in Ottawa in a number of years (2006 to be exact) but when I was last in Ottawa last Winter, I checked the phone book and all of the places above were still there. YMMV.

Wow! This is an impressive list. I lived in Ottawa for 10 years but left back in 1982 and haven't really eaten out much there on my return visits. We tend to stick with mom and dad's home cooking and on the rare occasion when we eat out, it's usually Boston Pizza so we can catch the hockey games on the big screen.

Seriously, I appreciate the list. We like to take my parents out for dinner occasionally, and I'm not too fond of their picks. We'll try some from this list.

[dgreen]

I will be in Ottawa next week. I'll be on my own at least for lunch and dinner Sunday and breakfast Monday and Friday. Monday through Thursday night will likely be with a work group so I'll just go wherever they go (some dinners are already pre-arranged). I'm staying downtown on Queen Street and won't have a car. Hull and Byward appear to be in easy walking distance and seem like good areas to explore (I'll spend all of my free time Sunday wandering around).

Any updated info is appreciate!

 

[reedm]

I was last there in 2012 (yikes). Not sure if these are near Queen Street, but it's all I have for now. 

Sidedoor Contemporary Cuisine was a good pick--just checked and it's still in business. Did not care for Fatboy's Southern Smokehouse at all.

One consistent highlight in most of the places I visited was the charcuterie plates. I remember being impressed with the quality. 

[DonRocks]

5 hours ago, dgreen said:

I'm staying downtown on Queen Street and won't have a car.

If you go to the Queen Street link above, and back out a couple of clicks, you'll notice a Chinatown and Little Italy nearby to the southwest.

Personally, I'd be headed northeast to the National Arts Centre, and more importantly, the Haunted Walk of Ottawa.

Walking to Hull, you'll be walking between Provinces: