Ottawa is known for its diverse range of restaurants that cater to all kinds of cuisine and preferences. From fine dining establishments to casual eateries, the city has it all. This list will give you a good overview of some of the restaurants located and often discussed in Ottawa. Some of these are our favourites (and maybe some of the best in all of Canada), and others – well, we're not sure if we'd be back. Without further ado – please see our list below (in alphabetical order)
King Eddy's – Burgers, fries, and all-day breakfasts in a classic diner-type fare
Her Take:
Ryan doesn't care for breakfast food meanwhile, I absolutely love it. It is no wonder that you'll see very different reviews on this one.
King Eddy's is a trendy spot serving customers since 1988. This diner offers a classic American-style menu with a focus on burgers and all-day breakfast. Another popular dish at King Eddy's is their poutine, a Canadian specialty. The dish is made with crispy fries, cheese curds, and a savoury gravy.
Since this was an early breakfast meal, I decided to go for something relatively healthy or lighter (no 8am poutine for me). Specifically, I ordered the King Eddy Omelette, which features mushrooms, peppers, onions, spinach, bacon and cheddar. The omelette is accompanied by a choice of toast, homefries, salad, and side of KE Beef chili. I thought the breakfast was delicious – it was very fresh and a generous portion. I'd note that I'm a bit more of a well done kind of gal when it comes to omelettes, but I found that my Eddy's omelette was a bit more on the softer side – however this is a personal preference so relatively a small item to note.
As for atmosphere, I would say the atmosphere at King Eddy's is pretty laidback and very casual. It also does have a relatively young feel to it. Before visiting this restaurant, we did read some online reviews and were a bit skeptical as people often complained about the service. We honestly didn't have any issues with the staff. The staff are very attentive and accommodate requests for adjusting the menu. They also regularly stopped by to make sure we were okay & were pretty friendly. Overall I was very pleased with the environment.
His Take:
I'm not a huge breakfast person, so I didn't order much food at this restaurant. My meal of choice was French toast. Overall I'd say it was pretty good – the toast was not overly eggy and served with freshly made whip cream. The French toast was also served with a good portion of fresh fruit which I appreciated. They definitely didn't skimp out on the fruits! If you're looking for a quick breakfast meal, I'd recommend this place.
In terms of atmosphere, King Eddy's is a fun little diner with a hip and fun vibe. You could definitely tell the clientele they're appealing to is a bit on the younger side and perhaps more trendy. The space also has a relatively large and open patio, so you could sit out and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the market area without necessarily being part of it.
Les Fougères – a season and local farm-driven county oasis
Her Take:
When I was researching the best restaurants in Canada, Les Fougères came up multiple times. In fact, Les Fougères has joined the prestigious list of Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list on numerous occasions, including in 2015, 2018, and 2023. Having had our meals, I have to say that Les Fougères is easily one of the best restaurants I've been to thus far in all of Canada. The meals are delicious, use quality ingredients, and the experience itself is very pleasant.
For appetizers, we ordered burrata. I'm a huge fan of burrata in general and will almost always order it wherever I go. Never have I had burrata presented to me so beautifully and with such an incredible combination of other veggies and sauces. Specifically, the burrata was decorated with edible flower petals, and the pesto sauce it was sitting in added a beautiful complexity to the cheese. For my main course, l ordered the confit of Québec duck served with rosti potato, poached pear, spinach, and cranberry compote. The duck was cooked beautifully, and the potatoes were perfectly crispy, complimented with pear. This meal really reminded me of an elevated Thanksgiving meal that warmed the heart. Unfortunately, we were absolutely full by the end of the meal, so we didn't try dessert. However, I can easily say that if we were to return to Québec, Les Fougères would be on my list of restaurants to visit.
As for atmosphere, hidden in the countryside, Les Fougères evokes the feeling of being in a cottage in all the right ways. The patio is cozy, intimate and warm - probably my favourite area of the entire restaurant.
I also really appreciated that even given its strong reputation and a growing number of awards and recognitions, Les Fougères continues to be reasonably priced. I applaud Les Fougères for continuing to be an incredible restaurant that continues to wow its customers without breaking the bank.
His Take:
I'm not a huge cheese or burrata person in general; however, I have to say that this was a really amazing appetizer. The burrata on its own is fresh but nothing special. What really made the meal was the incredible combination of flavours, with the burrata covered in tomatoes, strawberries, pecans, basil, and a really flavourful dressing. All the flavours mixed incredibly well, and it really was (I know Daria going to laugh at me saying this) – a perfect melody of flavours.
As for the main dish, I ordered the halibut, which was served which bechamel sauce, gnocchi, peas and tiny bits of pancetta. The halibut was perfectly cooked and flaky, and the pancetta really cut through the richness of the bechamel sauce, making the meal fit perfectly.
All in all, this was perhaps the best meal in all of Ottawa.
Driving up to the restaurant, you don't quite know what to expect as it looks like a bit of a country house in the woods of Quebec. However, walking through the restaurant, you can see how beautiful the space is. Inside, the space is very classy and beatifically decorated. However, we were happy to sit outside as this is where you truly got to appreciate the restaurant for what it is. Les Fougères is known for being farm-to-table, and sitting in the woods surrounded by all the greenery and flowers, you get that sense of farm-to-table. Every little detail has also been clearly thought of as heating lamps were spread out throughout the outdoor space, and netting also covered the patio so you could be outside without worrying about swarms of bees or flies.
NeXT- globally inspired cuisine celebrating Canadian roots with a twist
Her Take:
NeXT restaurant is a contemporary fine dining establishment that features a menu of seasonally inspired ingredients. If I have to be honest, looking at the menu for Next, I was a little overwhelmed, and in all the right ways. Usually, I read the menu before going to the restaurant to avoid this and get a general sense of what I may be interested in ordering. Reading the menu ahead of time did not help here at all, as every item looked incredible. We even highly debated ordering the blind-sharing menu, which comes with 8 dishes (6 savory and 2 sweet). The only concern with this was if we could muster up the ability to finish all that food.
In the end, we decided to order a la carte, and we were not disappointed. We ordered the Shanghai spiced crisp chicken bao buns for appetizers. The bao buns were incredible – the buns were perfectly fluffy, and the chicken was nice and crispy. We split the bao buns between us, and I would definitely be more than fine ordering another plate or two. If you're visiting Next, I highly recommend these (and it seems that many others would also, as we saw these coming out of the kitchen continuously). For us, the bao buns were the highlight of the meal.
As for the main course, I ordered the Miso + ginger braised short rib of beef. The short rib was incredible, with the meat almost melting in your mouth. The beef was also served on napa, straw mushrooms, and edamame. The salad was coated in an incredible tangy sauce that perfectly elevated the dish.
The grand finale of the meal was the dessert. Again, every item on the dessert menu seemed really interesting, and we were disappointed to learn that the dessert board (featuring a sample of each item) was only available for groups of 4 people +. Ultimately, we ordered two items: a ginger crème brule and a warmed mango sago pudding with jasmine-infused gingered ice cream. The crème brule was absolutely delicious and had a nice hint of ginger. I would say that the mango pudding was served in a huge bowl, so if you're not hungry, this may not be the best option.
In terms of atmosphere, NeXT is a relatively large restaurant with an open kitchen, allowing you to see the chef tasting and approving the menu, something we appreciated. What was also nice to see was that the owner/executive chef was an active part of the restaurant. The chef served some of the meals, spoke with the guests, and explained the sauces and wines used in his meals. You could see his passion and attention to detail as he never sat down or took a break during the 2.5 hours. He never stopped by our table, which we found a bit curious, but perhaps this was because we were filming most of our experience.
In terms of décor – the restaurant is nothing extremely unique. It is clean, modern and very classy. Perhaps the best way to describe it would be chic. You could tell it was meant to be fine dining without all the pretentiousness. One thing that stood out was a shelf filled with NeXT brand sauces right by the entrance. Many people came in just to purchase a few sauces. Our waiter explained that these are the sauces used in the meals, so if you enjoyed something, you could take it home.
His Take:
The bao buns were incredible, to say the least. This appetizer alone easily made our top 5 dishes in all of Ottawa. I ordered the pulled achiote fused lamb shank quesadilla for the main course. I thought it was a bit different seeing as quesadillas aren't usually served with lamb. The salsa verde had a really good kick, and the lamb itself was cooked well. You could tell that this was a really good quesadilla – a very classic meal but cooked with really exceptional ingredients.
As for desserts, I'm not really a dessert person, so it's to be expected that this isn't necessarily something I'd be raving about. For the crème brulee – I thought it was really good and had the right amount of richness. However, it did feel as though the ginger was slightly overdone. The mango rice pudding, though, was a bit confusing to me. While there were good size chunks of mango in the pudding, there were also little pearls of mango juice that almost looked like caviar. While the taste was good, the texture was not something I could get behind.
However, I'd point out that when we were browsing the restaurant's social media accounts, we noted that they often do special brunches for holidays such as Father's Day. The menus for those events look absolutely incredible. I think I mentioned many times to the missus that I'd be more than happy to come back here for brunch.
From the outside, NeXT is definitely unsuspecting. It looks almost like a model home and is located in the burns of Ottawa. From the inside, the restaurant is decorated minimally and focuses on the food. It was really interesting however to see cookbooks and recipes spread out within the restaurant, which is clearly where they get their inspiration for the dishes they serve.
Whalebone – a seafood fest in the heart of Ottawa
Her Take:
Whalebone is one of those restaurants that was highly recommended to us and featured as a suggested restaurant on several hotel websites. However, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. The food was not bad by any means, but given the prices, I expected more in volume and quality. This is by no means a budget restaurant. The one thing I'd say, though, is that our server mentioned the restaurant is really known for its seafood – in particular, the oysters and the platters (priced at $130), so perhaps in ordering these, our experience may have been slightly different.
For appetizers, Ryan and I shared calamari – and I have to say this was a spotlight winner. The calamari was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and well seasoned without overpowering. The breading was also perfect – allowing the seafood to shine on its own. However, after this appetizer, everything went downhill. For the main meal, I ordered the Icelandic cod served with fingerling potatoes, seasonal vegetables and sourdough toast. While it was good – I can't say it was the best cod I've ever had or that anything really distinguished it.
In terms of the atmosphere, I'd have to say that Whalebone was nice, but again nothing drew any particular attention. The restaurant's interior décor is reminiscent of the ocean theme, with wooden accents, seafood critters, and blue and white colour palettes appearing throughout. The meat drying rack was also visible in the basement – although it was located right across the bathrooms, which I found to be an interesting choice. All in all, the space felt very young and trendy – a space perhaps best suited for a younger crowd.
His Take:
Whalebone has been noted to us many times as the popular go-to spot in Ottawa for seafood lovers. Thus, the appetizer of choice was calamari. The calamari was one of the best I've ever had and combined perfectly with the spicy mayo. The restaurant's strength in seafood also showed in my main meal – the scallops.
The scallops were fresh, flavourful and well-cooked. However, the overall main course did lack in quantity as the meal only had 4 scallops, thus seemed a bit underserved. Likewise, the scallops were paired with pea & mint puree, arancini, and pork belly. To be honest, the overall mix didn't seem to make a lot of sense to me, and it did seem like some of the flavours contradicted.
Overall, I'd agree with Daria in that the restaurant feels like a hip or chic location best suited
for the younger crowd. I have to say that the service in our personal experience was not the greatest and it seems like this was mainly due to how busy the restaurant was. We found that our waiter was not really able to stop by & we had to continuously draw their attention to get some water, a new napkin, or to order an addition to the meal. This was by no means their fault, as we saw them continuously running back and forth from table to table. I'm not sure if this is how usually busy the restaurant is or if perhaps they were in a bit more of a crunch due to a staff's unavailability, etc. Either way, it did feel like that much more staff was required at this time.
A Bonus Scoop:
Piccolo Gelato – gelato boutique in the heart of Ottawa
Her Take:
We actually weren't necessarily looking for gelato, more so walking back to the hotel when we noticed a large line up for a little boutique store. Out of curiosity, we decided to stop by and check it out – something I'm really happy about. Piccolo offers a wide variety of hand-crafted Italian gelato, sorbet, and vegan dessert options. I went for Tiramisu flavour gelato as well as Black currant. The tiramisu was rich and a bit boozy in all the right ways, meanwhile, the black currant was punchy and vibrant. Both were delicious, and I was a bit sad that we never made it back to Piccolo because they had so many more flavours I wanted to try!
I will also say the shop itself is a really cute atmosphere. They actually have old Tom & Jerry cartoons playing in the background and a wall of gelato tubs that I was curious about the whole time.
The staff is also knowledgeable and friendly, always happy to offer recommendations or let you sample different flavors before deciding. I remember one of the staff was very sweet and apologetic, noting that the display was a bit messy (it wasn't) given the long queue. I thought that was very sweet and refreshing.
His Take:
I'm a huge gelato fan, so I was excited we visited this place. I got two flavours – lemon and maple. They were both really good, light and refreshing, something I look for in gelato, contrary to Daria.
The other thing I should note is that the portion sizes were actually quite large. I got a double scoop while Daria got the single scoop, and she struggled to even finish the half size.
It's also worth noting that Piccolo has several other items on top of gelato, including affogato, hot chocolate, milkshakes, and take-home tubs.
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