absinthe

was expecting a much better culinary experience for the price. plates were overseasoned with salt mostly. the exprience itself was great,goodservice andgooddrinks. unfortunatly will not be back.

damn that poutine is good!. i have been here twice with the intention of going back again. the first time i went the waiter was a bit rude, but the second time i went the waitress was a wonderful and attentive.

i got the burger twice which comes with a salad to start and a side poutine.

the salad is very tasty and it is agoodstarter!

then comes the poutine and burger. the poutine is amazing, the gravy is very flavorful! the burger is also very good, although i usually end up bringing most of the burger home because it is huge! (not that i am complaining)

lacks creativity and is heavy-handed on the salt!. we dined here last night as a group of six. the kitchen was quite slow with us waiting half an hour for mains to come out and with the house less than half full.

steak frites and hamburger mains were all extremely over-seasoned (too much salt). i found this to be the case when i dined here on my previous visit as well. the hamburger was cold and bun soggy. cod was the only dish that was actually under-seasoned. onlygooddishes were the pork tenderloin and duck, although the duck needed to be rendered more. all dishes were boring. chefs should take a look at what other restaurants are doing - they're being left in the dust in the creativity compartment.

yes, the prices are somewhat cheaper than other bistro restaurants in the neighbourhood but the quality and creativity is far below that of it's peer restaurants. save up a bit more and go to allium instead. i would put this restaurant on par with wellington gastripub which i also don't like for similar reasons (lack of proper execution, creativity, and haphazard service). but if you like salty and safe (aka standard) food in a dim- lit place, you'd like it here.

the best!. absinthe, i cannot say enoughgoodthings about this place! the servers (we had partick tonight) also highly recommend nosh (sorry if i spelled incorrectly). we've eaten there quite a bit and every time they recognize us, and the service is always fantastic.

on the menu they did not have fois terraine, which is amazing. i asked if i could have it and patrick said wait one minute came back said yeah they'd do it. they made their own plate up on the spot because we requested it. if that's not service i don't know what is. the duck - how can you really spell out how much you love something with so many words. my husband said it's the best duck on the planet as far as he was concerned. i've ate their duck many times, and tonight was by far my favourite. the slaw they had was out of the world - my mouth was partying like it was 1999 (yes i just said that). they had flavours of garlic, bacon with smoke, fennel and then the duck with the sweet red wine sauce, so much was going on but the flavours all came together and it was fantastic.

so thank-you guys! for another amazing night - we will be back :)

great food! had the frog legs which were delicious and agoodsize app, but had the duck and was a small portion. it was tasty but was expecting more, infact someone else i was with actually got more duck than i did so maybe they ran out or they just aren't consistant with portions.goodbeer and wine selection, and service wasgoodtoo.

the tuna fin ceviche is a mexican twist of a peruvian staple - fresh with a nice touch of sweetness, prominent cumin flavour, and spicy from the pico de gallo and candied jalapeños. the addition of rice crackers give a perfect balance of texture to the overall dish. an excellent starter to get your palate going. the charcuterie platter is quite generous for the price one pays for. everything on this board is house-made, a great selection of meat, sides and sauces that will keep your palate entertained. the mini-bread, crisp outside and soft inside, is something cute to stare at. now for the mains. the purchase of the benevolent burger will go to agoodcause. for each bu

went to absinthe for the first time on a dinner date with my girlfriend. the menu was interesting, however, nothing really popped out at me. don't get me wrong, what we ended up ordering was delicious, but upon first glance, nothing caught my attention. i really wanted the deep fried frogs legs, which were awesome, and the burger or steak sounded good, but something i could get anywhere. after reading the whole menu and not really liking the sound of the dishes, i went with the benevolent burger, which was essentially a gourmet version of a big mac and was amazing, so big i could barely eat it with my hands. it was very greasy though, a minus. it came with a mushroom bacon poutine and salad; very filling. my girlfriend got the broccoli cheddar soup and squid ink tortellini. the soup was good, i wasn't a fan of the latter, she enjoyed it. the service was great, however, the environment was a little noisy, so it was hard to hear each other talk, but that was ok. the only downside i would say is that absinthe only has one individual washroom for everyone, a little unpractical for a restaurant that seats so many. overall,goodexperience, a little pricy, but the food is worth it.goodplace for a date or night out with friends, not the most romantic evening though due to the noise level. but still an enjoying and tasty experience.

not impressed ... especially for the price. service was great, the server was very attentive and explained every course in great detail

frog legs
- frog legs were good,goodbatter crisp but bland
- the accompanying celeriac and kohlrabi slaw tasted like soap and very bland; incredibly under seasoned

beet salad
-very tasty withgoodflavor under seasoned also
- almost too much going on here

arugula salad
- best part of the meal with the combination of toasted pumpkin seeds, parmesan, and the vinaigrette - very enjoyable. seasoned well

steak frites (recommended to me)
- steak was served blue rare; far from medium rare
- burned, beyond charbroiled actually no one in the party found it enjoyable (as they all tried as it was recommended)
- frites/fries seasoned well
- horseradish aïoli; not a fan at all
- green beans were my favorite part out of the main course

great first experience. went to absinthe last night and it was a verygoodexperience. i did the three course meal. escargot, soup and then the bison. everything was very good.
the service was fantastic they made you feel very comfortable.
i will go back.

vip treatment!. my family celebrated my father's 65th birthday at absinthe tonight and we were all thrilled with the service and the food. when i made my reservation i added a comment that it was my dad's 65th and they really stepped up to make us feel special.

the service. the server brought the 5 of us each a champagne glass of prosessco (and something else added, forgot what it was) to toast with, on the house. when it was time for desert, they wrote a big happy birthday on the plate next to my dads crime brûlée, which later we found out was also on the house. these gestures and super friendly service really was the cherry on top of the great food and wine we were served.

the food. i don't think any of us were dissatisfied with the taste of any of the dishes tonight. they either met expectations or was above. i will only mention the exceptional dishes. everyone always appreciatesgoodbread and butter, their bread had a great crisp crust and was fennel infused served with brown butter which made it very flavourful. the duck! wow, don't remember the last time i was so happy with a duck dish at a restaurant. i hate when duck tastes like chicken. but this dish had an intense duck flavour in the sauce and it was seared perfectly on the outside so that when you took a bite you had a crispy smokey sear with wonderfully tender medium rare juicy meat. artic char trio and bbq korean quail deserves a special mention too. the dessert was the perfect end to the meal, chocolate fondant cake was so intensely chocolate that it was almost black but managed to still feel light. bread pudding was deliciously maple flavoured.

perhaps one suggestion to the restaurant. the decor doesn't match how great the food and service is. not a fan of the wall colours, makes the place feel dingy. bathrooms have a strange red, silver thing going on. it would be nice to see a more chic and unified interior. but definitely don't judge this restaurant by its cover. thank you! we'll be back again :)

food wasn't bad, but not worth the $$$$. food was so over priced. i had the burger and fois gras poutine. burger was good, but poutine was too salty.

good service andgoodatmosphere, but not somewhere i would go often.

good food and atmosphere. went for dinner last night and was pleasantly surprised with the service, food and atmosphere. the menu was very reasonably priced considering the style of food and fresh ingredients and the price point pushed my girlfriend and i to each order the three-course table d'hote.
we started with the korean bbq quail duo. we enjoyed the kimchi and quail combination; however, i felt that the seared quail breast went much better with the rest of the dish than the simple fried quail legs.
our next course was the butternut squash soup and the arugula salad with lemon thyme vinaigrette. the soup was fantastic and had tremendous balance to it. the salad could have used a little more balance as the vinaigrette was quite acidic and when combined with the arugula was quite bitter on the palate.
for main courses we chose the steak frites and the shrimp/scallop dish. the steak was very nice but a little tough to chew since it was hanger steak. i guess that's expected with that cut of meat. however they did a great job with the marinade on the steak which tasted of some kind of vinegar base. the only thing i would comment about this dish is that the green beans seem to be a very disappointing choice to pair with the rest of the plate.
the shrimp and scallops was a lovely dish that was almost perfect. the shrimps and scallops were cooked beautifully and seasoned very nicely. the rest of the plate was a little bit of a letdown by comparison. the filling in the agnelotti wasn't that great and they didn't really seem to fit the rest of the dish in terms of flavor and texture. overall, a very nice effort for the mains but certain details kept them from being exceptional.
we finished with the apple tart which was excellent and had a big scoop of delicious house made ice cream. very nice way to finish dinner.
the service was verygoodand certainly added to a pleasant experience. water glasses were never left empty and every server who dropped off food explained each component of the dishes. overall, we really enjoyed our experience there and definitely look forward to going back.

after having a bad first experience at this restaurant, i was contacted by the manager with a gift certificate to return and had a much better meal. our server was friendly this time- although he forgot to take our drink order and left us sitting for 15 minutes until we asked for them. food was good, started with escargot- delicious!, then we had salads- bland and just ok, main courses were the duck and stuffed chicken- plates were well presented and good, we finished with their famous creme brûlée - it was delicious and very rich...but for a true critic the consistency was off , it was not firm enough or 'set'.

the male server we had was very friendly with me- my partner on the other hand may as well have been invisible to him. he explained my plate, but just set down his and walked away, he asked me if i wanted something from the coffee bar- i declined and then just walked away without asking him, ect. he needs to pay a little more attention to all people at the table- seemed very nervous- he even leaned-elbowes on the table at one point to discuss the menu- big no no in the serving world.

so all in all food was good- still overpriced if you ask my opinion ($140 for 2) atmosphere is notgoodfor an intimate dinner but great for a group, and servers need a little more training on the 'proper' table serving they seem to be going for there.


-----08 apr, 2012-----

very over priced and pushy. i ordered the steak and asked for it medium- it came well done in the middle and burnt on the outside to the point that the char taste was overpowering. will not go back.

expensive butgoodfood, i enjoyed table d'hôte and suggested wine pairing. the atmosphere was great, service excellent and accomodative despite us being a table of 12 on a busy saturday night.

great all i have to say. you get what you pay for. the steak frites was the best steak i have had at a restaraunt in ottawa. expensive but i am a big guy with agoodappetite and it took everything for me to finish it. the atmosphere was great and the waiter was also very attentive and friendly.