absinthe

my husband and i went to absinthe for the first time and for my birthday... and we were so pleased that we did! the staff was so kind - they treated us to a lovely drink to celebrate when we were seated. and after dinner, they surprised us with a birthday cake as well! talk about amazing service - it was totally their initiative to do all of that. we hadsteakfrites and it was delish! the ambience and atmosphere was just perfect. highly recommending this place to all friends and colleagues. we will definitely go back!

great as usual. beststeakfrites in town. great service, great drinks. we're regulars and never had a bad experience. do yourself a favour and try the actual absinthe as well.

would you like somesteakwith your salt?. went to absinthe for the first time with my husband and small group of friends. our waiter was friendly and left our table to be for the most part, checking in every so often. the focaccia was pretty good. by the time our food came everyone was very hungry, so the food was wolfed down. i, however, could not scarf down my food despite being quite hungry. mysteakwas incredibly salty, which was what was agreed upon by the entire group (though they had finished theirs). by this time we flagged down the waiter and explained i could not eat this food on account of it being too salty (the frites were also incredibly salty). he took mine away and probably 20 minutes later i had a newsteakin front of me, with the exact same problem. it turns out they marinate their steaks in soy sauce and then use a sea salt brine, which explains why the sodium content was fairly high. apparently they do not have any steaks that are not marinated either. i was then offered to have another dish. by this time everyone else had finished eating. one of the couples even had their dessert before my new food came 30 minutes later (and nothing for me to munch on). when my new plate finally came i had them pack it up because it was so late by then. despite the server being nice and them giving my meal on the house, i won't be returning just because the salt content was over-the-top and the prices high for the quality of food.

great food and great place. went for anniverary. i had the hangersteakand my wife had the stuffed chicken. both were great, and they even gave us a complimentry glass of port and dessert for our anniversary.

absinthe. impressive absinthe cocktails served very professionally, the best absinthe-inspired drinks i have ever seen. the food quality was average for a high-end french restaurant, nothing spectacular that stood out, but still a greatsteakfrites and duck confit.

wonderful meal, and terrific mid-week date night. the service was impeccable - knowledgable, attentive, pleasant but not cloying. my husband had thesteakfrites with poutine and bigness great, and i loved the beet salad and bacon wrapped pork tenderloin. nice, trendy but comfortable ambiance rounded out our enjoyment of the evening. highly recommend.

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 orsteaksounded 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, good experience, a little pricy, but the food is worth it. good place 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, good batter crisp but bland
- the accompanying celeriac and kohlrabi slaw tasted like soap and very bland; incredibly under seasoned

beet salad
-very tasty with good flavor 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)
-steakwas 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

amazing burger...cold steak?. i ate here for the second time this past week. rarely will i order the same meal twice in a restaurant where i have not experimented with the menu yet, however their benevolent burger is an exception. so. freaking. good. my boyfriend on the other hand ordered theirsteakfrit which is suposed to come "medium rare". not even a touch of red, thesteakonly had a pinch of pink, at the keg this would be considered well done. the flavour was still nice, however it was served cold. overall great service, will def return...just won't be ordering thatsteakanytime soon.

excellentsteakand frites. my husband and i were practically fighting over it. we also enjoyed duck the ways. the atmosphere was lovely and the service was impeccable.

awesome again!. some friends and i went there for my birthday and once again it was fabulous! a big bravo for the top notch service. the server informed us that the mains might take a while to come out of the kitchen and proceeded to offer each of us an appetizer on the house. some had food sensitivities and they had no problems substituting menu items. food was excellent yet again - nobody was disappointed. the crème brûlée was delicious!!! this is quickly becoming one of my ottawa favourites.


-----17 jul, 2012-----

excellent service!. went for the first time last weekend. i had the table d'hôte and chose the tuna tartare, arugula salad and duck duo. my husband had the steak. everything had a wonderful taste.steakwas cooked perfectly. my only complaint is that the duck breast was overcooked for my taste (i like mine more on the medium-rare to rare side and this was definetly medium). service was exceptional. the waiter was friendly and was very attentive without being annoying or overbearing. probably best service i've had in ottawa. he was also fully bilingual which is rare for that neighbourhood. not sure what his name was but if his boss is reading this, it was the gentleman with the red hair :-). i will be going back for sure and will try the crème-brûlée...always a big test for me!

my boyfriend and i went to absinthe for the first time for valentines day dinner. it couldn't have been a more perfect evening. the service was amazing, the atmosphere music and decor as well. they prepared a special valentines tasting menu for the evening. every dish we were served was perfect from the taste to the presentation. the appetizer was a sake glazed pork belly & crispy oyster with spicy pear slaw and lime dressing that was superb, my boyfriend who has never liked seafood even tried and loved the oyster! for the main course we chose the filet mignon with leek mash, mushroom ragout and madeira sauce. we both agreed that thesteakwas hands down the best we had ever had! even the bread they gave us as a snack which was homemade and served with honey butter was extraordinary! we had a great time trying the different absinthe cocktails too. absinthe surpassed all our expectations on a special night, and we will definitely be back. highly recommended!!

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 thesteakfrites and the shrimp/scallop dish. thesteakwas 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 thesteakwhich 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 very good and 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.

a must-try. from what i've seen of the negative reviews, the most common complaint has been the service. we went to absinthe on a saturday evening when the place was packed, and if there were ever issues with the service, i'd say they've been worked out. i think we interacted with three or four different people, either bussing or taking our orders. they were all extremely friendly and enthusiastic to the point that i'd say the service actually enhanced the whole experience. thankfully the atmosphere of the place is decidedly non-stuffy. as for the food, it was incredible. for apps we had the charcuterie plate and the korean bbq quail. for mains,steakand frites, and the benevolent burger (which is indeed served with a side of duck poutine). the food was almost beyond description. one of the best meals either of us have ever had. we also really enjoyed the wines we both tried. it's also worth noting that unlike most other "fine dining" places, none of the food was weird for the sake of being weird, and the portions were surprisingly generous. despite how delicious our mains were, neither of us ended up being able to finish our meals. and to top it all off, the bill was completely reasonable too.

to sum it all up, absinthe is without a doubt one of the best restaurants in the city.

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 not good for 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 thesteakand 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.