absinthe

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 appreciates good bread 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 :)

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. steak was 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 absolute favourite.. this place is freaking amazing. the duck is always incredible, we have never had a problem with service, and they are accomodating to gluten free people. not ony that but they alter meals so you can have them!!! this is hard to find.

we were never waiting for drink refills or for the bill. the staff was knowledgeable and helped us decide.

4 stars from me.

among ottawa's best. after having been to absinthe five times in the past year, i can confidently say that this is the only restaurant in the city that's been 100% on the mark on every visit. the service is virtually second to none, and the food is absolutely on-point every time. i have tried about 1/3 of their menu, which does undergo some periodic changes, and my recommendation is quite simply to take their recommendation for the day. wine selection is perfect.

and to demonstrate just how above the mark they go - went for my birthday recently with a group of 18. there were people with various food sensitivities at the table, and others who ordered those very foods... so without giving us any hint of inconvenience, they quickly served up apps, sanitised the cooking surfaces and cookware, and managed in that tiny kitchen to serve up all our food at the same time while going to great lengths to avoid cross-contaminiation - an unnecessary but very appreciated effort.

servers are exceptionally friendly, knowledgeable and just downright awesome. food is absolutely spectacular. can't recommend it enough.

best on the street. we live just off wellington and there some fabulous eateries along wellington west. tried them all at one time or another but must admit the food at absinthe has been the best and most memorable. great spot.

love the food, questionable service. i have gone to absinthe many times and was actually surprised to see i had never written a review as i really like their food. i've had their duck salad (at lunch time, which was the most amazing salad i ever had), their famous burger, their korean style quail, beet salad and the duck and a few other dishes i forget! needles to say i like this place and their food! all of these dishes were delicious and cooked perfectly. i was recently there in november and again a couple weeks ago for my birthday, unfortunately we had the same waiter both times. the first time he ended up giving my friend and i 20% off of our bills as he knew he wasn't being a great waiter, forgetting our drink orders, never bringing us bread and plain just not being an attentive server. needless to say i was a little worried when i saw he was our server for my party of 11 on my birthday. he was excellent with me as he knew i was the "birthday girl", giving me a nice glass of wine on the house and a complimentary dessert. as for my guests, it was the same thing again- forgetting drinks, over charging on certain bills, checking his phone instead of serving us etc... and it was even worst for my friend who had been with me back in november. i love the food at absinthe, but feel service is just as important as the food especially in these types of restaurant. i will be taking a break from absinthe and hopefully on my next visit i will get better service.

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 the steak was 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!!

consistently excellent. whenever my sister offers to babysit we put absinthe on the list of places to go for dinner. we know we should try other spots but absinthe is so consistently excellent it's hard to take a chance on going elsewhere in the neighbourhood. i have had lunch there - excellent. i hosted a corporate event there, an absinthe tasting, also excellent. although the liqueur was not to everyone's taste, the appies and service were a great way to start our evening.

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 and good atmosphere, but not somewhere i would go often.

extraordinary. exceptional service, creative dishes, great drink options
you'll leave full and impressed

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 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 delight. it is always a delight to go to absinthe cafe and i routinely bring clients here. the food and service are second to none. you can taste the freshness in everything that they make. i love their benevolent burgers and duck breast.
other restaurants would be wise to take pointers from you. bravo!

totally amazing and fresh ! went there for our wedding anniversary and was not disappointed. chef also made us a special desert to conclude our perfect supper and evening. waiter was amazing and knew his wine's to match things up. great place and will be going back :)

amazing!. absinthe is honestly one of my favorite places in ottawa. the service is warm and attentive, the ambience is relaxed but also classy and the food is outstanding. my last visit was a few nights ago with my family. i had as my app the kimchi bbq quail. the portion was perfect and the flavours were amazing. i especially enjoyed the tangerine reduction that was artistically placed on the plate. for the second course, i chose the arugula salad with pepitas and lemon vinaigrette with parmesan. i do not regret my choice since it was light, refreshing and was perfectly balanced. my only comment is that i think it would be delicious with a drizzle of some kind of cranberry compote( just my opinion thought, it was an amazing salad). for my main, i had the stuffed chicken with cheddar over a bed of creamed kale with a leek and potato galette. my favorite component of the dish was the kale since it still had some texture instead of being mushy. i ate everything on my plate exept for the galette but that is only because of personnal taste since i feel too guilty eating too many rich items:) . also, our server manny was pleasant, polite and extremely attentive. what a perfect night!

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, steak and 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.