absinthe

our first official date was dinner at absinthe. the food, the wine and the service were very good. thank you for meeting our expectations in making our first date a beautiful memory!

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 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.

must try very gooood

delicious. had the tuna wellington, as there was very little in the way of vegetarian selections, but was glad i did. very flavourful and the tuna was cooked perfectly (by hardly cooking at all) with a delightfully flaky crust. the waiter was charming and attentive. my daughter had the steak and fries. excellent food and even better service , i highly recommend this restaurant. (a few more vegetarian choices would be nice)

expensive but good food, 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 a good appetite and it took everything for me to finish it. the atmosphere was great and the waiter was also very attentive and friendly.

very disappointing. steak was chewy. chef claimed that clams close back up after cooking, but are still safe to eat. any maritimer will tell you that any molluscs not open after cooking should be discarded. not worth the money

good food, great value. i've had two great meals here - one in october '11 with a group of 6, another in december '11 with a group of 12. both times service and food were great! their table d'hote option is stellar and equals excellent value for money. the charcuterie board, arugula salad, butternut squash soup and rainbow trout are all excellent; i wasn't a huge fan of the bugder (then again, i'm not a big burger person), but the side pulled pork poutine was something special! it's perhaps not the highest end food in ottawa (i wouldn't quite put it up there with allium, murray st, play, etc) but it's a great all around option.

just went for lunch had great service. i had the duck monte crisco it was way way way to sweet. it came with duck confit cheddar caramelized ognions in a pain perdu club with fig sauce. this dish would have been mich better without the fig sauce it made it far to sweet. im sure they have some other great dishes here but it was a bit overpriced while i did enjoy my 15$ shot of absinth

one of the best in ottawa!. the atmosphere, food and service are outstanding. the charcuterie, squash soup, and duck duo were particularly memorable. definitely worth a visit and an excellent evening out!

it's ok, i highly doubt i'll be heading back. the service was great. we were greeted in a timely manner, our food arrived with perfect timing, we paid without feeling rushed. however, the food was so so. presentation with color was lacking, temperature of food was ok but most important the taste was lacking. i was expecting blasts of delicate flavor and i got zip.

i like the food at absinthe. i like that they stay open late on weekends so you can get a drink not at a pub. i don't think they advertise that, but there it is. they stay open pretty damn late as long as there are people there (bar service only). all their servers are bilingual, which is awesome. the server we had last week was super friendly. we all had the table d'hote. the first course was excellent. the first courses were all really interesting with multiple elements on each plate, and with different applications. their dehydrated vegetables are really well done, very very thinly sliced which is key i think to make sure they're crunchy and not too chewy. dehydrated eggplant? sounds terrible, but it's awesome. for the mid, i had the salad and the others had the soup, which was excellent. the salad was a bit too acidic and kind of boring. the lime flavor was really good but i think something with a bit of sweetness and color would have balanced it off well. the arugula was excellent

i have nothing negative to say about this place! the food was excellent the wine pairing options were perfect! the service was stellar and i will be returning next week :)

the food was amazing,the service was great and the atmosphere was non pretentious. i highly recommend this restauraunt for anybody who loves fine cuisine.

attentive service, a bit pricy, food not bad. the servers were extremely friendly and visited our table just the right amount. our food was not bad. the seafood appetizer was pungent and my wife ordered a medium steak in the steak frites and it was far too rare for her which meant i had to eat it. hey, what am i complaining about? the creme brule was excellent. i think it should cost less for the quality.