absinthe

fabulous! my husband and i ate here with two other couples and everyone really enjoyed it. i picked a 'boring' main, burger and poutine, but it was delicious:duckconfit poutine with smoked cheese.

service was excellent; amuse-bouche was a great touch.

my friend and i were at absinthe yesterday for dinner. we were seated at an outdoor table. it was the first time i have been to a restaurant since march 2020. it was brilliant. we shared 4 appetizers - the lovely fresh tomatoes, the incredibly too tuna, superb salmon and exquisiteduckpâté. our server (emilia) was terrific - friendly, sweet, competent. i was most impressed when a street person approached her and asked for some water - she didn’t hesitate and gave him a glass of water.

bravo to the staff. they made our first night out a highlight.

good not great place, that was just missing a few things to make it a top-notch experience. i definitely feel like this place has potential, so i'll start with the good. a small menu with quality items that they do well. my cocktail was fantastic with great presentation! their cheese selections were to die for and probably my favourite part. it was my birthday and they brought me creme brûlée which i loved!!! however, the ambience was pretty lacklustre and i was a little disappointed in the wine selection. we ended up going with a bottle that was fine, but not sure if it was worth 75$. myduckwas great, but my brothers steak came with two very visible hairs right on top and the server offered to re-plate it. he declined and just re-plated it himself by taking the hair off. all in all, it's a good place but with so many other restaurants in the area it wouldn't be the first place i'd recommend.

great experience! we went to celebrate our son's engagement and are happy we chose this place. we were greeted with complementary champagne. each starter was terrific and the quail egg on the steak tartar was a very nice touch. the mains were even better. theduckwas perfectly prepared. the braised rabbit ravioli is highly recommended. the sampler dessert was an excellent way to try several types of desserts. the service was impecable: polite, very knowledgable, and timely. there was never an empty glass and it was nice to get fresh cutlery with every course. we ordered absinthe to end the meal and it was nicely presented with clear, unpretentious instructions on how to let the water drip to dissolve the sugar cube on the slotted spoon. definitely a "go-to" place if you want to impress someone!

we were fortunate to dine at absinthe this past weekend. it was one of the best meals we have had in a very long time. the tuna carpaccio and the beef tartar were both excellent. the tuna carpaccio had a wonderful texture, complemented by spicy elements and was beautifully presented. the beef tartar was the perfect presentation of a classic dish. theduckbreast and arctic char, which followed were wonderful. theduckbreast was perfectly cooked and delicious. the arctic char was moist and flavourful. the accompanying sides made both plates flawless. the meal ended with prifiteroles. the homemade ice cream, chou and chocolate sauce were scrumptious. 

although the atmosphere is relaxed, service is flawless and attentive. it was a great evening.

i was greatly disappointed. my sister had gone there before and it seems like they changed the menu because they had nothing from her last time there. anyway to keep it short and simple the food was way too salty and not in a good way, it has this very upscale image but too me the food was mediocre at best. the beet 'salad' consisted of 1 small beet cut in quarters. theducktartar was about 2-3 bites and was accompanied by this salty mess they call a salad, the fries...another salty undercooked mess the tuna carpaccio was the only decent thing besides the fact that i had to squirt a whole lemon on it. and the service was very cold and nonchalent. visit at your own risk.

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. only good dishes were the pork tenderloin and duck, although theduckneeded 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.

fabulous dinner!. theduckwas to die for! many layers of flavours!! the escargot appetizer, with tarragon cream sauce was amazing!
great service!

i am undecided. our server was attentitive and friendly but by the final end of the last dish we were looking at a two and a half hour dining experience. this did not include the 20 minute wait time of getting seated when we had a reservation. now for the food. the charcuterie board was a major disappointment, yet the beef tartare and escargot were rather tasty. for my main dish i ordered theduckbreast and the flavours were great but the portion was extremely small for the price. overall i would say that absinthe is an average restaurant with high prices. i do not think i will be returning to this establishment as there are other restaurants i would like to try in the city.

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 great steak frites andduckconfit.

the best!. absinthe, i cannot say enough good things 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. theduck- how can you really spell out how much you love something with so many words. my husband said it's the bestduckon the planet as far as he was concerned. i've ate theirduckmany 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 theduckwith 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 a good size app, but had theduckand was a small portion. it was tasty but was expecting more, infact someone else i was with actually got moreduckthan i did so maybe they ran out or they just aren't consistant with portions. good beer and wine selection, and service was good too.

excellent steak and frites. my husband and i were practically fighting over it. we also enjoyedduckthe ways. the atmosphere was lovely and the service was impeccable.

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 aduckdish at a restaurant. i hate whenducktastes like chicken. but this dish had an intenseduckflavour 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 andduckduo. my husband had the steak. everything had a wonderful taste. steak was cooked perfectly. my only complaint is that theduckbreast 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!