Restaurant Casa Grecque — Restaurant in Gatineau

Avoid. This. Restaurant. At. All. Costs.

Where do I even begin?

Upon bringing a party over 20 people to this establishment, we were not advised over the phone until arrival that in order to seat our party in an area big enough to fit, we have to pay 100$ for the area to sit. This was strike 1. We were advised that typically, BLACK PEOPLE are charged 250$ for the area as they are “always late” or “don’t show up”. So thankfully, because our skin colour is white, we were only charged 100$. You would have been sitting people in this area regardless of the extra 100$ fee we had to pay for this dining experience. But anyways.

Even though we were awaiting our party to show up, our guests had asked for bread to begin. The server was instructed by the manager/owner to not bring complimentary bread until orders have been placed just incase we don’t order food. (Why would we all be here if we weren’t going to order food?)

We were then advised that in order to cut our cake that WE brought for my mom’s birthday celebration, we would have to pay 1.50$ per cut slice. Of our own cake. We were advised that if we didn’t want to pay this fee, we could “go cut the cake in the parking lot” - these words were by the owners wife who is extremely unprofessional and rude.

Upon speaking to the owner/manager, we did advise of him of the issue of the bread situation, he then called the poor server over to embarrass her infront of us to explain the situation. He failed to mention that HE was the one who advised her to tell us this when we requested the bread originally, we only found that out afterwards from our server after she apologized to us.

Then the owner saw my Arabic necklace and proceeded to ask me if I’m Arab and when I said yes, what does my race have to do with anything, he said “mmhm”. The level of racism and disrespect this establishment has portrayed tonight has left an awful taste in my mouth besides the under cooked steaks that we received during our meal.

As an establishment who is across the bridge to Ottawa, carrying “5” menus in english for an entire restaurant is absolutely absurd. Most of us were able to speak/understand French, but for those who weren’t, thankfully we were able to get our hands on a couple of English menus to share between the party. This was ridiculous. The entire experience was ridiculous and I would highly recommend to STAY AWAY from this restaurant and give your money to another business who DESERVES it and has decent humanity and respect. If I could rate this place below 0, trust me I...

I had the brochette de poulet and paired it with the table d'hôte where I selected the garlic shrimp baked with cheese and then had decaf coffee and the crème brûlée in my picture.

The shrimp was good, no issue there.

The brochette was okay but the chicken really tasted too strongly of herbs, it's like they were trying to mask something. I realized at the end of my meal that I didn't get a lemon wedge which would have really helped. The salad with it was good but tasted very strongly of parsley which unfortunately for me tastes a bit like soap but otherwise a good salad. The rice and potato sides were good and the pepper sauce was good too.

Now for the reason I took the time to write this review: the crème brûlée. I'm admittedly very picky for them and I told the waitress as much and she still suggested I try it. She said I couldn't exchange it if I didn't like it but I didn't want any of the other options. Sadly I really didn't like it, it was the texture of scrambled eggs like the eggs had separated from the cream and then the sugar was literally burned goop, it's supposed to be melted hard sugar, not actually burned. It wasn't even hard, just gooped on top. I awkwardly asked the waitress if she could do anything for me because the texture was just too awful and she said she would go speak to someone. Suddenly I have a manager asking me what is the problem and I try to patiently explain (in the loud dining area) that the texture is bad and the top is too burned and she argued with me about it how it's supposed to be that way and that if she takes it away it's going in the garbage and she can't do anything for me because any action would be a loss to her. I was just surprised at her brusk and unfriendly attitude towards me. She even suggested I go home and write to headquarters to have the recipe changed. The recipe isn't the problem, the flavour was fine, it was the texture. It's not properly prepared. I let her take the plate away since I wasn't going to eat it. The manager's way of "helping" me has really thrown me off from ever coming back to the Casa Grecque. She did eventually come back and said I'd be given $5 off which I really appreciated but I would have preferred not having to argue with a stranger in a loud room in front of my...

Decided to do a random stop at Casa Grecque in Gatineau tonight after a nice day of sight seeing locally.

Casa Grecque has been at this location as far back as the early 1990’s. I use to work next door when there was a bar.

Tonight we went in, and we’re amazed not only at how busy it was, but that they still had space for us to sit.

The first thing we noticed, which is what keeps it from a 5-star rating, was the noise level. I know that’s more the patrons fault who have no respect for other diners, and not the restaurant. But someone has to be penalized for the noise. My wife and I couldn’t even speak across the table to each other.

She ordered the chicken souvlaki plate and I got the pork medallions. Both came with a small roasted potato, a house salad with a fantastic dressing, and rice. And on the side, we both got some kind of brown gravy? I think this is a Quebecois thing. Brown gravy is not a standard fare with Greek food. (Like going to Chinese in Quebec, and patrons asking for a side of toast. Leave it to the French).

The meal was delicious for both of us. Our waiter Nathan was fantastic. Spoke decent English, kept our water glasses filled, and was quick with recommendations.

We ended it with a slice of their homemade apple pie with Crumble topping and a drizzle of caramel sauce, with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. I’m glad we took the time for desert. It was delicious.

Over all, a 40 minute drive from the South End of Ottawa, and as well worth the time and drive.

Just remember - Casa Grecque does Not have a liquor license but they do allow you to bring your own wine...