Sterling — Restaurant in Gatineau

I wish I could give 0 stars.... I recently visited this restaurant on Valentine’s Day and had a disappointing experience that has left a bad taste in my mouth, both figuratively and literally. I ordered a rack of lamb, hoping for a delicious and memorable meal to celebrate the special occasion. However, what followed was far from what I had expected.

Halfway through my meal, I made a shocking discovery - the lamb was served completely raw. I immediately called over the server, who agreed that it was raw and quickly took it away. Not asking what I would like to do. He then returned with a cooked lamb, but it turned out to be the same piece of meat that I had originally sent back. It still had my bite marks in it, which made me feel uncomfortable and grossed out.

At this point, I had lost my appetite and decided to leave the dish untouched. Although I didn’t want to make a fuss on such a romantic occasion, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with the quality of the food and the restaurant’s lack of attention to detail.

Later that night, I became severely ill, experiencing symptoms such as vomiting, chills, fever, diarrhea and general malaise that lasted through to the next day. My boyfriend called the restaurant and informed the manager about what had happened and the manager said the best he could do was offer us a free meal as an apology. While I understand this gesture, this doesn't nearly make up for the ruined Valentines day, making me severely ill, and making me have to miss school in order to go to the hospital for food poisoning. The bill wasn't cheap, which is fine, but people can get very sick, and even die from certain bacteria found in raw meat such as lamb. When my boyfriend told the manager we wouldn't even be returning to the restaurant, his response was "I don't blame you."

Overall, I cannot recommend this restaurant. While I understand that mistakes can happen in any kitchen, the restaurant’s response to the situation left me very disappointed. Therefore, I would advise potential diners to exercise caution when considering this establishment for their...

Great Service, Questionable Value, Incompetent Cooking

This review, like all restaurant reviews should be, is based mostly on the experience delivered compared to that promised combined with weightings for quality, value and service.

Sterling make a great fanfare about their steak being selected from the top 2.5% of all beef sold, use of maple chips to cook them and ageing of the steak. Factors they claim that produce exceptional steak.

Not so. The steaks two of us ate at the end of July were good, yes, but not even excellent. Tender to be sure but flavour was lacking. Maybe they were aged - who cares if the results show no benefit - but those I purchase from my local supermarket usually have more taste.

The average chain steak house serves meat that tastes as good if not better for a substantially lower price. Sometimes said chain steak house will serve vegetables that are cooked correctly too. And that, cooking of vegetables, is where Sterling shows itself up at its worst. Green beans we ordered to accompany our steaks may have been threatened with a visit to the steamer but clearly never made the trip. So undercooked as to be virtually raw. One can do that with some types of pea but green beans - never. Totally unacceptable and a reflection of complete inattention in the kitchen. Likewise asparagus spears except those clearly visited somewhere hot and emerged partially cooked. But tough rather than crisp and crunchy as undercooked asparagus would normally be. Quite an achievement to produce that result - perhaps reheated after a prior failure by the chef?

So, on to the better points. A good Caesar salad started our meal. Full marks for that. Likewise friendly and professional service in a pleasant if unexceptional setting.

The wine list is long, impressive if you want to be impressed, and sorely lacking in reasonably priced bottles. No beer or wine available so unless you just won the lottery, best drink water.

All in all a very disappointing and pricey experience - hence the low rating for promising much and delivering little. Suggest this...

When my parents visited Ottawa I took my parents to Sterling because I read they had the best steaks in the region. The place is very fancy, nice décor, but I was utterly shocked at how bad our steak was especially given how expensive this restaurant is. My wife was not as hungry as my father and I so she got the NY Striploin, but we asked the waiter what was the steak to get and he immediately told me the Papa's Cut. This is also the cut I read about from other reviews so we were very excited. My wife's steak was very good, but oh lord the Papa's Cut was easily one of the worst steaks I have ever had. It was dry but even more it had a very strange burnt taste, almost like it was over-smoked. I often make RibEye steaks and I am very familiar with the flavour but this steak was just hard to eat. When the waiter asked how it was, we explained that we were not very happy with the Papa's Cut and explained the strange burnt taste. We also explained it was dry and just overall unpleasant. The waiter just kind of shrugged and said this is how they make them with their specific special grill. I was surprised that at such a fancy restaurant this is the answer I got. I eat a lot of steak and when I say the steak was bad, I do know what I am talking about. My father and I didn't even get through half the steak each. I was really sad because my parents don't visit often and I wanted to give them a really good experience and get them a really delicious steak but it was such a bad experience and one that was VERY VERY expensive. And service we got was not great given the class of restaurant. Honestly I could have made a better rib-eye steak at home in a cast iron skillet and that should say a lot. I don't recommend this place, nor will I be...