Buell Street Bistro — Restaurant in Ontario

Just an incredible place. My family and I have come to dine here from Ottawa on several occasions now. It’s well (well) worth the drive!

Where do I even start with positive things to say!?

Amazing service: gracious, polite, attentive, and intuitive. Just wow. (Thank you, Liz!)

Extensive gluten free menu: I’ve never come across such an elaborate GF menu… not even in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, or any other ‘big’ city. As someone with a severe gluten intolerance, I am very limited as to where I can dine out - most restaurants either don’t provide GF options at all, and even if they do, they’re careless and sloppy with it. I felt so included, cared for, and accommodated. Thank you.

Exceptional quality at such reasonable prices. In these inflationary times, Buell’s is spot on in this arena. What a breath of fresh air!

Even when making a reservation months in advance for a special event, upon arrival, the staff knew exactly who we were and knew exactly the table we had requested…and they had reserved it for us accordingly. Reliable!

We...

Food, service and decor was good but very pricey!

For example, the entrées are well over $30 and sometimes $40 so I assumed when the waitress asked me if I wanted fried onions as a side that they were included or at least under $4. Instead I get the bill and it’s $7 just for the fried onion! One onion is only pennies and frying one is pretty cheap as well. I have been to expensive and fancy places before, including very recently, but I never had to spend over $50 per person (including a 15% tip plus GST) since we never order hard drinks or appetizers.

Also desserts are all over $10 and all but one or two seemed to have raspberries which I’m not a big fan of.

As for simple requests from the waitress, she did what was asked but acted awkward about it, such as bringing the meal and the dessert at the same time, as we didn’t want to miss the boat cruise departure.

If money is no object to you, then by all means go here but if you’re looking for a menu with more variety of price points, elsewhere...

This is a late review as it's been 4 months since I visited the Bistro. My memory was that the service was good and the restaurant was different. Like being in a house or something.? We were in a room with several tables. Cozy! Until it got busy... then cozy turned into loud. Our room wasn't the only room being serviced. We received our cocktails right away and they brought me an amazing virgin cocktail. Our dinners were very good. Although... I had the vegan stirfry which at the time was made with chicken peas. It was delicious! However, it was a MASSIVE pile when it arrived at the table. It was almost overwhelming. Until we realized it was mostly rice. Still, a very good dish! I would order again! The Seafood Thermidor was good, however, it was accompanied by plain vegetables and rice. Not buttered or grilled.. just plain. It sort of seemed out of place. All in all, I did have a nice dinner out, despite the noise. I would return when in Brockville and...