222 Lyon Tapas Bar — Restaurant in Ottawa

As far as tapas goes, 222 Lyon has nothing special to offer. It is subpar in almost every way. No points are made up by its plain and tight interior.

The "fresh baked bread" was stale—worse than a discount bag of already cheap dinner rolls. The "brandy vinegar" that it came with was equally underwhelming.

The worst dish we had to bear was the lobster special. $20 for a rubbery, flavourless piece of low-quality (probably frozen) seafood, accompanied by a single strand of limp scallion.

Our dishes took awhile to arrive, despite the whole place only being able to accommodate 8 or so couples/groups. Nothing seemed to come at the appropriate temperature except for two bacon-wrapped dates ($5). Service itself was friendly.

Ottawa does not have much to offer in terms of tapas generally, but there is surely another place that can do better...

222 Lyon Tapas is a cozy restaurant located at the corner of Lyon and Gloucester st. in a beautiful, restored old house. The Tapas they serve have a large selection of vegan, pescetarian and vegetarian options. The atmosphere is cozy and relaxing and the service is friendly and professional.

We tried the Mushrooms on toast (the group favorite), House Olives, Grilled Eggplant (tasty!), Shrimps Mona Lisa (I love these), Squid a la Romana (tender and delicious), Smoked Salmon, Mussels (another favorite of mine), plus some of the yummy deserts.

We will definitely visit 222 Lyon Tapas again...

Was really excited to try this place because we had heard and read so many great reviews. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations.

We went with a group of 4 and ordered almost everything on the menu. The service was very friendly, but none of us could even find a dish that we really loved. Everything was just okay... quite bland, nothing had much taste.

Even while writing this I’m looking at the great reviews from everyone else and questioning if we even went to the same restaurant. Maybe we just caught them on...