Absinthe — Restaurant in Ottawa

If I worked in the kitchen here, I’d be very angry.

Good food, atrocious service.

We had been looking forward to visiting Absinthe for some time and today would prove to be the day of our visit. We reserved for an earlier dinner, remembering that it’s Mother’s Day weekend. We were excited to learn about the Prix Fix, 3 course dinner with cheese fondue, beef Wellington and a dessert. We selected it as part of the reservation process.

The restaurant wasn’t busy when we arrived, and we were shown our table. Our male server, let’s just refer to him by his initial “R.” Appeared and explained the menus, when we mentioned that we were getting the prix fix, he remarked “Oh yeah, I saw that on your reservation.” We ordered cocktails and my fiancé asked to include the wine pairing with her meal. 15-20 min later our cocktails arrived, and we were asked if we wanted the wine pairing with each course of the meal. We had to ask to repeat the question because it was just so unusual. Of course we want the wine pairing with each course. A few minutes after the fondue burner arrived, a different server came with the fondue with R and the other server jockeying to light the burner. The cheese fondue was tasty, with a nice crisp on the bread to stand up to the molten cheese. We leisurely enjoyed our fondue. When we finished it, R came by and plunked a glass of white wine on the table and sped off. Umm, what was this? After a few moments R came back, and my fiancé had to ask what the wine was that was dropped off. R said it was a sauvignon blanc from Niagara that “tastes good with cheese.”

The dishes were cleared and, well as is the case with crispy bread, many crumbs littered the table. Steak knives were brought, and we were again asked if we wanted the wine with the next course (again, it’s the pairing). Yes, we would like the next wine. R brought a red wine and again plunked it on the table and ran off. Our beef wellington arrived, and we had to ask what the wine was that was delivered. R didn’t know and went to the hostess station to read from the menu. He returned and said “an Italian wine from . Good with Beef.”

The Wellington was tasty but, by now, we were getting frustrated with the ambivalent service and someone that didn’t seem able to multitask. The table near us was experiencing challenges with their meals sending R back a third time for a faulty service. We sat with empty plates for 15 minutes before R came back after passing our table at least 10 times without even a glance in our direction. I half expected Gordon Ramsay or Robert Irvine to pop out from the kitchen to shut things down.

R mentioned we have our choice of desserts and asked if we wanted coffee or tea. We again stated that we have a pairing (turns out it’s a $90 pairing) which includes a third pairing with dessert. After 10 min a new smaller glass was plopped on the table and R quickly disappeared. Well, we could tell it was port, and we guessed it came from Portugal, but again, not explanation. 5 minutes later, dessert spoons were plunked on the table. Finally after 15 additional minutes the chocolate mousse and crème brulé came to the table. We had had enough after a slow 2 hours for the meal so far. We asked for our bill, left our uneaten desserts and left.

There are plenty of options in Ottawa, where for less than the $350, a couple can get a lovely meal along with great service. You don’t even need to travel more than a kilometer from Absinthe to find those wonderful spots.

We’ll visit those other restaurants the next time we are in the...

I went to Absinthe on a Friday night. The décor was nice, but the box shape of the restaurant makes voices echo and carry, so it was a bit loud. Me and the person I was with started off by sharing the smoked and pickled beets, which consisted of about 10 small cubes of beet, some candied walnuts, and 1/3 of a tart. I don’t really know why we got only a third of a tart, but my best guess is they were running low on tarts. There’s a picture on google reviews of someone receiving a full tart, so now we feel ripped off. If they were low on tarts, they should have 86’d the menu item. For a $16 appetizer, we were disappointed.

For my main, I ordered the steak frites. The steak had a charred taste. I like a charred taste, but this steak had a too much of it; the entire exterior was black. Plus I didn’t find it seasoned that well. It wasn’t that juicy either for medium rare. The sautéed green beans had a very overpowering flavour. They were over-drenched in whatever they cooked them in which I think was lemon and garlic (could be wrong), and generally weren’t great. The highlight of the plate was the fries, which had a great crisp and flavour. In my opinion, if the fries are the highlight of a plate at a fine food establishment, something isn’t right. My partner got the braised pork cheeks. The meat was pretty tender, but the sauce it came in was nothing special, and it tasted like there was too much wine in it.

The service we received was alright, but not amazing. Twice someone served us and didn’t take away empty plates, which kind of matters on a table for two because things can get cramped. My partner and I both have a background in the restaurant industry, so we know to base an experience on the price. Our bill was ~$92 after a %15 tip. That was for one app, and two mains with no drinks or dessert. For that price, we expected a lot more in terms of service, and food quality/quantity. We left dinner disappointed, but the cherry on top was going home to see a full tart on a google from a month ago, when we had just paid the same price for 1/3 of one. There are plenty of restaurants in Ottawa that have better food for a better price, so we will not...

After seeing high reviews, my fiancé and I decided to try Absinthe. We don’t understand what the rave is about. The best part was being brought a complimentary glass of champagne upon arriving. This was probably because we listed it was our anniversary when booking. We then proceeded to order, I ordered the burger and fries. I asked for a modification on my burger, the male server said the burger just comes the way it is, which is fine when visiting a place like this but I really had no information as to what was on the burger because the menu is so vague. My fiancé ordered the steak and fries, he didn’t have an option as to how he wanted his steak cooked, he said the chef is doing medium rare tonight, ok? He seemed very rushed for a someone who had very few customers, he didn’t even ask us what we wanted to drink. We had to ask another server who was at a table near us for our drink order. If he had not asked we wouldn’t have received a drink. The burger was over cooked and very dry. I never ordered the trio with the salad but it was given to me anyways- which by the way is $42. The knife was so wedged into the board the burger was placed on that I sliced my hand trying to get the knife out. Our server never came by to ask us how it is, another server came by another table and asked us, but at that point I just received my food and didn’t take a bite, I was recovering from my bleeding hand. Never did we see our male server after this point. The female server obviously saw I didn’t like the burger as I didn’t eat it so on a positive note she gave me the lunch price. We felt extremely ignored all evening. Maybe this is because we were the youngest couple in there but it was extremely disappointing. The atmosphere was nice and the veggies that came with the steak were good. Other than that-...