Big Rig Kitchen & Brewery - Iris — Restaurant in Ottawa

Pretty disappointed. Came by after work for some drinks and a bite to eat. Bartender with the glasses served my friend and I in the lounge area next to the bar and had a bad attitude from the jump. Took at least a good 10 minutes after being seated to just be greeted by the guy even though we were located directly at the bench facing the bar. Seemed to be having a bad day or something. We ordered our drinks which were the caesars with the fried pickle. They arrived after 10 minutes and were pretty watered down. My girlfriend mentioned it to the bartender and he rolled his eyes and almost seemed offended. Stated he made the drinks and had to wait for the deep fried pickle from the kitchen to be made so the ice had melted and that’s why it was watered down. Said and I quote “I don’t care, I can make you a new one if you want”. He seemed pissed so we didn’t bother getting new drinks. Pretty strange behaviour. Maybe try making your drinks after the pickles are ready? Could help with the situation I would imagine. Moved on from that, then he came back over 5 minutes later and took my order. The guy asked me twice what I wanted and I answered twice that I wanted the pulled pork poutine. He ended up bringing me the smoked meat poutine. I was confused at what I was looking at and once I confirmed it was not the correct order after a minute, I ended up handing it back to a different bartender as our guy wasn’t around. Other bartender was nice and immediately exchanged it for the right one I ordered which didn’t take long. Cranky bartender then came by and noticed my plate being gone and asked where it was. I told him he gave me the wrong poutine and that I wanted the pulled pork and even mentioned that he had asked me twice. He rolled his eyes again and said “I could have sworn you said smoked meat” instead of apologizing then walked away.

Guy had a wicked bad attitude and ruined the whole vibe the entire time we were there. Definitely didn’t order a second drink and will definitely not be returning. Also, lower your tip options. Guy didn’t even deserve a tip let alone one starting at 15%. Gave the guy 10%. We were honestly very confused why he was so rude with us when all we wanted were some drinks and food and all we were met with was a bad attitude and...

Came in with family for a lunch. $85 later we walked out dissatisfied and disappointed. There are 3 vegetarians in my family and other than pizza and salad this place does not have much more to offer to those of us not into eating animal carcases. Perhaps the price is due to the need to support the army of staff that seems to be working there. The place is humongous: there seems to have been one waitress per guest table. Also, the food portions are huge as well (everything is served on a plater - there are no plates whatsoever). On a positive note, the staff is super friendly and the overall designed and feel of the place is clean and airy. Back to food. Children menu was set for $12.95 which is way overpriced and there are no healthy options other than salad to be had; for anyone. I had the veggie burger with garden salad. The burger patty was mushy and could not hold its consistency. It was also over-spiced (clearly to compensate for lack of seasoning). One bite into it and it would smush out of the bun. This was complemented by overuse of raw onion both on the burger garnish and in the garden salad which seems to consist mostly of cabbage and onion. Now all this at a whopping 18 bucks price tag and I am left hoping they'd just do whatever everyone else who doesn't care does, use beyond meat and be done with it. This brings me to the last part of the review. All of their fries is cooked in animal lard. SO, even the fact that they say the gravy is mushroom, the fries has been swimming in animal fat. For 14 bucks we got a baby tub worth of fries swimming in gravy and cheese curds; gross. And this was an appetizer on the menu!!!! Haven't had their beer so I can't comment on that. PPL say it's great. Service staff was nice and the overall ambiance was fine. Food was overpriced and barely edible; and if you're a vegetarian you will be fed like you were an afterthought. Avoid unless you don't care about your budget or your palate; or simply don't care. Somehow they managed to have decent dessert as my kids had brownie at the end and it looked and tasted really good. Go figure. Nevertheless, We will not be coming...

This review concerns the Big Rig Kitchen & Brewery at 2750 Iris St. Ottawa. I have been there some years ago and found the food quite stale, but I thought I'll give it a try again as I was looking for a place nearby to have dinner and some drinks (went back Nov 24, 2024). I'll start with the positives. Nice decor, great beer (I had a mix of the Alpha Bomb and Bongo, highly recommend), and good music (classic rock and soul). We had Tamara, and she was pleasant and helpful. The food, like last time, didn't disappoint in how bad it was if I could say that. Nachos were okay, but the garnishes like salsa and green onion were old and bland. Then came the chicken wings. As soon as I touched them I knew there were stale from how flabby the meat was, hanging on the bones. A taste was all I could manage before a waft of old meat and stale taste overcame my taste buds. They were clearly overcooked and doused in a tasty sauce to mask the awful taste. Next came the Impostor burger which is plant based. It was served on a tray with literally rotten slices of avocado and a container of old wilted green onions, and a hefty side of greasy fries. Needless to say, I was quite hungry by now, and after having returned the wings, I made the best of it by having the burger patty at least, which tasted decent but was quite thin for the price, and threw the rest to the side. What baffles me, is that the kitchen works with such old ingredients, and if that's all they have on hand, they should have enough integrity to check those dishes before they come out, and say No, we can't serve that tonight, but we'll be happy to provide something else. Plus, serving such old meat could have serious health consequences. Awful, and will not return again even if the food was free. I'd rather go to the store and buy some beer and ground beef to make a good burger with CLEAN/FRESH ingredients at home. It's shameful how much these establishments have the gall to charge for rotten food. And yes, the...