Chuck’s Roadhouse — Restaurant in Ottawa

We arrived at the restaurant at 1130 for father's day lunch. We had previously been here and we thought it was good. It was only once - because any other time we tried - there was a wait. We were happy that we were able to come in and get seated right away.

There were approzimately 5 tables seated. Our server could not seem more disinterested in being there. We ordered about 10-15 mins after being seated and it took 45 mins for our meals to come. Our server did not come back to check on us at all. We could have used refills on our drinks. We noticed that tables who arrived after us were being served so we stopped another server and asked her if we could expect anyone to bring our meals anytime soon..... because our server was now working behind the bar..... the manager and new server brought our meals which had been sitting under the heat lamps for some time. (The trays and plates were super hot to the touch) when the food arrived it was fine but went cold within minutes. Was under seasoned and the burgers were dry. The manager tried to tell us that the food had just come up. We told him that that definately was not the case.

It wasnt the fault of the server (Grace) who stepped up and managed to complete the transaction - she was professional and quite lovely. I felt bad for her hoenstly. Being a server is a tough job and its even worse when you take over a table from someone else who is incompetent, have a manager who could use retraining and have to try to salvage the relationship with the customer after has received crap service from the start. Thank you for caring about your job and for trying to fix what had happened.

They did offer a discount in the end but only after we said something. I was prepared to pay the bill as was - but she knew how frustrated we were and spoke to the manager. We were then charged - to our surprise- a 3% fee just for eating here....

As we were leaving there was another prospective customer who was leaving and angry because no one even acknowledged their presence so they ended up leaving to go elsewhere.

That was likely our last time visitng this restaurant. And too bad because we prefer to support...

Had lunch at the Orleans location today with my wife and a couple of friends. Luckily we got there before the lunch rush. We arrived around noon and 10 or so minutes later, there was a line up for those waiting to be seated. Our servers were attentive. Two guys seemed to be assigned to our table. ???

Plates, cutlery and napkins were stacked on the table when we sat down. One of the servers came to our table and explained the drink and lunch specials. Drinks were ordered and brought to the table in short order. We wanted a few extra minutes to peruse the menu.

After five or so minutes, the server came back and took our orders. Food service was a little slow but not unexpected due to how busy the place was but he did advise us of the delay. A nice touch. All four meals were served together and everyone at the table agreed that the food was quite good. The only criticism I have about the food is that the side Caesar salad I ordered had the core of the Romaine in it. That should never happen. An annoyance but not a deal breaker.

Today was the fist time I've been to the restaurant but my wife has been with friends on a few different occasions. She has brought me home a 'doggy bag' a couple of times and I was impressed with the quality of the food.

At one point, a group seated a couple of tables from us ordered fajitas and when they were brought out, the smoke from the platter almost filled the restaurant. There was a smoke cloud that was quite dense and the smell of the fajitas was overpowering and both lingered for quite some time. One of our group actually started coughing because of the smoke cloud.

The place was clean. I can't comment on the washroom as I never used it. There was a good atmosphere. The staff were pleasant and courteous. Value for money was quite good. Would I return, yes I would. The food...

If you like flavour and expect even decent service I do not suggest going here. Not sure if the server put our order in late or the kitchen was brutal. It took an hour to get our apps we got there at 8:57 and didn’t get apps until 10 , the table behind us , the one in front of us and the two behind us came in at least 15 minutes after us all got their food before us and the manager tried to claim we all came in at the same time. So let’s start with the apps steak bites absolute no flavour and omg was chewy I have never met a piece of meat I couldn’t finish chucks proved me wrong ( some salt some pepper or maybe a spice) , garlic cheese bread couldn’t even taste any garlic and had cheese on top that wasn’t melted basically we ordered hot bread, the nachos we ordered no toppings at all when we asked for more salsa even after what we had on wait time they said they would charge us extra. Basically it felt half price apps would get you half price effort. I am a manger myself and in fifty years I have never asked to speak to a manager in this case I did , manager took two apps off bill but looked at nachos and didn’t say anything. My suggestion as the loaded fries were good , order just this and leave, my intention tonight was to try and order every single app tonight and order several more drinks but felt defeated and left. I really believe to improve this restaurant they need to hire mystery shoppers so they get honest feedback on their food, most people will not complain so I believe a lot go in and never comeback. I should have taken more pictures but left the garlic...