Colonnade Pizza Carling — Restaurant in Ottawa

First, the food-related stuff out of the way... pizza was great, always is. We've been to this location a number of times since it opened, food's always been good. Will think about whether we go back or not after today, though.

The difference for us this time is that we came with both of our kids for the first time. Why would that be an issue? Well they don't have a kids menu, and so we opted to have the kids order one order and share between the two, they didn't want pizza today. Well you see, the owners of Colonnade (not this location's fault, not the staff's fault) has decided to impose a sharing fee for people sharing entrées on the "Canadian" side of the menu. Sharing a pizza? No problem, no extra fee, plates and utsensils for everyone. Sharing a BLT platter between our two kids? That'll be two bucks please. I know, I know, 2 bucks, who cares, but come on... really? Consider this is a restaurant with no kids menu, so I was already shelling out 11.95 for a sandwich and fries, plus drinks for both. All four of us had ordered drinks at 2 bucks a pop, so it's not like I was asking the staff to come by with lemon water every 2 minutes for free or anything. The 2 buck fee really rubbed me the wrong way is all, which is too bad because until today, we've enjoyed the no-frills experience at Colonnade. When I asked about it to the staff, she said it was because of extra napkins and utensils and dishes that our second child would need to split the meal. When we pointed out that it was a sandwich and fries, not exactly a utensil heavy meal and we could forego the utensils and napkins, she said they would need to wash the extra plate. When I pointed out if we ordered pizza, we would all get plates and utensils, she said there was basically nothing she could do, and that every location has to charge this fee. So just because of the extreme annoyance, we changed the order and the kids shared a small pizza... plates and utensils rained from the heavens for no extra fee. Such a weird thing for a restaurant like Colonnade to have in place, just a...

Visited in July 2024, same great food and service!! 100% for every aspect of our visit. We were a group of 14 who had made a 6 pm July 6 reservation initially at Swiss Chalet in the Fairlawn plaza, but that restaurant was closed tonight due to a power issue with their ovens and hadn't notified us. There was nothing they could do, so Swiss Chalet gave us a dozen coupons for a return visit. Colonnade was the nearest restaurant and I had heard good things about it, so we gave it a try.

When I asked Samira from Colonnade about hosting our group at the last minute, she said they were busy in the kitchen and perhaps it may be a bit longer wait for the food but we were most welcome. They set the tables together to seat all 14 of us, gave us water and we ordered appetizers. After we ordered pizzas to share and other great entrees. Samira made sure we had super service including a gluten free desert for our friend who was having his birthday. The food was delicious, prices were really reasonable. Thank you Samira and staff at Colonnade for saving our evening out and making it so very special. You're the best!!

Note: We returned July 4, 2024 with our choir group of 16 and had another excellent meal, having made reservations. They gave us the section to the left of the entrance. Quick friendly service. Our meals were wholesome...

Colonnade Pizza certainly never disappoints when it comes to the taste and quality of their food. It is the best of the best! The purpose of this particular review however is to highlight the exceptional customer service from Manager, Layal who helped us navigate a very unfortunate UberEats experience that left our family of 7 without our dinner and no immediate recourse where Uber was concerned. She kindly took my call in the midst of a very busy dinner hour, took the time to understand our issue and committed to getting to the bottom of it. Within a very short period of time, she had contacted Uber on our behalf, had our transaction refunded and made a new order for us that we could pick up on our own and the food was hot, presented beautifully and served with a smile. In the end, I felt better that we ended up not having to pay UberEats and could focus our payment on Colonnade's service directly. I understand it must be so difficult for merchants to handle customer service issues that are outside of their control, but Layal took charge with professionalism and kindness to ensure we were taken care of. We can't thank the Carling location enough for their unmatched customer service. Thank you Colonnade Carling Team! We can't wait to order from you again ....and will enjoy collecting our order...