Elise Restaurant — Restaurant in Ottawa

Please consider updating your website and dine-in service to clearly reflect that you enforce a two-hour dining limit. Currently, no such policy is outlined on your reservation page, in the confirmation email sent to guests, or communicated by your servers or hosts upon arrival. This information should be prominently displayed across all webpages and social media and any other guest facing materials as well as stated clearly to guests upon arrival.

Furthermore, if this two-hour limit applies to all guests, it should be consistently enforced across all tables. My friends and I visited your establishment to celebrate a birthday and we were only informed of the limit 10 minutes prior to the expiration of that limit. Additionally, no courtesy was extended to our table in terms of additional time unlike other guests who had been seated before us and who appeared to be exempt from the same policy.

Additionally, if the issue is that you need the table for new guests, rather than rushing the current guests out, I suggest offering them a complimentary drink or dessert at the bar to mitigate the inconvenience. This gesture would leave a far better impression on guests who, up to that point, were enjoying their time, rather than leaving them with a negative experience due to a lack of courtesy.

There were better ways to manage either situation and none of them were chosen in this instance.

Based on your reviews, it’s evident that other guests external to my party have encountered this issue and were similarly unaware of the 2 hour limit. I urge you to take this feedback as a constructive recommendation to improve the experience for future guests, rather than a personal criticism. As a relatively new establishment, addressing these operational hiccups is understandable, but dismissing guest concerns, especially those who had been eager to enjoy your advertised ambiance and cuisine, may hinder your ability to create positive and lasting impressions and retain returning guests.

I hope you refine your processes moving forward, however we will not be returning to your establishment nor...

Came here for the first time on a Saturday and the place was packed. Very intimate and cozy atmosphere. The interior is chic and lit a bit darker for the ambiance, reminds me a bit of some of the NYC restaurants I’ve dined in especially their bar wall.

Service was efficient and friendly, waters were topped often and our server was always around for questions. Our table had gotten the bread, risotto, steak frites, scallops, salad e Nicoise and tartare. My friends enjoyed their mains and everything came out around the same time. The tartare was really good you could taste all the flavours of the capers, anchovies etc. and they gave you a good portion of bread crisps with it. The tuna Niçoise salad could have a slight improvement to the dressing. I love that the tuna was super fresh and just lightly seasoned so you can taste the fish but the greens portion had no taste other than olive oil, even more of a hint of salt and pepper or some infused olive oil would have made the dish better. The bread and butter were good but it is $7 for it whereas some French places just offer free bread.

The drinks were amazing. Great price for the presentation and alcohol content. I had fallen in love with one of the cocktail glasses and the owner was kind enough to let me know exactly where to purchase it and to take a picture of the glass so I could ensure it was the right one when I ordered it. I had been looking everywhere for a ribbed cocktail glasses that was lightweight and was so happy when they helped me find where to order it.

Would...

Sorry to say but my first experience at Elise was disappointing ☹️. My partner and I went on February 15th for dinner to celebrate Valentine’s. We made our reservation online 2 weeks in advance for 6:30pm (sitting at the bar). When we arrived we were greeted with “Welcome to Elise,… but sorry we have double booked your reservation, therefore you will have to leave in 1.5 hr.” Sorry what??We were told that we could probably be moved to a table at some point in the evening since there were some cancellations. So we sat at the bar and ordered our meal with the expectation to be move to a table at some point. Meanwhile we ordered 2 appetizers, 2 steaks frites, and crème brûlée, with cocktails and wine. The food was generally good, although both our steaks were gristly. We were rushed to pay and leave while eating our dessert (yes we were still eating!!), because some people were waiting! We were never offered coffee, tea or digestive. The server never came back to offer us a table or at least informed us if we could be moved. No compensation either to apologize for THEIR mistake, except “we are very sorry to rush you”!! We live in Westboro and we encourage all local restaurants on regular basis. But that evening at Elise left us with a bitter taste, and when we’ll share our experience with our friends and neighbours it won’t...