Fitz's Classic Grill BBQ Smoke House — Restaurant in Ottawa

Wow, we were really disappointed.

First of all Fitz's operates a chip wagon in Manotick and it is absolutely one of our favorites. I gave it a glowing review and would still recommend it.

The restaurant version has a pub vibe with a very casual atmosphere. The same beer selection found at most Ottawa restaurants, Brand A lager, or Brand B lager, or Brand B light lager or, sort of craft lager...

It felt like the only difference between the chip wagon and the restaurant was that I could get a beer and someone brought me my food. The menu is of course more extensive than at the chip wagon, featuring an array of BBQ meats. But none of the items on the menu were all that captivating to me.

I ended up ordering a burger and fries with gravy (which are amazing at the chip wagon). What I got was a completely dried out and generally awful patty with some oddly textured bacon. My fries came without the side of gravy and I had to flag down a server that was not ours to hàve that brought to the table, as our kept disappearing. She admitted she was having an off night, which I appreciate as a human but not so much as a paying customer.

My wife ordered BBQ with ribs and brisket. The ribs looked amazing but the brisket was cut incorrectly or at least contrary to everything I've ever known about serving it. Instead of being cut across the grain of the meat is was cut with the grain.

Service was fine during all the interactions with our server but the problem was she simply disappeared for huge periods of time. We had to ask the other server to track her down once and as I previously mentioned simply asked the other server for what we needed on another occasion.

Maybe I had my expectations set to high when we walked in but the food wasn't as good as it is from the chip wagon and having table service and beer didn't add any real value to what we can get in Manotick. At any rate we'll just stick to that in...

Expectations were low. Stumbled upon this gem when looking for lunch. We almost got Subway but decided last minute to call an audible and to give this place a try. Holy $#!% this place exceeded all expectations. There was no way i was expecting this level of succulent pulled pork. Every bite brought joy and sadness. Joy because it was awesome. Sadness because with each bite i took i came closer to finishing the plate. We paired the pork with some mac and cheese. It's rare to find a restaurant that does mac and cheese right. I don't know why it's so difficult but it's either liquidy or dry or lacks flavour. Fitz's mac and cheese knocked it out of the park. Perfect consistency and flavour. You could tellthey take pride in both their mains and side dishes equally. Next was the corn bread. I'm pretty picky when it comes to corn bread. But let me tell ya this bread was fantastic!!! Moist, sweet, flavorful, dense, bursting with badassness!!! And all this for $14?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! #ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney!!! I'm a huge BBQ fan and this might be the best place in ottawa for BBQ. And to think I almost went to Subway. Could have been the biggest...

The service was amazing our waiter came every now and then considering that she was alone most of the time.

But the food, oh man..

The french fries were darker than where the sun does not reach in my body, i had 3-4 pieces that tasted “rotten” and the burger was so overcooked, dry and hard that if i used it to beat the chef with it, he would definitely get into a coma with just one hit.

The only good thing about the bbq platter of 40 was the beef brisket, it felt fresh, it was super tender and juice. The jerk chicken was dry and sad, my bbq pork ribs were hard and dry. The rice looked like it was made with soya sauce but the moment you put it into your mouth, its just pure DEATH, it was so tasteless that it killed my soul with every bite that i took, my soul would definitely leave my body. The mac and cheese was so overcooked that the noodles would literally come out as if they were cremated. Dusty and overdone.

Overall would definitely come back if i ever wanted the worst bbq experience of my life. This makes the typical dodgy corner bbq stands that come out after a baseball game or local sports as if they were 5 star...