Harmons Steakhouse — Restaurant in Ottawa

I booked Harmons for the weekend after Valentines day in 2023 and was greatly disappointed with the food especially given the pricing.

I was expecting familiar appetisers to be elevated in some way to explain the pricing but unfortunately our burrata starter was pretty basic. Around $50 for a lump of burrata with a glug of olive oil over it and some toasted sandwich bread.

Our server was attentive and throughout the dinner although I didn’t appreciate when they corrected my dates preferred level of doneness for her steak. Although it is true certain cuts are ideally served rarer, if someone says they’d like it cooked further it’s obviously personal preference and insisting otherwise comes off as really pretentious.

When our steaks arrived, my dates was way rarer than the medium-rare she had been pressured into ordering, borderline rare/blue in my opinion and given the initial pressure to order ‘properly’ she felt awkward returning it. My ribeye was presented and sliced beautifully but was under seasoned and tougher than anticipated. We ended up switching meals because despite me being the one ordering the rarer steak mine was far more cooked than my dates.

The Brussels sprout sides were nice initially but way over-salted meaning the majority went uneaten.

The dining area and ambience was undeniably lovely and it’s a great venue for a romantic dinner. We appreciated that a member of staff took the time to check in with us on whether we were enjoying our meal but it was a somewhat awkward interaction with a few minutes of them lingering and glancing towards our tables and a sudden rushed question whilst we both had our mouths full. I must admit due a bit to the awkwardness we didn’t raise these issues at the time and so the staff didn’t really have an opportunity to rectify it in the moment which is on me.

Overall I don’t feel Harmons is worth it’s price tag currently, lovely setting but the food needs some work. I did really enjoy the Yorkshire pudding style bread they made in...

Honestly, I had an overall terrible and uncomfortable experience here. I had some friends visiting from the US and wanted to bring them to a nice restaurant in Ottawa. I read the reviews online and was hoping this place would impress them. I was however extremely disappointed to say the least. First of all, the waiters were only looking at me when taking our orders and never once looked at my guests which is extremely rude. The first waiter took my order, I had ordered my steak, and a side. After he took my order he asked if I wanted it pre cut, and then began collecting to collect my friends menus, assuming they weren’t going to order anything. We spoke up as they were all going to order steak and sides as well, on top of the oysters we were going to share. Already we felt a little uncomfortable and at ease. After 20-30 minutes later the waiter comes back and mentions that the loaded baked potato that my friend had ordered could not be served as the chef was unhappy with the turn out of them, and could not serve it. They offered us the mashed potatoes and were going to provide it on the house. Even though we were disappointed that was ok. 20 minutes later we see the table of 8 next to us and the table of 2 behind us were all served the loaded baked potatoes. We were in disbelief. If the issue was that they ran out of baked potatoes just say that instead of constructing a lie. We felt very uncomfortable being here. Perhaps the bad service was due to racist pre-assumptions or agism. I don’t know. Our bill came to over 800$ and the food was pretty mediocre. We didn’t want to make a scene but we were all left with a very bitter taste in our mouths. Not to mention this was one of their first experience in Canada, and to experience such service. Will not be coming back here. Never have I ever experienced something like this as a paying costumer. Money was never the issue, however this was over priced for the quality of food and...

Unbelievably disappointed, waste of hundreds of dollars. Came here last month and everything was great! Probably one of the best Tomahawk steaks i've had in Ottawa...and the Wagyu tortellini was very good. Liked it so much I brought my parents today while they were visiting for Christmas from Toronto. We got all the same items as last time but it was nothing like last time...what happened?!!!...the tomahawk was overcooked, and a little bland compared to the first time. The wayguy tortellini also tasted different, off from last time. My wife and I were both pretty surprised at how much different the food was from the first time. The service I was not comparable to this first. First time service was excellent, this time I had this lady who was shy, seemed like she didn't want to be there, she recommended Chicago style because she claimed it was more flavorful with a little char except seems like they didn't do Chicago style correctly because it was utterly burnt on the outside, ruined the flavor of the steak. Basically ruined the expensive tomahawk steak. My wife and I were looking at each other the whole time shocked. I hinted at the fact that the steak was burnt and the server just said "well its supposed to be like that"... WOW...I didn't want to make a big deal out of it because it was for Christmas dinner with my parents. But FOR SURE I SWEAR ON MY LIFE I won't be coming back and CANNOT and WILL NEVER recommend this place based on the experience I had. What a colossal waste of money and it cost sooo much. If you can't maintain consistency with your steaks don't charge hundreds of dollars for them. And train your servers better, don't hire people with no personality and who can't recommending things properly or seem like they don't want to be there. REALLY LET DOWN BY HARMONS. Go to Eighteen or even AL's down the street, you will get more consistent and better quality at much...