House of TARG — Restaurant in Ottawa

On paper it seems like a great place but just like many places like this in Ottawa it always ends up being disapointing for the concept they are going for... So this place does 3 things, Bar, Arcade and live music but somehow fails to impress in any of these concepts however I will say that the workers are nice and offer decent service.

First the bar: the food menu is atrociously bad, out of all the food you could have chosen to specialize in why would you chose parogies? This is a poverty food that they are charging way too much for and isn't really all that satisfying to eat, like get some burgers or chicken nuggets or nachos these are all easy to make and way more satisfying to eat, as for the drinks menu... since this is a themed bar you would expect a focus on themed cocktails but nope they focus mostly on beer and ale for some reason with the cocktail menu being kinda hidden.

Second the arcade: The only good thing I can say about it is there is a very good selection of pinball machines so if you like those than this is a must visit place but aside from pinball machines the rest of the arcade was pretty depressing, not that many machines and you have to pay to play unless you come in on a free play day but even than you wikl play everything in only 30mins the place is too small to really make it a decent arcade.

Third the live music: the performers are pretty decent but its way too small and cramped to fit much people and the sound quality is absolutely terrible it also doesn't help that the food and drinks aren't too good so you can't even sit down and enjoy to music over a good meal.

In conclusion the concept has a lot of potential but it is sadly being wasted here, my advice is as follows:

Create unique themed cocktails based on popular bands and arcade games.

Expand your menu to include dino nuggets and nachos if you wanna stay with gremlin kind of food.

At least get an air hockey table and a DDR machine they are a staple for any arcade

Better decorations that...

I arrived sober to see a night of live music and meet up with some coworkers. The bar cut me off after two drinks and an order of food, offering no reasons for the decision when politely asked for understanding why the choice was made.

The bartender didn’t even tell me personally that was cut off, but instead told my male friend. I wasn’t personally told until half an hour later when I had finished my food, bought merch from the band I came to see and had and a smoke break outside before going to order another drink. 30-40 minutes after ordering my second drink from the bar, I was told that I was cut off for the entire night.

The bartender said I appeared drunk. I politely asked for an example for personal understanding and she just reiterated that I ‘seem drunk’. I didn’t make another attempt to ask for clarification to understand her decision out of fear that she thinks I’m being argumentative and has me kicked out before I got to see the band I came for.

This genuinely ruined my night, made me cry there and made me feel singled out. I work 3-5 days a week at a bar and for all my training and experience, couldn’t understand what evidence she’d have to make that choice. I also didn’t understand why she was so rude when I gently expressed just wanting to know her reasoning. Not to fight it. Just to know what part of my conduct made her think I was over-served.

I feel like I was always polite, and tipped well every purchase. My tone and volume of speaking was always kind, especially when asking why I was cut off. It’s hard not to think several unfounded assumptions were made by bar staff as I was not inebriated and arrived there sober.

I stayed there for another hour and a half and wanted to order a mocktail but didn’t have anything but water out of personal refusal to continue to give this establishment continued patronage.

The food and rest of the staff are awesome but the gal on the bar with black hair and a pixie cut made me feel singled out, falsely accused and unwelcome. First...

I wish I could give them a 3.5. I wanted to love this place, but though it was fun, it didn't live up to the hype. I went for their Halloween event ("Krooked karnival") and it seemed somewhat poorly set up. The space is quite small so with a lot of people there, it's not only hard to move around, but the lines also become very long. There was supposed to be a "side show" of performances as part of this event, but after a few hours with no hint that it was going to happen, we asked one staff member that said he didn't know about it and told us to ask another staff member who said that the carnival games were the side show (blatantly contradicting their Facebook page). The staff also had to frequently leave games to get more tickets and then the prizes for the tickets seemed to be random bits of promotional items they'd gotten over the year. Most of the food is overpriced and they don't have free wifi.

On the other hand, they have a great selection of games and the pinball collection is impressive. The staff were super friendly and funny. The drinks were good. They pick a lot of great/interesting acts to play their venue and the atmosphere is great. Like I said, I really wanted to love this place and I did have fun there. I will go back because there really isn't anything else like it in Ottawa and I would absolutely recommend checking it out, despite...