Kara Mia — Restaurant in Ottawa

Kara Mia is a little gem tucked away in an unsuspecting strip mall.

The restaurant is very small and cozy with modern elegant decor. Very relaxing and quiet.

The food was great! Not perfect, but great nonetheless. I had the Fettuccine Kara Mia, my wife had Fettuccine Di Carne and my daughter had the Chicken Parm.

My dish was an Alfredo sauce, which was fantastic. It was thick and creamy and full of flavor. The chicken was cubed and tossed with the noodles. In my opinion, the chicken would have been better seasoned and grilled, sliced, and placed on top of the dish. The chicken was there as just a filler, it seemed.

The Fettuccine de Carne was covered in a cream sauce with saffron. It was delicious. The steak was very thin and cut into strips. The steak was well done and slightly tough. I am not sure it could be cooked another way because it was so thin. That said, if they could cook that steak to the patrons' preference, it would certainly enhance the dish.

The chicken parm was really tasty. The marinara sauce was delicious. The chicken was thin and unfortunately slightly dry, but because of the sauce, it was not a problem.

Overall, the flavors are there. The food is delicious. A few tweaks, and they could be so close to perfect!

Now, on to desert. The Tiramisu. You can't eat at an Italian restaurant without trying their Tiramisu. Let me tell you, this one is fantastic. Sadly, I have no photo, it was gone far too fast. It was bursting with flavor and was perfectly balanced. No flavor overpowered the desert.

The service was just OK. They got the job done but they were not attentive at all. Had we not asked for the desert menu I am not convinced we would have ever gotten one. The waitress did not fill our glasses with water when we arrived, nor did she return to offer more. We had to flag her down each time we wanted anything. I still gave the service 4 dears because they were very pleasant and friendly. They may simply have been distracted...

3rd time review for Kara mia,but this time higghlllly disappointed... My friend requested to take order and the guy didnt show up. Second time i asked to take the order. Friend ordered Chicken Parmesan and requested with whitesauce I ordered Peppercorn Chicken and requested to make spicy.the waiter said he will bring the chilli flakes and also confirmed it comes with the fries.We also ordered Brownie. The waiter conformed the order thrice and guess what. My friend's order came with the red sauce My order with no fries just salad and not spicy and no chilli flakes were kept on the table. They prepared new order for my friend and i just asked them to leave mine. Then i asked for the flakes and my friend for the knife.the waoter came just with the chilli flakes. Then again he went and came back with the knife My food was tastleless and dry and he kept on keeping ketchup hotsauce and other bottles expecting to make my food better with all the sauces. Brownie was tasty. Then comes the bill.we requested to split.after 5 mins he came and asked if brownie payment also has to be split😡nonsense question.he handed me over the terminal and went away.i tapped and it said aproved but receipt said not approved (my card never declines) The terminal got disconnected.my friend tapped her card twice.didnt approve.she tried another card and it went through.then again came my turn and he came after me while i was sitting in the car that the payment didnt go through.i gave him the cash and just literally requested to get out of this weirdo place asap. We went for sheesha at gladstone and it was super...

My sister and I visited this restaurant for the first time last night. The atmosphere was very family orientated (comfy kids’ high chairs) and their menus matched the designs separating the booths. It was decorated like an upscaled diner.

The problems began when we ordered. We both wanted the pasta di carne which is fettuccini with their saffron sauce and sliced steak on top. You do not get to order the steak the way you want it cooked. It is a skirt steak well done with gristle. Which makes chewing complicated to say the least.

My sister changed her mind from the di carne to chicken. When she received her dish there was one little piece of chicken in it. I found the rest of her chicken in my bowl. I asked the server about it and he said it comes with chicken. It wasn’t supposed to. Then we were told there was a new chef.

I asked for no mushrooms and got plenty. There was nothing wrong with the way the pasta was cooked, the saffron sauce was subtle but flavourful, the vegetables were sparse but good.

The truth is that our dinner was no where near good enough for what we paid. The service was performed by young people who had no idea what was going on, and muddled through with guessed answers.

The male server tried to make up for it by giving us a free slice of cake (which was kind though neither of us like cheesecake) but we didn’t want it and then felt bad about wasting food.

I won’t go back, as it would have been less frustrating to...