Occo Kitchen — Restaurant in Ottawa

I'd like to preface this by saying that this is a running review, based on our most current visit to this restaurant. My previous reviews for the St. Joseph restaurant was 5 stars, and the Innes restaurant was 4 stars prior to today.

We decided to stop by for dinner today as they were presenting their new menu. We started with the new Cartel fries, and then we both got the Jalapeño Bomb Burger.

For the fries: They come with a lot of guac and queso, a small handful of fried cheese curds, and a small helping of fries. Overall not bad; worth trying? Yes. Would I get again? Unlikely.

The burger: the burger is described as having queso as an ingredient, it does not describe that the queso comes drenched on top of the burger. To eat this burger you need a knife and fork, as there is at least a large ladle of queso poured on top of the burger. Presentation wise this burger is a mess. It's a little tricky to eat since you can't squish it down, and queso drips everywhere. Like the fries, I'd say it's worth trying for the unique experience, but there's nothing special about it to justify getting it again.

A couple issues I had with this particular meal: the burgers were cooked well-done.. they were fairly dry, but the queso helped offset that a bit. For me personally I'd prefer a little pink or juice in the patty. I'd say to fix this, just ask customers how they'd like their meat cooked.

Issue 2: The chipotle mayo was quite off today. When it was first brought to me it was fairly runny, and very vinegary. I thought it had an almost ranch dressing taste to it. The server brought me back a second mayo, this one was thicker, though still lacking in chipotle taste. I've noticed this is a bit of a recurring issue with this location. Perhaps they make larger batches than the old takeout location, and maybe forgot to stir up the batch after settling.

The server was very polite and helpful, and who ever was music really seemed to like Camila Cabello; Overall, not a bad experience, but this location has certainly...

My wife, other friends, and I attended this restaurant for dinner tonight. To say that I wasn't impressed would be a bit of an understatement. Our server was a nice young lady but there were a couple of mix ups and reminders needed for drinks and condiments. Service was good but not outstanding or superior. The restaurant was crowded and she had a few more tables to serve other than ours.

Drink orders were taken and an extra beverage was delivered to the table. We were puzzled and she then realized the extra beverage left at our table was meant for another table. Large glasses of water would be really nice instead of the very small glasses and cold bottles they provide to each table.

As noted, it was quite busy and therefore quite loud and noisy. Carrying on a conversation was difficult.

Our meal orders were taken and it took quite a long time for our food to be brought to the table. My burger, although tasty, was cold and the fries were limp, soggy and lukewarm. I was so hungry I dared not complain as I don't know how long it would have taken for a replacement meal to be brought to the table. Everyone else in our party offered the same observations that their food was lukewarm at best. The homemade ketchup was WAY too sweet. Not impressed with it at all.

Our bill was almost $80 with no alcoholic beverages and an 18% gratuity. In my humble opinion, I don't feel I got my money's worth for this dining experience.

My wife has eaten at Occo on a few other occasions and she wasn't impressed during any of her previous visits either. The reason we ate here is because one of the other couples raved about Occo and wanted to return.

Based on my overall experience and impressions with this restaurant, and my wife's prior negative experiences, I don't think we'll return. People will say you should go back and give them another chance but I disagree. Again, and this is my opinion only, I think I would have gotten better value for my money if I'd just lit four $20 bills on fire and...

Food was tasty, service good and atmosphere was OK. Clean and bright restaurant. We were there celebrating the birthday of my mother who just turned 87 years old The cobb salad was really good and a very generous portion. I had so much left over that it made a nice leftover lunch for me today. My partner had the seafood chowder. He asked if it came with any bread or crackers because it was just the bowl of chowder that arrived by itself. While it was delicious, it just needed some bread or crackers as is generally served in most restaurants we've been to. He was offered either a hamburger bun or tortilla chips, neither of which he accepted. We thought it was odd that we were told that was the only bread that they could offer, however when my partner got his lobster linguine It came with a couple of pieces of nice crostini. I think it would have been good to offer 2 of those with the soup or if needed, at an extra cost. We would have been happy to pay for them have they been offered. The main course salmon was very good. My son had the bacon cheeseburger which he enjoyed with sweet potato fries. Service was very friendly.

We were not asked when placing our order if we wanted any drinks and all of us actually forgot to order anything. Our fault. By the time we realized and saw the waitress again we were halfway through our meal and didn't want to bother ordering a drink at that point. I think the upsell being offered at the start would have resulted in ordering a couple of cocktails but as it was, we drank mostly water and only 1 ginger ale and i think 1 iced tea. I realized we could have ordered drinks at the time for myself, my partner and my daughter when we realized we hadn't but being halfway through our meals we didn't want to at that point. Overall, the food was delicious and the server was very friendly. I would definitely recommend the delicious cobb salad. Just don't expect any bread or crackers...