Ratatouille Bistro — Restaurant in Ottawa

EDIT: First and foremost, I am fully entitled to my own experience, opinions and feelings regarding my visit, and I have every right to share as I see fit.

Second, you sent an unsolicited email to the reservation email, disclosing the receipt of the person who paid (which was not me). This is not only concerning but also a potential violation of privacy laws. On top of that, your email attempted to intimidate and guilt me into removing my review, which is entirely inappropriate and unprofessional.

Third, we called in advance to inform you that we were running late and specifically asked if it would be an issue. You assured us that it was not. If our timing was a problem, you had the option to cancel the reservation on your own accord rather than agreeing and then later holding it against us.

Fourth, the cups we brought in were empty. What I purchase or consume before entering your establishment is none of your concern. We did not ask to use your trash, nor did we leave anything behind—we took them with us. If you had an issue with this, you could have simply informed us upon arrival that outside containers were not allowed, giving us the option to dispose of them outside or leave them in our car.

Fifth, there is no visible policy or signage indicating that dining time is restricted to 1 hour and 30 minutes. If such a rule exists, you should clearly communicate it to guests at the time of booking or upon arrival so they are aware.

Sixth, the way you handled my negative review is highly unprofessional. The appropriate response to constructive criticism is to ask how the experience could have been improved—not to lash out, make excuses, or attempt to invalidate a customer’s feelings like a petty internet troll.

Not only did you completely mishandle this situation from the start, but your continued harassment via email and the blatant falsehoods in your response have only made matters worse. Rather than addressing legitimate concerns professionally, you have chosen to intimidate and deflect, which speaks volumes about how little you value your customers. On top of that, none of the excuses or false arguments you’ve attempted to use change the reality of what happened or justify the way we were treated. TO BE CLEAR, Nothing you have said in your response makes the situation I described in my review acceptable in any way. And since you couldn’t excuse your actions, you instead tried to discredit my experience by resorting to lies, rather than taking accountability for any of it.

Because of this, I will not only keep this review at one star—since zero isn’t an option. I will also make a point to discourage my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances from ever supporting an establishment that treats its customers so poorly. The way you have handled this situation is unacceptable. ——— It was my first time dining there, and after we paid, barely three minutes had passed when a random staff member—whom we hadn’t interacted with once during our 1.5-hour stay—approached from across two tables and, while other diners looked on, said, “We don’t want you to feel like we’re kicking you out, but we need to prepare the table for our next group.” It felt completely inappropriate to say that, especially so soon after we had finished, making the situation unnecessarily awkward. When we left, we noticed that only one person was waiting, and there were already two other tables cleaned and ready, which made the rush even more unreasonable.Overall, it left a sour taste in my mouth, and I wouldn’t recommend this place. That interaction completely ruined the experience, making it feel uncomfortable and...

I have never walked out of a restaurant so quickly in my life. The staff, for the most part, was professional and polite—except for one individual whose dismissive and patronizing behavior completely ruined the experience.

I called on Friday to push back a Saturday brunch reservation by 30 minutes. After initially forgetting about me on the phone, the restaurant called me back, and a young man apologized and confirmed the change. Everything seemed set.

Fast forward to the day of the reservation—my friends and I arrive, give my name, and are immediately met with confusion. The young lady at the front informs me that there’s no record of my reservation. She politely asks for an email confirmation, but I explain that no one requested my email—only a name and phone number. To back up my claim, I even show her my call log as proof that I had spoken to someone. She is understanding and apologetic but informs us we’ll have to wait 15 minutes for a table. While frustrating, the real issue wasn’t the wait—it was the absolute lack of organization.

Then, the real problem begins. Another woman approaches, and her entire demeanor is condescending. As we’re calmly explaining the situation, she abruptly interrupts and demands to see an email confirmation. Once again, we explain that no one took my email, so no confirmation was sent. I show my call log—again—proving I spoke with someone. Instead of acknowledging the clear miscommunication on their end, she doubles down, now asking for a text confirmation that I was never told I would receive.

At this point, it’s obvious she isn’t interested in resolving the issue—just deflecting blame. She even tries to excuse it by saying the person who took my reservation isn’t there. That’s not a valid excuse. The issue isn’t just about one employee; it’s about a restaurant that lacks a proper system. I shouldn’t need to have call logs to prove that I had a reservation.

To make matters worse, the woman speaking to us had an air of authority, but we had no idea who she was. If she was, in fact, management, I’m even more disturbed by how she handled things. Instead of taking responsibility, she chose to shift blame onto her staff rather than acknowledge their flawed system. That alone speaks volumes about the leadership at this restaurant.

When she realizes her excuses aren’t working, she switches tactics—pretending to be helpful, instructing me to “just wait in the back” for five minutes while they figure things out. At that moment, I had never felt so belittled. What was the point of making a reservation if I was going to be treated like an afterthought and asked to wait in the back?

I walked out with my friends without ever tasting their food. That single interaction with that one employee was more than enough to ensure I never set foot in that place again. A restaurant that can’t handle basic reservations and resorts to patronizing its customers doesn’t deserve my business—or anyone else’s. Mind you, this was supposed to be a birthday treat and a surprise for a friend. Total buzzkill.

If the owner is reading this, my reservation was under the...

Myself and four friends decided to give this place a try one night before heading to a show at the NAC. We were seated, and not seconds later, out comes the server (who made sure to let us know he was the manager) parading around our table, holding up the menu, and explaining every single item as though we had never been to a restaurant before. A note…we are all over 50, and have dined all over the world. We all have ties to many Ottawa superstar chefs. Does that matter? Nope. Not usually. Honestly though, it was quite insulting the way that we were “perceived” by Conner the manager. After listening to him ramble on about every single detail about the menu, 28 minutes later, he asked if we had any questions. We asked for the drink menu. It was a painful wait. We finally ordered, and the drinks and food came very quickly. We all absolutely loved our meals. The buratta was delicious, the mushroom pasta was unreal, the lamb ragu was tender, the ratatouille baked Wellington style was so creative and absolutely outstanding. I had the steak and foie gras which was perfectly cooked and tasted exceptional. I had to leave a few bites behind though, because I was so full. The food was unbelievable. We were all very happy. The bottle of Barolo was just perfect. After our plates had been cleared, I went back to where the food service area is located, because I wanted to ask Conner to put the bottle of Barolo on my bill instead of splitting it. To my absolute horror, I found Conner shovelling my leftovers into his mouth with his hands. It was absolutely disgusting and shocking. (If you want to eat my leftovers…absolutely no judgement. It was delicious. At least have the decency to hide while you’re doing it so the customers can’t see you.) At this time, after I asked Conner to put the wine on my bill, (and he had finished chewing) he then has the absolute audacity to say, “Oh, excuse me Miss, you do realize that bottle of wine is 150 dollars. (Or whatever it was)…To which I replied, “Yes, thank you Conner. I can read.” Honestly, it was all just extremely unprofessional behaviour and I feel that it’s important to let the management know. I would like to also state that I have never once left a restaurant review. Having been married to a chef owner of a top Ottawa restaurant, I am very aware of how much these reviews can affect a business. Obviously I was unable to alert the manager of my concerns, so my only other option was to leave this review. In my opinion, the only thing holding Ratatouille back from excellence is...