Sidedoor — Restaurant in Ottawa

A good location for casual fine dining. The menu items felt like they were supposed to be shared amongst the table, especially with the "Sides" menu (which we didn't partake in). The appetizers that we had were amazing and the drinks we had paired well with the items we ordered. The black cod entrée was disappointing but the coconut curry was good. The wait staff needs significant improvements at this price point (more staff would likely resolve this). The donuts were okay but could use a few tweaks.

Order: Eggplant Bao Bun ($15.00 for 2 pieces) x1 Soft and squishy bao bun Tasty filling with a slight spice/heat to it More filling in the bao bun would be nice

Soft Shell Crab ($21.00 each) x1 Amazingly succulent pork belly Delicious and tender soft shell crab The cashew puree mixed well with the fatty porky belly and refreshing mango/apple salad

Coconut Fritter ($26.00 each) x1 Above average Thai curry base This felt like it needed a side of rice At this price point, I would have expected the rice to come with the dish The fritters could have used more salt

Black Cod ($39.00 each) x1 Disappointing entrée, especially at this price point Extremely mild and under seasoned dashi The cod was cooked perfectly and fell apart The glaze on the cod did not come through, leaving the white fish to be quite bland A lot of bok choy in the dashi which was slightly bitter The mushrooms in the dashi were nice but didn't give enough umami to the dish

White Chocolate & Cranberry (2) and Dark Chocolate (1) Donuts ($9.00 for the 3 donuts) x1 The cranberry was only on one side of the donut, leading to half the donut being extremely tart and the other half being just white chocolate The dark chocolate donut was overpowered by the dark chocolate sauce (which felt like a 80-90% dark chocolate), leading to only bitterness The dark chocolate donut should be tweaked to add something to cut the bitterness, such as a citrus or caramel

Respect Your Elders ($14.00 each) x1 Strawberry flavor came through A great summer drink

Atmosphere and Site: The site is in an amazing location off of Byward Market tucked away from the busy street The site offered indoor seating in both a sunroom and main ground floor as well as outdoor seating The indoor seating in the sunroom had a 'greenhouse' sort of effect which made the sunroom seating a bit humid The overall décor and art in the restaurant were very nice Beautiful exposed stone walls The finishings (such as the salt lamp lights) could be improved so they are less tacky Some dish wear should be replaced (we had a significantly scratched up bowl)

Service: The appetizers and drinks came out within 10 after ordering them, the entrees came out 15 mins after the appetizers (good pacing), strangely the donuts (dessert) took around 15~ mins (quite long) to come after placing the dessert order The wait staff seemed extremely busy and/or understaffed and getting service at our table was slow The dirty dishes remained on our table for a fairly long time after finishing the appetizer course and the...

My wife and I had our wedding reception at Sidedoor in Summer 2018 and our guests still talk about it - mainly how exceptional the food was. From the minute we contacted Candace to hear more about the venue, we received nothing but excellent service and attention. The staff helped us with every detail along the way, including early entry to the venue to set up, and storage the night of so we could just leave and come back for our decorations the next day. Candace was never too busy to respond to an email or phone call. She made it a priority to ensure that our special day was perfect. The staff took care of every detail the day of the wedding. It was the best reception we could ask for!

Even though there were other dinners happening the same night (we had the dining hall and bar, not the whole restaurant), Candace and a second event planner were present for the whole event. The AV was easy for us to self-DJ, and the servers also checked with us after serving each course to ensure we were satisfied. The food was phenomenal and our guests remember it a year later, and have all gone back on their own for date nights. The staff converted the dining hall to dance hall, and upper bar to dessert lounge in record seamlessly.

We were extremely satisfied! The food was served at the proper temperature, it tasted incredible and the presentation was beautiful. It was a perfect evening and we would not have changed a thing. It is so much better than a traditional banquet or buffet style wedding.

We even had four guests unable to come for an emergency, and Sidedoor did on the spot arrangements, swapping the cost of their chairs for extra drink tickets for the other guests - I can't stress enough that flexibility like that makes a difference on your wedding day, when you're already stressed.

We would highly recommend Sidedoor as a wedding venue. The staff will ensure that your celebration is stress free and unforgettable, and if you can get Candace she makes all the difference!

The food is gourmet, the venue intimate. You can't put a price on the memories, but Sidedoor is a steal for the overall price once everything is done. Would do any future events...

A huge disappointment!

This restaurant used to be great, with its spacious seating, bright natural light, and pleasing atmosphere. On top of its cool ambience, it has some heart warming comforting and interesting entries with an east meets west twist. I used to tell friends that the best fusion could be found here in Ottawa.

No more!

Salty, expensive, poor match of ingredients for a plate, such as "beef wraps" we ordered. 95% of the plate was covered by lettuce leaves, cucumber and various pickles, with 5-6 small bite-sized pieces of beef cute, served with a big plate of mustard and ketchup sauce in the plate centre! (See picture)

How would one eat it? Pickles are already salty enough, plus sauce covers almost half of the plate in the middle, the little pieces of beef already salty and cooked. It costs $25 for this plate, by the way. We also ordered a shrimp wrap, another huge turn down. Three small shrimps, swimming in a pool of sauce and the single small "pancake wrapper" was completely soaked under the sauce. It costs $21.

My 94 years old father was such a gentleman, he kept asking me to ask for more warm water to help him wash down. I was so proud to bring my father there, thinking it would be a surprise for him...

This restaurant has lost a long time customer and a new one for good. A huge shame.

p.s. I understand that restaurants are all getting expensive after Covid, some managed to serve decent food, which makes going still like a "treat". I do not see how restaurants can justify the costs by providing so little value for its customers. It was an awful feeling when we left, not so much the money (we spent $92 in total for other disappointments which were not worth mentioning), but feeling like we needed to go to another place, just having a bowl of good soup, to wash off all the bad taste in...