The Marlborough Pub and Eatery — Restaurant in Ottawa

We drove from Ottawa for a dinner out at the Marlborough. It's a great looking location, in a small town, complete with a healthy corn field out back. Full rural charm.

We came across the Marlborough the day before and were seduced by the menu online. So we made a plan to drive out the next day.

The menu is inspiring for a pub. We thought perhaps we had discovered a great small town restaurant that could run with the big city dogs. But the food, at least the entrees we ordered, were...to be blunt...more on par with cafeteria fare.

We started with a small salad and mushroom soup. The soup was served in a small cardboard cup, which was interesting. It was pretty good though.

We got the salmon and the chicken. Unfortunately our dishes were a zero-star affair...they were flat and limp, with what looked like basic steamed vegetables on a lonely plate. In general everything looked and tasted like it arrived at the restaurant frozen in baggies and cooked in a microwave. That bad. We've had much better food on a economy-class plane trip. After a build up to the visit, it was suddenly "avoid talking about the dishes while we're there, and have a good time". Which we did. Our server was top notch, very friendly and very professional. We got to a quick chat, and it was her first time on five tables...she definitely handled it well, always checking in on how we were doing.

This is where the Marlborough seems to do well: the importance they appear to place on helping diners feel comfortable and well taken care of. However, that respect doesn't seem to extend to providing good food.

A quick tip for any restaurant: small portions don't automatically make a dish worth a higher price! Our dishes cost us over $20 each, but I would objectively value the quality of the food at about $7.

After wine it was a $100 night. About $75 dollars too much for three people.

We should probably have known, like many pubs, not to venture outside the areas of traditional specialty. Maybe we would have enjoyed a burger and fries there? But the menu sounded like they were up to an entree. Regardless, we won't be back to try other menu options.

In short... The Marlborough has some of the pieces in place, but it's worth them urgently investing in their kitchen and raw materials to live up to the promise...

First visit, May 2022…..garbage. We thought - maybe still suffering because of COVID. Terrible food, terrible attitude of the owner. (Imagine the nerve of a customer expecting a good meal) Haven’t been back until tonite. Three of us went, walked in when there was maybe 5 cars in the parking lot, well before the dinner rush. Greeted by the owner “do you have a reservation?” We replied genuinely “ no, did we need one”? He stood there with a blank face and said “ No. then an awkward pause. Then said “I’d scratch you off the list if you did” all snarky. Oddest greeting ever lol. The coleslaw was nasty - tasted “off” / old / bitter. The fish & chips we ordered - also disgusting. Over cooked / old grease / grease not hit enough when they dropped the fish in - because it was literally a grease sponge. We were told the fish was haddoc…..haddoc is NOT grey / black. And when we showed the owner as he walked passed, we asked him “is this haddoc?” After we peeled all the gross batter off…..he confirmed it was. We asked “then why is it black?” He held a plate out and said “put it on here” and walked away with it, entirely inconvenienced - without another word.

They really need to read their reviews and listen to customers. I am far from the first to write about the gross coleslaw and nasty fish and chips, just keep reading the reviews below…….. clearly they aren’t interested in changing anything, Over and over and over. There won’t be a third visit ever. Skip this place and save your hard...

Passed by this restaurant for years and said one day we’ll go in. We (2 adults, 2 children) finally did yesterday. It didn’t appear to be all that busy but waited about 15-20 minutes for a table. Not much on the menu stood out or even appealing to choose from. We ended up ordering fish & chips, fries & ceasar salad. Kids ordered pogos and hamburger platters with drinks and ice cream. Egg roles for an appetizer and 2 draft beers. Fish and chips were served cold, ceasar salad was drowned in dressing (I couldn’t eat it after about 3 mouthfuls), fries seemed to be frozen oven fries (couldn’t eat much of them either). Pogos were burnt black in areas right through batter to hotdog. No mention in menu the egg roles were hand made. They were also slightly burnt black. Hamburger was apparently good. The draft beers we enjoyed. Our server was…ok. Although she kept saying ’Saturdays, ugh’ like she didn’t want to be there. Our bill, including tip was $88.36. We will...