The Senate Tavern on Bank — Restaurant in Ottawa

First visit. Great vibe with sports highlights, live music, shot some stick, friendly clientele & staff ... will return. Had received a heads-up about a musical performance from mixologist & musician extraordinaire Colin. Was going to be in the vicinity that night and didn't want to crash the party, but Colin said come on over. The stage was set.

Went to the Blackjacks game at TD Place, always an amazing experience. Big win! They're in the playoffs. Let's Go! 🏀

Bicycled down Bank to the Tavern. Spacious patio, inside was buzzing. A friendly server with pig-tails & dazzling smile confirmed a 10 PM start for the live music. Did a short walk-about & observed some celebrity sightings from the Warehouse and F&S staff. The cool crowd was out. Found a spot at the bar & ordered a Corona, the smaller version, easy to flip.

Great sports coverage. Watched Olympic highlights including Summer McIntosh winning the 400 IM Gold by over 5 seconds. Incredible. Good F-1 racing, NFL, CFL & baseball highlights.

There was a pool table behind me. Hadn't played in quite a while, probably a good thing, as it can be the sign of a misspent youth. Or an exercise in mathematics, vectors, angles & whatnot.

Very busy behind the bar ... they were getting slammed, but handled it well. The live music started with strummer Jacob on centre stage. A good time was being had by all.

Made a dash for the basement ATM, got a bill & exchanged it at the bar for loonies, the valuable pool table currency ... two loonies to paradise. Bartender Sean facilitated the transaction. A good lad.

A short break & Colin joined Jacob on the stage. They played "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers & brought the house down. Everyone was singing along. "I don't ever want to feel like I did that day, Take me to the place I love, take me all the way ..."

A duo became a trio when a trumpet player joined the lads on stage. Three great musicians threw down a scorching performance to thunderous applause. 🎸🎸🎺 🔥

Had a convo with bartender Sean. Turns out he normally works at the Senate Tavern in the Market. It was his first night behind the Bank Street wood. We were both newbs! He welcomed me to the bar and said they regularly did the same scene in the Market. That night was a music industry event and he was on Bank to help out with the flow. All the stars came out to play, along with their fans & an appreciative audience.

Tapped out a couple of times but was reluctant to leave because of the great vibe. Jacob retook the stage & had the crowd singing along to John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads". The joint was rockin'.

Had a convo with the trumpeter and asked if that was a scripted or unscripted performance. He said unscripted. Turns out the mystery trumpeter was Kelly Craig, owner of Sunnyside music, with material on Spotify.

More convo about Lee Iacocca at Ford, the legendary Mustang, and Kelly's Plymouth Roadrunner which he modified with a Hurst shifter & some nitrous oxide. Wth? Didn't get a chance to ask him why. Chasing GTX or Barracuda dreams, perhaps?

Good convo about Louis Armstrong, the legacy of 70s & 80s music ... Other lads at the bar were musician Asher and Dave, a fellow first-timer in search of adventure.

A pool-playing opportunity presented itself. Put money in the machine & heard the sweet sound of balls dropping. Kelly was waylaid by fans so Dave stepped up. We had a good game, making shots & leaving others ... teamwork.

The lights were coming on, the music was over, so tapped out, said goodbye, and biked up Bank Street and along the canal. No traffic, nice & cool, a good ride at the end of a great night.

Will be back to the Senate Tavern on Bank to socialize with the regulars, watch sports, listen to music & shoot stick.

The pool table takes two loonies ......

Location: it’s right on Bank Street and easy to find. It can be tricky to get to from across the street as there are no crosswalks nearby.

Parking: they have a parking lot but it is only accessible from one entrance on a side street so it’s not at all obvious if you haven’t been here before. The parking lot was also barricaded when I patroned the tavern(Sunday Afternoon afternoon) so I had to park on the street. Fortunately there is free street parking in the area.

Seating: there is plenty of seating inside and there are a few tables in front on the patio as well.

Service: Sadie was the hostess and my server. She was very welcoming, helpful with the menu, and came around every 10-15 minutes which was perfect.

Drinks: The Senate Tavern has a great selection of local brews on tap with a decent variety of flavours.

Food: I had the monster burger with onion rings. The burger was hot and spicy and in general quite good. The onion rings were quite tasty, the onions came apart easily, and they were served with a chipotle mayo sauce which was quite good.

Washroom: there is a wheelchair accessible washroom on the main floor and the men’s and women’s washrooms are downstairs. The men’s washroom was clean but one of the sinks was not functioning.

Extras: -local craft canned beer for sale in a cooler near the front entrance sports games are shown on several TVs and the main game is even played audibly in the washrooms so that patrons don’t miss a moment of the game there is kind of an arcade on the main floor with a shuffleboard table, table hockey, and a couple video arcade games. There is an ATM in the basement.

Overall, The Senate Tavern is a perfectly fine establishment with good staff at the location on Bank Street. If the parking lot was easier to access, the washrooms were fully functional, and the prices slightly lower, they could easily...

Had a remarkably disappointing experience due to their lack of up to date information. Planned to bring my friend with physical needs for the all you can eat Sunday brunch. I visited the day before to confirm that building could accommodate my friends walker and everything was perfect, until we arrived for the start of brunch.

It turns out that the Sunday brunch is no longer served, but even the employees are not aware of that fact. Websites all say Sunday, but no signs to refute that.

Remarkably disappointing as it was, and as starved as we were, we decided to stay and just get some food. The staff were very sympathetic and understanding if we had decided to leave, and I only stayed to support the two staff working the front. Great guys.

I can only speak for my food, but a regular sized burger, using basic ingredients, and a side handful of fries should never cost $30. The food was absolutely not worth the effort to visit.

As for atmosphere: I suppose being the only two customers on a Sunday at 12:30pm should not be surprising based on the experience, and I couldn’t help but understand why.

It was shameful, as I suspect many people have been tricked by the businesses lack of accurate...