The Whalesbone Elgin Street — Restaurant in Ottawa

To start, I added my old review as screen shots as I have not visited in quite some time.

There is a lot to unpack here so let's get started.

The service i received was about as pitiful as you would expect from today's industry standards. I left 2 stars regarding service because the accommodated us switching tables and that the hosts and bussers were genuinely fantastic.

Our server was about the least qualified to take a food order and deliver food and drink as I have seen better at some of the worst mcdonalds I have visited. I also heard idle chat of employees discussing our table and manurisms of which I wouldn't expect from a teenage girl gossiping with her friends. That is not how you act when a man and his wife come in and spend 600$ for a meal.

If i could have tipped the bussers and cooks 100 dollars to our servers 0 I would have but my wife would be appalled at me doing so.

I asked on 3 separate occasions for a shot of scotch or bourbon and waited til near the end of my meal to receive it.

She waited 20 minutes after we were done to bring our bill after I had to ask someone else to get her attention.

In what world does someone with 4 tables make someone wait that long before coming back to the table with napkins on a plate.

Service- abysmal , aside from the hosts and bussers. You guys were great.

Food, somewhat the saving grace of this place .

To start the steak was second only to one other place I've visited in flavor and texture spicing and curing. I give immense credit in this area. I was un happy with the pre cut portion. It messes with the textures I wanted to test for myself, but I know it was an incredibly crafted and very nearly PERFECTED piece of meat. I could have nearly given no higher praise.

My wife's seafood platter she enjoyed immensely, but she unlike myself is not Spectrum oriented towards perfection and has an incredibly kind heart.. where I am cold and unforgiving.

The crab was overcooked. Again. And I say this with a heavy heart because I worked the kitchens and I have the ut most respect for you guys. If it's in too long it gets stringy and clings to the walls..you need to remove it earlier.

The scallops were better done this time around by a small margin and the flavoring of the jelly surrounding was phenomenal.

The dish with the mussels.. forgive me for forgetting the name, especially due to the flavor.. was honestly the best part of the medley. Jesus tap dancing christ whatever it was it was energetic and fan magnanimously flavorful. Probably the cheapest thing on the table to make but so unimaginablly pristine and awe inspiring. Thank you to whoever created that sliver of heaven.

Last but not least the oyster sauces, especially the bonnet sauce.. you did a real good job incorporating the heat and flavor of the pepper.. some shell was mistakenly shucked into some.ofnthe oysters but oysters are never clean enough to not spit a part or two out now a days so all is forgiven.

I am incredibly flummoxed and awed all at the same time in this marvel of an establishment.

Please, for the love of god change your tip ratio to heavily favor the kitchen. I will be coming back again, despite your lack of will to serve me after the near scathing review I have written, to ensure that no matter what the kitchen will be properly compensated for the baffling FOH performance.

I have one more chance to give to the establishment and my hopes are not high for my next visit due to the current culture of the restaurant industry. Servers get paid WAY TOO MUCH for the backbone and heart of the kitchen, who i am sure if I were to have gone back with a 100 dollar bill those six or seven dudes would have bought a case of beer or two and split it between themselves, a much needed token of appreciation for the guys in the back and a tip of the hat.

Mystery server.. quit please, and go do whatever it is servers.do with the piles of money they leave with for the little effort the majority of them put in. Replace her with a monkey or robot promptly to ensure better...

As a long-time seafood enthusiast who’s had the pleasure of dining at some top-tier spots on the East Coast of Canada and in London, England - where J. Sheekey is my gold standard - I had pretty high expectations for The Whalebone. Unfortunately, it really fell short.

To be honest, the experience was pretty underwhelming. The menu was very limited with just a few seafood options. The food was not only vastly overpriced, but it also lacked flavour. I’d say it was bland, with tiny portions that left a lot to be desired. For a place positioning itself as a high-end seafood restaurant, that was a real disappointment.

The service, sadly, was just as lacking. It wasn’t very attentive, and while the manager did come over to help with the bill in the end (without us even asking, interestingly), it didn’t quite make up for the overall experience.

In short, I was expecting something special and memorable, and instead it ended up being a letdown on all fronts. I hope they can improve because as it stands, I cannot recommend it.

Reply to Owner:

Hi and thank you for your follow-up below.

I want to clarify a few things, as I certainly didn’t expect this kind of response. The reason I didn’t mention that the meal was comped is because I didn’t want others getting the wrong idea - I’ve never had a bill comped before, and I didn’t want to create a situation where people think they can just complain and expect the same. That wouldn’t be good for your business or fair to your team.

It honestly never occurred to me that leaving a review, even one that expressed my disappointment, would be seen as violating some sort of unspoken agreement of silence. That certainly wasn’t my intention. The gesture of comping the meal was generous, and I took it as a sign of goodwill and professionalism at the time, which is why we expressed our extreme appreciation in person.

The tone of your reply feels quite defensive and frankly a little combative, which is unfortunate. We gave honest feedback when asked, and did so respectfully. We were genuinely surprised that the food and experience didn’t meet expectations, and we were ready to pay, tip, and leave quietly. It was your staff who encouraged the discussion, not us pushing for any outcome.

That said, if my review has caused more harm than clarity, I’m open to removing it. My goal was never to be vindictive; but just to share an...

Came here with a friend and her parents to celebrate her birthday. Had heard many good things about the food menu from many people. Service was good and the food was decent. My girlfriend really enjoyed the oysters. They offered many vegetarian options that were not on the standard menu which I appreciated. We were having a positive experience until something happened that really left a bad taste in our mouths. My girlfriend and I both work in the industry and we are familiar with how things work. We had made a reservation for this table and typically this means your table is reserved for a minimum of 2 hours. To our dismay the moment we finished up, the hostess at the front had come up to our table and informed us “you have to wrap it up as there is another reservation here for this table now”. Her delivery was rude and distasteful. This was really aggravating as we still had wine in our glasses to drink. It had also only been about an hour and a half since we had started our dining! What’s increasingly frustrating is my girlfriend hardly ever gets to see her parents, so being told you have to hurry up and leave when it’s a special day to her makes it even worse. I understand having to ask tables to leave that are finished dining, but asking guests to leave when they still have wine and haven’t been there for two hours is unacceptable. If this is a standard practice at this establishment (1hr30min dine time) it should be communicated properly to the guests dining before hand. We were not informed of a dine time when we booked the reservation or when we arrived. We left this experience feeling uncomfortable and our glasses of wine half full. Will not be coming back as this experience really upset my girlfriend as we had to cut our time with her parents short on...