The WORKS Craft Burgers & Beer — Restaurant in Ottawa

So I was visiting a friend in Ottawa, and while we were out and looking for something to eat I thought to myself, does Canada make good burgers? I mentioned this to her and she said this was The Works had THE best burgers she'd had, so of course I insisted we go there!

So we walked over there, and as we were going in and sitting down, I noticed the whole industrial theme. It was pretty cool, and actually done very well, carried through all the way down to the light bulb salt and pepper shakers. Props. Afterwards, our waiter came over and took our drink orders and I got a small oreo milkshake, which was really rather good. We also got water... in measuring cup jugs! Awesome in my opinion, especially with how much water I drink! Then, a bit later the waiter came back to take our food orders. Also notable here: the waiter was very very friendly and helpful, and really knew the whole menu (which is saying something because there are literally 60+ burgers available alone!). My friend who's been here a couple times also mentioned that every time the waiters here have been great and friendly and accommodating, whether you want them to stay and chat with you or just stay out of the way after the necessary ordering. And it certainly seemed like the case this time as well, as he sat there with us discussing different burgers and recommending a couple with regards to our individual tastes. He even gave us refills basically instantly every time we needed them.

So I ended up getting the most popular burger, the Smoky Mountain Burger, with an extra fried egg and onion ring, with Elk meat. Speaking of which, elk? AWESOME. Totally have not ever had that. The burger was awesome of course, but i took a bit of the meat off to taste it alone, and it was the weirdest meat, yet so good. The patty was juicy yet almost felt as if it should be dry due to the lack of grease but it was juicy all over, so good. So the great patty aside, the bar-b-Q sauce on the burger was spectacularly flavored, and really brought the whole burger together in terms of flavor. Definitely one of the top 5 burgers I've ever had. I also had the lumpy mashed potatoes, which were flavorful and filling, both alone and with the gravy. And I tried the sweet potato fries, too - good portion, very tasty and soft yet crunchy.

Overall, a great experience and definitely worth coming back to if I'm ever in Ottawa...

I've had great experiences with other "Work's" locations, so I felt I should offer my honest opinion:.

My fiance, three friends, and I dined here on a Wednesday before going to a movie at Lansdowne. We arrived 75 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start, and the restaurant was not what I would call busy.

You can see where this is going. The service was slow, our food came 40 minutes after we ordered... we asked for the bills as soon as we got our food and explained that we were in a hurry. Even after we explained to her that we were in a rush to get to a movie, our server was slow with the bills. We ended up late for our movie.

As we ate, we realized we had all received food that was, to varying degrees, cold. My fiance and I received burgers that were completely cold, and frankly kind of gross. We didn't finish our meals. We mentioned it to the server, whose only response was to make excuses about how they didn't expect to be so busy today, except it honestly wasn't that busy. Its not a very big restaurant, and I would estimate at least half of the tables were empty at any given time while we were there. Even if that was a relatively busy night for them, it was clear that our food had simply been forgotten about after the kitchen finished, and had sat out getting cold. I'm sure it was simply an error that they weren't willing to correct, and not a symptom of being too busy.

It wan't until one of us found a HAIR in her fries that they offered to comp that meal. The rest of us were forced to pay for our cold meals . No offer was made for coupons or anything, not even a sincere apology that the food was cold - all we got were excuses.

It soured our whole evening. Needless to say, I won't...

I am unaccustomed to writing reviews, but The Works in the Glebe treated my wife and I so poorly I am making an exception. We had eaten at the works in New Edinburgh previously, and found the burgers to be excellent. The service was very slow, as advertised, and we were encouraged to drink lots while we waited.

My wife received a gift certificate to The Works in the Glebe, so we went, anticipating an expensive burger made reasonably priced by the gift, and a long wait. We endured a LOT of noise from the rowdy clientele, which The Works seems to think is fun, and refills of iced tea into the measuring cups they serve drinks in.

Finally, after observing other people who arrived shortly before us leaving, and after a very long wait, even for The Works, we inquired after our burgers. There was another delay of several minutes, and then our waitress returned to ask what we had ordered. There was nothing being prepared for us, even though our appetizers and drinks had been brought to us and consumed. They forgot not only to make our food, but to follow up.

We stuck it out because we had redeemed the gift certificate, but had to wait a very long time for our ordered meal. And have never been back, nor would we ever return.

The overwhelming theme when we went was that the owners were trying to get every last dime out of our pockets, and not offering much in return, except an absurd tower of onion rings, a measuring cup full of sugary drinks, and after a huge wait in a noisy environment for a decent gourmet burger. Which from now on, is worth making at home. Because at least I know it is coming eventually, and that what I choose to do prior to it's arrival...