The WORKS Craft Burgers & Beer — Restaurant in Ottawa

The Works Barrhaven

We had not been to The Works in quite some time so on Sept 28th we were craving the tower of onion rings so we decided let’s go. We arrived at the restaurant at approximately 6:45pm over half the tables in the restaurant were empty, no one was there to greet us when we walked in but there was several Uber eats drivers waiting inside the entrance so we joined them in waiting. After about 2 minutes I heard a voice call out to me from the back of the restaurant “Table for two” I answered yes and then a waitress emerged from the back, she ask us if we would like a booth which we did, she then seated us asked if we would like to start with some waters and offered us some menus. She returned shortly after with the water and the menus. She then went on to get refill drinks for the table beside us. By this time we had decided on what to order, we had set the menu aside and were waiting for her to return. Next without checking in with us she passed by our table and proceeded directly to the table that was behind us, spoke with them for a second, went to the back , returned with a debit credit machine and proceeded to cash out the table behind us so this took a few minutes. She then went into the back again for a few more minutes then returned to what I would call a service station located in the middle of the restaurant. So at this point I’m thinking Oh ok she is probably getting a note pad or something and will be coming back to take our order now as we have been ready and waiting for about 10 minutes with out being acknowledged. But no no, I was wrong she retrieved a spray bottle of cleaner and a dish cloth and return to the table of the customers who had just left the restaurant and proceeded to clean the table and set the table up with napkins and cutlery. I might add we don’t even have cutlery or napkins at our table yet. Keep in mind that the restaurant is half empty and no one is waiting to be seated and there are plenty of clean and ready to go tables everywhere. But let me tell you the takeout drivers are coming and going and getting served no problem. She finished cleaning and setting up that table then disappeared once again into the back of the restaurant. So at this point we have been seated for over 15min, we are getting hungry and we realize that even if she takes our order in the next few minutes we will be waiting another 10-15 min before we get our meal. Approximately 2 more minutes pass with no restaurant staff in sight anywhere so we decided to pull the plug and leave to go elsewhere. Well apparently unbeknownst to anyone because we call the restaurant right after we left, ask to speak to the manager we explained to him what had just happened. He seemed surprised and acted like he wasn’t even aware we were ever there as he ask what table we had been at and who was the waitress. He then proceeded to apologize and agreed that they weren’t that busy in the restaurant and that there was no excuse for what had happened and that was it. I should have ordered through Uber Eats it would have been faster. My observation while I was there is the furniture and decor is starting to show its age with a lot of signs of wear and tear. It felt like the sit down patrons are getting neglected in favour of the take out business. This restaurant used to always be busy lined up out the door with people waiting to get a seat. Perhaps it’s time for a remodel or perhaps even a new business model altogether because even though I didn’t get to eat there this time, the constant in and out traffic of the Uber eats drivers is very disruptive to the dining area and not very inviting when you arrive and have to fight your way through them to get to the podium. They should not be clogging up your entrance way, they should have their own area not in the dining room. I’m also disappointed with The Works Corp. I sent them an email 1 week ago about my experience and have yet received a response. All and all a very disappointing experience and I probably won’t return which is unfortunate because I do...

I have worked at a different Works location so this review is one with knowledge of how this business should be ran.

The location has the WORKS style all over it and has one of the nicer bathrooms from the majority I've seen.

However, there were glaring issues which I'll categorize.

Serving : We ordered an appetizer which was a poutine, and two burgers for the mains.

Poutines take about 3 to 6 minutes to get into the window if the kitchen is relatively free and properly staffed. This kitchen was a two man and they were going through a lot of take out orders probably due to the outages in the surrounding area. No problem, I understand if it was late.

But it wasn't, it was perfectly on time. What wasn't on time was the appetizer to make it to the table. Food often sits in what's called a kitchen pass, and most have heaters to keep food warm if servers are busy. Most works don't have these.

There were three front of house staff on, two servers and one possible host/bar. Due to our server running between tables, doing orders and rushing to make drinks at the bar, our appetizer sat in the pass for over 15 minutes. I sadly counted the time. The app was moved around by other staff to get at takeout orders that were finished but no one bothered to ask if it was good to go or not.

When it finally came, it was cold so we asked for it to be redone, which they did without question. The redo was promptly brought to the table, undoubtedly because the server realized she had messed up.

Kitchen: when I worked at the work location, I was primarily a back of house worker so I have an immense amount of knowledge of how that kitchen should operate, but I do recognize I am many years out of date to certain protocols and standards that may be set.

However, casual clothing is often never allowed in kitchens. A uniform of some kind, even if it's a tee with a logo is preferred. When I worked we had proper a kitchen uniforms that was fire retardant to a degree, hats to keep hair away from food, and beard nets for any who had large beards. I saw two employees that were not wearing hats, and one that really, really should have wore a beard net due to his large beard. The same individual had a horizontal line white blue casual long sleeve on, while another wore a black shirt of some kind that was a bit more in line with kitchen attire, relatively speaking. Same with the employee working dish, they wore a black shirt of some kind, but none of the wording or logos were even remotely close to a Works branding - lettering or even the logo itself.

Food: The appetizer remake was good, it was as I remember it. However, the mains were a problem.

The burgers were cooked on a grill that wasn't scrubbed, so the taste of the grill was extremely prevalent. Because it wasn't scrubbed, pieces of charred food was on the burger. The burger itself was also over done, whether it was left on grill for too long or my burger was part of the mass batching of burgers the kitchen did to keep up with all the take out orders and what was in house. Regardless, the burger wasn't juicy and not to the standard of the burger bistro.

I had the fries as my side. The fries weren't evenly cooked, and were evidently not part of a fresh basket. The fries I was served was both the leftover but from the takeout orders ahead of my order and an almost properly cooked basket. So I had both old fries that weren't crunchy and almost cooked fries that weren't even golden which is the easiest way to tell they need more time.

My partner had die cuts for her side. They were floppy, and oily. Another sign of being undercooked. Unless things changed, die cuts should be - just-in the crunch department.

In closing, the service had a slip up that I would have forgiven, but sadly when you have to walk pass where food is brought out to go to where you need to make drinks, I can't let it slide that the appetizer sat there for 15+ minutes.

The kitchen really slipped up in their presentation, professionalism and care for quality.

I will not return to...

On February 19th we arrived at the Barrhaven location at 6:05PM. We had 2 hours for dinner and figured that would be enough time. There were lots of empty chairs but tables weren’t cleared and it didn’t appear to be very busy. We waited 20 minutes for a table and were immediately told the restaurant had run out of fries. Not a deal breaker for us so we continued on. We ordered an appetizer within 10 minutes of being seated and immediately put in our order. Nacho Libre with cactus cut chips Tragically Maple with sweet potato fries and a side of maple bacon ailoi Gluten free bun with cheese and bacon and a greek salad (my mother-in-law has CELIACS) We waited for as long as we possibly could. At 7:55PM we still had not received our plates so I asked the waitress to pack it up for us to go as she was just picking up the plates to bring them to us. They were nice enough to knock off $50 from our bill as we had waited so long that we now had to take our order to go.

When we arrived home we sorted our order so I could bring mine with me. My sweet potato fries had been put in with the Nacho Libre burger (I’m allergic to peppers) The cactus chips were with my burger. And, when I opened my container to eat at work I found I had the gluten-free bun instead of my mother-in-law (as mentioned above, she has CELIACS)

I called home immediately but seeing as I had a 45 minute drive, the others had already eaten. Of course, my mother-in-law was sick all night and for 2 days afterwards.

Very disappointing as we love The Works and have gone to the Barrhaven location many times. The last time we went the service was terrible but no where near as bad as this time. Sad to say that we will no longer be going to the Barrhaven location and will instead drive to another part of town to have better service and where they take better care in terms...