The Lone Buffalo by Tangled Roots Brewing Company — Restaurant in Ottawa

It gets a three star only because the beer and food itself was good. (Not great, personally, but to be fair there is plenty of the food and beer we haven't tried.) I'd give a two star if only judging service.

My boyfriend and I were very excited to try this place for the first time. We noticed we were about to visit during their busiest time of day, so we called ahead. At first we were told 25 minutes would be sufficient, but a minute later the host called back and said it'd be an hour and a half. I've never heard of a wait that long for two people, but we kept the reservation and decided to kill some time. Thirty minutes later, I received a text saying our table was ready. We hadn't yet made it to Ottawa because of the wait time given. (Did they expect us to wait outside for an hour and a half?) They did, however, hold our table, so we met them at the initial time expected.

When we got there, my bf went in to get our table and I walked in a few minutes later. The host station is set in a little ways and I wasn't even sure at the time that that's what it was because I was never greeted. Instead I had three or four staff members (an older man I'm assuming is a manager of some kind and younger females who must've been hosts or servers). No one said anything as I approached and let them know I was meeting someone. I showed myself to my table since my bf had texted me a description of where it was. When I told him about my first impression, he said that his was similar - no greeting and a very disdainful up-and-down from the staff.

Fast forward to receiving our first round of beers. We thought at first that there may have been a mistake because the color, consistency, and glassware was not what we expected. We weren't upset but definitely wanted to clarify and make sure we received what we ordered. The server assured us it was, so points for that, but didn't know what a snifter is. She said all of their beers came in that glass. (If you know anything about craft beer, glassware is specific to beer style. Someone serving house-produced craft beer should definitely know the basics of beer style and glassware. Lack of house knowledge is a major turn-off for me.) When I asked her about the skulls on the beer menu, she said she wasn't sure what they were - she asked me if they were part of some series (which turned out to be correct, but was not spelled out anywhere on the menu and, being first timers, we had no idea what this series was and she didn't bother explaining) Then insisted that the skull was a cat..... When I asked whose portrait was hanging on the wall I was treated like I was the idiot. 👍 Over all, she was friendly....but clearly exasperated by my expectations for her to know the basics of her establishment.

Instead of ordering a second round with a server we had clearly exhausted, we wanted to check out the tasting room, which apparently had "entertainment" and let our server know. She confirmed it was still seating. We closed out and on our way over I noticed three kinds of glassware being used a the bar- yeah! At least one person knows what they're doing!! We walked in to the tasting room looking forward to ending the night on a good note, only to find out that we had to go back to the host station to be seated. A host checked for available seating and eventually returned saying it was all full... even though we saw 4-6 people leaving two tables when we had walked out of there. Fed up with their rudeness, we decided we had wasted enough time and money there and continued our evening elsewhere.

Extremely disappointed. First time experiencing downtown Ottawa - which is looking amazing and we want to return. Me being a beer nerd and both of us lovers of food, we would've definitely been regulars, but we're unsure if we can shake this awful...

Really cute brewery and our server was super attentive!

Unfortunately, we did have kind of a bummer visit. We were traveling through Ottowa around lunchtime on a Sunday, so we stopped in to eat. I had the mojito lemonade (which was delish) and we wanted to start off with the biscuits, but were informed they were all out of those. Honestly, at brunch on a Sunday, I’m not surprised those were gone! We pivoted and ordered a pimento dip and our mains: the chicken schnitzel and a chicken parm sandwich. Our pimento dip came out with a tasty toasted bread and a bowl of chips. Well, “chips” is generous. Really it was a bowl of what’s left at the end of a bag of chips, with no pieces in there being larger than the size of a quarter. We caught our server and asked for a better bowl and she swiftly swapped them out for full-sized chips. After about 20 minutes, our server returned to deliver a second round of bad news: there was no more chicken to be had for my partner’s schnitzel. Bummer, but we persevere! He settled for a regular burger so as not to take too long re-looking at the menu. We chitchatted for about another 10 minutes or so, only for our server to return once more with a third round of bad news. Someone in the kitchen had dropped my chicken parm sandwich and that was the last of the chicken, so no chicken parm for me. Another big bummer! I, like my partner, settled for a regular burger. At this point we were both quite hungry and I didn’t want to delay our food any longer, and I figured burgers would be pretty quick to cook. Finally, our burgers came out (with an accidental extra side of asparagus—I think it was the original side for my partner’s schnitzel) we ate, paid, and left.

Throughout the entire experience our server was perfectly nice, as were we. The manager also came by to apologize, which was kind. We understand that things run out and accidents happen! We’re not the type to get upset. Now, we were a LITTLE surprised when the check came out and nothing had been discounted or comped (not even the accidental extra side of asparagus), considering that we had to alter our experience three separate times. In an ideal situation, we would have been walking out of The Lone Buffalo full of biscuits, chicken parm, and chicken schnitzel. Instead, we left having had pimento dip and a couple of good burgers.

I suspect if we had been louder, angrier, and more willing to place blame, we would have paid less for our less-than-perfect experience. Instead, we met these disappointing circumstances with kindness, understanding, and good humor, and therefore were rewarded with paying full price for a meal that was made up of second choices (besides the mojito lemonade—seriously so tasty).

If we were ever passing through Ottawa again, I wouldn’t be opposed to coming back to The Lone Buffalo, but I don’t know that I would actively seek it out.

If management is reading this, I hope you will consider creating a rule for yourselves: if you have to approach a table with bad news more than twice, maybe you comp something from the check, even if the customers...

We met my sister and her husband in Ottawa at The Lone Buffalo. What a wonderful place! First, the restaurant is big and bright and so charming. It is upscale and exceptionally clean. We were led upstairs to our table and where we had a wonderful view to the downstairs area through the glass panels of the railings. Our server was Kelsey and she was so wonderful to us, answering questions, keeping our drinks full and anticipating our needs. We really appreciated her! The food was nicely presented, in good quantities and tasted delicious. We tried four different dishes and one dessert. First, I tried the Chicken Schnitzel, which was on the seasonal menu. It had sautéed chicken breast, mustard cream sauce, pan fried spaetzle, caramelized apples, onions, house-sauerkraut, and bacon lardon. The presentation was beautiful and the green beans, spaetzle and apples were delicious. Unfortunately, the chicken was not cooked properly, and I had to ask for a different entrée. Our server, Kelsey, was ever so gracious and switched my dinner, without any problem, for the Battered Fish and Chips, which has hand cut cold water cod filets dipped in Devils Paint Box IPA batter then crispy fried, served with seasoned fries & house-made jalapeño slaw. That was wonderful and is also what my husband enjoyed. My sister chose the Skillet Bacon Mac and Cheese which is Cavatappi pasta, chopped bacon in a creamy 4-cheese sauce with Parmesan crust. It was great! Her husband had the Bacon Bleu Burger with thick sliced bacon, grilled pickled onions, Gorgonzola cheese & garlic aioli. I have included photos. We shared a dessert of the Cookie Skillet of House-baked triple chocolate chip cookies topped w/ vanilla bean ice cream and salted caramel sauce. The dessert was given to us for free because of the problem with my chicken dish. The restrooms were near us on the second floor and they were clean and upscale. This was a terrific dining experience for us and we will definitely be returning to try more wonderful food at this great restaurant. You will not be disappointed at The Lone Buffalo...