The Ottawa Tavern — Restaurant in Toledo

Great inexpensive fresh food. Attentive friendly staff. Very well curated tap beer & cider selection. Diverse music from broad genres from punk to contemporary - The night I went a new band was on stage every 30 minutes.

Sound quality was awful to shrilly horrific. For a place that takes pride as a Live Music Venue, this is unacceptable. Yes, the musicians should adjust their volumes and mixers better - They are after all ultimately responsible for the delivery of their own performance art. (I get that punk is loud, but it should still have musicality and should Not burst eardrums like cluster bombs exploding in a Kitchenwares Shop - nonstop.) I couldn't make out the lyrics nor the individual instruments on ANY if the 5 bands I heard 90% of the time. I couldn't even understand the monologues of the band leaders most of the time.

The Club / Tavern itself has the most responsibility. I say this as the former owner of a live music venue... The Ottawa Tavern is mostly hard reflective surfaces: hard walls/ceiling/floors, stainless steel bar, etc. Worst is the long bank of plate glass windows - the absolute bane of musicians! Covering these windows (& other hard surfaces) with heavy drapes would ameliorate a lot of the crashing, screeching sound reflection & reverb issues for cheap. (I sat furthest from the bands, but still needed earplugs the entire time.)

Secondly, club management should be active in some policing of sound volume... Bands hear their performance through stage monitors, not through the loudspeakers that are pointed away from them. Bands, especially young bands, also have an inherent predilection for continually cranking up the volume little by little throughout their performance, and they can't afford sound engineers to monitor the the way it sounds to the audience. Club Management must monitor and remediate with the band leader, and, if necessary, compel them to maintain a volume that protects the musicality of the performance. After all, it's all about the customer experience, right?

I'll gladly give The Ottawa Tavern musical experience a 2nd chance... Because I love and respect the opportunity they're providing for local artists. But I will definitely come better prepared with higher quality earplugs! (Btw, I have never in my life had to wear earplugs at a live performance - so I am not...

A friend and I showed up here last night on a whim. We knew the name from back from the Bancroft Street days. It's pretty much a dive-ish bar, but that's not a bad thing at all. Most of the beers on tap were from Inside the Five (local brewery in Sylvania). We got very lucky - it was Jazz jam session night, which was a pleasant surprise. It started off with a bassist, drummer, and French horn on the stage (yes, I know, French horn in jazz?) As time progressed they were joined by a pianist, saxophone, violin, and flute. There was also this cool dog that belonged to the fiddler. She would wander around looking for attention, and she would occasionally take a nap on the stage (amidst the loud music), or spend excessive time sniffing an amplifier. All good fun. I really miss the jazz scene, since Rusty's in South Toledo shut down. It was very cool to see this place keeping the local talent alive. I highly recommend you learn about their scheduled, Monday night jazz sessions, and pay a visit to the...

I recently went here to see the bands Wasteland Coven, Brawl of Dogs, Tusk, and Bubak. I had been here in the past to see shows, too, but it had been a while since I'd been there. I was surprised and delighted to see that the setup of the venue had changed! If I remember correctly, there used to be a support beam on the stage in front of the bands, lol. They brought the stage area down a level and the old stage area was being used by bands to sell their merch. Opposite of that area, they had a nice little seating area where you could order and wait for food. Some seating overlooked the bar which I thought was neat. I ordered sweet potato fries and some breaded pineapple bbq chicken chunks and they were both sooo good! The people serving at the bar were really friendly, too. Overall, I think that the venue has improved from the last...