Back Lane Cafe

Excellent food. Ambiance is quaint and comfortable.
Started with the roasted Octopus, followed by the Fisherman Stew (omg… This was heavenly) and my date had the ratatouille (which was almost equal to the stew).
They were running a bit slow on the ratatouille so the server brought us a complimentary broccoli fritti. We were trying to keep some room for dessert, which looked amazing but unfortunately we were stuffed.
I’ll definitely be back. Complexity and texture of food was perfect. Seafood stews are so easy to screw up especially with such diverse crustations in the bowl. But they nailed it.
Don’t go if you are in a hurry.

My husband and I went here for his birthday last night and we enjoyed it very much. The duck confit was DELICOUS and my husband really enjoyed his Boston crème doughnut.
The little touch that made our experience magical was when the waitress brought in my husband’s dessert singing happy birthday. I thought it was really sweet as I had briefly mentioned it in my online reservation.
We are most likely to return.
Tania and Nick.

As always a delightful night! Our fave server Steph greeted us with a hug. Her food recommendations were great. THE best most succulent octopus we have ever tasted followed by delicious duck and halibut. We have yet to experience a bad meal here. Even the suggested wines, which were new to us, we’re perfectly paired.

Two five stars in a row. I guess it’s a good day.
Back Lane Café is probably one of my favorite restaurants in Ottawa. Simple, cozy, nondescript, but with amazing food. It’s the kind of place I would save for the special days and the special people.
My boyfriend and I came here on a Tuesday night without a reservation, and fortunately we managed to get some seats near the back. He had the lamb and I had the duck and both were marvelous. We enjoyed every single aspect of the meal; heck even the vegetables were worth raving about! (My boyfriend swears it’s the best kale he’s ever had! Also, I had no arugula problem…)
Finally, we had the heavenly hash for dessert, but found it too rich for our tastes. Still an excellent meal though.
Definitely a great pick for our anniversary dinner. Hopefully it won’t be another year before we come back!

This place is pretty special, seriously. You walk in and you are greeted with what seems to be a time warp to a little Parisian, or even perhaps Sicilian town, the ambiance makes one feel at home, and is very relaxed. Now onto the food! I had ordered a fish dish served on a (a think barley) and mixed veggie salad… Delicious! It was a wonderful dish, cooked very well and seasoned beautifully! It was beautifully presented and I was convinced there and then that this is one of Ottawa’s culinary treasures! The desserts that they have seem a bit non challant, but do not be fooled! These are delicious, and left me thinking about them days later… Seriously. I tried the boston cream as well as the lemon doughnuts and they were sublime, mind lowing… perfection in my mouth… Like I said, I was thinking about them after the fact. I would definitely recommend this place, for sure! If you are looking for a wonderful food experience, come here and you will not be disappointed!

I’ve been back once since my last visit and figured I’d confirm that Back Lane Café is, indeed, five starts! Specifically, the hostess and waitress who were working when I last went were so friendly and wonderful. Wish I remembered their names so I could commend them in a good review; they really do a fantastic job.

We ate there last week for the first time. The food was excellent, and service impeccable. I had the roasted cauliflower with a black tahini sauce as a starter and the braised lamb with curried vegetables as the main. My spouse had the homemade burger with caramelized onions and blue cheese. Would highly recommend. Also love the décor and ambiance.

Menu change! They took the pizzas off their menu. Well they’re on a few evenings and for lunch. I guess due to the competition all around making pizzas (Tenesse Willems & ZaZaZa), but really it limits their menu and takes it from a must to a maybe spot in my mind. Too bad as they had excellent pizzas on their menu.

I like to think that I am a pretty objective reviewer, but the Ottawa food scene continues to knock it out of the park.
We needed to find a spot somewhat close to the GCTC theatre for a show later that night and this spot came highly recommended.
We were late and had only 1.5 hours to eat prior to the show, but the staff were super accommodating and made sure we made our play.
The place — it’s quaint and super comfortable, like eating in your own home.
The food: wow!
We shared the fried cauliflower which had this unreal tahini sauce. Honorable mention to the home made bread — unbelievably good foccacia !
Onto the mains :
My date had the pickerel and she raved about how it melted in her mouth. I sampled a bit and it was pretty stellar.
I opted for the hanger steak which was done perfectly with some sweetened au jus… I might want to go back tonight for the same meal.
While my date opted for wine, I tried the strawberry — basil soft drink. All syrups are made in house here, so it’s definitely worth a try.
Onto dessert: they have several handmade donuts! We opted for the Boston Cream which had ice cream, chocolate chunks, strawberries and what they called a donut, but it was so much more. That plate was clean when we were done… save room for dessert!
Exceptional service, amazing food, good tunes, and a relaxed environment = me being blown away.

Always been very good for dinner and now we came in for breakfast and it was just as tasty.

Cut the prices in half and this place is five stars, but with a fisherman’s stew that lacked bite, served with amateur toasted bread that had the taste of being burned over a candle, the Back Lane Café is not quite at level. But the service is good and the ambience cozy.

We made a last minute decision to go here a few weeks ago. We called ahead and they were able to seat us early, around 5:30. We told them we might be a bit late, and they said that was fine as long as we would be done by 7:30.
The décor is really nice, makes you feel warm and cozy. It is larger than it looks outside, but it is not too big.
I ordered the duck confit which was amazing, it was moist and flavourful, with a crisp skin. We did notice there was a bit of overuse of arugula, my duck was on a bed of arugula, my friends appetizer was on arugula, and it was quite a lot, and slightly bitter.
I would defintely come back to see what else they can create.

We seem to be doing the Hintonburg tour of restaurants lately. We made a last minute reservation to Back Lane Café and they told us if we wanted it, we had to be there for 5:30pm. We told them we’d be late but please hold it and they told us we’d have to be out of there for 7:30pm as another reservation had the spot then. We had no problem with that!
Hintonburg is really reminding me of Ossington in Toronto and after coming here and Public House I’m more convinced. The space is pretty cool, stained with a layer of paint and reminiscent of a lane between some houses. It’s definitely pretty cool.
I ended up getting an almond, garlic pâté to start and a pork belly, pears on arugula for my main.
The pâté was massive and really good. I had to have the 3 others with me finish it. The pork belly was cooked perfectly. Not much fun was happening with it but it was still extremely delicious. I wish I could say the same for the arugula that it was on top of. I found it extremely bitter… a lot more bitter than I’m used to. It was good if you could cut up some pears and get some arugula, as the pears offset the bitterness but there just wasn’t enough pears… or maybe just to much arugula.
My friends ordered 2 donuts and they were good. If I could give a half star rating it’d definitely be a 3.5 but they were pretty awesome in accommodating us.
We finished around 7:20pm and just waited on the bills from there so we were definitely ahead of schedule!
The thing with Back Lane is even though the food is good it’s not as polished as similar restaurants in town. Also with Public House a block away… it’s hard for that not to be first choice on the strip!

The first time that I tried to book a table here, I was put off by the reservation system. At the time, it was only by phone and they were too busy to be answering their phone.
Back Lane Café is kind of a big deal, and rightly so.
The service is completely attentive, not just attentive, but informative. My husband tried to order a soft drink, and when he was told that they didn’t have traditional soft drinks, he replied with «I’ll just have water», cutting the waitress off. She, rather than accepting that, explained that all of their soft drinks were made in house: fruit syrups, like rhubarb, cherry, mango, topped off with sparkling water. They also had housemade lemonade (which he ordered, and loved) and iced tea. I almost changed my drink order, hearing this.
The bread — I don’t think I’ve ever commented on the bread that comes with food before, because it’s usually either Art-​is-​In or something mediocre– was incredible. There was a rustic baguette and the most amazing sourdough that I’ve ever tasted. They could seriously give Art-​is-​In a run for their money.
We shared the almond pâté, and since then I’ve been thinking about how to recreate it. Almonds, mushroom, garlic… they work so well together.
My husband had the calzone bolognese for his main: It was the most flavourful bolognese that either of us has ever tasted. It was perfectly balanced: savoury and spicy. The crust was exceptionally well done and the salad that was served with it was uncomplicated, but delicious. I ordered the Musa Pizza, which featured lamb, cauliflower-​parmesean cream, oregano, and fior di latte. This was a brilliant combination, and easily one of the top two pizzas that I’ve had at a restaurant in Canada.
We contemplated dessert: We were both full and needed to get to the second half of our date night. Our waitress brought us the bill, and then dessert, meaning that we didn’t have to rush. We ordered the citrus glazed doughnut with vanilla ice cream. Oh, yeah. The ice cream is made in house too. (Aside: I was also told that they make their own mayo, as well.) The citrus glaze was well balanced, like the lemonade: Not to sweet, not too bitter. More fragrant than anything else. The doughnut was very fresh and overall, better than the other yeast doughnuts that I’ve had at restaurants. Top notch.
Back Lane Café is like the girl (or guy) who plays hard to get. Eating there requires a certain amount of persistence, and that’s not something that Ottawa is used to, I think. But, I will keep calling her and knocking at her window. Because she has provided the best meal that I’ve had in the past year.

I actually drove in from Montréal to eat here, and it was worth the drive.
From funny exchanges with the staff on twitter (their reservation process + lack of a website makes it a bit complicated to learn about them except via social media), to being greeted like I was an old friend when I got there, everything that led up to sitting down at my table with an old friend was completely pleasant.
And then they brought the food. What was a good experience so far was elevated to great. Almond pâté? Sold! I have been trying to figure out what was in it since the first bite. And the burrata? Delicious. The constantly changing menu means you always have something new to try on repeat visits.
This is a great place to visit if you want to share small plates or have your own larger meal. Fantastic wine list with lots of choices and knowledgeable servers who can guide you towards the right decisions.
Friendly staff, low-​key atmosphere and delicious food — you can’t go wrong with the Back Lane Café.

A friend and I arrived without a reservation, but early, and we got seats at the bar — which I always like and in this case was probably best seating as the restaurant was full and crowded. Hence, it was fairly noisy as well but we could still hear ourselves. The décor of this new Hintonburg resto is unusual (a whitewash feel) but pleasing.
We started with a shared tomato tatin which was remarkable and the homemade bread was a nice touch. For mains, a nicely prepared (rare-​ish) and presented duck breast with braised endive and some sort of potato along with the plat bistro for me – a «pulled» short rib and blue cheese calzone (delicious combo!) with a simple salad. Eyeing a few other near-​by diners, it was obvious that everyone was really enjoying their meals. Hats off to chef Evan Pritchard.
The service was good although the friendly barman might have been just a touch too chatty — but he still got a good tip! I thought that the prices were quite reasonable — for the meal described with two glasses of a tasty cremant and tax, about $ 75. Well worth it.

This small gem of a restaurant is as good as it gets in Ottawa. The food is superbly flavoured, flawlessly presented and dare I say it –underpriced. I went there for a going away lunch with a friend and was surprised that the place was packed on a Tuesday. Our server was knowledgable, friendly and professional. I couldn’t find one thing to complain about. The pricing was more than fair and the food was perfect.

My new favorite Ottawa restaurant!
This place is still under the foodie radar but it won’t be for long. It was packed on a Thursday night.

The menu is diverse and offers a wide range of options including wood fire oven pizza, duck breast, lamb shank, steak and seafood. Many of the items are prepared with a Mediterranean flare.
I ordered the chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms served over a mixture of cabbage and bacon. It was divine. My friend ordered a steak (rare) which was served with a baked cauliflower dish. Her steak was cooked perfectly. Our appetizers (squash and truffle soup and shrimp salad) were tasty too.
The wine list was developed with care. There are lots of great options, many of which under $ 40 per bottle. You can bring your own wine for $ 15 per bottle.
Our server, Steph, was friendly and efficient.
Move this place to the top of your «must try» list of Ottawa restaurants.