Dunn’s Famous Deli

Came here for a late breakfast. Good prices were a bit high and a concern was the limited options of soup and salad combos. We wanted to have a light breakfast and it seems soup and salads sold separately were prices high individually. We felt we had to order the breakfast food which were quite over prices for eggs and potatoes. Overall we weren’t as impressive a with the service, the options and the prices. I just we should have stuck to getting smoked meat as it is their specialty.

Came for its smoked meat burger. Not bad!

I had lunch and ordered the smoked meat on rye. It was very good, service was prompt and friendly. I would definitely return here next time I am downtown for lunch. The price was very good for the amount of meat they put on the sandwich I could barely finish it and it was just under $ 10.

Hum.
It seems like Ottawa-​folks can be pretty harsh with their reviews?!
I thought Dunn’s was A-​OK. We met some friends there as it is easy for them to park and they needed something that their jet-​lagged children would be able to enjoy too.
Why I liked it:
— The server was such a sweetie. If anything he was slightly over attentive… he was a star with the kids!
— The smoked meat sandwiches are good (we tried a super combo and a club roll)
— The portions were ridiculously large! It is hard to get your mouth around a sandwich that big! There was no way I could finish that much food… I was still full the following morning.
The meat sarnies and friendly staff means this place definitely deserves more than the measly 1 or 2 stars bestowed by so many Unilocalers in previous reviews.

After helping my wife move into her new abode not far from here, I went to get us lunch. I’ve been to Ottawa almost countless times now, but haven’t really frequented the Elgin area of the Golden Triangle.
Amongst the many pubs and wide variety of stores both local and of the chain variety, I spotted a Dunn’s. I’ve only been to Schwartz’s in Montréal once, so I was eager to try out their main, franchising competitor.
It’s a good size inside, with bay doors that open up onto the street. The take out area is on the right side, and I quickly perused their menu before settling on the jumbo smoked meat platter to split with my other half. It was just a few minutes wait before I had a hefty paper bag in hand and was headed to my wife’s apartment.
Unloading the bag of goodies on the bed due to a temporary lack of a suitable table and chairs, we dug right in. The large container of fries was alright; hand cut, they lost most of any crispness they might have had while being transported. Delivery/​take out isn’t kind to most foods, but with fries you might as well not bother.
The main event meat came as a large, 16oz sandwich cut in half, which made for good sharing. I just picked away at the meat instead of trying to dislocate my jaw to tackle it as a sandwich. The meat was super moist and tender, although I’d say I prefer what I remember of the slightly more potent flavour of Schwartz’s. Coleslaw made for a good pairing with the rich meat, and a dash of mustard here and there helped cut through it.
As I visit the area more of the next several months, I look forward to trying out more spots on Elgin, but I’ll definitely have to swing back to Dunn’s for my smoked meat needs.

Very disappointing that they are not 24 hours despite what their large sign is. Decent food though

Mum and I had planned on meeting up at Dunn’s for lunch for about 3 weeks. She wanted a smoked meat sandwich SO BAD! It’s all I’ve heard about for weeks.
I was expecting it to be really busy at 11:30 on a Wednesday, but there were a surprising amount of empty tables. That being said, I was seated right away and our server was over before mum even got into the restaurant. I ordered a drink, nothing fancy, ice water with lemon. He brought over two writhing moments of mum entering the restaurant. Which was a nice touch.
Took our orders promptly and went off to the kitchen. While we’re were waiting for our meals I took the trek up two flights of stairs to the ladies room. Slightly treacherous, as there is construction (I think) going on in the hallways upstairs.
The bathroom itself looked fine when I first entered, but there was no TP in the stall I chose, went to switch and found that the bathroom needed some maintenance.
Upon returning downstairs I mentioned quietly and politely to one of the servers that it needed some TLC and had a lack lustre response of «really?» To which I said, «yes, thank you». Why would I say so if it didn’t?!
Our meals were delivered very quickly and were perfectly done. I had ordered the classic eggs Benedict (yes, it was lunch, but I can’t help it. I love breakfast!) and mum had the smoked meat on rye with fries.
Eggs Benny was fabulous. Perfectly done eggs, just the right amount of hollandaise sauce and the hash browns were the best I’ve had! Not too greasy, not too hard, perfectly seasoned :)
Mum really enjoyed her smoked meat though she didn’t love the fries, they looked over greased and kind of limp.
Our server was quick with the bill and left us with smiles on our faces. If I had known the eggs Benny were this good when I lived down the street, I would have been here every weekend.

I only wish I had of read the reviews on here before going. Two stars, only because the guy who served me was very nice. The food? No thanks!
I hate when I’ve burnt that many calories and I’m not satisfied.

Great 2-​egg breakfast special for an amazing price. Staff was friendly and attentive, and the food came quickly. I was in and out in 30 minutes.

I came here for lunch with a bunch of friends from work. I heard the smoked meat as I was told that was the draw here so thats what I got. Although I’m not a huge fan of smoked meat I do enjoy it and have had Montréal smoked meat at Reubens in Montréal. Obviously this doesn’t even come close but it was alright. If you want to get a caesar salad with your smoked meat sandwich expect to pay $ 2 more. A pickle will cost you the same.
A buddy mine ordered the poutine topped with loads of smoked meat. Although I didn’t get a taste of it, it looked delicious!
Service was prompt and our server at that time was very good. Our food came out at a reasonable time.

Most overrated place to eat in all of Ottawa!
How this place makes it on to Restaurant Guides is a mystery to me? As someone else pointed out: location, location, location! People will come here no matter what, so they don’t need to fix what they don’t see as «broke».
Horrible service & terrible food. You always seem to have to wait 20 minutes for your bill while the Staff hang out chatting. The Servers are rude and condescending also, as if you’re inconveniencing them with any requests from condiments to your bill.
This place packs it in after the bars close, and the food is passable for «after bar drunk food», but not much better. I always tell people to walk South a couple of blocks toward the Elgin Street Diner instead.

Bien pour le smoked meat /​la viande fumée !
Cela ressemble plus à une cuisine de type fast food. Le sandwich au smoked meat est bon mais le reste est plutôt fade. Le gâteau au chocolat et le gâteau au fromage à la fraise (cheese cake) sont décevants !
Correct pour manger rapidement !

I’ll admit that WIll G’s photo of the philly cheesteak poutine looks pretty incredible, and I will likely come back to try that.
With that said, Duns has been relegated to late-​night-​only for me. The food is always a bit bland, bagels and meat a bit dry. If you’re on Elgin St and it’s not 4am, just go somewhere else! Lots of better choices in the area.
2.5÷5, bumped up to ³⁄₅ as at 3 or 4am the convenience makes up for other weak areas.

Went back here for breakfast, but I still wanted the smoked meat, which Dunn’s is more known for, so I got the Bagel Benedict. It comes with the standard poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, but substitutes the English muffin with a bagel and adds smoked meat, with a side of homefries and some fruit.
I wasn’t in much of a rush, so I didn’t keep track of how fast the service was, but when I got my order, I was so excited about how huge it was! It was a gigantic plate of food — two thick slices of smoked meat for each of the two bagel halves, lots of hollandaise, and the other half of the plate filled with homefries. I have to say that the potatoes were the best part, not too fried or greasy. I really disappointed with the rest of the meal, however. The smoked meat was dry, but not as dry as the bagel, and the poached eggs were too hard and tasted like vinegar, which they clearly used to much in the poaching process. While I do love my hollandaise, this was bland and spilled onto my fruit, which may not have been so bad since there wasn’t much flavor to the sauce to begin with, but the oil stuck to it and the plate heated the fruit so it wasn’t very appetizing at all. I ate as much of it as I could since I hate wasting food and money, so I was full enough, but absolutely unsatisfied.

I’ve read about Dunn’s in various places — and I knew they got mixed reviews, however, they seem like an ‘institution’ so it was a place I had bookmarked to go to. The opportunity came during Doors Open, as we needed lunch and there in front of us was Dunn’s.
In we went. On the surface, things looked ok as we were seated. Staff were polite and attended to us right away.
The menu is decent — and there’s enough on it anyone should be able to find something to eat. However, they’re known for their smoked meat, so that’s what we ordered — a combo and a single sandwich.
As we waited, I took a trip to the washroom, to wash my hands. Ugh. Wish I hadn’t. I think my hands were dirtier for the trip. As I walked up the stairs, you can see that area gets little attention. Stairs were filthy, and hadn’t been swept in some time. At the top of the stairs, you can see the result of poor installation of the floors and base-​tiling (which have fallen off). The utility cupboard door was open — and it looked disgusting. In the bathroom doors were falling off, missing locks etc. Having seen this, I’m now looking at the restaurant with a much more critical eye. (Believe it or not restaurant owners, bathrooms and back halls matter! If they are in good shape, you can assume the kitchen is too.)
Returning to my seat, I can see signs of decay, with poorly upkept walls, filthy floors etc. Wishing we hadn’t picked here to eat at this point.
Lunch came — disappointing to say the least. For $ 15 for a combo, we got a smoked meat sandwich, a pathetically small amount of fries, a medium sized pickle and a really bad cole-​slaw. For $ 8 I got a smoked meat sandwich — and no pickle! I thought the pricing on the combo for what we got was out of whack. On top of that, the bread was dry — and my sandwich had been made with two radically different pieces of bread, so it was hard to hold it together.
Would I return: No. Between the low value and high filth, it’s not worth returning to.
Would I recommend: No.

It seems as though anyone who dares make a negative comment about smoked meat in this country is damned for all eternity.
Let’s separate a few things:
#1 Dunn’s has OK smoked meat. It’s decent. Nothing like the quality stuff you’ll find in Montréal or elsewhere, but it is good.
#2 This particular location lacks quality on all levels. From the «salad» that was made up of soggy, old vegetables and onion cores (yeah, you read that), to the so-​so service (hostess, server… entire staff), it’s clear that few people in this restaurant give a S**t.
Since this location is right on Elgin and smack-​dab in the middle of Ottawa’s tourist area, they likely get a lot of business. It’s not deserved, but I can see why they don’t give a flying f**k — people will come here no matter what
#3 Their GroupOn deals are crap. At first it looks like a bargain, but they limit the options severely (no breakfast, no kids meals, no specials etc.). In my view, this is just being cheap.
Go here if you want… I wouldn’t.
PS. Also, they have wi-​fi, but they don’t give the public access. How forward thinking.

The worst place I have ever been to, I have never been treated like that.
No one picked my order in more than a half an hour, I asked for help and the were not only disrespectful they even had the guts to tell «YOU CAN GO IF A DON’T LIKE IT», even the supposed administrator had this stupid attitude.
Of course I just went somewhere else.
Really mad about it.
Can not believe they treat people like that.

Dunn’s excels and treating customers with contempt. Food is mediocre at best. I would never go back to this location. Do yourself a favour and continue down Elgin to Elgin Street Diner.

Boy, you Canadians are a lil harsh with your reviews on this place, aren’t you, eh? I’ve been to all of the most famous delis in North America (Brents in Southern California, Cantor’s in Southern California, Schwartz’s in Montréal, Katz in NYC, Harold’s in New Jersey and Caplansky’s in Toronto) and while this place doesn’t hold a tune to those, it sure isn’t terrible, like many of you write.
I’m from Southern California and visited here in June on vacation. We came twice, in fact and while the service wasn’t out of this world, it wasn’t bad, either. Nor was the food. The first night we came at Midnight after eating dinner, BeaverTails and having two drinks, just to try it. We ordered the smoked meat poutine and it wasn’t bad. Sure didn’t seem authentic, like what we had in Lower Old Quebec, but it did have it’s strengths, namely fair smoked meat and decent fries.
We returned for lunch two days later to sample the Smoked Meat sandwich. It wasn’t at par with the previously mentioned delis, but was only a notch down. And, for all those who complain about the price of smoked meat, I’m guessing you’ve never really been to a true deli that offers premium smoked meat, like this. And, the sandwich was big enough for two. Take it easy on this place, guys. It’s no 5-​star experience, but does hit the note when you lower the bar a bit.

Another Groupon experience! We got $ 30 of food for our $ 15 purchase. Easy to spend that much on a meal in most places these days, especially for sit down service when it’s delivered to your table. Here, an overstuffed smoked meat or pastrami sandwhich on rye bread, with a few greasy fries, a sour pickle spear and some highly vinegary ‘slaw comes with a beverage for $ 14.99. In future, I will have to remember to ask the waiter to see to it that the top and bottom slices of bread are both sliced in the same direction… Picking up this sandwich is a test of your dexterity! It’s a miracle half the meat didn’t end up in my lap! Otherwise, wear a bib.
I’ve had better smoked meat; this is no Shwartz’s — even though Dunn’s claims it’s roots from Montréal. They’ve been in business since 1927. Uniquely, this outlet is open 24 hours. The curb appeal of this place is the front windows as big as doors, thrown open due to the good weather. That fabulous smell emanating from the kitchen and swarming the street as you approach is very inviting! Sitting inside is almost like sitting on a patio, without the sun scorching you, or leaves falling into your plate.
The ironies of this visit: we waltz in, and there was Myer Dunn himself sitting in the restaurant. We had an over zealous waiter who kept calling us «Miss» and «Sir», and he shook our hands afterwards!

The first time I came here was during the listeria outbreak years ago. YIKES!!! My friend and I came by and got deathly ill but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t from the food. The thing is, I never returned since then.
We recently came by for an early cheap breakfast. Breakfast is breakfast so you can’t really screw it up but it wasn’t particularly great. It’s alright if you’re dropping in for a cheap breakfast and you need to get some eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast into the belly.
If you’re coming here for the smoked meat hoping to get something like Schwartz’s in Montréal you’ll be seriously disappointed. Not only would you be disappointed but I’m going to go as far as saying that it’s really not that good. I haven’t found a good smoked meat place in town so stick to the deli sandwiches around Ottawa.