Le Café

The quality of the food is high and I like the setting, in the National Arts Centre overlooking the Rideau Canal. That said, it isn’t exceptional for the price. I’ve enjoyed my meals here but never particularly remembered them a day or two later. For the price, the menu should be more inspired and meals at a higher level.

Relying on past experience, we went to Le Café at the NAC for our 25^th anniversary. So sad to say it was a shadow of it’s former self. Granted, it was a Tuesday night with all theatres dark, so that may have made a difference. Two of us had the East Coast Shellfish Bake, and one had the Chickpea Encrusted Chicken. We found the that the cassoulet in the shellfish plate overpowered the seafood. On its own, it might have been acceptable with some strong bread, but I feel the seafood should have tasted like fresh seafood. Instead, the lobster was chewy and flavourless, the scallops were well cooked but also without flavour. The mussels also had no taste. My wife found the chicken bland, although the spicy sauce was powerful. For the price, we all agreed that the local rotisserie chicken restaurant would have been tastier, and a much better value. When we arrived, all patrons were being directed to the patio outside, and we seemed to cause a consternation when we asked to be seated inside. The hostess had to ask someone if it was allowed. We were not asked. Later, we saw one bar server pour a glass of wine for a waiter, who sipped at it in our view. The final clincher was when our server asked me if I had made a mistake in not adding «service» to my credit card charge. (We have always recognized service with cash, an old habit, but he did not wait to find this out.) The young lady who bussed our table was friendly and polite, the hostess kindly called «goodnight» to us from another room as we left Kurt Waldele was turning in his grave, bless him.

We ate lunch at Le Café and really enjoyed the food and our experience. It was truly nice to have a Canadian meal in the sense all the food was sourced locally or in Canada. I had the BC wild salmon and my friend had the tempura which was really like fish and chips with the chips replaced with oysters. He enjoyed it even more than I enjoyed my salmon. We had a wonderful bottle of Chablis as well.
Despite arriving 30 minutes late for our reservation and 15 minutes before they closed we were heartily welcomed, never rushed and told we could stay all afternoon. Service was quite attentive.
We sat outside right beside the canal as an added bonus. Really a great experience and meal. The only negative was parking in the bowels of the NAC and finding your way to the restaurant but I would not let stop me from going again — and I will.

Took part in their Mothers’ Day brunch. I was disappointed. The food was fine (roast beef was v. good in fact) but the seating was very bad. We were placed right next to the buffet with the stack of plates literally three inches from our head. Several guests just reached over our table to grab their plate before serving themselves.
It’s not an appropriate place to seat anyone (except perhaps guests with mobility problems who ask to be close to the food) and I was disappointed that we were offered that seating since I had made the reservation weeks before.
*Edited to add*: The restaurant contacted me subsequently to apologize for the unpleasant experience and offered to host us again for a different menu. I thought that was very thoughtful. I plan on taking them up on it when my mother is available.

Once you navigate the silly dim halls of the NAC to get to Le café, you are treated to a fine view of the Rideau canal and an elegant but slightly underwhelming décor. We had dinner prior to a performance of the jersey boys to celebrate my sister’s 50^th. If you book a reservation before a 7 30 show, they will insist that you arrive at 5 30 and I suggest you go along with this. The place gets quite busy pre — show. The service was, as usual, attentive and well intentioned, but with a slight sense of rush. Le café offers a fine seasonal menu and our group especially enjoyed the halibut. Its not the coolest or hippest place in town, but the convenience before a show and the reliable menu are hard to beat. Of course, this is a rather expensive choice, so i recommend saving Le café for special occasions and performances that you especially want to enjoy the entire evening in one location.
As an additional note, i have hosted business lunches at Le café on a few occasions. The set lunch menu offers decent value and the setting is just as good for a business occasion as an evening performance outing.

It was a lovely brunch buffet. I like testing the waters at restaurants with a brunch buffet. Show me a restaurant with a brunch that costs more than $ 20 and manages to disappoint and that’s a restaurant that will be a dinner rip-​off. Besides, boring buffet = boring chef; stale buffet = mysterious leftovers. Le Café doesn’t disappoint. True, some dishes were a little dull or just imperfect but some were just great. The vegetable dishes, were great. Let’s just ignore the mixed-​up labels (unless you’ve got food allergies…) I’m definitely going back.

Finding the restaurant required some attentive sign watching as we navigated the dimly lit halls of the National Arts Centre. A stairwell, followed by a turn, another hallway, followed by a series a stairs and small dining area followed by the restaurant entrance. A bit confusing but we found it.
The window behind the greeter revealed Le Café, and at the back there was outdoor seating near the Rideau Canal.
The former sous chef of the Le Café is now the chef. The quality of the food was good — all the items were prepared which gave the impression taste really matters.

We stopped for a quick dinner before going to the symphony and had not been there for dinner for a few years. Apparently they are now under new management, but it seemed pretty much the same as before. We were seated one row over from the window and when the table next to the window came open, our waiter asked if we would like a window seat. When we agreed, he simply slid out the «used» window table, pulled back our chairs and slid our table over to the window. Presto chango, no muss, no fuss. The service was generally better than I remember it, although there was a bit of confusion in getting me my second glass of wine — I had to ask twice.
I had the gnocchi as a starter, with thinly sliced strips of pancetta and mushrooms. All in all, I found the dish a bit too oily and the gnocchi just a bit undercooked. They did redeem themselves with the mains. I had veal tenderloin with grilled shrimps on a bed of mashed potatoes and fennel. The meat was cooked exactly as I ordered, the sauce was delicious. My wife had the vegetarian spaetzle and declared it to be delicious. No complaints re portion size.
Le Café is not cheap. One starter, two mains, three glasses of wine and two coffees came to $ 125 before the tip. In terms of value for money, there are better spots in town. But it sure is convenient if you want to park once, eat and take in a concert all in the space of a few hours.

Had a good lunch experience here. The food is solid and the atmosphere is nice — a little on the formal side but not in a stuffy way.
While the service was good overall, our particular server had an «I know better than you do» attitude about the wine list and a few other issues. It was annoying.
If we had better service, this would have been a four star lunch experience.

Went there for brunch. The presentation and location were impeccable. The rest of it: peccable. The coffee was tepid and tasteless, the orange juice from concentrate, the bacon and eggs cold. the sushi rolls cheap and outsourced. For $ 30 dollars a person, these people should be embarrassed. In Ottawa, you’ll find better brunches on Elgin Street for less; don’t waste your time and money.

Nice restaurant tucked inside the National Arts Centre.
Decided to have brunch here for my birthday. Called the day before and was told that everything was booked for brunch.
I called again the morning of my birthday, and was able to make reservations right away. Perhaps someone called out? No idea.
A little tip– if you park at the National Arts Centre and bring your parking stub in, they will verify it and parking is free. Don’t lose your ticket!
This place is gorgeous. Perfect place for an art lover like myself. From the garage you have to go up a couple flights of stairs. Le café is easy enough to find, you just have to follow the signs.
It’s best if you dress up a bit, not anything extremely fancy, though.
Upon entering, you will see lots of paintings and print art that occupy the space on the huge white walls.
You get a nice view from the inside, with large, clear glass windows, that allow a lot of light to enter the restaurant. Definitely adds on to the brunch feel, although it gets a bit bright if you are seated at a table right next to the windows.
Their bar by the entrance is really pretty! Blue lights everywhere. Extremely classy.
The servers were excellent and extremely polite.
Moving on to their brunch menu. most of their food was good, but it wasn’t amazing, like I was expecting.
Their salad bar rocks. Probably my favorite part of this restaurant. Loved the greens and dressing. The dressing was so rich and creamy. It paired well with the croutons. Also being served at the salad bar was sushi, which was not that great (I suggest skipping that). The smoked salmon was great, and so was their thinly sliced roast beef. Oh, and the bread! Excellent. Butter balls to accompany it.
You will be asked if you want orange juice, coffee, water, or all three. Water is served in a beautiful glass bottle, which is then poured into your glass by your server. When our coffee was delivered to us, they forgot to give us some cream and sugar (since it does not come on the table), so don’t forget to ask for it!
As for their brunch menu. the Singaporean noodles were horrible– very, very bland. Had a bit of spice to it but the noodles felt so dry. Their general tso’s was cooked very well, but it was a bit salty. The dumplings served were actually very enjoyable, bite size too. The bok choy was cooked nicely and great with the meat.
They had a dish called mashed potatoes, but the potatoes were actually served on TOP of what looked and tasted like rolled out pasta in the shape of a burrito with white cream sauce on top, and filled with spinach and cheese inside. This was amazing! Do get that, and lots of it.
I really enjoyed the poached egg that was served on top of an english muffin. Cooked to perfection, and it was put together beautifully. Loved that the yolk was runny and complimented the english muffin well.
Your typical breakfast food was served towards the end, which included scrambled eggs and bacon.
Now, for their dessert menu, which I always, always, save room for: not a big selection. You’ve got what looked like cream filled pastries that looked like mini burgers, two types of custards, a small pie type dessert with a chocolate pudding filling topped with an orange peel, and this while ball on a stick. I seriously did not know what to think of the last one.
The cream pastries were honestly not too special. The custards were alright, but the mini pie was excellent. The white ball on the stick. it was almost like a rice pudding inside, covered in white chocolate. Not at all what i would have expected. I didn’t enjoy it.
Overall high rating for the excellent service, atmosphere, and the salad bar. The main brunch dishes and dessert were good, but still a bit of a disappointment, considering it was over $ 30/​person including taxes.
Will I come back? Probably not, but it’s definitely once of those places you should at least try once.
Tons of high quality pictures for you, as usual :)
Happy eating!

I had heard that Michael Blackie of Perspectives had recently been hired as executive chef here, and therefore thought that partaking in Mother’s Day brunch with family would be the perfect opportunity to try this restaurant.
The restaurant garners 3 stars, in my opinion. The food is more creative and has a definite Asian flair than your standard brunch buffet, and quite a few of the items are of high quality and well executed. The dessert is the shining star of the meal. However, my primary complaint had to do with the service, which needs to be improved tremendously.
When we made the reservation for the 11:30 seating for Mother’s Day, we were told that our party would only be permitted to dine for one hour to prepare for the next seating at 1:00 pm. Slightly miffed, it wasn’t enough to put me off trying the place out, even when they later called to change our reservation to noon. When we arrived promptly, there was a bit of a wait to be seated but we relaxed at our table after the hostess took our coats. We sat down to wait for a server to order our drinks.
The problem was, we didn’t have a regular server. During the brunch, there were a number of staff that flitted around the entire room doing things like refilling coffee, clearing plates, etc. Tables were not assigned to waitstaff so you had to catch someone’s eye or flag them down if you needed anything in particular. No one noticed that we had sat down and we waited for nearly ten minutes before a server appeared with water, and then another five for coffee/​decaf coffee. Milk for coffee was requested twice (the first request forgotten). By that time, 20 minutes had gone by. Orange juice was only obtained halfway through the meal, because that was the only time we could flag down another server again.
We finally squared away our drinks and approached the buffet. It was somewhat self-​explanatory, with the cold appetizers placed along the bar, the hot food in the centre tables, and the desserts displayed along the back wall. Having eaten at the Brookstreet for their regular brunch several years ago, I certainly recognized Blackie’s hand in many of the hot dishes: polenta, banana pancakes, and his signature General Blackie’s chicken are repeat items on the menu.
I approached the bar to examine the cold appetizers. There were no tongs for either the tomato-​bocconcini salad or the AAA beef/​noodle salad (and later the french pastries), so I inquired how I could obtain these items. The server behind the bar, who was in charge of carving the hot roast beef, weirdly used chopsticks to one-​by-​one pick out the pieces and put them on my plate. I was beginning to feel like the food items were gold bricks to be doled out sparingly. Luckily, there were tongs available for the rest of the items on the cold bar and I was able to serve myself freely to the smoked salmon, seared tuna, and salad.
Cold items were hit or miss: the sushi was even worse than grocery-​store sushi, it was completely inedible. The fish was curled up, it was so dry, and it had fallen off my rice. I halfheartedly put it in my mouth and confirmed it was awful, so I spit it out. After that, I didn’t touch the sushi rolls at all. The noodles in the beef salad were a little too hard or undercooked for my taste. However, I was told the AAA beef was nicely done and I enjoyed the peppery yellow tail tuna. The highlights of the appetizers were the whole, flaked, smoked salmon as well as the salt cod and potato chowder (with bacon). Both of those were bursting with flavour and were delicious.
Moving onto the hot food, generally these were done satisfactorily. The polenta was slightly grainy but had a nice cheese flavour, although the bits of duck on top were quite dry. General Blackie’s chicken was crispy fried and coated in a slightly-​sweetened tasty hoisin-​flavoured (?) sauce. Scrambled eggs and the peppery mashed potatoes were really good, but the banana pancakes were highly disappointing and tasted salty and nothing like bananas. The lamb was inconsistent; some pieces moist while others extremely tough. Steamed veggies were uninspired and underseasoned.
Dessert was a vast array of delicate french confections, coconut tapioca puddings, chocolate crème brûlées and mousse cakes. Except for the mediocre croissants and apple turnovers, everything was melt-​in-​your-​mouth exquisite and upped the food rating for me.
Then at 1:30 we were brusquely asked to leave the restaurant to make way for the next seating. We were made to feel like delinquents who had overstayed their welcome but it still took over 10 minutes for the server to ring up our bill and another 5 minutes for the hostess to (incorrectly) locate our coats while the maitress d’ gave us a hairy eyeball.
Customers should be allowed to enjoy a meal for which they paid $ 140 (for a table of four), especially after problems in the restaurant’s service and execution are to blame for the customer’s «slow» dining experience. Frustrating.