The Standard

We had brunch. Service was friendly but slow. We had omelette and eggs Benedict.
Both were not hot and not enough ingredients in them. Wouldn’t recommended.

Had brunch here one Sunday morning! The food was delicious, especially the potatoes! Would highly recommend this spot for a morning brunch on the weekend! Very comfortable atmosphere and lovely booths to sit in!

For starters, the inside is quite nicely decorated and the booths are very comfortable. But what I absolutely love about this place is their rich selection of drinks. They offer much more than just the typical domestic and imported beers at other restaurants. They offer a lot of locally brewed beers which are often on sale too. $ 14.00 pitchers of Kitchesippi on Wednesdays! They also offer a large variety of shots and they are so delicious! Highly recommend the Apple Pie!
Food is also pretty good, not to mention that some appetizers are $ 6.00 until 6 PM!!! (Nachos are delicious and filling!).
My only complaint with this place is that the patio they have outside is so small and the seating is rather uncomfortable as a result. My knees were hitting my friend across the table because there is such little room.

The best way to describe this place is «meh». Sat on the patio which was nice but the tables are incredibly narrow so I wouldn’t suggest sitting out there with more than 2 people if you’re ordering food. The service was great and very friendly but the food left much to be desired. I ordered the $ 15 pint and pizza special and didn’t even finish the bacon and brie pizza. It was nothing to write home about.

Love this place. Good vibe and good music. It’s a bar not a club, so there’s no dance floor which I really like. It’s an older more mature but very fun crowd. Did I mention how amazing the music is? They also have this really cool drink they serve in a pineapple. This is my favourite bar in Ottawa.

Both of us were very happy with our meals and the atmosphere. The fries were very memorable!

Brunch acceptable sans véritablement mériter le détour. Pas de plainte, mais pas d’extase non plus autour de la table quant au contenu de l’assiette. La bière était excellente, le service efficace, la salle agréable. Pas si mal donc.

I went to Standard to celebrate someones birthday with a large group of friends and it was my second time there. My first visit to Standard was a little unfair to provide a review on because of how little time I spent there and not being able to experience the whole bar and atmosphere.
Standard is a one floor bar/​restaurant on Elgin street and is magnificent and beautiful in terms of the ambiance and atmosphere. There are tables everywhere and a small bar area where there is also a very, very small dancefloor area.
Pros: Great food, AMAZING music (great DJ’s almost every night), service is phenominal, plenty of seating area, great place to expereince new and cool things in the city if you are sick of the normal Pub101 type venue.
Cons: Insanely busy at 11 so your table will no doubt become overwhelmed by drunk people who will crowd you which is more of a result from the floorplan which I have a massive problem with. For a bar with no dancefloor they sure do blast the music like every other place in the city, I would love to one day find a bar in the city that doesnt feel the need to blast the music as soon as 11 hits so that people can enjoy the music and still have a conversation. Terrible placement of the bar so close to the tables but there are a ton of spacing issues at the bar.

Always a food or drink special going on and it has a very laid back classically cool atmosphere. The prices are fair and the staff friendly. This place is the local hangout and everyone is pretty cool and eclectic! Love it more every time I go.

I’ve been here a few times for drinks and once for dinner with some colleagues. First of all our waitress forgot to take the order of half the people at the table — she just walked off after taking about ½ the orders. Not sure what that’s about? Has never happened to me before. When the food finally came out it was average at best — portions of a higher-​end restaurant without the actual taste/​quality of an up-​scale venue. I have no particular desire to return here for dinner with so many better options nearby.

Dropped in after a less-​than-​stellar meal elsewhere and the standard saved the night. The cocktails were excellent, notably the old fashioned and gin drinks, and enjoyed the vibe and the clientele. Had a snack of chips and dips to go with the bevvies, which hit the spot. Have had brunch in the past and when they open the windows in the summer it’s hard to beat.

B

At first glance, their appetizer menu looks no different from the blasé, overpriced pub fare found on Elgin Street (I think one person/​corporation must own the entire street). If you dig a little deeper in to the Entrees and skip the appetizers, there are yummy things that await.
Last night I had the mac and cheese with bacon. Very cheesy and bacony and sizzling hot. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a bit rich at 15 $ but it did come with salad (really?).
Also excellent are the Standard’s $ 5 cosmos. Go with the classic — I get extra lime. Garnished with a cranberry, they’re not cloyingly sweet or terribly sour, just perfectly refreshing. My colleague had the mango and she felt like 1.) there wasn’t enough alcohol and 2. it was too sickly sweet.
I think I would go back to the Standard for another event and would recommend it for group events.

Only been here once, but I think this might be one of the best restaurants in Ottawa, and certainly the best diner. Certainly beats Elgin Street, Zaks, Dunns, and a half dozen others I’ve been to.
Had an amazing breakfast here. Had the Heavy Head, and thought every part of it was delicious, amazing and impressive. The salad was tasty enough I ate every bit of it, the pancakes had all real maple syrup, and best of all the potatoes were sublime. Not just delicious but remarkable. Service great, and you can tell they are making a really sincere effort there. I didnt have any, but I was very tempted by what seemed like quality drinks and their 79 $ Veuve Cliquot and 5 $ Mimosas, I was entertained by their calling a Bloody Caesar, the «Breakfast of Champions»
Stands out not only on Elgin street, but in Ottawa as a whole.

Came for brunch while staying downtown for a wedding, a good sized group of us were accommodated quickly and the foot was pretty decent. It didn’t blow my mind ni a way that makes me think «5 star», but it was a good meal. $ 5 mimosas in an assortment of flavours were appreciated by my wife. I just drank copious amounts of the ho-​hum coffee.

I thoroughly enjoy this place. The bartenders, Ian in particular, is always attentive and provides great service. The atmosphere is neat — a great place to lounge and enjoy drinks with friends. A great surprise is that the food is also really good and fairly priced — you’ve got to try the pizza.
An added bonus is the drink specials — jack and jäger are often on sale for $ 4 — and there are always DJs at night that have a good handle for what they’re doing.

SAY WHAT NOW!!!
The Standard is on Elgin. Ooh fancy. They seem to think they are the business, but they are no where near it I’m afraid.
$ 6 at the DOOR. It’s fine at 11pm, it’s not funny at 9pm. Please take a seat STAN. You have a working cash only bar and you need a door cover pour un resto-​lounge? And why 6 bucks? Why are you making us break bills though? Ask for 5. Hell, ask for $ 10! You ask for $ 6 and I’m ultra-​aware of your attempt to walk away with (drunk) people’s change.
The bar is an ISSUE. You can’t order here. You can’t line up there. You can’t swipe a card. You can’t get drinks sent to the table. It’s like THE HUNGER GAMES to get juiced over here! The bartenders are hella rude sometimes, but there are a few good ones.
The DJ needs to wake up and invest in a home internet connection. We all love old school but at this point it’s not even deliberate. When you throw on a track that’s not old and not new, again and again, and never any that are fresh, we know you are just not on top of your game.
All this to say this is no dive, you can have an ok time at the Standard, but it’s really nothing special. Pretty sure we’ve all experienced way better.
Never had the food so can’t comment on that, only on the night life.
I RECOMMEND: the B52 shot if you have a sweet tooth like me. Don’t ask, just swig. You’ll thank me later.
EXTRA TIP: New lounge next door opened and they aim to please. Might check them out next time.

I can’t really speak much about the food since I haven’t eaten here yet, but I can speak to having a drink (or 4) with some friends here on a Tuesday night. Yes, I do realize this might not be applicable to most people…
So The Standard has wicked specials every day and I think it’s only worth going when these are in effect (otherwise it would be too expensive).
When we went here last Tuesday, miniburgers were $ 2.50, jagerbombs were $ 4 and house martinis/​bar rail was $ 5. I only had the martinis and they are quite sweet, but they also contained 2.5oz of alcohol, so I wasn’t complaining.
We were seated at a booth and both the waitress and the bartender were really nice to us (maybe because it was a community-​type event that we were hosting there). It wasn’t too busy, so our waitress was very attentive (she’d be there at the last drop to ask us if we wanted more). On top of that the atmosphere was pleasant and the music was decent.
My only big peeve is perhaps the mirrors in the women’s washroom. Seriously. What is up with that? Floor-​length mirrors inside the stall and right beside the toilet… I’m not certain about other women, but I sure don’t fancy looking at myself as I go about my business. Rather creepy actually…

For an establishment that boasts higher class pub food, I found it to be just average, as did my guests. Service was good, though, thankfully, and the bartender deserves a huge thank you (which I delivered in person) for obviously caring about the comfort of my party.
Burgers and pizzas were just fine, and my bison burger had a small piece of something my teeth couldn’t get through. Thankfully, I was smart enough to stop trying. Made the rest of the burger uncomfortable to eat, because I worried that I might happen upon another such piece. Shudder.
And they were out of the dessert we wanted, so dinner didn’t end on a high note. Oh well. Nothing special here. Unlikely I’ll be back.

I came to The Standard last night to celebrate my best friend’s upcoming nuptials and had the best time. Our reservation was for 12 people at 7:30, and we got there just after 7 and they sat us right away — love. Our waitress was awesome — super bubbly and funny and ended up photobombing a bunch of our pictures.
I really like the atmosphere here — large open windows, comfy leather booths and dark wood and a huge bar. It wasn’t uncomfortably packed, but definitely busy for a Monday.
One of the best things about this place is that they have amazing deals every day of the week. We strategically went on a Monday for «Muddled Mondays» — $ 5 mojitos and half price appetizers. My first mojito (a champagne mojito), was a little too strong, so I passed it off to the bride. My second (pineapple mojito!) was absolutely delicious. We ordered a bunch of apps — the standard role (which I actually enjoyed — just don’t expect sushi-​quality), calamari, fries, quesadillas (spicy!), and nachos. I actually enjoyed everything, but the calamari was my favourite.
Our server was pretty good with keeping us with us, especially because the place was pretty busy. Towards the end of our evening we did end up having to wait quite awhile or for our last round and the bill, but overall she was pretty great.
This place was wonderful for drinks and apps, but I’ll have to go back to check out what their dinner is like. I absolutely recommend The Standard for a girls night out, (or guys night out… we saw quite a bit of that!) or for drinks and apps. Check out their nightly specials — it seems there’s something for everyone :)

I went to the Standard for the first time last night. It really packed when we arrived at about 7:30, and stayed that way throughout the night, with people in their late 20s to early 30s. The restaurant was dimly lit with music playing in the background. The lights got dimmer and the music got louder at about 10. We were told that it was about half an hour wait, but we had a lot of time to kill, so we didn’t mind when they sat us at the bar until a table for two opened up.
We were given two menus, one for food and one for drinks. It took me a little while to go through the drink menu because I’m just indecisive like that, but the bartender was really patient and he looked pretty busy serving other people, anyway, so we were definitely in no rush. My boyfriend ordered Keith’s, and I decided on their Rossini, strawberry purée with champagne. Their cocktails and most of the other drinks all cost about $ 8.50 or so. This one came in a small champagne glass, and I didn’t really taste the strawberry until the end, since it was sitting at the bottom, but it was good.
When a table was free, a host came up to us at the bar, took our menus and drinks, and brought them over to the table for us. After a few minutes, our waitress by and asked us if we were ready, but since we were pretty deep into conversation, we hadn’t even looked at the menu. After a few more minutes, she came back, and we ordered the Standard Sampler and the Burger Deluxe.
Instead of a regular meal, I wanted a little more variety, and the Standard Sampler had calamari, tempura shrimp, and the Standard Roll. The calamari was my favorite — manageable, bite-​sized pieces, and fried, but I couldn’t taste the «5-​spice» and I had to ask for lemon on the side, since it didn’t come with any. The tempura shrimp was just more like deep fried mini shrimp skewers, didn’t particularly like them or dislike them, but I was hoping for more of a creative sauce than just regular cocktail sauce. The Standard Rolls were pretty gross. They came with soy sauce, wasabi, and ginger — thank God, because they were basically just warm rice in big rolls that were deep fried and fell apart. They were supposed to have shrimp in them, but I’m pretty sure it was imitation crab meat, and hardly any for that matter, and definitely no avocado like it was supposed to.
My boyfriend substituted a beef patty for chicken breast with sweet potato fries. The burger was basically a poutine, with cheese curds and gravy, which made it incredibly messy, but tasty. The fries came with this chipotle mayo dipping sauce, which was really good, and I even stole some from his plate to eat with my tempura shrimp.
While waiting for a friend to arrive, we asked for some water, which came in a cool glass bottle to share, and my boyfriend ordered a couple more beers, while I tried the «Gin & Sin». It had passion fruit juice, tonic, and some cranberries. I asked the waitress for something that didn’t taste like alcohol and didn’t have vodka, and this drink was a fantastic suggestion.
Our bill came to about $ 90 with tax plus tip, and we were there for a really long time, about 3 hours, without being bothered or feeling pressured to leave. The service was really great, fast and friendly, from the bartender, to the host, to the waitress, to the bus boy. Some friends at another table, however, didn’t seem to receive the same courtesy. They were moved to three different tables, before they even received their drinks, and while they were drinking them. Oh! And their washrooms have the Dyson Airblade antibacterial, 12-​second, energy efficient hand dryer — bonus points! I’ll definitely be back!