My review is for a morning brunch. The décor is regular for hotels, with a nice view of Parliament depending on where you sit. The service has been excellent each time I have eaten here. The food in the buffet is very good, with good selection of items, including but not limited to an omelet station. The price is not inexpensive but it is possible to get breakfast included in your room rate with certain options and specials. It’s a nice way to start your day(and not need lunch later!)
Kevin H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Byward Market - Parliament Hill, Canada
In Ottawa again for work and since I had a free local experience meal, decide to have a go at it. It was very good. The waitress was just wow. She always call me by Mr Hache, smiled and laugh at my stupid joke. She made my friend and I very comfortable. We had a bison carpaccio to start then the meat plus dessert. Everything was done with taste and tasty.
Mike K.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Calgary, Canada
Now right off the bat I’m going to say this review is for an a la carte dinner and not for a brunch or buffet, which a number of reviews have singled out. It’s also not the most economical dinner you can have in the area, and the décor is pretty ‘hotel dining room’ standard, albeit quite nice. So why give Wlfred’s a full five star rating? Simply because in our experience it’s one of the nicest dining experiences you can have. First the food — while the dishes are relatively standard(although usually with a little twist) the execution and the freshness of the ingredients is near perfect. This last time we had a grilled Caesar salad and some filet mignon with vegetables. Everything was fresh and cooked perfectly, in just the right proportions. My pomme frittes were even stacked Jenga style(OK I know that doesn’t make them taste any better but I appreciated the thought). We finished with a beautifully presented chocolate pavé with graham cracker ice cream and fresh marshmallow, basically a deconstructed s’more and it was intense. And what makes the experience even better is the quality of the service. Simply put it’s attentive, professional and effortless, some of the best we’ve experienced. Put that all together and you have a memorable dining experience.
Faloola F.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Ottawa, Canada
I rated Wilfred’s as A-OK. Not blow my socks off have to go back soon or regularly, but nice for what it was. I took my friend to Wilfrid’s on August 26, 2014, for birthday brunch. The date fell during the weekday so it was nice to find a place that did a fancier brunch during the regular work week as opposed to the weekend. Brunch buffet or ala carte menu — the choice was ours. The pros for us were — very nice ambiance(fancier upscale dining experience), brunch buffet during the weekday, good tasting food, made-to-order omelete and crêpe station(chef was friendly and the crepes were quite nice). The cons for us were — good tasting food, but possibly not worth the price at roughly $ 29 a head plus tax and tip. The breakfast basics were covered but nothing that amazing for the price. The made-to-order omelete and crêpe station was the highlight but very very slow and the chef was a rather overwhelmed with our two orders. We patiently stood there waiting watching him frantically pull together each crêpe, but I would hate to see what would happen if it was busy! The buffet consisted of a variety of: breads, rolls, cinnamon buns, cake squares, juices, cut fruit, cold meats including lox, cheeses, jams, butters and a toaster to toast bread. The other side of the buffet was the hot food — made-to-order crepes and omeletes and then self serve scrambled eggs, beans, sausages, hashbrowns, bacon and the usual breakfast items. That pretty much covers the selection. All in all our experience was nice enough for a weekday brunch, but like I said at the outset of my review not that amazing for the price.
Erica H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
I had the pleasure of enjoying a couple of breakfasts, a dinner, and a special pre-dinner kitchen party in the Château Laurier. I like their approach to cuisine, in featuring fresh local, quality ingredients. Was especially fond at breakfast of the maple sugar butter crepes, and Chef Jimmy, who served them up jovially. Here’s more on the kitchen party from one of the travellers with me:
Devon B.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Ottawa, Canada
I went here for New Year’s Day brunch. It was incredibly disorganized. What’s scary is that the people I went with said the same confusion happened last year. We’re in the Château Laurier, yet, for some reason, the head hostess(when she was at the front door) didn’t let anyone in before 11 a.m., then started yelling out names. There was a crowd of 20 – 30 people in front of the restaurant, situated INSIDE the Château Laurier, and they are yelling names like it is an auction. Strike one. When we inquired about our reservation, the head hostess through us A LOT of attitude. Strike two. Beyond the HORRIBLE front-end service to begin with, the food itself was quite good. It was a buffet, and nothing particular stood out as different than most buffets, but the food was solid. So was the table service — can’t complain about that. The view we had was of the Parliament Buildings, which I certainly can’t complain about. They never made it to strike three, but they sure turned me off with their service to start the experience. When you’re in an establishment that is supposed to be high-end dining, there is no excuse for treating customers like we were to begin with. Again, what’s scary is the same thing happened last year. Quality control for any business is key. It seems this has been lost on the management at Wilfrid’s.
Tim C.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Toronto, Canada
Went for the Sunday buffet brunch — $ 40. It’s pretty hard to justify the price, but dress up and imagine yourself a member of high society. However, if you really try and try everything, you will be full, and can probably skip dinner also. So it’s really 3 meals for $ 40, and that’s not bad value, especially if you can appreciate the atmosphere. The cold table has a variety of decent salads, cold cuts, and things like clams, shrimp and smoked salmon. The hot table has breakfast things like eggs, sausage, maple crepes, and lunch things like chicken, roast beef table, Yorkshire pudding, and an omelet table. There is also a tower of croissants and Danishes. The dessert table has 4 or 5 cheeses, and several cakes and pies to choose from. The food was pretty decent. The salmon was OK, not perfectly fresh. The roast beef was a touch fatty. Maple crepes are excellent. Potato salad was good. Good coffee. Service was pretty good. Desserts are tasty. As I said, as a single meal it’s indefensible, but if you have a date, you can wake up late on a Sunday, get there for 11:30 or so, eat up, go for a walk around the Hill to blow off some calories, spend an afternoon on the couch reading or napping, and have a really light dinner(Like some toast), and call it a day.
Bee A.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Toronto, Canada
This restaurant is so outrageously over priced you actually leave your meal feeling badly about the total waste of your hard earned cash. Atmosphere feels really… processed. I know they are going for big elegance, but instead you feel like you are in a very generic dining room. Nothing interesting, or updated in the style. That said, they keep it clean. The service was perfect. Wait staff was unobtrusive, completely humble, helpful, and not at all in your face. The other diners, however, were actually rude and commented loudly near my friend that«the young women don’t even have skirts on.» Apparently we were under dressed? Whatever. No time for that kind of crap. The food was all over the map in terms of quality, and flavors. I had a coconut/kefir lime bisque that was actually fabulous. $ 17.00 for less than ½ cup of soup. That’s all great. But the main was complete and utter garbage. I opted for their only vegetarian option, which was a fettucini(whole wheat) in a cream sauce with cherry tomatoes. Openly stated, it was sickening and I couldn’t eat it. Neither could my friend who also ordered the same item. It looked like total slop on the plate and all I could think of was that they didn’t even salt the dish, let alone try to make a sauce out of the cream. It was cream. poured on top of bland pasta. Just sickening. Oh, and did I mention it was $ 48 dollars? SERIOUSLY. I assure everyone, I could have made it myself at home for 5 bucks. It was killing me knowing my favorite Korean Grill was just four blocks away, and I should have taken everyone there instead.
Sophie R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Toronto, Canada
The starters, main courses and service were good. The highlight was the dessert table. It was a dessert buffet and all the desserts were very good!
Eric B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Ottawa, Canada
Nice food, but not really worth the price. The steak was very good, as was the lobster bisque(although overly spiced). The crème brûlée was fantastic. It was a good restaurant, but over-priced…