Ottawa Restaurant Reviews

By: Victoria Garland

I’ve been really excited to write this review ever since Alex and I went to lunch about two weeks ago at The Tea Party!

I heard great things about it but since I had only stopped in once about two years ago (to pick up some Arctic Fire loose leaf tea) I was itching to go back and experience their vegetarian lunch menu.

The Tea Party is located on York Street, right across from Market Organics. It is housed in a very welcoming, old Victorian-style house with seating that includes a black leather couch, little tables and a large raised table.

Along the walls are large mason jars filled with loose leaf tea that you can open up and smell to help make your selection. Other items include tea paraphernalia such as teapots, cups, diffusers, bagged teas and a selection of preserves (I have my eyes on the Victoria Plum! I wonder why… ).

Alex and I unanimously decided on the High Tea Lunch option, though we’re excited to return and try the others. The High Tea lunch is an assortment of four sandwiches, four small desserts and a beverage. We opted for two different types of tea and decided on two separate pots to keep us going. Alex went for the Earl Grey and I went for the Apricot Black Tea. As soon as I smelled it I knew that it was the right choice for me!

It was perfect that we ended up with two pots of tea since we were able to share and after we finished our lunch we were able to sit and enjoy each other’s company and people watch out the window. It was the perfect lunch date!

When the High Tea arrived there were four types of sandwiches cut in half, so we were able to try one of each. There was cucumber and cream cheese on white bread, spinach and cream cheese on white, tomato and pesto on whole wheat and roasted red pepper with goat cheese on whole wheat. The desserts were selections from their daily selection and we happened to receive a brownie, salted caramel square, lemon shortbread square and a pistachio cookie.

It was incredibly charming and we weren’t the only ones who thought so! As we were getting ready to leave, we heard another table exclaim how cute and British the whole experience was.

I enjoyed it so much that I brought two of my girlfriends for lunch last weekend. That time we ordered two orders of The High Tea lunch and two pots of tea (Apricot Black Tea and Pomegranate Black Tea) to share. The sandwiches were the same, however the desserts were different. This time we were served a raisin cinnamon loaf, a chocolate chip cookie, a double chocolate mini cookie and the salted caramel square adorned with a walnut.

This time on the way out I opted to pick up 50g (for $5) of the Apricot Black Tea, and 50g (for $5) of the Strawberry Black Tea, after it was recommended to me by a friend.
This place gets a solid 5/5 for me. The food quality is amazing and the price is right.

The Tea Party may not have as much of a selection of teas as The Tea Store located a couple blocks away, but the atmosphere and quality will continue to bring us back!

$11.99 for The High Tea plate and $2.99 for a pot of tea (extra beverage)

193 King Edward
K1N 7L6 Ottawa

I ordered the Vegetarian Spring Rolls (5 Rolls) for 7.25
Pad Eggplant (Shrimp) for 11.95

With tax and delivery and tip it was about $25.00.

I’m often at work during my dinner time and I have any options for food at my workplace besides take out. My frequent vice has usually been Pizza Pizza pizza since they have a fast easy online ordering system, have good delivery times and can make a pizza (and other food) that I can eat. Unfortunately sometimes I seek out more variety.

Recently I have ordered a couple times from Champa Thai here in Ottawa. Their menu looks delicious and this vegitarian dish I had was amazing. The eggplants were delicious and spicy with what tasted like a pepper sauce. Great food, and you can also order via Just-eat.ca a new food ordering service. This lets me order great food from Champa Thai without calling.

All in all I give this 3.5 out of 5 stars, only because the sauce seemed a bit heavy with oil, but it was otherwise a delicious meal. I will definitely be ordering again and upgrading my rating I hope!

11 George Street
Ottawa, ON K1N 8W5
(613) 789-8123

Reviewed by Alex Massaad

Here comes a review from one of our favourite Ottawa restaurants. We’ve been several times already and every experience has been as great as this, so its about time I write a review! Located right behind Chapters and just minutes from the Rideau Centre I’m always surprised at how local this place is to me. Victoria and myself have been a few times for dinner already but this review covers their lunch options.

We started off our late lunch with the cheese plate. It comes with a creamy chevre, a sharp blue (Bleu de Sophie) and a Tomme de Gaston goats milk cheese made in Oxford Mills. You can read about this last cheese here where the Globe and Mail profiles this small run cheese farm. The best part about the serving is without a doubt the honey, covering dried apricots, red and green grapes, pear slices and walnuts.

I had a Beau’s Organic beer and Victoria decided to have a glass of the wine pairing on the menu, they’ve got some great wines here but that could be the subject of a whole other review.

I was peeking at the menu just before going so I already knew I was going to have the Cajun Chicken Cheddar Melt. This was a spicy sandwich that was enough to feed me for that lunch as well as the following days lunch. Victoria was having some trouble deciding between the Spicy Thai Noodle Bowl or the Chicken and Tiger Shrimp Jambalaya, and in the end decided on the Jambalaya. The waitress suggested to get it half-spicy and this worked out very well since the Cajun spices int he jambalaya were quite powerful at half strength.

The portions were large, the atmosphere relaxing and the service doesn’t suck (unlike some of their neighbouring enterprises . . .) I give this place 4/5 stars. The only reason they don’t get any higher now is that they just changed their menu and I need to go back to assess their delicious new choices.