Why is it so hard to get food right? Short review for a restaurant that fell short on expectations…
I dropped in today to the Grounded Coffee House; I have had this place on my radar for a while. Looks like a cool, hip, urban coffee house that is not a chain. Hugely disappointed. Uninviting service, unmemorable food at a high prices… I ordered a Niçoise salad which couldn’t have been further from it’s namesake other than a half a small boiled potato and 3 black olives. It comes without protein on the menu for $12.00 for what is supposed to be a generous portion. I added grilled chicken for an additional $7.00. Not fresh in house grilled chicken but a processed chicken breast. Add a small bottle of fizzy water for a grand total of $20.00 before tax and gratuity. Maybe I should have ordered a coffee but I will never know if their coffee is actually good…
All I wanted was a really good salad! I gave it 2 ⭐️ on Yelp. Why 2 stars instead of 1 or none at all? Because the vegetables were fresh, the egg cooked properly and the vinaigrette decent. Will I come back? Nope.
that sucks, I’ve heard that about their food, too. I’ve only had coffee there and I didn’t find the place overly inviting (and I agree, the service was terrible) so I don’t go rush to go back really. A few friends have told me their food has gone downhill especially of late. It’s too bad because their ‘sister’ restaurant BackDrop, which is nearby, has awesome food (but a terrible atmosphere IMO). At least it *used* to have fantastic food, as I haven’t been there in awhile.
With so many cafes and restos in Ottawa, I’m always surprised at the lack of good quality food and service at so many of them. Thanks for sharing this.
Ha! I had no idea that BackDrop was owned by the same people. And funny enough, last summer, my husband and I walked out of that place after waiting over 20 minutes for our drink order. The waiter was so high he couldn’t get his act together! Ottawa has some great gems and then, other places like Grounded that make you wonder how they even manage to stay in business or why they are actually busy at all. We were at Play last night and Salt last weekend and both places were top notch. Thank you for engaging in dialogue on my restaurant reviews!