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Domus Cafe
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 11:30 am - 2 pm
Mon-Sat 5:30 pm - 10 pm
Sun 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$$
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Has TV:
- No
11 reviews for Domus Cafe
11 reviews in English
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Review from Absolute B.
Ottawa, ON
4/15/2012
Went to Domus for our Valentines dinner.
The room is beautiful and the service was great. What really shone was the food-truly some of the best I've ever had.
I had the oxtail tortellino with sharp cheddar as my starter and my wife had the beetroot salad. Both were perfect. The tortellino was some of the best pasta I have ever eaten.
For mains I had the pepper crusted beef with whipped potato and red onion relish. Delish! My wife had the quail which was also super.
I could not find fault with this night at all. Great flavour and service. -
Review from Minh D.
Gatineau, QC
Went here a few times, oddly enough always in a work context and never went on my own, but I digress.
No tasting menu (that I've ever seen), prices a bit on the high end, but not overly expensive for a high(er) end restaurant - pretty on par with most restaurants in this category.
I posted pictures of various plates from the last time I was there for lunch, lunch was ok, but not great. This is one of those restaurants where going for lunch is a pretty different experience (food-wise) from going for dinner.
The food here is what I'd consider "modern Canadian", very clean flavors, you can tell the chef focuses on seasonality and quality of ingredients. It's good food, but the mains have a certain lack of originality to them, they all have a kind of "I've seen this dish before" - still good, just nothing daring or special.
Wine list features a lot of good Canadian wines including bottles you can't easily find unless you go to the winery. Had the Lailey Impromptu last time I was there for dinner, fantastic stuff. Markup on wine is reasonable too. -
Review from Julia C.
8/12/2009
My mom and I went for lunch here when I visited my parents recently. Since we couldn't get a reservation for the new Cordon Bleu Bistro I wanted to try, I decided to take her to Domus since she had never gone there before. The last time I went was quite a long time ago so I was not sure if the food would still be as fantastic and it did not disappoint.
As the other reviewers have said, the menu focuses on regional and seasonal ingredients. Ottawa is indeed very lucky to be near so many great farms. The restaurant itself has a simple design, a bit on the rustic side, which I find suits the menu very well. It's bright and very unpretentious, almost provincial but in the best possible sense of the word.
For our lunch, we started off with the Atlantic lobster bisque which was excellent, made even more so by the prosciutto wrapped scallop in the middle of the soup. I tend to like saltier food and the prosciutto was divine for me. This was followed by the cold smoked trout and deconstructed English Piccalilli salad for me and the grilled Northfork Manitoba buffalo burger for my mom. Both dishes were fantastic and came with a salad of dark greens. We were going to follow up with a dessert but we had just bought some chocolates from Made in France and decided to have those instead. With my wine, the meal came to about 80 dollars, so not too bad for two people for such a fabulous lunch.
Parking is street only but if you are really having a hard time finding parking, the garage near the Empire Grill is always a good option and quite cheap. The restaurant is near the French Baker so be sure to drop by there for the bread/croissants/etc. -
Review from Rafael R.
9/3/2008
Seasonal, regional Canadian ingredients make up the many delicious dishes being served at John Taylor's Domus Cafe in the ByWard Market district of Ottawa. I first stumbled upon Domus in 2006 and was so smitten, that when I returned in 2007, I lunched and had dinner daily for almost 5 days. For me, I think the appeal is similar to food preparation in the San Francisco Bay Area - fresh organic ingredients from local farms.
Because the menu changes often, some of the courses that I enjoyed earlier had been replaced, however, the Foie Gras remains and was delightful and honestly, given the number of times I visited last year and all the dishes that I tried, not a single one was a disappointment.
In 2007, Chef Taylor won the distinction of the Chef of the Year at The Epicurian Awards as well as more recently, Cafe Domus was listed as one of the top ten best restaurants in Ottawa in Ottawa Magazine.
This place is wonderful and should not be missed when in Ottawa! -
Review from Geoffrey S.
Ottawa, ON
9/3/2011
Overly priced for simple dishes. Waiter was nice enough. Took forever for the food to arrive. The salad was bland. Steak was cooked alright but cold when I got the plate. The frites were so-so and not too warm. No child seats. Definitely not worth the bloated price.
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Review from Ian K.
Ottawa, ON
2/17/2011
Went for dinner with a couple of colleagues and I hold it to be, this day, as one of the, if not, the best dining experiences I have had in Ottawa. We went on a relatively quiet evening. The menus, which uses very Canadian seasonal ingredients.
Although a tad on the pricey side, we had no complaints on the quality of the food. Each of my mates were eager to share what was on their plate. It was that good. For my money, I tried the BC salmon with crab cake and it was excellent. The menu is seasonal and does change, however. But I'm confident with whatever they're serving, it will be good. The mushroom risotto is one of the best I've ever had. Risotto is such an easy dish to screw up and this was done to perfection. The vanilla creme brulee is absolutely silky.
The service was excellent and the I think that's reflected in the prices.
Overall this is a splurge place, but one a place worth surging at. For a truly Canadian dining experience, this is a must visit. Still my favourite in town. -
Review from Liv F.
West Vancouver, BC
5/15/2011
Very expensive but worth it for a special dinner.
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Review from Crystal H.
8/9/2011
We went here during our honeymoon on our first night in Ottawa. It was AMAZING! I cannot stop thinking about how delicious the food was! We both got apps: the angolotti and the tomato salad. both were excellent! The angolotti was definitely worth the upscale price and could be a meal in itself. my entree was the land selection which was beef tenderloin with some kind of mushroom garnish, however they happily substituted out the mushrooms, which i hate, for veggies. I ate every last bite. I ended the meal with the lavender angel food cake, which, despite eating everything, i still finished. the food was too good to pass up! The place is expensive, so I would recommend it for special occasions or if youre rich, but seriously, its worth every penny!
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Review from Erik R.
10/25/2009
I stumbled into John Taylor at Domus Cafe by complete accident. Touring Ottawa for the afternoon as a business tourist, I stopped into Domus, which is quite a nice little housewares shop, and was struck by the clatter and smell coming from a dining establishment I couldn't see. After several glances, I finally came around the corner and saw where the two stores connected.
I ordered a hot apple cider (which came in a sugar-encrusted glass) and then followed the waiter's suggestion for a soup and salad before ending with a burger. The soup suggestion, the soup of the day, was an amazing tomatillo-based soup which came with a wonderful white bread. For the salad, I went with a half order of the beefsteak. Wow! I don't know where they got those tomatoes but this was simply to die for. They used some sort of an olive tempanade as a base with a good soft cheese in between. Amazing. And the burger was also quite nice.
There were about ten things on the menu which I could have devoured. This was truly a delight and very reasonable for such good food. -
Review from Rita F.
Ottawa, ON
2/22/2011
Family Day with a friend for lunch was my big outing today. It was cold!! Kindly the waiter sat us away from the door but, it was still not a great table. The food however was amazing. AMAZING. Started with an Endive salad that was so good. Everything that followed was so special. Love the food but the comfort level was the low point.
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Review from Jonathan T.
Toronto, ON
3/20/2009
Its a place that only cooks with seasonal local ingredients. Heavy on creatures with four or two legs but the one fish entree hit the spot for me. Excellent Canadian wines by the glass. The kind of place you would feel bad NOT ordering Canadian wine. Loved it.
