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Ottawa Convention Centre
Category: Event Planning & Services Venues & Event Spaces Venues & Event Spaces [Edit]
55 Colonel By DrOttawa, ON K1N 9J2
(613) 563-1984
2 reviews for Ottawa Convention Centre
2 reviews in English
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Review from Jean-Philippe D.
Ottawa, ON
4/27/2012
I had the pleasure of working the National Women's Show at the Ottawa Convention Centre. The building itself is superb, offering spacious open spaces, great lighting (have you seen those giant windows?!), and, I'm not ashamed to say, dynamite washrooms - at least the men's, can't comment on the ladies' facilities. Just walking through the front doors into the lobby will take your breath away. It's definitely a 21st century facility.
I suppose your experience depends on which event you attend, but for conventions I'd say the OCC is doing things right. -
Review from Spike D.
5/18/2011
Formerly the Ottawa Congress Centre, the new Convention Centre is a much more impressive space. Looks like a geometric mirrored fish bowl from the outside. Architecturally it's terrific.
Inside it is bright and airy but seems a little under done? Not much in the way of art, middling fixtures but lots of wide open spaces.
The focus of this review is on the food. I go to a lot of rubber chicken lunches and for my first visit the Convention Centre did disappoint. Even giving it a wide berth for having to serve 700 people quickly and more or less at the same time, they coulda done better. I've done this same lunch at the Chateau Laurier a dozen times and they really do have a much higher calibre of service and food.
Breads in breadbasket were not fresh. The gentlemen with the nut allergy at our able treated very casually to his polite inquiries about potentially lethal offerings. The requisite rubber chicken was indeed rubber, drizzled with some kind of brown sauce, dry mashed potatoes and completely forgettable vegetables. Even a bad lunch can be redeemed by a good dessert -- the Chateau's desserts are uniformly excellent -- but the Convention Centre provided with middling caramel tart with what I think was canned fruit on top.
The staff completely bobbled the dessert and coffee service. Ended up serving the dessert during the after-lunch speech and the coffee just as everyone stood up to leave. When the Governor of the Bank of Canada has to interrupt his speech to tell you to serve the cake, you really oughta serve the cake.
Maybe this is just growing pains? The hapless service could have been smoothed over by splendid food but on this day neither was splendid.
