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The Grand Pizzeria
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- No
12 reviews for The Grand Pizzeria
12 reviews in English
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Review from Alex C.
2/24/2012 2 Check-ins Here
Sometimes you just have to ask your waitress!
Jackie our waitress told us you have to have a Pizza from their really cool oven. The flat bread pizza was very good, they even brought me some salsa/ chili on the side. I was not sure if it was meant for me but when I tried it out I was quite pleased.
So get some salsa/ chili for your pizza, if you can take the heat! -
Review from Cindy H.
5/7/2012
Roaming around Byward Market, our group of 4 decided to try The Grand for dinner.
We were seated immediately with a waitress who took our drink orders right away.
We ordered the Popeye Salad ($13), Gnocchi Con Gorgonzola, ($21) Spaghetti Polpette ($17), and the Penne Primavera ($16). The bread brought to our table was a bit stale and your traditional white loaf you find in the grocery store for $2. For pasta, it seemed to take a while before our meals arrived, especially since the restaurant had not hit peak busy times yet.
Food was just ok - overall, the flavours were a bland and prices seemed high (I guess that's normal for the market area).
Our server was fine, nothing out of the ordinary but no complaints either.
I would recommend seeking out other places in the Market to eat or maybe trying the wood oven pizzas! -
Review from Alon G.
Toronto, ON
2/6/2012
This is an ok Italian restaurant right in the market of Ottawa. I would equate this restaurant to an Alice Fazooli's or some other mid-high range Italian restaurant chain.
The service was great and I liked the layout of the place. A big advantage is that the restaurant is right in the market. After dinner, you can easily walk around and go for drinks.
The downside is that you will be paying "market prices" for food that is not worth the premium. The grand sharing platter was good, but the pasta dishes were mediocre. I'm sure there are better Italian restaurants in Ottawa. -
Review from Jeff S.
Ottawa, ON
1/17/2012
My experience was the furthest you can get from grand. If I could give a ZERO rating, I would.
This was my first visit to The Grand Pizzeria & Bar. The family was away and I went downtown for a nice meal, on a warm summer evening. I was very eager to try the place out, as it is in a downtown location in the Byward market, with a spacious open air patio area. I wrongly associated good things with the restaurant, being part of the same ownership group as the Empire Grill and Zak's diner.
As you may or may not know, street parking is hard to come by in the market, especially in the summer.
It was not busy on a weekday summer evening. I must have waited 15 minutes before I was acknowledged. Many staff made eye contact, saw me waiting, but non verbally said to me: "i'm busy, it's not my job to seat you, and I am not going to do a thing about it." I have no idea why I continued to wait. I really should have left, but part of me wanted to address the service with a manager.
By the time someone actually attended to me and lead me to a table on the patio, I was expecting the service to improve significantly.
The laissez-faire attitude continued with the server. The hostess had provided we with a menu, but nobody seemed interested in serving me. Again. I must have waited another 15 minutes before a word was spoken to me. I really should have left, but I was going to address the service with a manager.
I hoped that the food would be off the charts, considering the TERRIBLE service that surrounded me from all corners. It wasn't just me. I could see the frustration in the eyes of many.
Well to be consistent, the food was also terribly dissappointing. I cannot recall ever in my life, being so frustrated to the point of disgust, with a restaurant.
It was almost like the servers had a sense of entitlement, a look that said "it doesn't matter how bad the service was, you have to tip me."
This was the first time in my entire life that I did not leave a tip. I was so incensed, that I did not trust myself in being able to speak civilly to the manager.
I feel that I owe it to strangers and friends to share how terrible my experience was. I have nothing but bad things to say about this restaurant, and this is coming from a very optimistic and positive guy.
I have not been shy to tell friends and family how bad my experience was.
Despite the great location in the market, I will never return.
The restaurant is likely a great spot for intimate dinner, especially for wine connoisseurs.
Visited June 2011Listed in: Capital City eats & services, Ottawa Culture Vultures
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Review from Susan C.
Toronto, ON
11/19/2011
Was in Ottawa for a day trip and the last time my dad and I been to Ottawa, it was 10 years ago. We walked around the market trying to find a restaurant that seemed good to try. And we ended up at The Grand. My dad really loves Italian food, so he was really critical about his food.
When we walked it, it was right before the lunch rush, so we got seated right away. Both waiter and waitress provided excellent service and even checked in with us a few times after our food was served, which is always nice. The food was prepared in 15 minutes (my dad ordered a pasta with shrimp and I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich - unfortunately, I can't remember the exact names of the dishes). The presentation of the food was very nice. But, from the words of my father, the food doesn't taste "italian" enough. He said his pasta tasted plain and was pretty disappointed. It did taste good, but not to the pasta standards from Terroni (Toronto Italian Restaurant). I was fairly disappointed with my panini sandwich as well.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is good and the food in general is pretty descent. But, if you are looking for an authentic Italian restaurant, this place will do you no good. -
Review from Steve J.
Ayr, ON
3/9/2012
This review is for the pizza, and the pizza only. Excellent crust with a nice char on the crust. Sauce is very good, with a light touch. The prosciutto and parmesan is delicious. I've never had pasta or anything else to comment on so I can't speak to that. But it's a wood oven pizzeria, why would you order pasta.
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Review from Colleen D.
10/21/2011
Not outstanding but not bad. Good wine list. I had little control over the meal as it was pre-ordered for a group of us - salad, bruschetta, chicken, pasta, flatbread pizzas and tiramisu. All acceptable with the exception of the tiramisu which seemed like pudding and topping in a ramekin. It was filling but not the most memorable.
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Review from Darren M.
Ottawa, ON
11/15/2010
This place used to be one of the biggest tourist traps in downtown Ottawa. The location for sit down family pizzeria just screamed "Come inside tourists!"
It's since had a face lift (possibly a management and kitchen change) and now I'd feel comfortable sending visitors there unlike before when I warned people to avoid it.
The Grand, as it's now known, had decent service and a large selection of beers and wines to choose from.
Their flat bread pizza was unique and very filling. I wasn't totally keen on their bruschetta but they kept us full with nice fresh warm bread.
You make your own requests for your pizza in terms of toppings (obviously), dough, cooking style, etc.
The biggest downfall to this place can also be the biggest plus -- the people watching. For some it's exciting but you do get some rather interesting characters who aren't shy about leaning onto the patio and asking for some of your pizza (not kidding). For others that's just plain wrong.
However, the Grand can't do much to control that and with their recent renovations and changes I actually quite enjoy this place. -
Review from Adriano A.
Toronto, ON
5/29/2010 1 photo
The girlfriend and I were looking for a patio and some pizza as we strolled through the Byward Market. When we had our Beavertails earlier in the day, The Grand, just across the street, caught our eye.
We decided we'll take it as a sign and we got a seat right by the rail on the large patio. It was pretty decent for people watching, which we ended up doing a lot of as we waited for service.
Our waiter almost seemed upset when we had questions for him. He wanted our order and that was all. We obliged him and sat there for the entire third period of the Memorial Cup Final. They didn't have TVs in The Grand itself, but the Pub across the street. (Windsor won 9-1, by the way).
Before I could get really upset, the waiter returned with our bruschetta. My girlfriend was not happy with it. She said it tasted very acidic, like it came out of a can. I guess I must of been hungry because I didn't see a problem with it.
We sat for another while, long enough for me to polish off my pint of Guinness when our pizza came. We got the "Salumi Della Casa". I thought it was alright. Nothing terribly exciting and actually a little bland. My girlfriend liked it.
We waited another few minutes as I polished off my glass of tap water before the waiter came with the bill. The enter time, we listened to a couple of locals talk about how much they hate Toronto, our home town. It was kind of funny, but just like the food, nothing to write to the bitter people back home about. -
Review from Robert C.
Downtown, Vancouver, BC
7/29/2011 1 Check-in Here
Outstanding service. Penne carbonara with side of Italian sausage was delicious. Only concern was that I thought servers were texting on their cell phones but not the case - orders are taken electronically. Pretty cool.
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Review from Eddie C.
Ottawa, ON
8/4/2011
You'll go after not having been there for a while and it will be utterly amazing. So good in fact that you'll want to go again the next time you have a pizza craving. That wopuld be a mistake. I have never had two good visits in a row for this place, Kitchen consistancy is what's lacking here. Which is such a shame because the patio is so great for chilling with friends and doing some Byward Market people watching. Staff are pretty much always friendly though, so that is a major plus.
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Review from Samantha M.
Ottawa, ON
10/28/2011
After I couldn't get my boyfriend to agree on an Indian restaurant to go to, I got mad and told him to pick somewhere to go, he picked this place. We walked in and were greeted by a friendly server who highly recommended the pizza. I was in a pasta mood though, and was looking at the pasta selections the entire time. My boyfriend went with a pizza with proscuitto, arugula, cherry mozzarella and cherry tomatoes and I went with the spaghetti and meatballs. It didn't take long to get to our table, which was good since I was starving. My boyfriend loved his but he likes mostly anything so I'm not sure if hes a reliable source, I had a bite (without the proscuitto) but didn't taste anything spectacular. Mine on the other hand was quite bad, it was like they added an excessive amount of salt to the sauce. The pasta was cooked al dente which I like, but the sauce completely ruined it, I also found a chunk of ham in my pasta, I don't eat ham and I'm not sure why it was there. To top that off my pasta was 17 dollars which is steep for pasta anywhere, and completely unreasonable for sub-par pasta. Really wish we just went to Vittoria Traittoria. I do however think our server was great, since I was unsatisfied with my pasta I wanted a dessert menu and he was honest and said "we have one... but there are way better dessert restaurants down the street, I'm not naming any names but... Oh So Good". I appreciated that. Anyway, good service, poor food.
