The Royal Oak - Ottawa, Ontario

Guess what happened on Canada day? They must think that they own the whole parking lot. There was one guy and one girl from Royal Oak blocking the entrance to charge all the cars 10$ at the busy hours. Please keep away from this kind of business. There are Lone ... Stars and Montana BBQ just 1 minute away. Read more

Terrible Restaurant! I have never been here even though I live very close. Yesterday, it was Canada day, I came to the parking area which is not belong to them, and they charged us and everyone 10$ for the parking, I felt so weird because I came there everyday to drop my ... son at his daycare and I know that I should not be charged anything for the parking. But They Did! I even did not get any receipt. Later, we went to the restaurant for diner, and yeah the foods was bad, and their red sangria taste was so weird, smell ike rotten fruit. They have special Canada day menu, and it just higher price than nomal. When I ask for a cup of water, the waitress said to me " you have to wait because we are very busy righ now". and i never get water from them. Please never ever visit this restaurant. Read more

I rarely if ever leave reviews. Maybe 1 or 2 ever. And I have noticed in general that restaurants have really struggled to meet service and quality standards since the pandemic, so I am willing to let quite a bit slide. But yesterday’s visit to the Royal ... Oak on Strandherd was just something else, here is summary. Was taking my young daughter out for dinner and they had a kids eat free sign for Tuesdays so decided to give them another try despite mediocre food and service in the past at this restaurant…. -waited at front door and nobody came to seat us so we eventually went in and found a table (no big deal!) -table was dirty and clearly not cleaned and when bartender came over we had to ask her to clean it -to be fair to her it seemed like she was the only one working the entire restaurant (5:00 pm on Tuesday so place was not busy but still) -ordered a beer and it came to table warm -asked for some recommendations on food and she recommended a few items, I ordered one of them, buffalo chicken wrap, my 7 yr old daughter ordered fish n chips off the kids menu -buffalo wrap was not very good, did not taste fresh, luke warm at best, dry -my daughter’s portion size was very small even for a kids meal, just 2 small fish sticks and a small number of fries -daughter kept complaining to me that she could not bite into her fish or even break it with her hands since it was too crunchy lol…..I eventually looked closer and broke her fish stick in half and it was essentially hollow. They had either put little to no fish in the breading or overcooked it so bad that the fish had dried up and disappeared LOL -I pointed this out to waitress and she seemed receptive – said wow that is super weird, could you leave it for the cooks to see? And then said well at least it was free. To be fair I don’t think she meant to come across as dismissive but…..the fact that they were running a promo that day was really besides the point. Bad food is bad food. Yikes. -no cutlery was provided, no napkins, and no wipes - I used some wipes in the car for my daughter and had to feed daughter again when we got home My daughter appeared to take the whole thing somewhat in stride. The sign outside said “excellent food” and as we left she said “well I guess they have excellent people but not excellent food”. She also said that the place was not really Royal at all. Honesty from a child! All this to say, can’t really blame the bartender who appeared to be without help, but this was a truly awful experience, regardless of whether the kids meal was free! Also I would note that the prices are quite high at this place considering how poor the food quality is. Read more

Nice bar and restaurant. The fish/chips and steak/veggies are all good choices. They have big screens so you can watch popular sports events. Service is a bit slow when they have lots of customers. Overall, it was a nice experience.

Recently I went to the Royal Oak on Strandherd as part of a group with a reservation. This location is small indoors but they had tables set aside for us, no issue there. The inside was mostly empty when we arrived mid-afternoon. I did not see any ... sort of maître d' or senior leadership overseeing the wait staff and kitchen staff. Our server was polite but timid and very inexperienced. She never offered to top up our water. Empty glasses and plates had to be handed to her, she didn't clear the table on her own without prompting. She was not very familiar with their drink offerings. We had to prompt her to take our meal order, she never asked outright. The beer and mixed drinks were pretty well made, I heard no complaints from the table. The food was disappointing. Very bland with no personality. My meal seemed to have been prepared by a beginner chef. I ordered steak, rice and mixed vegetables. The new york strip was thin, had some gristle and had the purplish look of a previously frozen steak. The rice had a small amount of a single spice on it, no salt and no oil, unlike any other rice or rice pilaf I had had from a restaurant. The mixed vegetables looked like a third of a carrot and a half of a green pepper sliced and briefly seared on a grill. My girlfriend's fish and chips came with a tartar sauce that tasted like mayonnaise with sweet bread and butter pickle juice and pieces, not proper tartar sauce which is dill pickle based. The shared appetizer platter was over $45 and very underwhelming (potato chips, vegetable strips, pita pieces with cheese melt, a few overcooked dry wings). It seemed like either the kitchen staff were very inexperienced or the restaurant was low on supplies and making substitutions on the fly. Unfortunately, with the cost of visiting a restaurant these days, a generic and amateurish experience doesn't stand out to us as one we wish to repeat. Read more