Out for Supper
Tonight I took Karen out for supper. She was thinking of going to a conference over the holidays, but in the end decided not to go. So, I felt I should take her somewhere nice. Probably the best restaurant west of the downtown of Ottawa is Perspectives in the Brookstreet Hotel. It is a four star hotel and restaurant.
The service provided by our waitress was impeccable. Very attentive without being bothersome. We started off the meal with a complementary walnut brie brulee. For an appetizer we had perogies with smoked bacon and carmelized onions. The main course was a charbroiled rib steak (definitely the most tender meat I’ve ever had) in a peppercorn sauce with mashed potatoes and lightly steamed vegetables. For dessert I had an amazing chocolate soufflé with homemade vanilla ice cream and crème anglais. Each course was served with fresh cutlery. Each course was well presented, on innovative plates with sparkling glasses. The music and lighting were just right. We ate at 6:00pm and were the second ones in the restaurant. At the end of our 2 hour meal, the place was packed, but the ambiance was still there. Many thanks to Karen’s Mom for babysitting for us! Without her help it couldn’t have happened.
Three points that should be noted. First, there was a kids hockey team eating in the adjoining grill restaurant. Evidently nobody informed these children that wrestling and yelling in the lobby of a 4 star hotel is not appreciated. The Perspectives Restaurant needs some glass doors to cut down on this sort of thing (and let me note how much I appreciate my children. In situations like this they are really well behaved. I told the older two last night that I would be willing to take them to the fanciest restaurant in the world because they are so well behaved). Second point, the fellow who brought our food to the table needs to understand that customers in a good restaurant do not want to be addressed as “Guys”. “Sir” will do nicely. (Please don’t get me started with waiters and waitresses who say “No problem” to me. Of course it’s no problem. In fact, it’s your job.) Third point was that we had the table d’hote, which specified a bread pudding which we were really looking forward to. The server dropped off some dessert on our table which was not what was specified in our menu. I asked the waitress about it, she checked and found the bread pudding was not available. I asked for something else and she handled it seamlessly. Kudos to the waitress. However someone should have checked with us ahead of time about the substitution. There is really no excuse for making unauthorized substitutions without checking first.
I hope I don’t sound too snooty with these complaints/observations, and I repeat that this is the best restaurant west of downtown Ottawa and I’d be happy to go there again if ever I could afford it 8-)
The service provided by our waitress was impeccable. Very attentive without being bothersome. We started off the meal with a complementary walnut brie brulee. For an appetizer we had perogies with smoked bacon and carmelized onions. The main course was a charbroiled rib steak (definitely the most tender meat I’ve ever had) in a peppercorn sauce with mashed potatoes and lightly steamed vegetables. For dessert I had an amazing chocolate soufflé with homemade vanilla ice cream and crème anglais. Each course was served with fresh cutlery. Each course was well presented, on innovative plates with sparkling glasses. The music and lighting were just right. We ate at 6:00pm and were the second ones in the restaurant. At the end of our 2 hour meal, the place was packed, but the ambiance was still there. Many thanks to Karen’s Mom for babysitting for us! Without her help it couldn’t have happened.
Three points that should be noted. First, there was a kids hockey team eating in the adjoining grill restaurant. Evidently nobody informed these children that wrestling and yelling in the lobby of a 4 star hotel is not appreciated. The Perspectives Restaurant needs some glass doors to cut down on this sort of thing (and let me note how much I appreciate my children. In situations like this they are really well behaved. I told the older two last night that I would be willing to take them to the fanciest restaurant in the world because they are so well behaved). Second point, the fellow who brought our food to the table needs to understand that customers in a good restaurant do not want to be addressed as “Guys”. “Sir” will do nicely. (Please don’t get me started with waiters and waitresses who say “No problem” to me. Of course it’s no problem. In fact, it’s your job.) Third point was that we had the table d’hote, which specified a bread pudding which we were really looking forward to. The server dropped off some dessert on our table which was not what was specified in our menu. I asked the waitress about it, she checked and found the bread pudding was not available. I asked for something else and she handled it seamlessly. Kudos to the waitress. However someone should have checked with us ahead of time about the substitution. There is really no excuse for making unauthorized substitutions without checking first.
I hope I don’t sound too snooty with these complaints/observations, and I repeat that this is the best restaurant west of downtown Ottawa and I’d be happy to go there again if ever I could afford it 8-)
posted by Shawn Abigail at 10:57 p.m.
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