Diners' Choice: Contemporary Canadian restaurants in Ottawa

OpenTable

Updated 05 December 2024

Looking for restaurants with the best overall Contemporary Canadian cuisine in Ottawa? You’re in the right place. Each month OpenTable analyses more than 400,000 new diner reviews. We sort the results by category to help you discover new favourites. It's a great partnership: you reserve, eat, and review. We listen...and deliver the results for all to benefit. Enjoy!

Perch

4.9

4.9 (196)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Little Italy

About the restaurant

Perch is an intimate fine dining restaurant focusing on Canadian ingredients, ethical and sustainable products.
Awarded as the 4th Best New Canadian Restaurant 2022 by Enroute, and #85 for Canada's Best Restaurants 2023. With the dining room facing into the wide open kitchen offering a nine course tasting menu and a bar focusing on unique cocktails and natural wines.

Nine Course tasting menu is $145 for food menu
Beverage Pairing is $100 per person (optional)
Non-Alcoholic Beverage Pairing is $85 per person (optional)

We release reservations 60 days in advance.

Please be sure to specify any dietary restrictions when making a reservation.

Please note that for reservations of 5 or more people, please call us at 613-515-0535 or email amanda@perchottawa.ca

Top review

Remington

Dined 3 days ago

This was one of the most special meals of my life. Some of the most unique food I’ve come across, the attentiveness of the staff is amazing, with the best drinks to tie it all off. I left here with so much inspiration to push myself further in this industry to hopefully work along side people like this in the future. I left here with amazing memory’s and a few recipes. Considering I don’t even like fish and I ate every bite with enthusiasm is a testament the quality the team pushes out. I recommend this to experience to everyone 11/10 thank you perch.

Discover more

Experience

Tasting Menu - 9 Course Meal

Experience

New Year's Eve 2024

Bar Lupulus

4.9

4.9 (1379)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Hintonburg

About the restaurant

Cozy Craft Beer and Natural Wine Bar with a Backyard Patio Oasis. Serving locally sourced & seasonally inspired comfort focused plates by Chef James Bratsberg. 22 rotating taps, Craft Cocktails & over 500 Natural wine cuvees available for dine in and takeout through our online bottle shop!

Top review

Norah

Dined 1 day ago

Great cocktails & wine pairings with delicious food and outstanding service.

Discover more

4.8

4.8 (1734)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Downtown

About the restaurant

At Atelier, we solely offer an experiential & interactive 40 course tasting menu with pescatarian & vegetarian menus available for $250 per guest. We are not able to offer a vegan menu. Wine pairing options are available

Dining time is 4 hours

We do not accept menu modifications for aversions/dislikes, as this will compromise the integrity of the experience

Should you have any severe allergies, please highlight them in detail at time of booking, keeping in mind that we are not able to omit dairy, gluten, soy, nightshades, mushroom & allium as this impacts the overall experience. We will contact you for further clarification & to determine if we will be able to safely accommodate

Regarding mild allergies, our kitchen is not allergen-free & therefore we cannot guarantee zero cross-contamination

Please note that severe allergies may result in the outright omission of any one course from your experience

Top review

Zach

Dined 1 day ago

Amazing and unique 40 course meal with world class service!

Beckta

4.8

4.8 (259)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Downtown

About the restaurant

Legendary Canadian Cuisine featuring signature Canadian products, all delivered with high-touch hospitality. Beckta offers a constantly changing a-la-carte and two tasting menus daily in both our our fine dining rooms with luxurious seating, or a more casual vibe in our delightful wine bar area that features daily food specials. Multiple private dining rooms are also available for larger groups or more intimate requests. Recipient of 19 consecutive CAA 4-Diamond Awards. Please contact us at info@beckta.com for inquiries.

Top review

Michael

Dined 3 days ago

The experience and service was consistent with my experience five years ago, five days ago and today. Im always happy to bring people here for a refined but welcoming meal with a side of exceptional service

Stofa Restaurant

4.9

4.9 (112)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Hintonburg

About the restaurant

Stofa is built on a passion for food, traditional and modern cooking methods, and creativity. We look to the ingredients to bridge the gap between time-honoured techniques and modern progression, producing a comfortable, inventive, and evocative dining experience.

Stofa's name represents a place of warmth and comfort where people can gather to eat, drink and be with friends. We proudly support local and sustainable products, and participate in the farm and food community, all while providing guests with vibrant and engaging food presented in an approachable yet innovative dining setting.

Located in the vibrant Wellington West area of Ottawa, Stofa offers a 3 or 5 course table d'hote menu which changes regularly. We offer patio dining (weather dependent) and have a private room available for large groups or professional meetings.

Top review

OpenTable Diner

Dined on 8 Dec 2024

Stofa is one of our favourite restaurants anywhere. The service is fantastic, the food is delicious, beautiful, and clever. The wine list is excellent and the cocktails are wonderful. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed ourselves each time we visited. Note: the kitchen does a wonderful job of accommodating food sensitivities. We look forward to our next visit.

Fauna

4.7

4.7 (1423)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Downtown

About the restaurant

fauna is about the things we love: eating and drinking with friends and family in a fun space. Our menu is seasonally driven and we support local farmers and producers wherever possible. We love the neighborhood and the space and are so happy to be open in Centretown.

We like to have fun in the kitchen. We serve small plates so you can try more than one dish. We use local ingredients wherever possible. We’re inspired by where we live, places we’ve been and things we’d like to do.

Top review

Joe

Dined 2 days ago

Very nice place. The food was excellent but priced a bit high for what you get. Great service - the atmosphere is lovely but it can get really loud

4.7

4.7 (2170)

CAN$31 to CAN$50

Contemporary Canadian

Kanata

About the restaurant

Our menu represents Chef Michael's Blackie’s best food memories, which span over his 35 plus international career Chef worked in Asia, Latin America and is an expat from the UK.
His food style can best be described as a balance between Canadian roots with a strong influence in both Asian, Latin and European cuisines.
We are currently open for Dinner weekly 7 days week from 5 to 9 pm. We are known for our blind tasting menu that features 8 dishes shared between minimum of 2 people. We are also open for Sunday Brunch from 10am to 1 pm and offer a sharing 5 course - 10 dish brunch tasting menu.
NeXT opened in 2009 and is consistently in the top drawer of established restaurants in the Ottawa / Gatineau region. NeXT has been awarded many accolades over these past 11 years.
Come and discover one of Ottawa's signature original stand-alone restaurants that represent the acumination of Chefs Blackie's global career.

Top review

Bryan

Dined 2 days ago

NeXT is a favourite of mine. I highly recommend the blind tasting menu, it gives you a taste of a bunch of NeXT classic dishes, and I've never had one that's missed.

Discover more

Experience

SUNDAY BRUNCH | 10 DISH TASTING MENU

Experience

DISCOVER EXCEPTIONAL SAVINGS ON MONDAYS & TUESDAYS

Experience

(SUN TO THU) FESTIVE DINNER PARTY | 7-16 GUESTS

Riviera

4.7

4.7 (3052)

CAN$51 and over

Contemporary Canadian

Downtown

About the restaurant

Welcome to Riviera!

Reservations may be subject to time restrictions, dependent on availability. Please check your reservation email for full details. If your group requires more time, kindly call the restaurant at 613-233-6262 and we will do our best to accommodate you. Groups of six or more are subject to a 20% gratuity.

Please note, reservations made for outdoors are guaranteed for outdoor seating only. We may not be able to move you inside in the event of bad weather.

We look forward to hosting you! Please feel free to call us with any questions!

Top review

Giada

Dined 2 days ago

My dad got the caviar as an appetiser and as a main the lobster pasta, which he really recommends. I got the grilled octopus (well cooked, not chewy) and the ndjua pasta, it lacked that kick from the spice but other than that it was very good!

Gezellig

4.8

4.8 (369)

CAN$31 to CAN$50

Contemporary Canadian

Downtown

About the restaurant

With a name that means "cozy or nice atmosphere, but also belonging and general togetherness," gezellig invites guests to experience an elegant menu of local, seasonal cuisine using french techniques in a casual and welcoming environment. Located in Ottawa, Ontario, gezellig prepares each menu item using high-quality ingredients purchased locally. On the menu are items such as seared scallops, braised beef shortibs, potato gnocchi, beef tartare, duck breast, and wild-caught lingcod. Our classic butterfinger for dessert is a staple that has been on our menu since opening in 2012

Top review

Nancy

Dined 2 days ago

Enjoyed the lunch option of picking two items from the menu for a set price. Our server was outstanding: friendly and efficient and handled a food allergy so carefully and knowledgeably. The food was delicious and different than you might find elsewhere.

Parlour

4.8

4.8 (325)

CAN$31 to CAN$50

Contemporary Canadian

Westboro

About the restaurant

Parlour is a restaurant and an event space with capacity of 250 guests, we offer private dining in our venue and can accommodate large party reservations.
Chef driven, seasonal menus, using farm to table ingredients. Our wine program highlights low-intervention, natural wine producers and our curated cocktails are a fun time. We are located centrally in Wellington West.
Celebrated as one of Ottawa's top 10 new restaurants.
Our interior space offers a cozy, eclectic interior of mid-century modern design.
We host curated events of any size designed for you. Give us a call or contact with us directly to learn more.

Top review

Laura

Dined on 1 Dec 2024

Parlour went above and beyond to make my birthday special, there was even a menu with my name on it. The food was delicious and they accommodated all our dietary restrictions including vegan options! There was a cold wind where we were sitting but when asked if it could be turned off, they did so right away! Thanks for a fun night.

Discover more

Popular dish

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich

Popular dish

Beef Brisket Fries

Explore Diners' Choice best of Ottawa

Explore more Diners' Choice lists