Ottawa Foodies

If anyone works on or near Sparks there is a new Bridgehead opening at Sparks and Metcalfe where Timmies used to be. It will be opening in April.

To address both marie-eve and knockturnals concerns...

Sandiwches and salads are in the $4.75 price range. This is lower than what other coffee chains charge (read: Second Cup, Starbucks) and given that the bread is made daily and as much organic product is used, it's within industry standards.

In terms of the tea bags, you can always ask for them to put it in a pot, let it steep, and then pour it before leaving. I usually toss my tea bag before I leave the store anyway, regardless of the style, so it's not that much longer.

The sandwich and salads areàs a bit overpriced, and not all of them are very good, but I love their orzo salad with curry, and I am a fan of the Winter Warmth Coco Chai. The taste is really close to a real Indian Chai, with a bonus of chocolate. Really delicious.

No matter how much I try, I just cannot jump on the Bridgehead bandwagon. I respect and appreciate what they do, but I find their beverages lackluster and their food mediocre at best. Service is always hit or miss. Their tea bags constantly break in your cup. yech!

what is the difference when they are cleaning the same table over and over that happens to be right beside where i am sitting? it became comical to my group as we watched and finally i said something to them about how that table was looking exceptionally clean. the server blushed and told us she was just getting a head start on closing up and wondered if we would be ordering anything more. this was at least 30 minutes before closing.

i have never had rude service there, but they do start the cleaning up process early.

in fairness, there is a difference between *hovering* and *cleaning*; i have to say, truly, that i've never experience hovering at the wellington, richmond, or golden locations.

and yes, kael is right: the double cupping of tea (and only tea), is because the water is truly way too hot (also the double cup makes a neat, albeit unnecessary lip for the teabag that's not closed).
-------------------
"ouch", said the dead horse.

sweets, i find that location can be fairly stringent at their closing up hours. i've often been there right near closing time and they tend to hover around the table cleaning up.

once we get into the *real* summer, they leave the patio out until close and don't put them all away early.

love the tea and carrot cake too!

zym, i have never seen them double cup, and when i have forgotten my mug, they have never offered or forced a double cup on me.

Zym - The cups have built in sleeves, so any double cupping you see now would probably be at the request of the customer. It's been 9 years, better practices do prevail eventually!

They do double cup teas (will single cup if requested) but that is apparently a matter of temperature - truly boiling water vs. coffee/latte temp, I believe.

And Sweets - I'm seconding LadyWhoBrunches, please DO talk to a manager about the behaviour you're seeing.

I've gone into this location a few times in the last few weeks when I find myself without roasted coffee on hand (always bring my travel mug of course). They can be extremely busy - we're talking Soviet Union lineups - but the lines move far more quickly than Soviet lines ever did, and I've found the staff to be very friendly - and yes they even smile. So, no complaints at all in that area.

The one thing that does tick me off - though I cannot recall if I've noticed it recently - but it used to be the case when the first opened that they would automatically double-cup every coffee they serve. Not that I ever use disposable cups, but it always seemed to me to be against their whole M.O.

As I mentioned in my comment on your profile, Sweets, Wellington & Holland is the busiest location in the city (in terms of sales), and I iamgine that sometimes their quality of service suffers in lieu of quantity of service.

I would definitely recommend talking with a manager about it; their employees are very open to constructive criticism.

We ordered an urn of coffee for our wedding from Bridgehead; 50 cups of coffee for about $35, including milk, cream, sugar, cups (which we did not use).

I was really impressed with the service; they misplaced our order and replaced it free of charge. (The misplacement had to do with a change in staff and a leaving staff member not following through).

All in all, very pleased.

Definitely the best coffee chain in Ottawa--fresh, not over-roasted and smooth, smooth. smooth. They're a bit slow on the service. But it's worth it.

(Also, for Brunchies, Stoneface Dolly's serves it as their standby coffee)

My favourite coffee in Ottawa. I love the Brazilian and Mexican roasts.

I recently tossed my masculine insecurities aside and ordered a "French vanilla latte" at Bridgehead. It was deeeeelicious! :)

I spoke with one of the Barristas and he told me that the roasting was done outside of Montreal (likely between Ottawa and Montreal)

He also told me that they were preparing the roasting facility as we speak, so I am guessing that they will have some excellent roasting over by the end of the year.

I never realized they roasted locally. I love the freshness of the beans and they can grind it well, but I thought it was roasted from afar.

Coffee at Bridgehead is roasted about an hour's drive from Ottawa, and is used within two weeks of roasting (which is some pretty good turn around for a chain, if you ask me). They also grind it in store (unlike Starbucks/Second Cup), meaning that the roast/blend changes depending upon how quickly they sell out (they grind in 5 lb doses).

The company is working on developing their own roastery within the next year or two.