Ottawa Foodies

Wow, after eating this, I'm considering a real possibility that one person made 57 different accounts to give this place some love. I was not impressed to say the least.

I was really really disappointed. I knew they weren't exactly an authentic restaurant but that's ok as long as you provide good food with a twist..but I'm sorry that's not the case here.

I ordered a chicken burrito, veggie taco, and small nachos. The burrito was a big mess with a taste more of oils you would taste from a fish than chicken. The taco was small and had a few beans in it and that was basically it. (it was pretty small too) The nachos are probably the best part but even then thats not a meal really.

I had rice with both the burrito and taco and it was pretty bland and boring.

All in all, a huge miss for me and I have no idea why this place is so popular.

All I need to say is YUM!!

Mr. Omnivore and I finally made it to this bright little cave of an eatery. It was surprisingly cheerful as was the waitress/cashier.

We thoroughly enjoyed our burritos as they were juicy, tasty, and chock full of good stuff. I would pay the $12.95 again...and I was stuffed!! No complaints about portion sizes here. I couldn't finish all my bean and salad sides either.

And the Guava Jarritos was a big treat.

I really enjoy this little place. Since the condiments rule for my tacos, their condiment bar is high on my list.

I agree with Shag Me. The portions are too small for the price.

As it stands Ahora is overrated. It is good but it is certainly not the #2 best restaurant in Ottawa.

The restaurantthing review gives it 7.8 which is more reasonable, although i would give it a 7.

I had a quick dinner here with my friend on Canada Day. This was my 2nd time coming here but it had been a while so I completely forgot how small it was inside. Some people may like being sandwiched between two other tables, but it's not my cup of tea. I know they are a local place and maybe they couldn't afford another location when they first started, but this is kind of a dealbreaker for me (plus, there is only one small bathroom for the women).

Anyway, I didn't enjoy my experience there but I won't put all the blame on Ahora for that. I came in craving an american-type beef crispy taco with shredded cheese and tomatoes/refried beans and sour cream...well, that's not what they serve here. So, I went for the steak taco anyway and it just wasn't worth it to me. There wasn't anything special about it and the tacos were fairly small (me and my friend shared the taco taco plate). It irritated me that I had to pay 79 cents extra for the sour cream too. Plus, I'm sure they could have spared just a few more chips on the plate...I'm just sayin.

My friend ordered a pina colada and I swear they forgot to put alcohol in it. It might as well have been a virgin pina colada.

Anyway, I learned my lesson and next time I will not forget that Ahora is an authentic Mexican restaurant. If I want crispy beef taco's, I'll have to cook em at home.

Good point. I've also thought that it would take up a lot of room at the station, and it's already a bit tight back there already. Ah, well. I'll just have to bring in my own dish ;)

momomoto: they probably have those little
cups because if they were bigger, they'd waste a LOT more with people filling them up too much and just eating a little bit of it. Especially the hot stuff. :)

Momomoto - I get around the dinky cups by bringing my plate to the salsa bar and loading it up :)

Finally went to Ahora, and we'll definitely be back.

Our tacos were delicious, and I could probably have eaten a zillion of them, rather than the two I got. I have *no* idea how they prepare the chicken to make it so tender.

The only real issue I had with the food was the anafres (from the website: Refried beans and cheese served in a traditional clay oven). The "traditional clay oven" is a tiny thing heated by a tealight, which means that the stuff never really heats up. So it was stone-cold all the way through our meal; not good if you bought it to warm you up after walking around in the rain like we did.

I wouldn't have minded larger containers (ramekins? 250mL bowls?) at the salsa bar, either. Those jello-shooter cups they use only hold two or three pickled jalapenos at the most, or *maybe* a taco's worth of salsa.

Solidly good food! I was pleasantly surprised by this small place. Ordered nachos and a chicken quesadilla. Somewhat salty, but very good for the price (12$ for two-person lunch). What WAS mind blowing was the guacamole! Best I have ever had in my life; not spicy, but very flavourful. The atmosphere is very casual, and the chef is super friendly. I liked that you had to order at the front (cafeteria style) then go sit down... it makes it more of a place that you can frequent. I'll be going back for sure.

I just attended Ahora for the first time with the GF and it matched my expectations. We both got Burritos in different forms, as well as the corn chips and Guacamole. We only sampled the rice and the beans and a few of the sauces seeing as the Lady happens to be quite allergic to sweet peppers (red, green, yellow) which are only actually found in the salad or as a garnish.

It was astounding. It felt filling and healthy, like the very definition of quality mexican food. My only complaint was that there was so little space for a resto which is so wonderful. I will certainly be back to try the Enchilada, but I heartily reccomend the burrito's.

After so much 'enchiladas vegetariana' abuse I finally branched out and got a take-away vegetarian burrito. The 'ranchero vegitariano.'

And, yum.

One thing stands out: Ahora is a great value. It's an awful lot of high-quality food for relatively little cash. Size-wise, it reminded me of something called a "Macho Burrito" from the US "Del Taco" chain, which was -- when I was there -- advertised with the not terribly appealing slogan "Over 1 pound of ingredients!" Really, a piggish size. But exactly the sort of thing I like to pig out on.

The hot-tish green salsa, all cilantro-y, is just the thing to douse it with.

This is the burrito platter. I didn't eat it so I can only share what I saw.

The take-away version came with no salad!

I hadn't realised how much I liked their little salad offering. It's not just limp afterthought iceberg, but actual salad.

There were a few bits of avocado, peppers and tomato in the box, but...

Oh, never mind. I'm looking at their on-line menu now, and noting "Served with two of the following: beans, salad, rice." It came with plenty of rice and beans. I see it's the fault of my food-fetching friend.

Moral of the story: GET THE SALAD. I had not realised until FF's commentary below how critical it is to rounding out this particular plate.

And now I have to give them props for the 'few bits of avocado...'

At kmennie's suggestion, I had the vegetarian enchiladas and was not disappointed. It was satisfying and delicious. The black beans were very heavy but the refreshing salad sort of "lubricated" the whole meal and allowed me to eat the entire mess of heavy food without regret.

Anyone who thinks that a meal without meat is unsatisfying should try this dish (with the bean option). ;-)

The 'enchiladas vegetariana' satisfy my cravings for cheese enchiladas, without being nearly so fat-laden and boring as the usual kind. Recommended without reservation.

Finally, an Ottawa restaurant that understands that salsa has no place in nachos! You won't find the pathetically soggy salsa-laden chips in this dish like you do in most places here.

Sadly, the chips aren't the greatest (thick and greasy) and I like to have black olives and jalapeños cooked with my nachos. Cheese is generous and the nachos are perfectly baked.

This was the Large ($6 or so)

I went to Ahora last night for the second time. I had the tres tacos (I was hungry!) - all vegetarian.
They were filled with black beans and veggies to which I added salsa from the condiment bar. With chips as one of my side orders, I got to try all of the salsas that were being offered. Yum! I also had the salad. I'm not sure what is in their vinegrette, but I thought it was great.

The woman who took my order was very helpful about which dishes contained dairy products.

We even got a bit of a dance show as they were closing up. :)

Always keen to try something new, I opted for this beverage with my meal. It was quite good, consisting of milk, sugar, cinnamon, and a kind of milled rice whisked in a blender.

I had to chuckle when I watched the server tear open two paper packets of sugar and dump them into the blender. It's almost like camping! ;-)

These are good and the only place I've been able to find (save Cinnabon) that has Churros. they're simple and come in two flavours. Dulce de leche wins over chocolate for me. They do come from an outside bakery in MTL, so that's a bit of a downer.
kinda pricey: 2/$3.95