Ottawa Foodies

Went on a Wednesday night, before heading to an event at the NAC. Surprisingly busy for 6pm! Because of this, service was a bit slow so we felt rushed to finish our meals before we had to leave, but our server was most accomodating.

I thought the menu a bit pricey. My partner had the nachos ($10), which he upgraded with chicken ($4) and sour cream ($1). Before they arrived he dreamed of how wonderful $15 nachos would be. Disappointing! Very dry, with a scattering of cheese, tomatoes and green onions, with maybe a tablespoon of tiny chicken pieces in the middle. The salsa was served cold on the side.

I opted for the special that night, and had a Mill Street Red with a veggie pizza. For the price ($13) I thought it was a pretty good deal! Thin crispy crust with generous toppings (including fresh basil - yum!)

I'd like to try it again, as the atmosphere was great, the booths comfy, and the menu looks interesting. However, I'll probably stick to the nightly specials, as it seems to be the best value.

I've been to The Standard a couple of times and have enjoyed it thoroughly. The food's pretty good, particularly when it's half-price appetizer night. Killer lobster/crab dip, when it's on the menu. We had a whole friggin' claw in ours one time.

Beer price is OK; you can save a bit by getting the tavern tray of ten eight-ounce glasses.

Great place to relax with a drink and a nosh.

We went to the standard yesterday (a Monday) for a celebratory drink and appetizer. They have an interesting drink menu and my selection was "the pinapple drink" which is a whole pinapple, cored, muddled and mixed with 3oz of rums and other fruit juices then served inside the pineapple. Excessive? Yes. Delicious? Yes!

For app's we ordered the tuna tartare which was sushi-grade tuna mixed with sesame oil and served with toasted baguette and house-made guacamole. It was delicious and the tuna really was extremely fresh.

We also ordered their calamari. The calamari came with house-made cocktail sauce which was so good you should ask for an extra. The calamari itself was some of the best I've had and in addition to the usual calamari rings, there were a few baby squid (or baby octopus, not sure but I'm thinking squid) which were a little unusual to look at but equally delicious.

We also learned that on Monday nights, the bartender Jeff and one of the chefs do "Iron Jeff" (a take on Iron Chef for those who do not watch the foodnetwork) and use a different "secret ingredient" each week. This week, it was coconut and Jeff made an absolutely wonderful martini with vanilla vodka and young coconut juice that was rimmed with toasted coconut and sugar. We ordered one to sample between us, thinking it would be quite rich but it was actually a wonderfully refreshing and smooth drinking martini and the toasted coconut was delicious.

The chef creation was shrimp marinated in lime, pinapple and mango juices costed in coconut and fried (sadly we didn't try these so I can't vouch for them).

We will definitely be back on Mondays to come since it was nice to try something different/special and be treated like regulars right away. Oh yeah, and the food was delicious!